0.15 Stewart, s., & Tareilo, j. (october 2011). principal leadership  (Page 3/5)

The steps grant

Realizing the impact CCRS will have on pre-service teachers, practicing teachers, and college freshman, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX, in conjunction with four East Texas rural school districts, drafted and received a grant to address these standards and instructional strategies to improve a student’s success. The grant was led by two primary goals:

1. To prepare high school students for successful transition to college and/or career experiences through quality instruction and high expectations.
2. To prepare pre-service teachers to teach secondary education students using rigorous curriculum and challenging instruction in order to be college and/or career readiness.

Additionally, six objectives were established for participant experiences:

1. Alignment of CCRS with math and science curriculum standards
2. Partnership activities that included all of the participants
3. Video case studies on pertinent issues
4. Assessment tools to determine readiness for implementing CCRS
5. Dissemination of research efforts
6. Evaluation of the grant’s effective results

Each one of these objectives involved collaboration between all those involved, offered continual professional development opportunities, and produced valuable feedback about the success of the initiative. After careful introspection and as a response to teacher concerns for support and understanding of their efforts, the developers of the grant suggested that a leadership component was missing and needed to be added because of the important role the principal plays as an instructional leader.

The participants in this initiative included four superintendents, four principals, 10 district instructional staff members, and 16 in-service teachers. Representing SFA were the deans and chairs from the College of Mathematics and Sciences and the College of Education, two math and two science professors, and four Secondary Education professors. Representing Angelina College were the Dean of Instruction, the chair from the Science Department, as well as two math and two science professors. The initiatives for the grant began in the summer of 2010 and continue for one more year.

During one of the institutes provided by the STEPS grant, the participants were asked to complete assessment tools regarding their experiences. This resulted in some very rich quantitative and qualitative data. Many statements focused on the participants beliefs about their own basic knowledge of CCRS, how they plan to communicate what they learned to their colleagues and their schools, as well as some fears and concerns they still had.

When asked if they felt they had a better understanding of CCRS, 89.25% of the participants strongly agreed with that statement. A majority of the teachers (60.71%) strongly agreed and 39.29% (agreed) that the project as of date and what they had learned would be beneficial to their students.

The qualitative data revealed more of their personal concerns and fears. They voiced their apprehensiveness concerning the time involved to incorporate the CCRS, the new curricular changes they faced, how to increase their level of differentiated instruction in math and sciences, how to include writing across the core subjects, and how to incorporate higher order thinking and questions skills into their lessons. Unfortunately, few administrators were present during the institutes and their comments were missing regarding these issues.