This question is discussed in Chapter Two. This chapter cites several factors that are associated with good schools. On page 49 of your text book answer the #5 question.
Which five factors are, in your opinion, the most important, and why do you think so?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
Hello, my name is Sarah. I had a great deal of difficulty in determining the order of priority of the characteristics of an effective school. Many of the factors discussed in Chapter Two are interrelated. I do believe that some of the factors follow the existence of others. For example: if the principal's vision, views and purpose for the school are clearly and warmly communicated then the result will be the promotion of parent participation, teacher communication and an orderly conducive learning/social environment. I also believe that the teacher's expectations effect the issues of task orientation, behavior management and academic engaged time. I believe the most important factor of the effectiveness of a school is the instructional leadership. That being said, the following are, in my opinion, the five most important characteristics of an effective school: 1)a focussed principal who fosters communication and conveys a vision for the school; 2) encouraging, proactive teachers with 3)effective behavior management skills 4)who are actively involved in subgroups and communicate with colleagues; and 5) involved and concerned parents. These characteristics will be the basis for establishing appropriate task orientation and the social environment of an effective school. I invite your input. Each day is new.
I strongly agree that effective schools are made. They are a coveted institution. In the past, I have given more weight for effective schools to geography, population and economic characteristics. Although these things contribute to the personality of the school, I now realize that I was not looking at the most important criteria. In my opinion, many of the characteristics of effective schools are interrelated. I would also risk in saying that some of the characteristics would not work unless they are present together. With these characteristics working together. I believe the five most important characteristics of an effective school to be a strong principal, teacher expectation, task orientation, academic engaged time, and parental involvement.
An effective school must have effective leadership. I strongly believe in the trickle down effect. Without high expectations from the principal, even the best faculty, staff and students will lose their effectivness. Teacher expectations follow a close second. When the principal's expectations are high, teachers have the support to expect that students will acheive if they also have high expectations. Personally, this factor most influenced my education. The teachers who set high standards earn more respect even with the expected hard work load. Teacher expectation is why I did not choose behavior management. A school with task focused teachers will foster behavior management. Without task oriented teachers, academic engaged time is highly unlikely. I firmly believe in the old saying "practice makes perfect". Without sufficent engaged academic time, learning is superficial. Lastly, parental involvement is essential for an effective school. Occasionally a student will succeed without proper support from home, but that is the exception. The four previous characteristics greatly promote more positive parental involvement. Parents will respond to principals and teachers who are commited to their children.
Ann Hitchon (sorry above answer is mine)
Hello, Ann.
As I reflect on your response to this week's question, I realize our answers are similar. I did, however, include a factor that you did not: teacher communication with colleagues. I believe that teachers sharing professional ideas, goals and methods in the right forum will have positive results in the educational environment.
In regard to your approach to the subjects of teacher expectation, orientation to task, engaged academic time and behavior management, It is difficult to decide which is the prerequisite for the other. I maintain that with order established, there will be adequate academic engaged time. Which came first...the chicken or the egg? Each day is new. sarah
All of the characteristics listed are necessary to make a school run effectively, but if I had to pick only five the first would be the principal. He or she is the head, the leader, they set the tone for the school and staff. If the principal doesn't have a clear vision of what the schools mission is, there would not be a successful ouput of students.
Next, would be the school's environment; a successful school is determined by the environment it produces. Students will adapt to whatever enviornment they are surrounded by. The principal is watching the overall aspects of the environment setting the pattern for the staff. The staff assist the students conclusively as they make the transition into the classrooms and the students are watching the faculty. If this pattern is ever broken the school will have conflict and would be unable to grow.
Which brings us to the communication among teachers, if the staff follows the mission statement set fourth for their school and focus on communicating this statement instead of unrelated conversations, the students would spend less time talking about unrelated subjects and this would reduce the noise factors within the classrooms and the school.
Behavior Management starts with the entire faculty and staff having a duty to make sure every student is functioning with the proper requirements set forth in the guidelines. It's impossible to teach a class that you can't control. If it takes a teacher 30 minutes to take control, this leaves the teacher with 1 hour to teach. The students have missed 2 1/2 hours per week, 10 hours per month, and 100 hours per year of instructional time due to behavior problems.
