We will have only one secretary that will deal with attendance. Our plan is for her to run a daily report to see if any students skipped a class. She will check her findings with the sign-out log and give me a report. She is also going to give me a weekly report every Monday morning. I will then evaluate the report and discuss any issues with the SRO. When we have students with too many absences we will contact them and possibly make a home visit or just go get them from their home.
This is really just a basic overview but I think that through constant monitoring and quick reaction time we will be able to make a significant improvement.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
SRO Back On!
A School Resource Officer was approved for this school year. I am hoping it actually happens because I think it will be a great addition. The principal and I will meet with the resource officer sometime next week to develop procedures.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Starting Outline
First, thank you for the encouraging thoughts.
Here is what I have as my outline for my action research so far.
What do we want to accomplish:
· We want to figure out which students miss most frequently.· We must determine why they are missing.
· We need to monitor all students’ attendance while focusing on the determined at-risk students.
· We must develop a procedure that allows us to take action on issues in an appropriate time frame.
· We must develop a system to change the behavior of the students that frequently miss.
· We must analyze the data we receive through attendance reports to determine which interventions are most effective.
Activities to be conducted to help us reach our goal:
· The attendance committee will meet to analyze attendance data in order to identify at-risk students.
· Secretaries, counselors and campus administrators will meet to develop attendance management protocol.
· Attendance committee will help set the action plan for deficiencies.
· The assistant principal will monitor attendance and take necessary action when needed.
· The attendance committee will meet to evaluate student attendance each six weeks tying performance to attendance.
· Attendance committee will make necessary modifications to the action plan and the assistant principal will make adjustments to the consequences.
Resources and tools:
· Attendance protocol of other districts with high attendance rates should be studied.
· Professional journals· The most important tool will be the attendance reports generated weekly.
· Home visits will be an important tool in this process.
Timeline:
· Before the start of school we must – create an attendance committee, analyze last years data and develop a system to monitor attendance.
· Weekly during the year we must – run an attendance report and look for issues while keeping a cumulative total.
· At the end of each six weeks we must – meet as a committee to discuss progress or problems as well as make any adjustments to the protocol.
· At the end of the semester – a report will be generated breaking down groups, grades and overall attendance with the goal being a 96% attendance rate and improved passing rates.
· During the second semester – the same process will be followed ending in a year end report with the same goals.
Person responsible for the implementation:
· The assistant principal will lead the attendance committee and will monitor the weekly attendance reports.
· The principal and assistant principal will determine the new daily attendance process while consulting the counselors and secretaries.
· The attendance committee (not yet selected), led by the assistant principal, will generate six weeks, semester and yearly attendance reports.
Process for monitoring goals:
· Data will be broken down each six weeks.
· The percentage of each group’s attendance will be reviewed.
· The attendance of each individual student targeted before the year will be reviewed.
· Reports will be cumulative and reported to the principal and superintendent.
Assessment instrument:
· Our assessment instrument will be data generated from attendance reports. We will use the attendance rate to determine success and possible adjustments.
· We will also look at the time table from when an issue occurs to when it reaches the assistant principal’s desk as well as when it is acted on.
Here is what I have as my outline for my action research so far.
What do we want to accomplish:
· We want to figure out which students miss most frequently.· We must determine why they are missing.
· We need to monitor all students’ attendance while focusing on the determined at-risk students.
· We must develop a procedure that allows us to take action on issues in an appropriate time frame.
· We must develop a system to change the behavior of the students that frequently miss.
· We must analyze the data we receive through attendance reports to determine which interventions are most effective.
Activities to be conducted to help us reach our goal:
· The attendance committee will meet to analyze attendance data in order to identify at-risk students.
· Secretaries, counselors and campus administrators will meet to develop attendance management protocol.
· Attendance committee will help set the action plan for deficiencies.
· The assistant principal will monitor attendance and take necessary action when needed.
· The attendance committee will meet to evaluate student attendance each six weeks tying performance to attendance.
· Attendance committee will make necessary modifications to the action plan and the assistant principal will make adjustments to the consequences.
