DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

       

EDL 701 - Vision Project

Created by Fatimah Ali, Shana Baron, and Judith Rainford


Phase I - Original Vision Statement

 

ACCION Academy is a place where students and staff are focused on individual growth through goal setting, personal responsibility and action. We strive to positively impact those around us and our community through our words, actions and teamwork. Our school is committed to academic rigor, social responsibility and emotional maturity. The work that we do will prepare us to be successful in the 21st century.  Our world faces many challenges and we know that by helping others we learn about ourselves and by leading we impact the world.

 

Phase II -  Assessment of Vision through Data Analysis

 

As a group we looked over the original version of this vision and compared it to the school’s data.  We agree with the rational-systems perspective in that we view our organization as a “formal instrument designed to achieve specific organizational goals.” (Hoy & Miskel, 2008, p.9) As such, we examined the data to find trends and outliers that could help us revise the vision statement for the school. Through analyzing the data, we felt comfortable maintaining the vision almost entirely, except for a few key amendments.                                                                         

 

Most of ACCION’s data is positive, showing that the school is meeting some aspects of its vision. However, as we took a closer look at some of the data on ACCION Academy, discrepancies began to arise. Although the vision states, “We strive to positively impact those around us and our community” when surveyed; only 39 out of 75 teachers believed that they could support that statement.  As for “The work we do will prepare us to be successful in the 21st century,” only 49 out of 75 teachers agree with that statement.  Finally, our survey results found that the “school’s commitment to social responsibility and emotional maturity” were 52 out of 75 and 53 out of 75 teachers respectively.                                                                                               

 

On the NYC School Survey 2009-2010 report, ACCION Academy received a 7.8 out of 10 under academic expectations, a 7.7 out of 10 in engagement, and a 7.2 out of 10 in communication. 88% of teachers (14 teachers), 79% of parents (137 parents), and 86% of students (158 students) took this survey. All teachers took this survey online, but only one percent of parents participated online and no students completed the survey through the Internet.  This is a valuable statistic because one area of the vision that needs to be strengthened involved students learning to become more acclimated to 21st century technologies. 92% of teachers believe that school leaders invite the teachers to play a meaningful role in setting goals and making important decisions for the school. This ties directly to the vision as staff members are seen as those who are able to develop goals both for themselves and the school itself. 87% of students agree with the statement that ACCION Academy helps them develop challenging academic goals. 85% of teachers believe that ACCION makes it a priority to help students develop challenging learning goals and 84% of teachers believe that the school makes it a priority to help students find the best way to achieve these learning goals. The themes of personal goals are correlated with the school’s vision statement, and this data supports the vision being seen through to completion.     

 

When examining academic rigor within the school, students would strongly agree that they need to work hard to achieve good grades, supporting the notion that academic rigor is a focus at ACCION. 58% of parents strongly agree with the notion that ACCION Academy has high expectations for their children and ninety parents agree that their children are learning what they need to know to succeed in later grades. 84% of teachers agree that the school sets high standards for student work and that progress is clearly measured for student achievement.            

 

25% of teachers disagree with the notion that they have received helpful training on the use of student achievement data to improve teaching and learning, and 31% of teachers do not believe that they have been provided with appropriate professional development. If ACCION’s vision focuses on academic rigor, it is important to include a piece that fosters a sense of creating the rigor for all students using formative data. All teachers agree that they use formative assessment data to improve instructional decisions and create assessments aligned to their individual curriculum.                                                                                                                    

 

71% of students agree that teachers treat students with respect, but 55% of students believe that the students do not treat teachers with the same respect they are given. 82% of students believe that bullying and threatening behaviors occur at least some of the time, and 99 percent of students have witnessed physical fights at some point in the school year. However, 38% of teachers disagree with the idea that students are often threatened or bullied and only 46% of teachers believe that there are no conflicts within the school based on race, color, creed, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation or disability. These statistics lend themselves to a decision that one should modify ACCION’s vision in order to increase emotional maturity and social responsibility among students in the building. The vision contains these points, but there must be more emphasis placed on these social and emotional areas in order for the vision’s message to be fulfilled.      

