I got so wrapped up in the presentation yesterday that I forgot to askyou about the phenomenological query into impression. Did you get a chance to read it? Do I need to change anything? Are we going to sweat the graphic?

TTFN

Mike

Have a question. I have been chained to this computer for several hours now and all that I have learned is that all three of these “products” appear to be intuitive, aside from that there does not appear to be much else. Can’t find anything about add ons or bonus features, alignment seems to be possible, Migration of data does not seem to be an issue, they all seem to provide some sort of training/support, assessment seems to be alluded to) except for Curriculum mapper which seems to be happy to sell a gradebookm, and all of the research appears to be at least 8 yrs old. Am I finding what I am supposes to be finding, or am I just raising my blood pressure by being welded to a computer when I thought I was taking a course on curriculum development?

Not a happy camper!

Mike Mayo

WASHINGTON
STATE RESIDENCY PRINCIPAL CERTIFICATION INDICATOR/PRODUCT
Carricia M. Simpson
Saint Martin’s University Lacey, Washington
Curriculum Theory and Development
MED 631
Teaching and Learning (TAL)
WASHINGTON STATE RESIDENCY PRINCIPAL CERTIFICATION INDICATOR/PRODUCT

Name
Carricia M. Simpson
Saint Martin’s University Lacey, Washington
Curriculum Theory and Development
MED 631

Standard: ISLLC 2 Instructional Leadership
Strand(s): 2.1 Advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture
2.2 Advocating, nurturing, and sustaining student learning
2.3 Advocating, nurturing, and sustaining Professional Development

Performance Indicator: Data of Review of School Context and Culture
Presents a thoughtful critique of the SIP areas for Teaching and Learning with both suggestions for improvement and commendations. Suggests where to find additional data when indicated.
Tyee Park Elementary School is one of seventeen elementary schools located within the historical city of Lakewood, Washington. The Clover Park School District operates all public schools in the city of Lakewood. Demographics of the historical city of Lakewood, Washington are as follows: Lakewood was settled in 1833 and was incorporated on February 28, 1996. Lakewood is contained within Pierce County. The 2000 census reported the city of Lakewood to have a population of 58, 211.
The racial makeup of Lakewood is representative of a diverse community.
• 64.82% Caucasian
• 12.25% African American
• 8.95% Asian
• 8.49% Hispanic or Latino
• 7.04% Two or more Other Races
• 3.55% Other Races
• 1.84% Pacific Islander
• 1.55% Native American
Lakewood currently hosts 23, 792 households of which 44.4% contained married couples and 14.5% contains a female householder with no husband present. The median income for a household in Lakewood is $36, 422. 15.8% of the population in Lakewood, Washington is below the poverty line. McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis are eastern boundaries of Lakewood. Lakewood’s economy is dependent upon McChord and Fort Lewis military bases.

Data of Review of School Context and Culture Continued
Specific data pertaining to The Clover Park School District (CPSD) within Lakewood, Washington:
• The CPSD is the fourth largest school district in Pierce County.
• The CPSD is located south of Tacoma, Washington.
• The CPSD student enrollment is 11, 879.
• The ethnic ratios of the CPSD enrollment are as follows:
7.37 % Asian American, 19.84 % African American, 16.64% Hispanic, 1.81 % Native
American, 46.99 % Caucasian, 3.35 % Multiracial and 0.96 % Not provided.
• The number of schools within the CPSD are as follows: 17 Elementary Schools, 4
Middle Schools, 2 Senior High Schools, 1 Alternative middle/high school, and 4 Special
schools
• Special Programs provided by the CPSD: Special Education students (1,395), English Language Learners (1,105), Languages spoken (60), Title I Schoolwide Projects-13 schools (6, 273), LAP-9 schools (1,227), Highly Capable Learners Elementary Self-Contained (46), Early Childhood Education (ECEAP) (306), Head Start (133), Running Start (126), and Students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses (500)
• The mode of Transportation for the typical CPSD student is the bus system.
10,417 students ride daily on a bus.
• Food Services data includes there are 7,054 lunches served daily, of the lunches served daily 61% of students receive free and reduced lunches.

