Developing and Implementing a Daily Schedule Which Promotes
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Rowan University Rowan Digital Works Theses and Dissertations 5-31-1999 Developing and implementing a daily schedule which promotes professional collaboration and meets the needs of the students at the Lakeside Middle School in Millvile, New Jersey Scott M. Sheppard Rowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd Part of the Educational Leadership Commons Recommended Citation Sheppard, Scott M., "Developing and implementing a daily schedule which promotes professional collaboration and meets the needs of the students at the Lakeside Middle School in Millvile, New Jersey" (1999). Theses and Dissertations. 1883. https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/1883 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Rowan Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Rowan Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING A DAILY SCHEDULE WHICH PROMOTES PROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION AND MEETS THE NEEDS OF THE STUDENTS AT THE LAKESIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL IN MILLVILLE, NEW JERSEY by Scott M. Sheppard A Master's Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Masters of Arts Degree of The Graduate School of Educational Leadership at Rowan University May 1999 Approved byv Professor Date Approved A//i_______ ABSTRACT Scott M. Sheppard Developing and Implementing a Daily Schedule Which Promotes Professional Collaboration and Meets the Needs of the Students at the Lakeside Middle School in Millville, New Jersey 1999 Dr. Ronald L. Capasso Educational Leadership The purpose of this report was to develop and plan a daily schedule which promotes professional collaboration and meets the needs of the students at the new Lakeside Middle School. A properly structured schedule contains the organizational elements for delivering the curriculum to meet the needs of the students. This research program involved the students in grades 6, 7 and 8. The students and staff are housed in four different schools throughout the district. A commercial building has been converted into the first true middle school (grades 6-8) in the history of the district. The school opens in September of 1999. A master schedule was developed for a newly constructed middle school as a collaborative effort with a committee of key stakeholders. The schedule is centered on the needs of the student body. Common planning time is available for core teachers with the same students to collaborate. The master schedule reflects the belief that each student can succeed. MINI-ABSTRACT Scott M. Sheppard Developing and Implementing a Daily Schedule Which Promotes Professional Collaboration and Meets the Needs of the Students at the Lakeside Middle School in Millville, New Jersey 1999 Dr. Ronald L. Capasso Educational Leadership The purpose of this report was to develop a daily schedule which promotes professional collaboration and meets the needs of the students at the new Lakeside Middle School. A master schedule was developed as a collaborative effort with a committee of key stakeholders. The master schedule reflects the belief that each student can succeed. Acknowledgments Scott M. Sheppard, Rowan University, would like to acknowledge Dr. Shelly Schneider, Principal, Lakeside Middle School, for her leadership and encouragement during this research project. Kyriakos Evrenoglou, A. Patrick Michel, and Mary Kula- Steinhauer, fellow graduate interns from the Millville School District, need to be recognized for their valuable assistance. The researcher must also acknowledge the contributions of Elliot Merenbloom, a paid consultant, who worked with the Lakeside Transition Team on two occasions. Merebloom is closely affiliated with the National Middle School Association and has assisted various school districts to establish outstanding middle schools across the nation. Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Scott M. Sheppard, K-12 Guidance Supervisor, Millville Senior High School, 200 Wade Boulevard, Millville, New Jersey, 08332. ii Table of Contents Page Acknowledgments ..................................................... ii Chapter 1 Introduction Focus of Study .................. .................. 1 Purpose of the Study ....................................... 1 Definitions ............................................... 2 Limitations of Study ........................................ 4 Setting of the Study ........................................ 4 Significance of the Study .................................... 8 Organization of the Study ................................... 10 Chapter 2 Review of the Literature ....................................... 1 Chapter 3 Design of the Study ........................................... 22 General Description of Research Design ........................ 22 Description of Development and Design Research Instruments ....... 22 Description of Data Collection Approach ....................... 25 Description of Data Analysis Plan ............................. 26 Chapter 4 Presentation of the Research Findings ............................. 28 Research Findings ......................................... 29 Significance of the Research Findings ......................... 35 iii Chapter 5 Conclusions, Implications and Further Study . ................ 37 Major Conclusions and Implications ........................... 37 Leadership Development of the Intern ......................... 38 Organizational Change .................... ................. 40 The Need for Further Study ............................... 41 References ............................................ ......45 Appendix A ......................................................... 48 Appendix B ................... ................... ............. 50 Appendix C .................... .............................. 52 Appendix D ......................................................... 56 Appendix E ................... ........ ...... .................. 61 Appendix F ................... ............................... 63 Appendix G ............................... .......................... 71 Appendix H ......................................................... 73 Appendix I ...................................................... 91 Appendix J .................... ...... .......................... 95 Appendix K ........................................... .............. 97 Appendix L ............................................ ....... 118 Biographical Data ................................................. 131 iv Chapter 1 Introduction: Focus of the Study Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to develop and plan a daily schedule which promotes professional collaboration and meets the needs of the students at the new Lakeside Middle School in Millville, NJ using an action research design. The study will result in a feasibility report to inform teachers, administrators, board members, students and parents. The use of a properly structured schedule will provide for interdisciplinary team teaching and contain the organizational elements best suited for delivering the curriculum to meet the needs of the students. The intern is planning on growing professionally through this research project by utilizing the following leadership proficiencies identified by the National Association of Elementary School Principals: - Analyzing relevant information, making decisions, delegating responsibility, and providing appropriate support and follow-up. - Exploring, assessing, developing, and implementing educational concepts that enhance teaching and learning. - Communicating effectively with the various constituencies within the school community. - Capitalizing on the findings of research in making program decisions. 1 - Assuring that the students are offered programs that are relevant to their unique needs. - Developing and implementing equitable and effective schedules. The intended organizational change is to create a collaborative environment for a prosperous middle school. It is evident from the research that collaboration enhances teachers' sense of efficacy, improve the quality of decision making, creates a positive school climate, and supports school change (Lindelow et al., 1989; Smith and Scott, 1990; Shedd and Bacharach, 1991). Definitions The following definitions were used in this study. 1. Block-of-Time Schedule - A daily teaching arrangement in which a group of teachers instruct a group of students at the same times (Merenbloom, 1996) 2. Collaboration - When participants in a productive process work together or cooperate to accomplish a goal or an objective. 3. Core Subjects - Basic academic subject areas normally consisting of language arts, science, math, and social studies. 4. Encore, Exploratory or Elective Subjects - Courses involved with curriculum specialities or special interest activities such as technology, life skills, art, music, keyboarding, or health/physical education. 5. Interdisciplinary Teaming - A process that involves the same group of teachers sharing the same group of students housed in the same part of the facility for the same block of daily instructional time. Teams vary in size from two to six teachers representing 2 such core curriculum areas as language arts, science, and math, and serve as many as 70 to 150 students (Farmer, Gould, Herring, Linn and Theobald, 1995). 6. Master schedule - A tabular arrangement which reveals all of the instructional offerings, personnel assignments, and facility usage involved