Action Plan

Describe your plan of action and how each of your four chosen competencies will influence its design and implementation.

Professional Growth Goals:

Overarching Competency 1

Group Processes

• Navigate difficult situations while respecting diversity of opinion and styles.

Overarching Competency 2

Reflective Practice

• Support others in understanding and using data and reflection to drive instructional practice, policy and organizational decisions.

Foundational Competency

Cultivate Socially just learning environments.

• Recognize issues that impede the cultivation of socially just learning environments

Pathway and Competency

Instructional Leadership competency - facilitating collaborative relationships

• Work with others to develop a collaborative culture

How will you use collaboration, questioning, data, and reflection during the implementation of your action plan?

Pathway Competency: Instructional Leadership competency - facilitating collaborative relationships

Have staff work together to make our school a “trauma informed” environment. Teachers are in different places based on their past experiences and education on behavior and trauma. Teachers need to be on the same page on their knowledge of what trauma informed means as well as being aware of the strategies that need to be practiced and implemented. Teachers will reflect during book study both online and at our in person book study meetings. Further book study and staff professional development will continue the reflective process as we go through the implementation process. This will allow engagement in collaborative discussion with colleagues about learning and teaching in a professional learning community.

Foundational Competency: Cultivate Socially Just Learning Environments

Our staff needs to acknowledge and appreciate the differences among our low socio-economic children and their family setting and environment. Some staff do not understand that our low socio-economic families experience unequal learning environments. Staff becomes informed about inequities that exist with socially just learning environments for our low socio-economic families through further professional development.

Description of Action

• Meet with principal to get support and general outline of implementation of becoming trauma informed school.
• Organize and market the advantages to joining a book study with The Behavior Code book.
• Create norms for in person meetings.
• Facilitate book study to start educating staff about the why behind many of the child behaviors we see at our school.
• Create in person meeting platform with scheduled meeting dates
• Create online platform to create equity with time and scheduling so more staff can participate.
• Meet with leadership/vision team to craft book study questions to keep discussion going based on norms.
• Meet with school superintendent to explain and present the book study we are doing and to get more ideas on becoming Trauma informed school

How this action provide opportunities addressing my professional learning goals for my chosen Foundational Competency:

The book study will help spark discussion about socially just learning environments students are exposed to at our school. The hope is that more information and discussion will create awareness about inequities existing with our socially just learning environments.

How this action provide opportunities addressing my professional learning goals for my chosen Pathway Competency:

Facilitating collaborative relationships through a common understanding relating to becoming a trauma informed school is important and will begin through this book study of behavior techniques of dealing with certain behaviors.

• In order to become a trauma informed school we need about 80% staff buy in and our book study is creating collaborative conversation amongst staff members that we are in this together and can help each other.
• This will develop a collaborative culture where teachers and other staff feel supported and empowered to understand and help children dealing with trauma which often leads to non desirable behaviors.

How will your leadership leverage the strengths and address the needs of diverse stakeholders to support the plan of action, develop capacity, broaden decision-making, and learn collaboratively?

I will join the school's Foundation's Committee which has been discussing Tier 1, 2, and 3 behavior supports and the right way to implement a system-wide approach. This is a broad and diverse group of school stakeholders that will need to reflect on this change of mindset in order to become a trauma informed school. I will join the principal and my teaching/project partner, Dacia Lackey to hold strategic planning and implementation goals for becoming a Trauma Informed School and to help establish policies and procedures to encourage colleagues to become reflective practioners. (Core vision team). I would set up a coaching team available for any teachers needing assistance with interpreting student behavior as it relates to trauma. These would be individuals with the most training on this model. (Evidence for Group processes- emerging)

How this action is connected to my chosen Overarching Competencies:

• With group processes this action plan will help build awareness of adult learning to better understand how to impact colleagues.
• It will also address diverse adult learner needs recognizing their areas of expertise.
• This plan will help develop policies (becoming trauma informed) to promote growth and a shift in mindset in approaching behaviors relating to trauma.
• It will support others in understanding data and reflection during the book study through in person and our online learning platform with google classroom.
• Once implementation of moving to a trauma informed model begins a core vision or leadership team will meet to help others become reflective practitioners of trauma informed approach. A coaching model will help with this.

How will you address obstacles that you may encounter in implementing your plan?

• We will address obstacles as we go along, getting consensus from our vision team and school Foundations committee.

Expected Outcomes

• A shift in mindset with staff on appropriate strategies to use with varying non-desirable behaviors related to trauma.
• Moving to a trauma informed model within our school.
• Continuing support and professional development with staff and new hires to support shift in mindset and constant practice.

How will you know if your action plan is successful? What evidence would support your claim?

A measure of success.

• Student behaviors will decrease through trauma informed approach.
• Students will show growth academically since behavior not interfering with learning.
• Teachers will feel supported and empowered with new, workable strategies to help support students experiencing trauma. Teachers will be comfortable to ask coaches for help when needed. Note: Teachers have already come to me saying how the book study has already helped their daily practice.
• Others schools in our district will want to implement this model.

Implementation Timeline

What are the 3 - 5 steps in the plan. (Include steps that follow through the implementation AND the timeline for completion.)

1. Book study - The Behavior Code
2. Fall 2019 Implementation using The Trauma Informed School as a guide with meetings with vision/leadership team and connections with foundations committee. This includes: creating calm room/ISS room for students, with faculty member with appropriate training.
3. Fall 2019- Screening of Paper Tigers Documentary
4. Fall 2019 Screening of Resilience - sequel to Paper Tigers
5. Fall 2019 - 2nd Book Study in the fall 2019- Help for Billy
6. Jan. 2020 Full implementation

Other special considerations

For example:

• The most evident challenge or opportunity when considering the current state of affairs: Changing the mindset of staff when it comes to trauma informed practices.
• The effectiveness of my Needs Assessment and the Community/Power Map: The needs assessment showed that staff professional development and support from administration and vision team needed.
• Evidence and/or data used to support the analysis:

During needs assessment it was discovered that staff were reluctant to try another behavior approach when so many were introduced and then dropped repeatedly without any changes really occurring. We were still seeing an increase in undesirable student behaviors affecting student learning and growth.

• Possible problems and probable solutions, including any equity challenges:

The foundations committee will need to be updated on the vision team implementation plan. One problem that was addressed was the many strong personalities on the foundation team that may be reluctant to implement yet another new behavior system as done in the past.