Specific data pertaining to Tyee Park Elementary School which is within the Clover Park School District of Lakewood, Washington: Tyee Park is one of seventeen elementary schools in the Clover Park School District. During 2007-2008, the school’s average attendance was approximately 420 students, pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Tyee Park has a majority-minority student population with the majority of students identifying themselves as Hispanic, African-American, and Caucasian. Approximately half of Tyee Park’s families indicate they speak Spanish at home. Nearly one third of the students in the school qualify for direct English Language Learning classes. The majority of Tyee Park students live in apartment complexes between the I-5 interstate freeway and the McChord Air Force Base entrance gate. A number of students of Tyee Park students live in motels and other forms of sheltered housing.
Tyee Park’s staff includes 17 Classroom teachers, 2 ELL teachers, 1 Music teacher, 1 P.E. teacher, 1 Librarian, .5 Counselor, 1 Functional Academics teacher, .5 Resource teacher, .5 Math Intervention teacher, .5 SFA Math Facilitator, 1 Secretary, 1 Health Clerk, 7 Para-educators, 1 Family Involvement Coordinator, 2 Custodians, 1 Reading First coach, 1 SFA Reading Instructional Facilitator, and the school’s Principal. Three additional employees work within the ECEAP classroom including a Teacher, Teacher’s aide, and a Family Service Worker.

Data of Review of School Context and Culture Continued
According to Tyee Park’s Site Based Managed Plan and in compliance with the CPSD focus, Tyee will adhere and complete the following CPSD mandates as an on-going process:
1. Improve student achievement.
2. Share decision-making.
3. Increase confidence in our school district.
4. Guarantee equity for all programs and all people.
5. Build a positive culture.
6. Establish and maintain strong, cohesive teams.
7. Value our diversity of people and ideas.
In 2004-2005, Tyee Park consolidated its seven goals into three school wide goals. Tyee accomplished this task by including past individual goals in math, reading, and kindergarten readiness into the first goal: “By June 2007, students will achieve target performance standards as measured by state assessments.” Tyee also consolidated the volunteer, student behavior and staff wellness goals. Each of these goals fit under the school wide goal “To support and insure the well being of 95% of the Tyee Park community.” The most significant change, within those goal adjustments, came in the area of writing. Tyee Park’s writing committee established strategies that were designed to provide staff development, instructional strategies, and planning time, which provided a school wide focus to improve student skills in this area. Tyee Park will continue to emphasize math, reading, writing and student behavior through our school wide model, Success For All.
Action Plan for Reading
School Improvement Goal: By June 2009, Tyee Park students will meet or exceed safe harbor in Reading as measured by the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. In June 2009, by the end of the third DIBELS assessment in the spring of 2009, 60% of students will be considered reading at “benchmark” in grades kindergarten through grade 3.
Strategy: Quality implementation of the Success For All reading framework integrated with the teaching strategies intervention components required under Tyee Park’s Reading First Grant.
Rationale: To achieve Adequate Yearly Progress set forth in the NCLB legislation and measured by the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), our students must experience high quality literacy instruction coupled with an effective intervention system for struggling readers and supported by informed parents and families. To accomplish our reading goal, focused and intentional instruction, meaningful assessment, targeted interventions, data driven professional development, and educating families to be instructional partners must occur.
Action Plan for Mathematics
School Improvement Goal: By June 2009, Tyee Park students will meet or exceed safe harbor Math as measured by the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.
Data of Review of School Context and Culture Continued
Strategy: Quality implementation of the Success For All math program will be combined with a building math fluency and intervention program to maximize student mathematics learning.
Rationale: To achieve adequate yearly progress as set forth in the NCLB legislation and measured by the WASL, our students must experience high quality math instruction coupled with effective interventions for students experiencing difficulties, and supported by informed parents and families.
To accomplish our math goal, focused and intentional instruction, meaningful assessment, targeted interventions, data driven professional development and educating families to be instructional partners must occur.

