Section IV: Do
How successful was your action plan at addressing the challenge?
I was able to have three staff meetings with other special education staff after I implemented my plan. Two meetings were with the primary and intermediate special educators to discuss testing, our reading curriculum and what to do when students aren't making adequate progress, and relevant transition information for students transitioning between buildings. A third meeting was with the middle school and high school special educators to discuss relevant transition information for students moving from 8th grade to high school.
Which stakeholders and association practice or program were impacted? How do you know (site evidence)?
Special education teachers from all four buildings were impacted by having meetings with other staff members. We cleared up misunderstandings, came up with ways to track how students were performing in our new reading program, brainstormed strategies for students who weren't making adequate progress, shared relevant student information, and hopefully made upcoming transitions smoother for students.
How were your four chosen competencies used in the implementation of your project?
My foundational competency, collaborate purposefully, was used throughout the project when meeting with others, as well when getting the meetings off the ground in the first place.
I used personal effectiveness when I reflected on my own leadership style and tried to remain ethical by building trust with my colleagues.
I used interpersonal effectiveness by assuming a leadership role through facilitating a conversation about how we can make regular PLC meetings happen for our staff to build critical relationships.
My leadership focus, collaborative relationship, was used throughout the project as well, because the project was based in coming together regularly as a special education staff for collaboration purposes
What obstacles, if any, did you encounter? How did you address them?
One of the obstacles I faced was that one of the staff members went to the special education director and told him that our first meeting as a special education staff was all "doom and gloom". After hearing this, I asked a couple of other staff members if they felt the same way. The other staff members did not agree with the "doom and gloom" assessment, and indicated that they though the meeting was helpful and they enjoyed meeting as a staff. I decided to ignore the negative comment, and continue working toward meeting with the staff the next month.
Another obstacle I encountered was that the director, although he said he'd get back to me about meeting as a special ed department, did not follow through, so we never got to meet as a whole staff. I did not question him, but did ask another staff member, who has more clout, to ask him when he thought we could meet. He did not respond to her inquiry, so I did not push the matter further.
Given the outcomes, describe any changes you might make to the Capstone Project’s action plan.
If I had to do this project over again, I would have set up a meeting with our special education director to discuss the results of the needs survey that I sent out to staff. I would take one other trusted staff member to the meeting with me to take notes. I think that if our director saw the results firsthand and was forced to have a face to face discussion about the results, he might have taken the staff's need for regularly scheduled meetings more seriously.
