For your final assessment, create a presentation by doing the following:
- Identify an educational issue within your school, work place, or prior education-related work experience.
- Identify a decision that has been made that is associated with that issue.
- Identify the stakeholders involved.
- Describe the process used, evidence gathered, and analysis used to make the decision.
- Provide recommendations that could improve any of the following: the process, data collection, or data interpretation.
For example, a school department may have to make a decision regarding a new textbook adoption. The issue in adopting the textbook is that it affects what curriculum will be taught in the classroom. It impacts how the curriculum will align with national or state standards. The example and problems in the book may facilitate a stronger sense of behavioral or constructivist teaching styles.
The adoption affects the schoolboard as they oversee curricular decisions made in the district. It affects administrative spending and may insinuate a value for a type of learning or content reflected by the school. Parents and students are directly affected as students must engage in the curriculum selected to demonstrate learning. Also, equity issues should be considered as all students will access the same text. Is the text biased?
Evidence could be gathered by comparing in a crosswalk matrix content and application skills in the chosen text to specific state standards. Additionally, a sample text and survey could be given to teachers and parents to measure dispositions and approval ratings. It may be that content experts in the department critique and approve the text.
Examples of other possible issues to evaluate are:
A behavior policy in a classroom or school
A process for RTI
A decision about how to place students at the beginning of class or when making student schedules
Homework or grading polices
Instructional practices in the classroom that attempt to increase student engagement
Your PowerPoint presentation (or any other similar software) should include the following components:
Slide 1: Introduction slide
Slide 2: Identify the decision
Slide 3: Identify the underlying issue(s)
Slide 4: Identify the stakeholders involved
Slide 5: Discuss the process used to make the decision
Slide 6: Explain what evidence is gathered and used to drive the decision
Slide 7: Evaluate the benefits and limitations of the data
Slides 8-9: Provide three recommendations to improve the process and decision
Slide 10: Reference slide with APA-style references
Note: Bullets and short phrases are effective in PowerPoint presentations. In addition to the slide, provide an additional 1- to 2-paragraph commentary in the notes section of each slide to further explain the slide and/or provide rationale for the content presented.
Support your statements with evidence from the Required Studies and your research. Cite and reference your sources in APA style.
Read
Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Educational Issues (Koonce, 2015)
Unit 3 - 3.6: Can Zero Tolerance Violate Students' Rights?
YES: Strip Search Violates 14th Amendment (Souter, 2009/2015)
NO: School Officials Deserve Leeway (Thomas, 2009/2015)
Read
Digital Natives as Preservice Teachers (Lei, 2009) [PDF]
What Is RTI and What Are the Essential Components That Must Be Present? (American Institutes for Research, n.d.) [Web page]
Tiered Instruction and Intervention in a Response-to-Intervention Model (Shapiro, n.d.) [PDF]
Hunter Spanjer, 3-Year-Old Deaf Boy, Told By Preschool To Change Way He Signs His Name (Dicker, 2012) [Web page]
Multiple Responses, Promising Results: Evidence-Based, Nonpunitive Alternatives to Zero Tolerance (Boccanfuso & Kuhfeld, 2011) [PDF]
Zero Tolerance and Alternative Strategies: A Fact Sheet for Educators and Policymakers (NASP, 2001) [Web page]
View
How Does the RTI Framework Intersect with the Common Core State Standards Initiative? (Waite, 2012) [Video]