Reflective Analysis:
Tyee Park is a unique school with unique students and unique teachers; teachers who realize our demographics reflect innumerable opportunities for change. Tyee Park teachers are catalysts for change in the lives of our students, parents and community. Together (Tyee Park administration, faculty and staff, parents, local community, and business partners) we can evoke positive changes in our school and community. We are cultivating lifelong learners at Tyee Park. Our lifelong learners will be tomorrow’s productive citizens. A great philosopher once said, once said, to whom much is given, much is required.
The Tyee Park faculty and staff has been given many gifts, talents and abilities. It is our responsibility to take the many gifts, talents and abilities and cultivate the minds and lives of the children in our care. One of our many academic and social goals for the 2008-2009 school year is to function as agents of change in our students’ lives. Tyee students are destined to become lifelong learners. Contingent upon our administration, parents, faculty and staff operating in the spirit of collaboration, we can guide Tyee Park Elementary students destiny’s for success.
My recommendation for improving student learning at Tyee Park Elementary School is to utilize the current resources in place at Tyee in an efficient manner to produce significant academic and social gains in our students. Current resources that are accessible to Tyee Park are our faculty and staff who collectively have over one hundred years of experience in education, parents possessing the unique resource of being bilingual, the local community which supports a host of volunteers, and Tyee’s business partners to include Caring For Kids and the Communities in Schools Coalition which advocate the basic needs of our students. Throughout the regular school year, the Caring for Kids organization consistently provided a life-line agency of clothing, shoes, food, and the basic necessities to maintain a sufficient quality of life for children. During the 2007-2008 school year, I observed the tireless manner that Caring For Kids waged a personal war on hunger. We are honored that the Lakewood based organization chose to include the Tyee Park Summer School Program along with other summer school programs within the Clover Park School District to eradicate the ills of poverty.
Tyee’s other invaluable resources such as intervention methods that include the After-School Program and the Summer School Program. I was fortunate to sponsor both modes of intervention for the 2007-2008 school year. Interventions must continue at Tyee to sustain the present standardized testing data and to promote gains for the 2008-2009 school year. Another recommendation to improve student learning at Tyee Park Elementary School is for the district and the building administration to provide professional development for its Faculty and Staff and parents. Training is the key to future successes in students.

Performance Indicator: Student Learning and Assessment—beliefs, plans, and evidence
Reviews evidence of school-wide focus on student learning in beliefs statements, action plans, and assessment; includes school and classroom evidence of student learning with analysis of how data is used to improve student learning.
The mission of the Clover Park School District (CPSD) is to teach each child what he or she needs to know to succeed and contribute to the community. The Tyee Park Elementary Staff is bringing the CPSD mission to flourishen on a daily basis by the investment that the staff and community is making in our students. Our investment in students is evident through our student volunteer program, school-wide assemblies, school relations community based programs, and business partnerships. The vision of Tyee Park Elementary School is that our school community is to be considered the gathering site for communities of learners, each in grace and harmony, engaged in a purposeful search for meaning and success in their daily lives.
Tyee Park Elementary utilized the Annual Needs Assessment to determine the current school wide goal. The analyzing process yielded the following data.
• Reviewed data from prior year: WASL scores, 8-week SFA Reading assessments, assessments from daily grade level unit math objective, classroom teacher assessment and Washington State Query System.
• Data shared in the fall of 2006 with site council, staff, and SFA consultants.
• Established School-Wide Committees, which will meet monthly to track current strategies, discuss identified areas of concern, and develop new strategies to meet academic needs of students.
• Educated Effectiveness Survey needs assessments completed with parents and staff.
• Areas of significance identified.
• Quarterly SFA consultants and staff review, develop, and adjust goals and strategies to meet those identified needs.
• Staff development related to identified goals is planned and scheduled through out the year.
• Reading component teams and grade level math teams meet bi-monthly to review current student academic progress as related to established goals and strategies.
• School Wide Committees provide data to Site Council monthly, on status of identified goals and strategies.
Regarding Tyee Park’s areas of concern for the 2007-2008 school year, Tyee posed the following targets:
• In the area of Supportive Learning Environment
1. Cultural responsiveness
2. Lack of recognition for a job well done
3. A number of students lack respect for others