                                    

Fifteen out of seventeen teachers participated in a ten-question Likert scale survey about ACCION Academy’s Vision. Teachers were asked to provide feedback about the different parts of the vision, and whether or not they agreed with the presented statements. In each category, the item could earn up to 75 points based on the number of teachers that completed surveys. A top score of 75 would indicate that the teachers strongly agreed with the comment, while the lowest score of 15 would indicate that teachers strongly disagreed with the statement presented.                        

 

The lowest scoring statement received 39 points and read, “ACCION Academy students and staff help their community.” Teachers do not believe that community action is a strong focus within the school day, despite how it is stressed throughout the current vision. Since this statement scored so low, the vision will need to be revised to more closely address the community’s need for ACCION’s involvement and support. The next lowest scoring statement was, “ACCION Academy students are prepared to be successful in the 21st century.” This statement received 49 out of 75 possible points. Staff members feel that students do not have enough access to technological equipment and resources that can best prepare the students for the 21st century. This is another major focus for a revision within ACCION’s current vision, as finding a way to incorporate 21st century technologies and prepare students for college and career readiness is not currently happening at the school.                      

 

The third lowest scoring statement, which received a 52, was, “ACCION Academy is committed to social responsibility.” This statement is also one we have chosen to revise within the current vision, because the data shows that teachers do not believe ACCION is as committed to social responsibility as they are about goal setting and responsibility, the area in which the vision scored the most points (65 points total). The fourth statement we have chosen to revise within ACCION Academy’s vision is, “ACCION Academy is committed to emotional maturity.” This statement received a score of 53 out of 75, and is closely tied to the prior statement about social responsibility. Emotional maturity is a social skill that middle school students must develop fluency within so that they may progress smoothly through their adolescence.

 

We sought to address these issues by revising the original vision statement to meet the needs of the school based on the data. We have aligned ourselves with the idea of Senge’s systems thinking as we strive to integrate theory and practice within our revised vision (Hoy & Miskel, 2008, p.458). In addition to making revisions, there must be emphasis placed on ways to remedy these issues and support the new vision with actions that can help the school meet the vision’s plan. From the data presented, we found that Black students made the least amount of progress on the standardized state exams compared to the White and Latino groups.                                   

 

To support all students, we will need to mention the needs of all diverse learners within the classroom setting. To facilitate this support, ACCION Academy can place greater emphasis on small group instruction and project based learning to target these diverse populations. To address the “help the community” aspect, we thought that the school could look into facilitating student projects that promote community activism such as food drives for local shelters and or bake sale fundraisers for charity groups of their choice.  As for aligning the school’s vision with the 21st century, leaders in the school must ensure that all classrooms are equipped with smart boards and that teachers are consistently collaborating to produce lessons that are differentiated.  To address the social responsibility and emotional maturity issue we thought about implementing family groups and an advisory curriculum to address these concerns for the students. Adding more opportunities for community service both within and outside of the school can also help students grow into young leaders within their society.


ACCION Academy’s Revised Vision

ACCION Academy is a place where students and staff are focused on individual growth through goal setting, personal responsibility and action. Our school is committed to academic rigor for all diverse learners. We aim to cultivate an environment with a strong sense of social responsibility and emotional maturity. We strive to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with our community. By staying abreast of current events, technological advancements, and societal trends, our students will use tools of social advocacy they have obtained to play a significant role in the ever-changing society in which they live. 

 

  

Phase III  - Creating a Plan for Communicating and Marketing Our Vision

 

To communicate our revised school vision to the entire school community, we need to find ways to address parents, staff, students, and community members. Each respective party is a valuable asset to the school’s overall community and deserves a level of systematic communication surrounding the changes to ACCION Academy’s vision statement. Part of developing interactive strategies for communication involves providing a context and specificity for why we decided to revise our existing vision. We also must look to provide ways to dialogue about the changes and create visual tools to support our school’s culture while communicating about the modifications. These symbols and visual aids will be used as another method of representing, communicating, and portraying our revised vision.                                                          

 

