ed790mod 1 discussion

Discussion response

Discussion 1

Lisa Daniels 

RE: Discussion 1 - Module 1 - Initial Post

COLLAPSE

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Grand City Mayor Keller gathered a group of experts to develop a collective educational task force that will perform data analysis, report findings, and advance any prospective modifications to the curriculum. As a task force member and K-12 educator, I have been invited to perform data analysis and examine it from the lens of a K-12 English Language Arts teacher. 

Mayor Keller’s first address to the new task force cited Grand City’s expansion because of a rise of refugees arriving from Riza (Walden University LLC, 2017). The increase also contributed to the increase in school population and more community resources. Considering these facts during data analysis, one trend related to Grand City’s youth in grades 3-5 is over 50% of the students do not meet state ELA standards, compared to over 40% five years ago (Walden University LLC, 2016). Finally, as the new residents are either searching for gainful employment or enrolling in school, there is also a need for full-time childcare. 

According to Hargreaves and Fuller (2013), “data use is not an isolated event, data use should be a continuous, intergrated part of practice that is used all the time (Hargreves & Fuller, 2013).” Grand City Educational Task Force will continue to collect and analyze data to concentrate on any prescribed modifications. 

One educational change approach from Fullan (2016) that I consider to be a guiding foundation with the task force is recognizing educational change is difficult and that “educational change is not a single entity, even if we keep the analysis at the simplest of level of an innovation in a classroom (Fullan, 2016).” Stakeholders must also commit to creating change in the educational system. 

References:

Fullan, M. (2016). The new meaning of educational change (5th ed.). Teachers College Press. 

Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2013). The power of professional capital. Learning Forward, 34(3), 36–39. Retrieved from  http://www.michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/JSDPower-of-Professional-Capital.pdf

Mandinach, E. B., Parton, B., Gummer, E. S., & Anderson, R. (2015). Ethical and appropriate data use requires data literacy. Phi Delta Kappan, 96(5), 25–27.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721715569465

Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2017a). Grand City opening task force meeting [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.  

Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2016b). Grand City education and demographic data files [PDF]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

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Discussion 2

Karen Edwards 

RE: Discussion 1 - Module 1

COLLAPSE

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Like in most communities, the effect of COVID has changed education and its services forever. According to World Economic Forum (2020), “the most potential increase in learning poverty would occur in the global context of education.” What one could expect from my community are many of the same trends represented in the data we were asked to review. In past years, my district has had an overwhelming increase in the population of diverse cultures. And special education students and their families have felt the changes also. Data has been researched, reviewed, and analyzed, proving a great need for a new forum for helping our students become successful when learning.

 “Data use is not an isolated event (Earl & Katz, 2006). Data use should be a continuous, integrated part of practice used all the time. Mandinach (2012) maintains that good teachers have been employing data-driven decision-making all along; it just hasn’t been recognized by that term” (Mandinach et al., 2015). Trends from data in my community suggest that the number of special education students is rising, and their overall absences are increasing. Their academic skill set is lower than ever, and their economic support systems have failed them.

The implication of the data is the inability to invest in what matters for students. Students come to school with various needs, some physical and some emotional. However, the lack of resources to serve these needs is a barrier to students and an equitable education. Thus, these actions and circumstances can negatively impact the students, teachers, and community members. González-Sancho & Vincent-Lancrin (2016) suggested that ‘we see student-level data as the core of longitudinal information systems as it remains the basis for assessing the impact of policies and practices on learners’ achievement and outcomes.”

Fullan spoke of three components for implementing new policies for change, use of new or revised materials, use of new teaching approaches, and alteration of beliefs. One should believe that alteration of beliefs is what the task force needs. Fullan (2016) implied that “considering these innovations in light of the dimensions puts us in a better position to argue the desirability of the content of change because we can discuss them concretely.” Let’s look at the data for the percentage of children ages 3-21 who have qualified for special education services by ethnicity. One should be able to support the theory that Grand City percentages are higher than the state averages. He also believes in “new pedagogies for deep learning” (Fullan, 2007). We call the deep-learning outcomes the six Cs: character education, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. In order to address the six Cs, teaching or pedagogy must be changed to what we call a learning partnership between and among students, teachers, and families” (Fullan, 2007). These are my reasons for supporting the alteration of beliefs is good for the task force.

References

Fullan, M. (2007).  The NEW meaning of educational change (4th ed.). Teachers College Press.

González-Sancho, C., & Vincent-Lancrin, S. (2016). Transforming education by using a new

generation of information systems.  Policy Futures in Education,  14(6), 741–758.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210316649287

Mandinach, E. B., Parton, B. M., Gummer, E. S., & Anderson, R. (2015). Ethical and

 Appropriate Data Use Requires Data Literacy.  Phi Delta Kappan,  96(5), 25–28.

https://eds.s.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=e3e5d574-1347-41d5-

8d75-efc11b262f2a%40redis

World Economic Forum. (2020).  COVID-19 has fuelled a global “learning poverty” crisis.

Economic Forum.  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/12/covid-19-pandemic- education-learning-poverty-world-bank/

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