Student Learning and Assessment—beliefs, plans, and evidence Continued
• In the area of Parent and Community Involvement
1. Low percentage of parents and families involved with the school
2. Difficulty in communicating between school and home
3. Lack of cultural responsiveness
• In the area of High Standards and expectations
1. Low expectations for students to pass the WASL in math or reading
2. Large achievement gap for Hispanic students and other race/ethnicity groups

Reflective Analysis:
The Tyee Park Student Learning and Assessment faction is a complex one based upon the pressures of the Washington State Student Assessment. WASL testing has affected the manner in that teachers “teach”. If we are not to operate on the premise of “Don’t teach to the Test” then the school of thought of No Child Left Behind must be revisited. Tyee Park is on its third year of Schools of Improvement list status; therefore, our students must make significant academic gains during the 2008-2009 school year or the Tyee Park teaching family will not look the same in the 2009-2010 school year. The accountability factor of who is responsible for low WASL test scores, which is similar to the ABC Plan of North Carolina, will reveal which teachers will maintain their present teaching positions at Tyee Park.

Performance Indicator: Curriculum Overview
Reviews school’s curriculum scope and sequence; discusses gaps and/or overlaps in relation to EALR’s, GLE’s, and school mission; and provides suggestions for improvement.
Tyee Park Elementary School is a Title I school within the Clover Park School District. Tyee’s curriculum is based upon the Clover Park School District’s curriculum and instruction. The CPSD curriculum is scientifically-research based and aligned with state and national standards. Clover Park School promotes State of the Art Instruction throughout the district that provides the fundamental structure for a classroom setting. Disciplinary Understandings, Essential Questions, Student Performances of Understanding, and On-going Assessments are the basic tenets of the
CPSD curriculum.
Tyee Park Elementary School utilizes the National model of Success For All in support of the core curriculum areas of Reading and Mathematics. Tyee Park specifically utilizes the Roots and Wings components of Success For All Reading. The Clover Park School District cites the Success For All Reading and Mathematics program is currently implemented in five of its public schools.

Success for All restructures elementary schools to ensure that every child learns to read in the early grades. The idea is to prevent reading problems from occurring and to intervene swiftly and intensively if problems do appear. The model uses specific curricula and instructional strategies for teaching reading, including shared story reading, listening comprehension, vocabulary building, sound blending exercises, and writing activities. The model also prescribes one-to-one tutoring for primary grade students struggling in reading and extensive family support services. The approach is based on extensively researched and evaluated principles of instruction, assessment, classroom management, motivation, and professional development. This model was developed at Johns Hopkins University and is used by more than 750 schools in 40 states.
(From Clover Park School District Web site Tyee Park Elementary School)

Tyee Park Elementary School maintains the core curriculum of Reading, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education and Technology, and the subject of Writing (across the curriculum). The CPSD approved the specific modes of instruction listed below to be utilized throughout the district. Tyee Park selected from the CPSD approved instructional listing, the Success For All Reading and Mathematics National models for the 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, and 2007-2008 school years.

Reading
Success For All (Roots and Wings)
Interventions:
Read Well (Primary Level)
Read Naturally (Intermediate Level)

Mathematics
Success For All (Sherlock Problem Solving)
Interventions :
Number Worlds (Primary Level)
Mathletics (Intermediate Level)
Curriculum Overview Continued
Science
Full Option Science System Science (FOSS Science)
Social Studies
America’s Story by Harcourt and Brace

Physical Education and Technology
OSPI mandate

Writing
Adventures in Writing (Success For All National model)

