EDLS 695

1. EDLS 695 Internship: School Principal

2. Outcomes • To understand the expectations for the internship • To understand the data collection process for Capstone preparation • To become familiar with DropBox and the Internship Wiki

3. Internship Expectations Overview School Study Project: Leadership Activities/ Shadow Administrator • Student Discipline • School Culture • Student Achievement • Budget • Parent Involvement • Staff Evaluations • Student Discipline • Staff Development • Parent Organizations • Other Activities

4. Data Collection Areas Student Discipline • Records from the previous year regarding suspensions and expulsions: ethnicity, age, grade level, gender, etc. This will help you see if one group is engaged in disciplinary action more often than others. • A “scatter gram” of the building: you can obtain a diagram of the school and chart where and when disciplinary activities occur. This will help ascertain if certain areas need greater supervision at certain times. • A list of teachers and how often they refer students for discipline: you can begin to see if there are patterns of those adults who may need more support and training in creating productive learning environments. Remember that you also need to keep in consideration those teachers who have, by assignment, students who may be more difficult to manage. • Descriptions of Proactive Programs: bully proofing, Positive Behavior Support, etc. Along with the description of the program, look for evidence of the program success (a decrease in student discipline issues, more peer proactive reporting, etc.) • Any data collected by a School Resource Officer: programs run by police, assistance from police in school training, numbers of incidents on and off school grounds. Note: You might find that incidents occur after school at bus stops, local parks, shopping areas, etc. • “Culture Studies” conducted by school personnel or outside groups. Often district level professionals or local university officials may survey student attitudes and opinions regarding discipline-related issues: bullying, physical and psychological safety, etc. If your school has Mental Health professionals, they can be a font of information for you. • Outside issues that influence school life: incarcerated family members, poverty, homes in high crime areas, homelessness, etc.

5. Data Collection Areas School Culture • Examples of data you might consider collecting: • What is the decision making process? Is there one? Is it clearly communicated? What is the staff’s role in decision making? • What type of school committees are present in this school? What is the purpose of each committee? How are members selected? Are their agendas and minutes? Analyze the agendas to get a sense of the work the committee members are involved in. • Communication systems-how is information communicated to staff? Who does the communicating? • Is there a vision, mission and a set of beliefs that guide the work of this school? Are staff members aware of theses? Are they published and present? • Is there a process for conflict resolution in this school? If so how aware is the staff of the process? • How do teams work together? Is time allocated for meeting? Is there a common focus

6. Data Collection Areas Student Achievement • Examples of data you might consider collecting: • State Assessment Scores • District Assessments-benchmarks, interim pre/post • RtI progress monitoring data • School Based Assessments-those that are collected school-wide • Teacher Based Assessments/Common Grade Level or Department Assessments

7. Data Collection Areas School Budget • The school budget: look at how money is allocated. You should be able to get a copy of the general budget for the school. Look at how the funds are divided: by department, grade level, etc. • Special categories in the budget that indicate priority: professional development, a curricular area, etc. • The budget process at the school: who decides who gets what? Is there a collaborative process in place or is it more central? • The school’s personnel allotment (usually referred to as FTE (full time equivalent): how many core teachers, specials teachers, aides, mental health, secretaries, etc. • Money raised through fund raisers: PTO, special projects (e.g. helping to fund band trips, outdoor education, etc.) Who benefits from the fund raiser and how is money divided? • Other federal or state funding sources: grants, special targeted funding (Title I, etc.) • Other private funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, etc. • Information regarding the schools socio-economic status. You will not be able to get specific information regarding free and reduced lunch (This is protected information.) You should, however, be able to access general percentages, etc., that will give you a clear idea of your student need. • Special allocations of district funding: schools may qualify for additional funding based on student performance, poverty level, etc. • Systems that in place to ensure appropriate use of funds: checks and balances, oversight of funding, approved signatures, etc.

8. Data Collection Areas Parent Involvement • Examples of data you might consider collecting: • Parent Volunteer Hours • PTO/PTA information-what do they focus on, how do they interact or support the school, this may be in the form of agendas and/or meeting minutes • School Accountability Committees-what is the role of this group? Who serves on this committee? • Parent/Family Nights-how many are held? What is the intended purpose? How many attend? This can be gathered through parent flyers, attendance counts. • Parent/Teacher Conferences-the number of conferences held

9. Weekly Reflective Journals Think about an event or sequence of events, an issue or experience that you had during the week that was either challenging or successful for you. Describe, analyze, challenge (your thinking) and reconstruct (your new learning-what will you do next time) the experience in a one page reflection. You are required to complete a reflective journal at the end of weeks 1-7 during your internship.

11. Dropbox • You will need to establish a Dropbox account and invite Maureen, Linda and Debbie • www.dropbox.com • Create a folder for each data area and then begin to store your files and information in each folder over the next 8 weeks.

12. EDLS 695 Wiki • You will be invited to the EDLS 695 Wiki • Please check the Wiki each week for updates. • http://edls695.wikispaces.com/