Windham High School: Incorporation Of Student Surveys

Windham High School will take the following steps in order to address issues that are a

cause of concern based on the information referenced in the pages above. Procedurally, these

initiatives will go into place starting in August of 2018 prior to the start of the new school year.

Incorporation of Student Surveys: Windham High School will conduct bi-annual student surveys in order to gain insight into the students’ views about their teachers. The survey will be constructed by a constituency group and they will be responsible for aggregating and distributing data. In order to complete this objective, each student will complete these surveys in their 1st period classes each semester. These will be conducted in the week prior to exams. The

Additionally, research indicates that students are able to discriminate between effective and less effective teachers just as well as qualified principals” (Stronge, 2012, p. 3,4).

Student surveys will be effective in giving a voice to the population within the school that has the most knowledge about the staff’s effectiveness. Staff will have the opportunity to make instructional changes based on the feedback provided.

Common Assessments and Collaborative Learning Groups: The research is clear when it comes to the benefits of common assessments if implemented within departments. Moreover, there is a clear link between common assessments and gauging student growth. Additionally, this approach will assist teachers in evaluating themselves and learning from impartial data. This approach allows for administration to acquire information to help formally evaluate and coach their staff on an individual level. Finally, each department will work closely with the Exceptional Children and English Language Learning staff in order to properly modify and create the assessments that will meet the individual needs of each student. AP classes will be exempted from common assessments due to the fact that the there is only one teacher for each class offered. Implementing these policies will assist in helping teachers gain more trust and a feeling of mutual respect. As a way to create more opportunities for this collaboration, swap time will be awarded for teachers that are willing

Wide-angle walk-through observations will focus on subject matter, classroom management, use of technology, instructional methods, and student engagement. Narrow-angle walk-through observations will collect data about selective verbatim, verbal flow, at-task students, class traffic, and interaction analysis. (Zepeda, 2011) There will be a different focus each week and at least one administrator will visit each teacher’s classroom. Following each visit, they will provide verbal and/or written feedback within one day. Procedurally, this allows the administration to have better visibility in the school and stay abreast of the happenings in each classroom. Additionally, this will ensure that teachers are enforcing school rules which was a major area of concern in the NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey. Sadly, only 45.5% of teachers responding to the survey believe that rules are consistently enforced by