The specific instructional model for Tyee Park Elementary enlists the description below.
The two main components of the instructional day include a 90-minute reading block and a 75-minute math block. All Tyee Park instructional staff are involved in reading instruction during the first 90-minute block running from 8:15 a.m.-9:45 a.m. The Success For All program is taught in ability leveled, cross grade level, groupings. Because all staff is involved in reading instruction, class instructional sizes are smaller during this time. Daily reading instruction includes fast track phonics, vocabulary building, oral reading with partners, guided group/partner reading, discussion questions and homework assignments. Students are expected to read every night and return a weekly Read and Respond form indicating their level of participation.
Reading:
The Success For All reading program provides instruction at each student’s reading level. Students with special needs and English Language Learners receive additional reading assistance outside of the reading block. Tutoring for these populations is provided by staff and trained volunteers. We began in the 2006-2007 school year to use the DIBELS three times a year with all kindergarten through third grade students as part of the conditions of our Reading First Grant. Students not meeting “benchmark” on the DIBELS receive additional, targeted, intervention inside and outside the core reading block. Progress monitoring for all kindergarten through grade three students is completed regularly to assess whether students are making progress towards reaching “benchmark” or maintaining progress to remain at “benchmark” under the criteria of the DIBELS assessment.

Curriculum Overview Continued
Math:
Tyee Park uses the Success For All math program to provide focused guidelines for format, instruction, and assessment. This 75-minute math block is grouped by grade level and taught at various times throughout the day. Procedural fluency gets 15 minutes of the block having students apply concepts to the real world. The SFA program consumes 60 minutes of the block. Student progress is monitored regularly with daily checks and unit assessments.
Special populations (E.L.L. students, Resource students, etc.) can benefit from all of the academic programs at Tyee Park. The School Improvement Plan includes regular assessments in each instructional program. By analyzing assessments in collaborative groups and using those assessments to drive instruction, we ensure the meeting of student needs based on their ability.
The Family Support and Solutions teams actively monitor the progress of students who begin to have trouble in any academic area. Additionally, the Solutions Team arranges and guides training for families to help their child successfully meet standards at school.

Reflective Analysis:
The Clover Park School District maintains high academic and social standards of its schools. Guidelines as indicated by the OSPI state standards are adhered to via the Clover Park School District. Promotion of the State of the Art Instruction throughout the district provides the fundamental structure for classroom settings. While Disciplinary Understandings, Essential Questions, Student Performances of Understanding, and On-going Assessments are the basic tenets of the CPSD curriculum, mastery of the tenets is an entirely different feat.
My family and I have resided in the state of Washington for two years. Despite the fact that I have been an educator for over thirteen years, my “briefcase of curriculum knowledge” was left lacking in regards to the standards of this state. I have taught previously in two states (North Carolina and Oklahoma). Neither of the forestated states contained curriculum that was as challenging to adapt to as the state of Washington.
Mastering the State of the Art Instruction has been a challenge, which I have managed in the course of one and a half years to acclimate my educational prowess. The adoption of the Success For All National Model at Tyee Park has been equally challenging. Nevertheless, I have learned in the profession of education to be “flexible” and to make myself content in all situations.

Performance Indicator: Staff Profile
Describes staff demographics, levels of experience and strengths, connection to curriculum.
The Tyee Park Elementary School staff maintain a highly qualified status according to the definition of the No Child Left Behind Law. Tyee Park’s staff includes the following “highly qualified” personnel:
• 17 Classroom teachers
• 2 ELL teachers
• 1 Music teacher
• 1 P.E. teacher
• 1 Librarian
• .5 Counselor
• 1 Functional Academics teacher
• .5 Resource teacher
• .5 Math Intervention teacher
• .5 SFA Math Facilitator
• 1 Secretary
• 1 Health Clerk
• 7 Para-educators
• 1 Family Involvement Coordinator
• 2 Custodians
• 1 Reading First coach
• 1 SFA Reading Instructional Facilitator
• 1 School Principal
• Three additional employees work within the ECEAP classroom including a Teacher, Teacher’s aide, and a Family Service Worker.