Lastly, parental involvement is essential to establishing a good school. This allows everyone to become a stakeholder in that childs future. If everyone from the principal to the parent is giving 100% there is no reason for the student or school not to be successful. As the old saying goes, "it take a village to raise a child."
I look forward to your comments.
Brenda Anderson
Sarah and Brenda,
I'm glad we all agree a strong principal is vital. I have changed my views so much as I have witnessed both effective and ineffective schools. In the past, I viewed principals as figure-heads and not a significant factor. Now I realize those were the schools that lacked leadership and were less effective. It was a hard choice to leave out the strong relationship between teachers. Good relationships, as well as bad, can greatly affect learning. I believe that is where it is again vital to have strong leadership.
Ann Hitchon
Ann,
Thanks for your response and it's good to know that we all agree.
Brenda Anderson
I believe all of the characteristics listed in the book are important and it was hard for me to rank the characteristics in a top 5 format. I have chosen the five that I have because I believe these 5 are the most critical for having an effective school.
1)I belive a safe, pleasant, orderly environment is the most critical for an effective school. The environment sets the mood for all activities students and teachers will participate in. A calm school promotes calm students whose minds are at ease enough to really pay attention and learn.
2) I would rank behavior management as the second most important factor because I believe it goes hand in hand with an orderly environment. Disruptions to learning caused by bad behavior has a "trickle down" effect and will grow unless addressed immediately and consistently.
3) I am ranking engaged academic time as my third most important factor. Keeping students on task and busy leads to more time instructing the students and helps with classroom management. It goes without saying that more time spent on academics will result in the student being exposed to more new material.
4) Teacher's expectations is next on my list. Teachers keeping high expectations for a student will result in the student believing he or she is capable of doing the task assigned at a high level. Like in sports, students will play up to the level of their "opponents".
5) Parental involvement rounds out my list of the most important factors. Though parental involvement is key to making a child a success, it cannot be counted on for many of the students we deal with in the public schools today. I do feel it is very important for a child, but we as teachers cannot let the lack of parental involvement keep us from helping every student reach his or her full potential.
David Perry
I also agree with Sarah about teachers sharing ideas and helping each other with instruction. Teachers in my school collaborate with at least one other teacher on a daily basis. The purpose of this collaboration is to work together on academic achievement and on behavioral management. The collaborating teachers I work with have been an incredible help during my first year teaching, but I could only choose five factors and collaboration ranked lower for me.
David Perry
This was a very difficult question for me to answer which partly explains why it took me so long to answer it. I finally decided to choose the five characteristics that I felt helped facilitate the others. 1)The Principal: If there is not a strong leader it is difficult for others to follow and accomplish the same vision. Since I have moved to Jackson I have heard more teachers mention having a good or not so good Principal as the main reason of loving or being frustrated at the school in which they work. 2)The School Environment: In the recent years there have been many reports on about how the color on the wall can affect our mood;since hearing this I have found myself more and more agreeing with this idea, the same applies for children in school. A calm, friendly, clean environment is much easier to focus and learn in than a dirty hostile one. 3)Parents: A supportive parent can often make or break the educational success for student, especially young students. Children need their parents to help teach them the importance and help them to be on time to school, to make learning a priority and to help show them the importance as well as give encouragement to finish their education. 4) Behavior Management: I think this this goes hand in hand with "Teacher's Expectations" and having a good Principal. A teacher's ability to handle a classroom is key. Teachers to be able to keep students focused on learning and deal with problems quickly and easily. The same is true for a Principal, students should not fear their principal but should know that they have authority and are standing behind the teachers. 5) Communication Among Teachers: It has been my personal experience that lack of communication can contribute to a teachers' job being much harder than it already is. Teachers can be allies and resources for one another.
Susan Hutchens
David,
This would have been my second "order choice." I agree with what you said about Engaged Academic Time and Teacher Expectations, after all the main purpose of school is learning. As teachers, are ultimate responsibility is making sure that are students leave are classrooms with knowledge of the subject we are teaching and the tools apply it in the real world. Also, we students realize that this is the number one expectation of their teacher it makes managing the classroom that much easier.
Susan Hutchens
Post a Comment