Shawnee Mission School District

development has been a part of the public school system for years. Different ideas have come and gone and old ones have reappeared with new names and new twists. However, one thing is clear, the most salient variable in improving student achievement is not the brand name of the program but the degree of implementation of the program (Reeves, pg. 2). Effective professional development is not about the programs it is the people and the practices that make the impact and transforms student learning. In the book, Transforming Professional Development Into Student Results, Doug Reeves discusses what is wrong with professional learning, how to create high-impact professional learning and most importantly, how to sustain it. In the early part of the book Reeves does an effective job of explaining several of the problems with professional development and as I reflected on my past experiences, I found myself guilty of some of the same practices. For example, Reeves explains that schools cannot claim to be “data driven” when they are guided only by evidence of student learning that reflects no more than a school or district average (Reeves, p. 22). In my early tenure as an administrator our school’s goal was focused on improving state assessment scores as a…

have to relocate. There is no promise that those displaced will have another place to stay, much less housing that is of somewhat equal value to their current housing. 2) With the moving in of wealthier, larger corporations, the small local businesses can’t compete with rising overhead costs, and the culture will change, often for the worse, as it often molds to that of the mundane and homogenous that is seen in large cities across America. 3) Public schools will suffer from budget cuts diverted…

determine whether or not a school should exist. The problems may not rest in the school, but rather in the students. Teachers might not have the resources to teach students, personal problems might stop students from succeeding, or the school, in general, the standardized test can be more biased . Additionally, students might not be fantastic test takers in general, and the test could be culturally biased. The test scores show school improvements, students can’t be forced to increase scores.…

like tablets that can replace textbooks in the education field. Then, why tablets are not used in the educational field? Students who gain technological knowledge at an early age will be well prepared to pursue their future career. The school system should be required to use tablets in the educational field because the tablets contain different types of educational features, it protects the environment, and it has a preferable storage capacity and weight. Tablets are beneficial in many different…

“School boards and Superintendents each have distinct roles, but they must be innovative and use common sense in all areas; however they must remember that it is all for the students.” This quote confirms that in order for students to compete they must be supported by a school district that is led by a Superintendent and School board that has the vision and know how to give students what they need to succeed. This is shown in a High School that Works report entitled Improving Schools Requires…

For some time, schools have been debating whether they should get rid of sports to help students improve their education. Many studies have found that schools that provide after school athletics are shown to have a lower academic rate. Therefore, school sports should be cut off because they are a distraction from school work, cost a great deal of money, and cause fatigue. Many student athletes know that their extra-curricular sports may take away from their education. According to the article…

Imagine a fourth-grade student that does not have a consistent home. The food the school provides at breakfast and lunch is the only ration of food they receive for the day. Snow days are agonizing not knowing if they will have food for that day and hoping to return to school only to eat. Students are beginning to notice that they wear the same two shirts and pants to school every day, and exclusion from groups of friends is evident. Teachers send the student habitually to the nurse to get…

“I Grew Up Here” Boley is a town in Okfuskee County. Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,184 at the 2010 census, a gain of 5.2 percent from 1,126 in 2000. Boley was established in 1903 as a predominantly Black pioneer town with Native American ancestry among its citizens. The Boley Public School District is one of the smallest public school districts in the state of Oklahoma. For the most recent data available, it tied with Sweetwater for the smallest high school with 15 students.…

determine the predictive power of socio-economic factors on district-level student achievement on new, Common Core-aligned standardized assessments. We posit that educators may use our methodology and model to control for socio-economic factors, and more equitably compare school district performance. Purpose We used a least-squares regression model to determine the predictive power of socio-economic status (SES) on student achievement on Common Core-aligned standardized assessments in the State…

If this is true, how come our schools continue to employ poor performing, unmotivated teachers? Why is it almost impossible to fire a teacher who has been accused multiple times of inappropriate or unprofessional behavior towards their students. Why have more than half of school administrators never reported these incidents, even though they are fully aware? One word: Tenure. Tenure is a policy that was first implemented in New Jersey in 1910. Tenure was created to protect teachers from unjust…