Julie+Kaplan

Modules 1 and 2

**Executive Summary** A school with more than 100 teachers contains more than 100 methods and preferences for how a classroom should be run. The issue of data collection and analysis is no exception. Each teacher has a different understanding of how to collect data from assessments and observations, and a different method of tracking and analyzing that data. Some of these methods are more efficient and effective than others. Teachers utilize forms, checklists, grids, labels, and post-its record information. Often, this leads to haphazard, inefficient data collection that results in difficulties in analysis. For students to have their best chance at success, all teachers must be willing and able to use data in a way that maximizes differentiated instruction. Using ipads in each classroom in tandem with the Confer application will provide a way for all teachers to take quick, accurate notes on their students that can be easily presented and analyzed later.

**iPads for All: A Data Collection Intervention** **PS 19Q- Marino Jeantet School** The problem in our school relates to data collection. Teachers are asked to take copious notes about each student when conferring with them in math, reading and writing, but there is no standardized system in place for recording and presenting these notes. We need to analyze this data for future lessons and small group instruction, but because of the volume of information and the time constraints in recording it, our collection of data can be incomplete or disorganized. PS 19Q was founded in 1924. It is located in Corona, Queens. According to the 2010-2011 School Comprehensive Educational Plan, the racial breakdown of the student population comprises approximately 90% Hispanic students, 10% Asian or Pacific Islander students, and less than 1% of Caucasian or African American students. There are approximately 2000 students in the school in all, and around 80% of them live in poverty. Teachers and administrators will be affected by my plan, as well as students who will benefit from the differentiated instruction they will receive when their data is organized and analyzed. The principal would be in charge of making decisions about implementing my plan. The assistant principals can provide me with insights regarding this performance problem; they know the most about how disparate the data collection is from class to class because they review everyone’s notes. Ideally, teachers would have a specific and comprehensive list of behaviors and skills to look for and they would record their observations in a neat, standardized, systematic manner, which would be referenced later when setting up small groups for differentiated instruction. The gap lies in the discrepancy between how data should be collected, and how it is presented. A better system must be devised that enables teachers to take rapid, accurate notes that are easy to refer to later. Teachers are expected to create small groups using the principle of differentiated instruction based on the data collected, but it is challenging to utilize the data when it is not presented in an organized way. There are a number of factors leading to this performance gap. First of all, every year the administrators tell the teachers to use a different form. Sometimes we are told that use of a particular form is mandatory, sometimes that we can use our professional judgement, but teachers simply don't know which is preferred by the administration and are nervous about not doing the right thing. Second, teachers have never been trained on what sort of comments are supposed to be written on these forms; perhaps even the administrators don't know what they want to see, so no guidance is given. Third, and most importantly, teachers are strongly pressed for time when they are working with a class of 27-30 students, many of whom are English Language Learners or have IEPs. It's challenging to sit and record notes on one student, when the rest of the class needs attention and assistance. A major goal at PS19Q is to provide all students with the instruction they require in order to be successful. This means that teachers must meet students at their instructional level, whether the students are below, at, or above grade level. The school aims to help all students achieve success on standardized assessments as well as become life-long learners by differentiating instruction based on observations and assessments. To give students the individualized instruction they need, data collection based on observations and assessments is necessary. In the past few decades, the population of the school has increased tremendously. The main building of the school has 5 floors, but this did not provide enough space. To provide additional instructional space for more students, a mini-building was built in 1987. A few years later, in 1995, ten transportable classrooms were installed, which offered space for 250 more students. To make the enormous school feel more intimate, mini-schools were established: The School of Writing and Publishing; The School of Math, Science, and Technology; The School Of Communication and Performing Arts; The School of American Studies; and the Dual Language School.
 * Problem Summary**
 * Background of Organization**
 * Stakeholders and Decision-Makers**
 * Performance Gap: Cause Analysis**
 * Actual Current Performance.** Teachers in our school record data from individual and small group conferences on a number of different forms. Some forms are checklists, some have a class grid with one box for each child, while others record all of one students' data on one sheet, necessitating a new sheet for each child. Comments on these forms are often vague, repetitive or messy, as teachers must confer with many students each day, in each subject. Often, teachers are not entirely sure what they are looking for, and so their comments lack specificity. Since we have to take the conference notes in all major subjects, we are dealing with an exorbitant amount of paper, collected in a number of large, unwieldy binders.
 * Desired Performance.**
 * Performance Gap.**
 * Cause Analysis.**
 * Organizational History and Background**
 * Goals.**
 * History.**
 * Mission and Vision.** The mission statement at PS 19Q begins with the words “All students can learn” and this statement guides all of our practices. We recognize that all children have different abilities, and we seek to provide an education for each child that builds on their strengths and supports their challenges. We want to instill in our students a life-long love of learning.

