Instructional Leadership Reflections and Status Report

     I've always thought of myself as average when it comes to technology skills. I'm lucky enough to work in a district that is always trying to improve and incorporate technology in everything they do. Through this course, though, I have learned about even more applications that are out there. I must admit that at first I was confused as to why a course titled "Instructional Leadership" was so focused on learning new technology skills, but I have come to realize that as future administrators we need to understand and be comfortable with these tools if we are going to lead our teachers to integrating them in the classroom. Leading by example is the best way to model for teachers how they can use these tools in their classroom. I look forward to exploring more of these web 2.0 tools and seeing how I can integrate them into staff developments and my intervention groups this year. One of the things I am most excited about is using Livebinders to help me discover even more of what's out there.

     As for a status report on my Campus-Supervised Internship, I feel as though I am halfway there. I am faced with the challenge of having a new Principal this year and making sure that the activities I have planned to finish up will be approved. From the conversations I've had with her so far though, she seems very supportive and I don't think that will be too much of a problem. I also need to figure out how to incorporate my experience as Summer School Supervisor into my internship plan. I'm so glad I had the opportunity because it offered A LOT of great leadership learning experiences.

     Finally, the Action Research Project... I'm kind of at a loss as to where to go from here in regards to my ARP. My project was based on whether the scripted intervention programs, Pasaportes and Language!, really made an impact in improving student achievement in reading. Unfortunately, these programs were pushed to side in February at my school in order to provide STAAR intervention. So I feel like my data is inconclusive and doesn't tell the whole picture. Luckily our new Principal wants to see this program through to the whole year. Unlucky for me is that my project must be completed before then. My plan is to focus my ARP on the recommendations based on this experiences. Although I will have completed my graduate courses by the time this school year is over, I plan on following through with my action research in order to get a better idea and more conclusive data.

School-Community Partnership Presentation

Help! STAAR Has Taken Over!

Well, my action research project was chugging right along. The interventions were being provided, and I was keeping track of the data. Unfortunately the school went into a panic soon upon returning from the Christmas break. They realized that the almighty STAAR was around the corner and thought it would be better to initiate a massive, flooding intervention in grades 3-5 to prepare for the test. The end result is that all of the intervention schedules have been moved around and my action research project has been put on the back burner. Unfortunately, this also means that some of the data I had planned on collecting at the end of the year will be skewed. I will be working on a plan to try to get this project back on track. Any suggestions are welcome!

It's the People, Not the Program

This is something that's been nagging at me since the inception of my action research study. My action research is based on the effectiveness of an intervention "program", but now Todd Whitaker is telling me that the program has nothing to do with it. In many ways I do agree, but my hope is that I have great teachers implementing the program. Now I begin to wonder how I can use this to help shape my action research plan even further...

A Day of Learning

YesterdayI had the opportunity to attend the TWU Reading Recovery & K-6 Literacy Conference in Dallas and it was so worth it! Since my action research plan is based on student achievement in reading, this was right up my alley. I had the opportunity to attend sessions that were geared towards administrators/leaders on campus and have conversations with educators from all across Texas. I think one of the greatest insights was knowing that there are schools just like mine all across Texas that are struggling with the same thing, but there are also schools just like mine that are making things work!

One of the most inspiring sessions I attended was one presented by the principal and instructional coaches of a school that is just 45 minutes north of mine. Apparently Denton County has taken a whole new approach to what intervention is all about. Rather than hiring more "interventionists" that work with various groups of students, they have various "Instructional Coaches" on one campus. These coaches work with just a few teachers, who have asked for the help, to help with planning and co-teaching. My action research study is based on whether a certain type of intervention is effective in increasing student achievement in reading, but now I'm wondering if the approach that this particular school is taking is more effective. Considering that they are an Exemplary campus with the same demographics as we have I am thinking it's probably pretty effective!

Although I plan on continuing the plan that is approved right now by my site supervisor, I've already begun to think about possibilities for more action research. Especially if the results from what we're doing this year are not favorable.

Another insight I gained from this session is that change takes time. They have worked for the past five years to get to where they are at. The most important factor is having a unified vision of where we want to go and constantly reassessing how we're going to get there.

A Little Change Doesn't Hurt

First of all, a million thanks for commenting on my action research plan! Although I'm not totally changing courses as the picture might suggest, the comments were great and got me to think a little bit more about some small changes I might want to make. 

There were a couple of comments asking about how the intervention was going to be done. They wondered whether it was done by the teacher, a pull-out, or a push-in. In this case, there will be a little of everything. There are two teachers who are providing the intervention for their students during small group time in class. However, one of them tends to lean more towards “whole group” instruction and is having a hard time getting started. As an intervention teacher, I am “pushing in” to one of the classrooms and providing the intervention with a small group in class. However, there are two students who are getting pulled out from their class in order to join my "push in" group. All of this led to a new wondering. Does the method of the intervention play a part in the effectiveness of it? At first I was going to combine all of the students’ data into one group. However, now I have decided to separate the students based on the type of intervention method that they are receiving. By doing this I will be able to compare the different groups to see which ones had greater success.

Another comment that made me rethink part of my action research plan was Farley's question about how often I was going to look at the Istation data. I had planned on just looking at the results of the universal screener done at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. He made the suggestion of administering the monthly Istation test to these students in order to keep better track of whether the intervention was making a difference or not instead of waiting a whole year. I'm planning on adding these monthly assessments to my action research study!

Testing, Testing



I feel like that's all we ever do! But unfortunately right now it's a necessary evil for me in order to begin my action research. This past week I was able to test all of the students who are in my sample to check on their English reading proficiency. The students are third graders, but the results showed that the majority are reading at a 1st grade level in English. Next week I will be testing their reading proficiency in Spanish. I already know that based on Istation reports some of these same students are also reading at a 1st grade level in Spanish. I know that my action research project is focusing on the efficiency of this intervention program, but seeing results like this leads to more wonderings...

• What are the causes for students struggling in both languages?
• Is it a confusion of language?
• Is the one-way dual program the best for our students?
• How can Tier 1 instruction be improved, especially in grades K-2, so that teachers are more efficiently differentiating instruction which will lead to fewer students in need of interventions?

I could probably go on and on with the questions that pop into my mind. I have a feeling that at least one of these will evolve into an action research in the future. I have to put all my wonderings to the side for now though. Must finish Week 3 assignment!!