Date of Award

6-2017

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Educational Leadership, Research and Technology

First Advisor

Dr. Dennis C. McCrumb

Second Advisor

Dr. Brett Geier

Third Advisor

Dr. Cheryl Mason

Keywords

School improvement, continuous improvement, professional development, evaluation system, school walk-throughs

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

High performing schools require administrators to align the continuous improvement efforts with the professional development activities while evaluating teaching and learning for fidelity. The administrative plans of school improvement, professional development, and teacher evaluation systems systemically aligned begin with an administrator who can see the important interaction of these three plans. The increased pressure for improved achievement from stakeholders, coupled with competing demands on time for the school administrator, leads towards a need for efficient tools for improvement. School administrators are creating administrative plans that are in isolation or disconnected from each other which leads to a lack of cohesion. This project creates a quick analysis tool that administrators can use to align administrative plans and improve fidelity of implementation. School principals need quick, helpful, and flexible tools, which lead to improved teaching and learning. The School Improvement Monitoring Tool (SIMT) was created to provide a solution for school principals who are attempting to align their administrative plans. The tool identifies areas of focus for professional development efforts that directly align with the school improvement activities. Finally, the tool can provide evaluation information for principals to use when providing coaching, feedback, and support during the teacher evaluation process. The tool was reviewed by school improvement professionals and simulated with middle school improvement plans. This tool is important for administrators who increasingly are required to show high stake improvements in the areas of teaching and learning as well as aligning efforts for efficiency.

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