Resource Wall: Improving Student Achievement

Research and Review of Literature The desired outcome of this initiative is simple, to produce a better teacher in order to increase student achievement. The monthly Resource Wall will provide teachers with various skills, techniques, and tools to become and more effective teacher. Based on the topics, chosen by administration (principal, Dean of Students, and Curriculum Coordinators) as well subject area teacher, the Resource Wall will allow teachers to grow as professionals. Studies have shown that when an online bulletin board has topics that contain resources, professional development, or meaningful discussion topics, teachers will join in and learn (Dodor, Sira, and Hausafus, 2010). The more tools that a teacher has at their disposal,

In an educational world where standardize testing plays such a crucial role in how a school is judged, ways to improve student achievement is always a goal. One significant way to increase the achievement is to simply improve the teachers. The Resource Wall is designed to do that. The topics for the wall will vary from month to month and will be designed with the end in mind (Covey, 1989) which is increasing student achievement. When I took a look at the last two cycles of Keystone Exam data, improving those scores is going to be a goal in nearly every initiative. The overarching goal is to help our students grow, succeed, and be prepared for not only testing, but preparing for them for life after high

Since PA Cyber is a statewide school, there are teachers that teach from home throughout the state. One of the byproducts of having teachers scattered around the state is we do not get a chance to build the typical professional learning community. All in all there are only about 10 teachers that work on site at PA Cyber in the High School Academy. All told there are several hundred teachers in our organization that do not get the face to face interaction of a regular high school. There is a need for that interaction for teachers to grow. Collaboration or synergy is one of the keys to success (Covey, 1989). One of the biggest downsides of PA Cyber is the fact that teachers do not get this time. One of the major concerns in the field of education is professional isolation and alienation (Dodor, Sira, and Hausafus, 2010). This happens in schools that have the daily opportunity to have that face to face interaction. It is an even bigger concern in a cyber school where the teachers, possibly, never see each other. The ability for teachers to become stakeholders in the Resource Wall will get the ball rolling and allow teachers to communicate with each other in the hopes of becoming a learning