Staff Profile Continued…
Approximately, ten percent of the teaching staff has acquired a Master level degree. The years of service for the Tyee teaching staff range from less than one year of teaching experience to twenty-six years of teaching experience. Presently, two para educators are seeking Bachelor of Science degrees in Education. The faculty and staff cultural status reflects 99% of the teaching staff is Caucasian and 1% of the teaching staff is African American to include the Building Administrator.
Grade Sizes and Demographics
There are twenty-one teachers on staff.
The teacher-student ratio is 20.5.
Pre-Kindergarten- 34 students
Kindergarten- 67 students
First Grade- 66 students
Second Grade- 62 students
Third Grade- 58 students
Fourth Grade- 73 students
Fifth Grade- 70 students
The student population of Tyee Park reflect the following:
Latino 32.6 %
Caucasian 37.7%

African American 17.9 %

Asian 9.8%

Native American 2.1%

Reflective Analysis:
The Tyee Park Elementary School Faculty and Staff is unique. Diversity is not reflected in the cultures of the school community. Surprisingly, I am a portion of the one percent of the African American representation of the teaching staff. While cultural diversity is not a strength of Tyee Park, the overall teacher, parent, para educator and administrator belief in students is a strength.
I have taught at Tyee for one school year. In the course of a year, I sponsored Tyee Park’s first cultural-based community wide program. The cultural-based program was the February 2008 Black History program. The response to the cultural program from the school community was positive. Tyee Park is attempting to diversify its staff to reflect its student population. In retrospect, not including diversity as a pressing concern, the morale of the Tyee Park staff is the major issue which will be addressed throughout the 2008-2009 school year.
Performance Indicator: Professional Development
Describes existing professional development: formal and informal; teacher strengths; coordination with student learning; role of principal in creating climate for adult growth in context of data.
Professional development for the 2008-2009 school year will be funded by our Title I funding, Reading First Grant and Basic School Allocation. Staff are hired after meeting the criteria for state certification and meeting highly qualified status by the Federal No Child Left Behind definition. The District will actively recruit highly qualified teachers through advertisement in newspapers, on the district Web Site, at Career Fairs and in College Placement Offices. Teachers from Tyee Park will be involved in the interviewing and efforts to aide in hiring teachers whose interests and goals are similar to those outlined in the school improvement plan.
Based on the goals developed for the building, create a professional development plan. Include building and district professional development activities. Describe how professional development is sustained and how funding resources support the school’s professional development plan. Describe the strategies that are used to attract highly qualified staff to work with the most at risk students.
Professional development in reading will consist of four days of contracted training/consultation visits from Success For All trainers. These visits will include observations and data analysis guidance. One day of training will take place before the beginning of the school year emphasizing instructional strategies to meet the needs of all learners, including E.L.L. students during the instructional reading block. Seventeen staff members including the principal and Reading First Coach are scheduled to attend the O.S.P.I. Reading First conference in August. The focus of the conference will be on strengthening core-reading practices for beginning readers and implementing high quality interventions for struggling readers. Professional development will be maintained and expanded for reading during monthly Roots and Wings component meetings for all teachers facilitated by the SFA Reading Facilitator. Additionally, monthly grade level meetings will take place for kindergarten through grade three level teachers facilitated by the Reading First Coach.
Professional Development Continued
Professional development in math will consist of two days of contracted training/consultation visits from Success For All trainers. These visits will include observations and data analysis guidance. One day of training will take place before the beginning of the school year with a focus on differentiating the SFA math curriculum for all learners with special attention given to high performing and ELL math learners.
Math component meetings, facilitated by the SFA Math Facilitator will maintain and enhance the professional development of all classroom teachers. Tyee Park’s Instructional Facilitator will facilitate professional development for all teaching staff during bi-monthly teacher collaboration meetings.
Professional development around English Language Learner instruction and vocabulary development will take place in conjunction with the Clover Park School District’s summer and winter teacher academies. Professional development will also be provided for teachers attending the OSPI Reading First Conference in August 2008. ELL Instructional strategies and vocabulary development will be included in the summer SFA reading and math staff developments to be conducted prior to the opening of school.
Professional development in the area of increasing parent and community involvement will take place through SFA consultant work with Tyee Park’s Family Support and Solutions teams. Additional professional development will be provided throughout the school year at staff and curriculum meetings using protocols from the Achieving Family Friendly Schools model. This training will be facilitated by Tyee Park’s Instructional Facilitator and school principal.

