"Marketing Schools" Please respond to the following:

Evaluate the idea that educators must "sell" their ideas about how schools should be organized. Determine where you stand on this idea and explain why.

Determine how best to identify the needs of the stakeholders that the schools should serve. Provide support for your viewpoint that will address potential issues raised by people who disagree.

Peer Response

I think that the idea that teachers have to sell their ideas is understandable but at times unnecessary. I should not have to sell someone of power on the idea that my school needs more resources when you can clearly see it. I understand that at times, you may have to sell specifics on how to get those resources (to an extent), but teachers work in this field everyday, our voice should have more say than anyone's and I do not think it always does. It is one thing to tell someone an idea but it is another when I have to try to convince you of something that is evident.

My school district is pretty much behind any type of academic reform we can introduce in our classroom. My district is actually reshaping our whole system; "The urgency of the reform effort was necessitated by low student performance outcomes, the low-student performance outcomes, the introduction of significantly higher academic standards, an organization culture challenged by mistrust and negative public perception of the school system" (MNPS,p.1, 2012). MNPS has employed a ‘Theory of System Change' that embodies (MNPS, p.3, 2012) which fosters personalized learning in the classroom. Research has shown that this component will improve the "student success rate".

I see stakeholders at the school I serve in 3 phases/tiers. I look at the relationships of the administration (principals, district personal, investment members and instructional coaches), relationships of the instructional staff (teachers and support staff) and finally the relationships of community stakeholders (community members, students and parents). The 3 tiers I have mentioned is also the way I would prioritize communication.

I would first want to get buy in from the individuals who makes the decision and would the adopters of my program. I would want to consider their overall vision and needs for this school which is step 3 in the developmental and information decision process models ‘visualization' of the adopter.

I know that there are opposing views to the way I view stakeholders. The last tier I mentioned is not to say that those groups of people are least important, in fact they are the reason that we do what we do, so I would like to address all the other groups in order to serve students and community holistically.

In a study conducted by Hughes, Matt, and O'Reily (2015) they noted that [teacher] "participants responded regarding their experiences of perceive support, received support, and how they feel support affects teacher retention" (p.130). Emotional, technical, instructional, and environmental supports are the four fields of teacher support that were being assessed by the researchers. These areas were critical to teacher retention.

To ensure that all employees in our school district is experiencing the best care I would first issue training to hour human resources department and school leaders. This would be mandatory. I would also establish an employee advocacy system, where employees can be heard and opportunities for promotions is made available to all employees regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, and etc.

Initial Post

"Political Underpinnings" Please respond to the following:

Imagine that you are attending a community meeting in which a policy to meet bilingual education is under discussion. Adopt the role of parent, teacher, administrator, or politician, and take a position about how this change should (or should not) occur. Support your position with three reasons.

Determine the biggest opposition to the proposed school transformation in this community and then provide one recommendation of how it can be overcome.

Peer Post

Imagine that you are attending a community meeting in which a policy to meet bilingual education is under discussion. Adopt the role of parent, teacher, administrator, or politician, and take a position about how this change should (or should not) occur. Support your position for three reasons.

Parent

My position as a parent is my child needs measures in place for him or her to be able to proper learning. He or she will not be able to comprehend the material presented if measures are not put in place to assist with the language barrier. My suggestion is to have a bilingual teacher assistant come in weekly to work with the students on learning the English language.

Teacher

My position as the teacher is the students that are bilingual at times struggle with keeping up with the class due to the language barriers. Bilingual learners should be offered the same learning experience as non-bilingual peers. My suggestion would offer time in the day when students are removed from class to learn the does and don'ts of the English language. This will enhance the student's language skills and communication skills.

Administrator

My position is that all my students deserve equal opportunity to achieve academically. We are needing to break down learning barriers that exist in our schools today. Bilingual students need more resources in place to help them transform into effective English learners.

Politician

My position as a politician is this could become an expensive resource for the district. The district is working under a strict budget and is unable to bring in teachers assistants or teachers. Even though both are on different pay grades each is just too much for the district budget to cover at the time. My suggestion is to allow teachers who may already be bilingual speaking individuals to form a group to offer resources throughout the year to strengthen student's abilities to achieve as English Language Learners.

Determine the biggest opposition to the proposed school transformation in this community and then provide one recommendation of how it can be overcome.

The biggest opposition for school transformation in this community is funding. Adopting new bilingual learner resources will take funding that the school claims to not have. My recommendation is to get the community more involved. By creating a fundraiser that will help to purchase or supply the necessary funds needed to offer bilingual learners resources needed to be successful ELL.