To ensure a receptive audience, setting a proper and effective tone will let everyone know where we stand. As a team, we must adjust the message we are sending out about the vision using the prior feedback we received from the teacher surveys. This will help to show the validity behind why we chose to make changes to the vision statement.  Although we cannot control what people feel, we can control the message they receive by anticipating their reactions and directing the order, amount, and context of the information we provide. Once we decide on the message we will relay to all who are involved, we will need to select our media. Whichever form our communication takes, we want to make sure it doesn’t exemplify the “one-way communication model” where there is just a sender, a message, and a receiver. Philip G. Clampitt (2001) said that the basic flaw in one way communication is the belief that effective expression equals effective communication. In our plan for relaying and marketing our vision, we will use two-way communication which incorporates a reciprocal, interactive process. We will also facilitate conversation and inquiry as methods of communication. This will help us be consistent with our aim to have a system that promotes a reflective and evidence based model of communication. Strike (2007)

 

In our marketing plan, we will focus on the theory of conversation to help drive forward our ideas regarding the revised vision for ACCION Academy. The staff will learn about these planned revisions through teacher team meetings and the students will learn through grade-level town hall meetings. We will hold a series of community meetings during a variety of hours to accommodate parents and local community vendors as well. These “Vision Meetings” will be scheduled for several different time periods, such as the mornings, evenings, and on weekends. This is so that all parties who have an interest in our school will have an opportunity to join forces and discover the newly revised vision. During these community meetings, there will be chances for all members to interact and build relationships with one another through conversations around the importance of the elements of the vision. As these meetings begin, we might pose questions such as, “What do you want a visionary school for a child to be?”, “What type of environment do you want to work in?”, and “What can our school do for you?” Brainstorming and holding a community forum for dialogue will promote a culture that will be more openly receptive to the new ideas our vision will explore.   

                                                

During these meetings, we will generate “Focus Groups” to elicit feedback regarding our vision.  We will divide up those in attendance so that each group of stakeholders is equally represented. Then, we will provide the focus groups with a task of each taking one sentence of the vision and providing warm and cool feedback for us to analyze. This will be done using colored sticky notes, using one color to denote positive statements and another for questions and any other suggestions.  Groups will then post up their ideas and other members will circulate the room to share thoughts about the different revisions that have been made in a non-threatening and unique manner. This method of delivering the information will allow those in the meetings to feel as if they are an active participant and that their personal outlook on the revised changes are important, valid, and worth mentioning among others.  

                                                                                  

As the meetings progress, there will be opportunities for the revisions to the vision to be discussed, analyzed, and explained in detail. Throughout the community-based meetings, we will also work to refrain from speaking solely in educational terminology. This is to be as transparent as possible among stakeholders who are not well versed in terms but still have an investment to the building and our new vision. In addition, we will make sure to hold dialogues with those who seem unwilling to commit to the newly revised vision. Opportunities for warm and cool feedback can be discussed in smaller settings, allowing for the sharing of true opinions and beliefs. It is possible to market this vision to those who do not initially agree with the need to make any changes to the statement as written.  Senge writes that having “shared visions is so profoundly different from writing a vision statement that it’s really night and day.” (O’Neil, 1995). We will work to stress the idea that a shared vision does not automatically mean everyone is in agreement, but that everyone is working toward the same broader end goal.  This will allow even more stakeholders to feel included and have their thoughts shared. All of these strategies are designed to create a level of “two-way communication” amongst the entire school community as the new vision is explained, explored, and examined.    

                                                                      

Another area of focus to help us communicate our revised vision effectively is through opportunities for inquiry based learning by staff members. We will present the data we found and collected to the community and allow them to question the data for themselves. This will allow all stakeholders to examine the reasons behind why we made certain key revisions to the vision. Through this method of communication and marketing, we hope that teacher and community-based observations will bring life to the changes we are planning to implement within the school’s newly revised vision. Additionally, we will have teams of teachers meet to look into the outliers specified in the data that are being readdressed within the vision. Providing the teachers with an opportunity to work hands-on with the revised details will help them realize the value of a shared vision that is supported by all staff members.         