Reflective Analysis:
Over the course of the 2007-2008 school year, the Tyee Park administrator, teachers, and para educators digested consistent professional development. Professional Development ranged from reading to ELL language based training and morale building. Towards the close of the year, the Tyee Faculty and Staff began to question the validity of the professional development. The concern permeating from the staff was…Are we being given sufficient time to consume, digest and implement the information and training that we are receiving”? The resounding answer from my colleagues was…”No”! Professionals should be treated as professionals, meaning, teachers should be given the same courtesy as students and that courtesy is…”We must have time to reflect”.

Performance Indicator: School History
Describes past critical events that have shaped the school’s present culture and analyzes implications for future reform efforts.
The mission statement of Tyee Park Elementary School is that Tyee Park is in partnership with community, staff, parents and students providing a positive environment that nurtures and supports academic excellence, social growth and responsibility in a diverse and changing world. Tyee Park Elementary School is in the “heart” of Lakewood, Washington. We are located on Seminole Drive, which is oddly enough, two minutes in proximity to the Lakewood Police Department.
Allow me to share with you the realistic demographics of Tyee Park Elementary. Tyee is a Title I school. Our Title I status is due to eighty-nine (89%) of our students are free and reduced lunch recipients. A considerable amount of Tyee students reside in motels and other forms of sheltered housing. Nearly one third of the students in Tyee qualify for direct English Language Learning classes.
The historical factions of Tyee Park are inclusive of the following data: our student population is transient; the transient students are generational students to the Tyee community. The teacher and administration attrition rate is high. Tyee Park administration has changed three times in five years. The teachers’ attrition rate is equitable to the administration attrition rate.
On an internal level, the Tyee Park mission continues to change from administrator to administrator; therefore, the school’s established goals continue to shift with every leadership change. Inconsistencies in the building administration may be causmatic of test scores, due to leadership styles.
Tyee Park has historically been a Title I public school. The Lakewood community in which Tyee Park resides is laden with a growing crime rate that includes child molestation (with multiple registered offenders within a one-mile radius of the school), domestic violence, thefts and vandalism. Nevertheless, the Tyee Park school community continues to display its resiliency and overcome individual and collective adversities to accomplish the task of educating children and building future citizens of society.

Reflective Analysis:
Tyee Park’s mission of being in partnership with community, staff, parents and students providing a positive environment that nurtures and supports academic excellence, social growth and responsibility in a diverse and changing world is an admirable mission. Mission statements are designed to be a guiding force for a school community’s members or stakeholders. As a member and a stakeholder of the Tyee community, I believe “wholeheartedly” in its precepts. I question whether the mission’s designers chose to consider the faculty and staff at the time and their unwillingness to expand their thinking about diversification.
Diversification yields itself to other arenas outside the single category of race. Diverse categories such as faith, sexual orientation, and economic status have a tendency to divide a staff. The adage of united we stand, divided we fall is indicative of the Tyee Park school community. Our faculty and staff must unite soon in the spirit of collaboration or our children will be the casualties in our internal war of wills.

cheers, Patrician.

How goes “Technology in the Classroom, The LeDuc Years?”

I am back at the certification process after I return home. Two more classes and my student teaching.

Not a lot of blogging since class, but I will pick it back up after I get home.

Later days!

Charlie K.

Hope all is well!
Mike

I remember you saying we could post our powerpoint presentation on our blog. I don’t know how to do that. If not, I could bring it on a disc. Please let me know asap. Thanks.

-Midori