Resources and tools:
· Attendance protocol of other districts with high attendance rates should be studied.
· Professional journals· The most important tool will be the attendance reports generated weekly.
· Home visits will be an important tool in this process.
Timeline:
· Before the start of school we must – create an attendance committee, analyze last years data and develop a system to monitor attendance.
· Weekly during the year we must – run an attendance report and look for issues while keeping a cumulative total.
· At the end of each six weeks we must – meet as a committee to discuss progress or problems as well as make any adjustments to the protocol.
· At the end of the semester – a report will be generated breaking down groups, grades and overall attendance with the goal being a 96% attendance rate and improved passing rates.
· During the second semester – the same process will be followed ending in a year end report with the same goals.
Person responsible for the implementation:
· The assistant principal will lead the attendance committee and will monitor the weekly attendance reports.
· The principal and assistant principal will determine the new daily attendance process while consulting the counselors and secretaries.
· The attendance committee (not yet selected), led by the assistant principal, will generate six weeks, semester and yearly attendance reports.
Process for monitoring goals:
· Data will be broken down each six weeks.
· The percentage of each group’s attendance will be reviewed.
· The attendance of each individual student targeted before the year will be reviewed.
· Reports will be cumulative and reported to the principal and superintendent.
Assessment instrument:
· Our assessment instrument will be data generated from attendance reports. We will use the attendance rate to determine success and possible adjustments.
· We will also look at the time table from when an issue occurs to when it reaches the assistant principal’s desk as well as when it is acted on.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Big Changes
There have been a couple of big changes at RHS. We already have a new principal but when I heard our assistant principal was leaving, I applied for the position. I will be hired as the new assistant principal at the next board meeting. What an exciting opportunity. The second big change was that I found out that we may not be able to work out the details with the city and may not get to hire a resource officer. Either way I will be in charge of attendance and it will be real interesting to see how it goes. We will start creating our plan of attack on Monday.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Preparing to start
I met with my supervisor and found out we are hiring a resource officer for our campus. We agreed that attendance is a huge issue for our campus and time had been a problem in the past. Hopefully the personnel addition will help make monitoring attendance easier. He also agrees that there was still a problem with out procedures. We must be able to see potential problems early enough to fix them before they become an issue. Taking all of this into account, we decided on an inquiry. How can we improve our attendance procedures to keep us ahead of any potential attendance problems? Our system must be completely reworked and I believe we can improve our attendance rate significantly.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
how educational leaders might use blogs
Networking is an important part in sharing ideas within the education community. It is good to see what others are doing to solve certain issues at their school. By using blogs, you can share your successes with your colleagues.
Thoughts on active research
Administrative inquiry or action research, whichever you want to call it, is a way for administrators to stay on top of issues that affect their school. It allows you to identify issues that are most urgent and encourages collaborative and on-going study.
One of the major issues in my school is the attendance rate. There are many students as well as parents that do not see the importance of being in class everyday. Often times parents will make excuses for their children when they want to stay home for school. There are many that believe the district wants the students there so that they can get their money from the state. The point that they are missing is that when their children are not in class, they are missing valuable instruction time.
Through my research I hope to find out who is missing school and why they are missing school. I also want to find out ways that are effective in communicating to parents and students the importance of being in class. Finally I hope to find ways to encourage students to be in class.
I hope that by attacking our attendance problem, our test scores will go up. I also think that school pride, involvement, and ownership will also be a part of the solution.
One of the major issues in my school is the attendance rate. There are many students as well as parents that do not see the importance of being in class everyday. Often times parents will make excuses for their children when they want to stay home for school. There are many that believe the district wants the students there so that they can get their money from the state. The point that they are missing is that when their children are not in class, they are missing valuable instruction time.
Through my research I hope to find out who is missing school and why they are missing school. I also want to find out ways that are effective in communicating to parents and students the importance of being in class. Finally I hope to find ways to encourage students to be in class.
I hope that by attacking our attendance problem, our test scores will go up. I also think that school pride, involvement, and ownership will also be a part of the solution.
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