                                                                           

Communication and marketing is often executed through visual media as well. Another way we will work to market this vision to all stakeholders is to create an illustrated collage of what our vision represents. These words and illustrations can be presented at the community meetings and can be hung on the school’s wall for all to see as they enter the building. The team will also generate and use “Thinking Maps” such as a bubble map, which uses describing qualities to present our revised vision. This map contains adjectives that clearly and accurately describe our vision’s main points. This visual graphic organizer of ACCION Academy’s vision can be used as a rubric by which to measure any initiatives or programs that we plan to implement.  See below for an example bubble map that can be posted within the school.

 

 

As we work to communicate and market our vision, we must be cognizant of the implications culture has within any community. Culture is an invisible flow of beliefs and assumptions that gives meaning to what people say and do.  It shapes how they interpret daily transactions, and is reflected through symbolic language and expressive action.  It is the shared beliefs and values that knit a community together.  School culture is shaped by the ways principals, teachers, and key people reinforce, nurture, or transform underlying norms, values, beliefs, and assumptions.  It is a complex web of traditions and rituals that have been built up over time as teachers, students, parents and administrators work together and deal with crises and accomplishment (Deal & Peterson, 1990).

           

Cultural patterns are highly enduring and have a powerful impact on performance, and shape the way people think, act, and feel.  In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the research on effective schools consistently showed that these schools had a climate that was purposefully conducive to learning (Levine & Lezotte, 1990).  These were places where a clear mission focused on student learning was embedded in a culture that supported high expectations for all students.  Numerous studies of school change have identified the organizational culture as critical to the successful improvement of teaching and learning (Fullan, 1998).  He states that culture fosters school effectiveness and productivity, it improves collegial and collaborative activities, it foster successful change and improvement efforts, it amplifies the energy, motivation and vitality of the school staff, and it increases the focus of daily behavior and attention on what is important and valued. By addressing the cultural needs of those we are marketing to, it is likely that our audience will be receptive to these vision changes.

           

Bolman and Deal (1997) identified four frames of symbolic leadership that people rely on to frame, assess, and respond to situations.  First there is the human resources frame which emphasizes people’s needs, skills, and the importance of a caring, trusting climate.  Then there is the structural frame which emphasizes goals, efficiency, policies, a clear chain of command and results.  There is also the political frame, and this highlights a world of scarce resources, power conflict, negotiations, and comprise.  Finally, there is the symbolic frame which focuses attention on meaning and the symbols, rituals, and ceremonies.  Teachers and principals tend to read and respond to day-to-day challenges from the human resource frame.  During open house meetings, we would focus on this frame the most, creating a climate in which change would be welcomed as a new path for our school’s further development.

           

Leaders and leadership play one of the most significant roles in the creation, encouragement, and refinement of the symbols and symbolic activities that give meaning to organization.  Effective leaders must have the ability to make actions meaningful to others and shape culture, create cohesive places that help teachers teach and students learn.  The past not only shapes the present but it outlines the future. As we look backward to the past we see the remains of it embedded in our existing school culture. As we prepare to market our revised vision, we must examine these cultures and create new symbols to foster the implementation of the new vision. School cultural pattern and traditions evolve over time, and it takes a form as people cope with problems, develop routines and rituals, and create traditions and ceremonies to reinforce values and beliefs.  People within the school community create unstated rules which govern relationships and conflicts.

           

A learning community links the past and the present to what it now is.  Symbols represent intangible cultural values and beliefs.  They can be expressions of shared sentiments and sacred commitments.  They invoke within an organization meaning, and they influence behavior.  School leaders through their words and actions signal what’s important.  Symbols as a representation of what we stand for and wish for play a powerful role in cultural cohesion and pride.  When individuals are attached to a shared symbol it unifies the group and gives it direction and purpose.  Many school names provide clues to both students and community about what the school’s meaning and cultural values are.  Our school’s name, ACCION, symbolizes the words Achievement, Community, Consciousness, Integrity, Opportunity, Now.  These words are powerful and can be directly tied to areas within the revised vision statement. A ritual can be developed around these words to effectively communicate the new vision of ACCION Academy. Students can chant “ACCION – Achievement! ACCION – Community! ACCION – Consciousness! ACCION – Integrity! ACCION – Opportunity! ACCION – Now!” as an opening or closing to an assembly or large gathering of the school’s community. This ritual is a tool that will express the new vision in an interactive and marketable manner.