Module 3:
 * Three Intervention Strategies **
 * Low end intervention. ** One idea for dealing with this performance gap is to give teachers more training on time management and note-taking. A series of 4 or 5 workshops, at a cost of $1000 each, could provide teachers with some of the knowledge and skills necessary to collect data in a more efficient way..
 * Middle end intervention. ** With a slightly expanded budget, we can tackle the aspect of the problem that relates to lack of time to keep collected notes neat, organized and detailed. With $20,000, teachers can be given extra preps, covered by substitute teachers, during which time they can work on improving the organization of their notes.
 * High end intervention. ** A strategy that addresses all aspects of the performance gap is the use of iPads along with the Confer App. With this App, a comprehensive list of observational notes can be compiled and saved, allowing teachers to quickly add each noticed observation or suggestion to a student's record. Since this is all done on the iPad itself, the questions of neatness and organization are moot; the iPad organizes everything for you.

Module 4:

I selected the high end strategy to propose to my school. The other strategies can be useful in limited ways, but each leaves some issues unresolved. The issues involved in the performance gap are lack of time to record data, lack of time to analyze and organize data, and lack of knowledge of what kind of data should be recorded. The first intervention- providing note-taking and time management workshops- might help teachers to better understand what kinds of notes should be kept about each student conference, but this intervention would not solve the basic issue of lack of time to carefully record notes in a useable form during the student conference. Conference time with each student is extremely limited in a class of 25-30 students, and interacting with the student rightfully fills most of the allotted time. Recording observations about the conference while the rest of the class clamors for attention is still a challenge. Using this strategy, teachers might take better notes on a few students, but will still not be able to record data successfully for an entire class. Therefore, this intervention does not seem sufficient to close the performance gap. The second intervention- providing teachers with extra preparatory time- can give teachers some much needed time to transcribe hastily recorded notes and analyze data to create small groups or determine what skills need to be retaught. However, this intervention does not help teachers determine what kinds of comments need to be recorded for each student. Teachers will still not be clear on which observational notes are useful for planning differentiated instruction, and as in the first strategy, they will still be pressed for time during conferences, facing difficulties in recording their data quickly and attending to the rest of the class. Since this strategy also does not solve all the necessary problems, it is not appropriate. The best strategy, one which resolves all the issues in this performance gap, is the iPad strategy. With the Confer app, teachers can quickly create class rosters for each subject (Reading, Writing, Math). The first time a comment is used in a child’s record, it can be quickly tapped out on the onscreen keyboard, and after that, the comment is saved and entering it into another student’s record requires two taps on the screen. The notes are automatically organized for each student by date, so it is easy to look at a student’s record and see a precise list of interventions attempted, growth achieved, and future teaching points planned. The use of the iPads should be preceded by instructions from the literacy coach on which kinds of notes will be most useful, and a short training session on using the iPad, including recording and downloading data using the Confer App. One of the most important goals held by this school is providing individualized instruction to its students. The iPad will give teachers more time to work with students- since taking notes will be a much faster process- and will allow teachers to better record their students’ strengths and weaknesses, allowing for differentiated instruction to occur.
 * Justification for Intervention Strategy **


 * The Manager’s Many Roles **

As project manager, I would be taking on all the roles described by Chevalier (2007): leader, coach, developer, counselor and motivator.

I have developed this proposal and will seek to have it implemented in my school, fulfilling some of the main duties of the leader. I will gather all pertinent data to become as knowledgeable as possible about the ways the plan should unfold and any challenges that will arise. I will take personal responsibility for ensuring the intervention’s success.

