Learning & Instruction

Candidates who successfully complete a district-level educational leadership preparation program understand and demonstrate the capacity to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills, and commitments necessary to evaluate, design, cultivate, and implement coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, data systems, supports, assessment, and instructional leadership.

STANDARD 4 COMPONENTS

Component 4.1 - Program completers understand and can demonstrate the capacity to evaluate, design, and implement high-quality curricula, the use of technology, and other services and supports for academic and non-academic student programs.

Component 4.2 - Program completers understand and can demonstrate the capacity to collaboratively evaluate, design, and cultivate coherent systems of support, coaching, and professional development for educators, educational professionals, and school and district leaders, including themselves, that promote reflection, digital literacy, distributed leadership, data literacy, equity, improvement, and student success.

Component 4.3 - Program completers understand and can demonstrate the capacity to design, implement, and evaluate a developmentally appropriate, accessible, and culturally responsive system of assessments and data collection, management, and analysis that support instructional improvement, equity, student learning and well-being, and instructional leadership.

Component 4.4 - Program completers understand and demonstrate the capacity to design, implement, and evaluate district-wide use of coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, assessment, student services, technology, and instructional resources that support the needs of each student in the district.

As part of Dr. Cenker's course EDLE 76536 Administrator’s Role in Curriculum Development, I was asked to explore curriculum, its implementation, deployment, adaptation, and most of all, understanding by those who use it - administrators, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders.

Curriculum, after all, is not the textbooks you purchase, or the worksheets you assign.

I constructed several surveys to gather more quantitative information (NELP 4.1) about people's understanding of the current curriculum initiatives in the district, and structured several statements that were then mapped according to who the respondents were. For example, the statement: "There is no confusion between those who make decisions about what will be taught and assessed and those who deliver the instruction and assess student learning," was administered to teachers, administrators, and board members, but not parents (NELP 4.4).

The curriculum audit protocol, which held most of the statements, was provided as a class resource. From there, I distributed the surveys out to various stakeholders for input and data gathering.

Several of the data that came back showed significant differences (not statistically speaking here, more based on brief overviews) between what was commonly thought to be true about curriculum in the school district, and what those who responded felt. Surveys were anonymous, so it is likely more honest opinions were shared in this effort than in department or building-level meetings with administrators present.

Once the quantitative data were collected, several interviews were structured to learn more about curriculum perspectives from each stakeholder group. I worked on interview protocols from the resulting Column J (INTERVIEW & LEARN MORE ABOUT...) in the sheet below as a guide.

Rather than having formal structured interviews, I elected to have conversations about the curriculum, what it means, how it was interpreted, and the challenges around its implementation with the various groups. A teacher's perspective is often very different than a parent's, and as I found (see below), parents often are not as informed about what we do at school (as perhaps we think they are).

One recommendation that came out of this project was to inform stakeholders better, especially parents, about curriculum and its role in education, how state standards play a role in shaping instruction, and how we as a school district work together to make sure students' needs are met at all levels (NELP 4.3).

Often, we miss the mark in making sense of the process of school to others - just ask a student to explain 'why' what they're doing in class this week makes sense, and how it fits within the curriculum.

This investigative effort resulted in the following challenge statement:

Based on research collected from various stakeholder groups on the perceptions of curriculum for Streetsboro City Schools showing a low understanding of the overall curriculum cycle, including legislative mandates, budget and policy concerns, implementation and assessment strategies, as well as performance results for said curriculum; and as a result, the overall function of school is not clear to those who may enroll in its services; as such, the Streetsboro City School District may be compelled to address this challenge by undertaking a campaign to renew stakeholders’ connections with curriculum through a communications campaign around school topics and instructional practices.

A Teacher's Perspective on curriculum at Streetsboro City Schools, a Google Form survey which was disseminated to teachers within the district, and had sibling components for additional audiences including administrators, parents, and community members - all of which yielded data for a gap analysis in curriculum.

This was part of a project in Dr. Cenker's course EDLE 76536 Administrator’s Role in Curriculum Development during the spring of 2019.

A Statements & Audiences worksheet, created in Google Sheets, to prepare data strings that later populated the above form for data collection. For example, the row with ID = AS.2 "There is no confusion..." was asked of teachers, administrators, and BOE members, but not of parents.

This was part of a project in Dr. Cenker's course EDLE 76536 Administrator’s Role in Curriculum Development during the spring of 2019.

My role in the district is that which supports the implementation of curriculum, often through technology (hardware or software components) or by providing teacher training, experiences, or additional opportunities to expand their practice (NELP 4.2).

Over the years, I've been fortunate to help shape a district-wide technology coaching team at Streetsboro, which today hosts a full-time coach (certified position) whose main mission is to assist, enhance, and support teaching efforts in the classroom. Through that program, we've been able to reach 100+ teachers in Google Level 1 and 2 training sessions, offered "Lunch & Learn" workshops, presented at numerous local, state, and national conferences, and even put on our own learning conference with multiple attending districts (the NEOTIE Experience).

Through coaching, we're building teachers who are comfortable with new technologies and can expand their own learning horizons along with those of their students. Partnering with Kent State University, our coach and teachers have attended several (and continue to do so) on-campus experiences in the AT&T Classroom, and this year, a new relationship with Kent's DI Hub is forming.

The KEEP program, another curriculum-focused effort between Kent and several area school districts, has strong support from Streetsboro (and has over the years) and continues to be integral support for our teaching staff and students.

I am proud to play the role I do in making these programs a reality for our team, often involving additional components like transportation (to/from Kent State), food services (in providing bagged lunches or alternate schedules), and device and software support where needed (funding for robots, laptops, etc.).

Several workflows and processes I've built and implemented exist behind the scenes, too, that help support our curriculum efforts (NELP 4.4). Chromebook loaner programs and repair workflows support devices, and software, rostering, and program support initiatives help make use of the curriculum assets like online textbooks a reality. Oftentimes, it's hours and hours of shaping SAML certificates or setting up .csv sheets and SFTP connections to make sure they can import into various vendor solutions.

These components - often hidden from the end user and almost never known by parents or community members - are all part of what helps form the curriculum, its deployment, its success, and ultimately, shapes the learning in our classrooms.

...and I love learning and teaching, so here's a game I designed, and am VERY proud of!