 

Another symbol that will be developed to promote the new vision of ACCION Academy is a circle with three hands attached to it.  The circle represents the outside community.  The first hand on the left side will signify teachers, the middle hand symbolizes the students, and the third hand on the right is representative of the parents.  All three hands have a stake in shaping the school’s community to create a school environment where all three constituents grow, learn, and share ideas within the school’s broader community.  This newly developed symbol will be unveiled at the community meetings and be a visual reminder to the community’s commitment to each other. This symbol may be used in a variety of ways, such as on letterhead, uniform shirts and backpacks. By having a common symbol to represent the vision’s goal of commitment to the community, we hope to continually market and support the presentation of the vision to those around us.

 

Phase IV - Plan for regularly monitoring, evaluating and revising the vision based on our timeline


Throughout our entire three year plan to implement our revised vision, we will be asking for the students, parents, community members, and staff to reflect on the current programs through the following modalities: discussion during open forums, discussion/feedback sessions during PDs and after inter-visitations, walkthroughs, informal observations, discussion/feedback during PTA monthly conferences, within classroom discussions, surveys given to students, parents, and staff. We will also conduct frequent observations of staff members to analyze how they are implementing the vision at the front lines - the classroom. These observations will be transparent to the teachers and will focus on one aspect of the vision per month. In this manner, the staff will be able to self-assess and prepare their classrooms to begin incorporating the vision on a monthly basis. We will create rubrics and checklists to ensure that our staff is fully prepared and aware of all necessary elements as the vision moves forward within the school to become a daily reality. Our instructional coach will oversee many of the changes pertaining to academic rigor to ensure that our staff is compliant with new procedures. We will provide additional mentoring to teachers as necessary as these plans move forward.  All invested stakeholders will be provided with opportunities to view our timeline and make suggestions for revisions at community meetings.   

                                                                                                                                 From the data collected, the programs can be reflected upon and modified to best suit the needs of the students, staff and parents/community. At the end of our three year implementation timeframe, we will collect feedback on the positives and the negatives and suggestions will be taken seriously and used when creating and implementing the next timeline. As we examine each semester for progress made toward our vision and reflect on challenges that have arisen, we will incorporate elements from the prior seasons into our updated timeline. We view this implementation plan as a living document that can grow and change over time as we evaluate our school and monitor for success. 

 

See attached file for an outline of this implementation plan.

 

Implementation Outline 701.doc


Phase V - Presentation


For phase V of our vision project, we created a Powerpoint presentation to document the highlights of our vision plan. Please see the attached file for this presentation.


Accion ppt.ppt


References

 

Bolman, L., & Deal, T. E. (1997). Reframing Organization: Artistry, Choice, and

leadership. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

 

Deal, T. E., & Peterson, K. D. (1990). The Principal’s Role in Shaping Educational

Research and Improvement.  U.S. Department of Education.

 

Fullan, M. (1998). Leadership for the 21st century: Breaking the Bonds of Dependency. Educational Leadership. 55(7), 6-10.

 

Hoy, W. K., & Miskel, C. G. (2008). Educational administration: theory, research

and practice (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. 

 

Levine, D. U., & Lezotte, L. W. (1990). Unusually Effective School: A Review and 

Analysis of Research: National center for Effective Schools Research and Development.

  

O’Neil, J.  (1995). On Schools as Learning Organizations: A Conversation with Peter   

Senge. Educational Leadership, 20-23.

 

Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning             organization.  New York, NY: Doubleday.

  

Strike, K. A. (2007). Ethical Leadership in Schools: Creating Community in an             Environment of Accountability. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

 

Wagner, T. (1993). Systemic Change: Rethinking the Purpose of School.Educational Leadership, 24-8.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.