Post date: Aug 23, 2014 5:39:37 PM
I work at a middle school in Escondido, California. We have about 1400 students. There are about 80 certificated positions on campus including 70 teachers, 4 administrators, 2 counselors, and 1 psychologist. The classified staff of about 30 people includes instructional aides, office staff, nurse, and other personnel. Our school has been fairly successful academically. We have never been a program improvement school and our test scores have been some of the highest in the district. The school receives a great deal of outside support for children. There are before and after school programs for kids who get dropped off early or stay late at school due to parent schedules. We have social workers and other support groups on campus as well to support the variety of student needs.
Teachers are assigned to departments and grade levels. Subject departments are: Language Arts (which includes reading) or Humanities, Social Studies, Math, Science, Electives, Physical Education, and Special Education. These departments can be further divided into grade level departments. Students are organized by grade level teams of teachers who meet on a regular basis and discuss students and collaborate with counselors, administration, and other teachers. Teams of teachers include the following subjects: Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Reading.
Example of sixth grade team structure: 3 Humanities teachers (Language Arts and Social Studies combined) and 2 Math/Science teachers. This structure holds about 180 students.
Teachers meet as teams at least twice a month. Team leaders attend a monthly meeting with the Admin Team to discuss administrative concerns and tasks as well as school-wide issues. Support teachers are also included in team meetings to communicate student concerns and support their students with special needs as best as possible. Electives and P.E. teachers do not attend team meetings but they do attend their own department’s meetings.
Our school follows an inclusion model. So, students with learning disabilities are included in regular education classrooms as much as possible. These students are provided with the best environment in which they can learn or accomplish their learning goals as established by their IEPs. Teams are supplemented with SAI (Specialized Academic Instructor) teachers and their Instructional Aides depending on the amount of inclusion students per classroom.
Department leaders also meet with the Admin Team on a monthly basis. Teachers are organized in subject area departments such as Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies/History, Electives, Special Education (Specialized Academic Instructors), and Physical Education. All teachers meet in Grade Level Department groups once a month to discuss topics decided upon at the monthly Department Leader meetings. Less frequently, teachers may meet in a “Vertical Department Meeting” that includes all grade levels of the same department.
Example of Department structure: (the ½ represents teachers who split grade level or teach another type of class during half the day)
Sixth Grade Language Arts: 6 ½ teachers
Seventh Grade Language Arts: 3 ½ teachers
Eighth Grade Language Arts: 3 ½ teachers
The school has designated two teachers as TOSA’s (Teacher on Special Assignment). I am the newly appointed Technology Coach. Before this year, this position did not exist at most middle schools in the district. Our Literacy Coach has been in the position for several years. Coaches are to collaborate with staff and administration on integrating their designated assignment into classroom lessons and work. TOSA’s are also challenged with many other tasks such as managing testing, and assisting administration with meetings and resources.
Technology is a vital component to the structure of the school and the district. Attendance is taken and grades are input using Powerschool which is a web based tool that all teachers must log in to use every day. Staff must communicate electronically via email. Other programs are used for student management of scheduling, library management, and other areas. This school year, the district bought a laptop for every teacher in the district. Before this year, the school’s network has had severe connectivity and reliability issues. Network issues would prevent teachers from accessing web based tools (including Powerschool) on a regular basis. There are three mobile computer labs for student use on campus. Unfortunately, due to network issues, teachers frequently had a mobile laptop lab (called a COW – Computers on Wheels) in their classroom for 30 students but were unable to successfully complete a lesson using that technology. Many changes have been made to the network and computers over the summer of 2014 and this year is expected to be better. However, reimaging computers to the new operating system may result in some mobile labs to be labeled as obsolete because they do not have the ability to be upgraded for use on the new network. This may leave the school with even fewer mobile laptop carts. As of August 25, 2014, the COWs are not operational because they have not been reimaged to the new operating system. There are two computer lab rooms that are mostly devoted to testing throughout the year and are occasionally available for teachers to take their classes and use for learning purposes.
The school is supported by a part-time IT technician who receives directives from the IT department in the district office. The tasks for this technician are assigned by the district office after work orders are submitted electronically using the Web Help Desk ticket system.
It is important to note here that every school in the district is supported by staff working in the district office (DO). The main departments are Business Services, Educational Services, Facilities, Fiscal Services, Human Resources, Maintenance and Operations, Nutrition, Payroll, Purchasing, Integrated Student Supports, Special Education, and the office of the Superintendent. Within each main department are many more specific departments that support such things as curriculum and assessment, BTSA (beginning teacher support), technology and innovation, and special education services.