As developer of teamwork, I will ensure that all the pieces of the plan come together successfully. Each participant- teachers and administrators alike- will have a clearly defined role to play in bringing about the changes needed for this plan to be implemented. It would be my job to create, define and make those roles explicit for the participants.

In the role of coach, I will keep track of each participant’s level of comfort and ability, offering support, praise and advice when necessary. I will be certain to recognize each individual’s strengths and improvements, and make sure they feel noticed and appreciated.

Inevitably, there will be some individuals who feel frightened by change or unsure of their abilities. As counselor, I will reach out to these individuals, offering them additional support and help as needed. Often, these individuals are perfectly capable of completing the required work, and are merely lacking in self-confidence. This fear may be mitigated in my proposal by the fact that many people feel the iPads to be very intuitive and nonthreatening to use. Even some of the more technophobic people that I know have their own iPads and feel comfortable using them.

The role of motivator may be the easiest role to fulfill in this project. All the teachers in my school are deeply frustrated with the current system of data collection and would love to have a system that makes it easier and more useful. The iPad is an attractive piece of technology and few people need additional motivation to make use of them.

Resource management techniques: The resources for this project will consist of 70 iPad 2s and 70 subscriptions to the Confer App from the App Store. The project manager will have a list of all serial numbers for the iPads and they will be logged in and stored securely during the summer months. Each Confer App will be purchased separately through the App Store, unless the planned redesign of the App, which allows for a master account for administrators and user accounts for teachers, is completed in a reasonable amount of time.

Delivery system management techniques: The intervention will be introduced at a series of workshops: two mandatory workshops for teachers at each grade level and one optional workshop for teachers who need additional help. These workshops may be run by myself or one of the two other teachers in the school who are currently using iPads and the Confer App. Each workshop will be supervised by an administrator who will help explain the purpose and intended goals of this intervention. Teachers will use the iPads during at least 3 periods a day: reading, writing and math. They will have a class roster for each subject that will allow them to input their observations of each student for that lesson, and they will record notes on the small, differentiated groups that they are able to work with each day.

Information management techniques: The Confer App manages all data collected and compiles a record of differentiated lessons that are planned based on data collection. Several times a year during the first year of iPad use, each teacher will meet with their supervisor to share their data and display the individualized instruction they have been able to accomplish using their data. Administrators will use their own iPads to record the perceived success of each teacher at collecting and using data in this intervention. These records will form an integral part of the assessment of the success of the intervention.

Module 5

The role of the change agent......(under construction) The cost of implementing this project will cover the purchase of $70 iPads and 70 subscriptions to the Confer App. The iPads purchased for this project will be the iPad 2 model, at a cost of $399 per iPad, for a total cost of $27,930.00. The Confer app will be purchased by individual teachers with iTunes gift cards provided by the school. The total cost of the gift cards will be $700.00 ($10 x 70 gift cards). There will be no training costs, since several teachers already know how to use the app and can provide training to the rest of the school personnel. These teachers will train 4 other teachers, one at each grade level, to act as staff developers for their grades. Each week, the teachers of each grade meet for one study group period and one inquiry period. One week, both of these periods will be devoted to iPad training. Because these are regularly scheduled meetings, no additional other costs will be incurred. If teachers need additional training, other study groups or inquiry meetings can be devoted to this training as needed. iPads will be purchased at Apple.com. The Confer app will be purchased through the iTunes store, which is accessible on all classroom computers. The formative evaluation will take the form of surveys distributed to teachers and administrators. The survey for teachers will ask for information such as number of conferences conducted in a week's work of reading, writing and math lessons, number of small group lessons conducted in a week, and teachers' opinions on other issues related to collection of data. The survey for administrators will require that they collect a week's worth of data from a sampling of teachers and determine how useful and comprehensive they find the data collected. The summative assessment will ask teachers and administrators to complete the same surveys after the first year of iPad use, but with additional questions to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the project.
 * The Manager as Change Agent**
 * Financial and Budget Information.**
 * Project Assessment.**