Educational Viewpoints 2008 The Journal of NJPSA Bright Ideas: Research and Reflection

New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association www.njpsa.org NJPSA Staff JoAnn D. Bartoletti, Executive Director Executive Director’s Bette Jensen, Executive Secretary Message MEMBERSHIP SERVICES Charles N. Stein, Assistant Executive Director JoAnn D. Bartoletti Denise L. Hecht, Assistant Executive Director NJPSA Executive Director Stacy Barksdale-Jones, Administrative Secretary Karen LaFata, Membership Secretary Dear Colleague, Carmen DePresco, Receptionist It is with great pleasure that I introduce the first issue of Educational Viewpoints Dora Catuna, Membership Clerk dedicated to Action Research. Each of the reports presented are the work of GOVERNMENT RELATIONS members of our recent NJ EXCEL graduates, each of whom was required to Debra Bradley, Esq., Director conduct an Action Research Project in his or her school. Within these pages, Sean Hadley, Esq., Assistant Director you will discover a sample of these projects. Each represents an original Cindy Levanduski, Legislative Secretary research idea that was successfully implemented in a New Jersey school. FIELD AND LEGAL SERVICES Action Research is a powerful tool in the hands of educators. It provides Robert Schwartz, Esq., Chief Legal Counsel opportunity to effect real change in the classroom, in the district, and for the Wayne J. Oppito, Esq., Legal Counsel student. As educational leaders, it is never enough to be satisfied with the status David Nash, Esq., Legal Counsel quo. True leadership requires constant movement forward. The men and women Linda McGann, Field and Legal Services whose work is included in this journal represent the best and the brightest of Secretary New Jersey’s newest educational leaders. Each has taken a single idea and through hard work and dedication has brought about meaningful change. RETIREMENT SERVICES Richard J. Klockner, Director As the Executive Director of NJPSA, I applaud the work of all of the 2008 COMMUNICATIONS Educational Viewpoint contributors and encourage you to follow their example. Erica Fineman-Bertoli, Director of Do not be content to follow in the path of change. Rather, I encourage each of Communication and Public Relations you, be the change. Jennifer Hunsinger, Director of Sincerely, Communications and Information Technology Gina DeVito, Communications Specialist/ Graphic Designer Robert Burek, Web Application Designer/ Technical Support JoAnn D. Bartoletti, Executive Director ACCOUNTING New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association Dee Discavage, Accountant/Office Manager Liz Dilks, Bookkeeper FEA Staff Table of Contents JoAnn D. Bartoletti, President What is My Platform? by Scott Shaw...... 4 Anthony Scannella, Ed.D., Chief Executive Officer Denise L. Hecht, MBA, Chief Financial Officer Improving Students’ Performance in Mathematics Mary M. Reece, Ed.D., Director of Innovative Through Teaching Content Area Reading by Abby Hersch...... 5 Programs Evaluating the Effects of Supplementary Phonemic Awareness Eloise Forster, Ed.D., Director of School Instruction on Student Literacy and Achievement in the Area of Language Leadership Programs Arts Literacy for Students in Kindergarten Linda Batz, Associate Director of Educational by Elizabeth A. Calabria. . . 12 Leadership Programs Transitioning Middle School Students to High School Jeff Graber, Ed.D, Associate Director, School by Bill Cornell...... 17 Leadership Programs Gerard A. Schaller, Ed.D., NJ-L2L Program The Paradigm Shift to Collaborative Professional Learning in Our Coordinator Schools: Orange Township by Julie Glazer...... 20 Joseph Poedubicky, Ed.D., NJ EXCEL Program Antiquated Practices in Changing Times: A Look at Traditional Coordinator Attendance and Course Placement Policies in a New Jersey Public Linda Walko, Administrative Assistant to CEO Karin Marchione, Administrative Assistant High School by Michael LaSusa ...... 26 to CEO Creating the Best Science Room Designs for Cresskill Ilze Abbott, Secretary for School Leadership High School by Peter Hughes...... 31 Programs Wanda L. Grant, Administrative Assistant for The Misfits: Using a Parent-Student Book Club to Combat Bullying School Leadership Programs by Richard Wilson...... 37 Luana Vindici, Administrative Assistant for Building a Strong Foundation: Assessing the Need and Planning for School Leadership Programs Character Education for Our Elementary Schools, Lorraine Smith, Administrative Assistant for by Rosanne M. Moran. . .42 School Leadership Programs The Journey Through EXCEL Was Similar to the Matrix – Morpheus Giving Neo a Choice: Red or Blue by Christine Abrahams. . . . 50

2 Action Research: The Marriage of Theory and Practice by Erica Fineman-Bertoli Educational When contemplating the importance of Action Research, the power of this methodology is apparent in its name. Action Research is research designed to Viewpoints take action and bring about change. Rather than creating a catalogue of work that 2008 makes recommendations to distant practitioners, Action Research calls upon the practitioners themselves to use a systematic review of data to improve outcomes The Journal directly. In this way, Action Research is unique, as successful Action Research of NJPSA “associates research and practice, so research informs practice and practice informs research synergistically” (Avison, Lau, Myers, & Nielsen, 1999, p. 94). Educational Viewpoints At the heart of Action Research is the principle that individuals work more © Copyright 2008 effectively on issues they identify themselves and in those areas where they New Jersey Principals and Supervisors have some measure of direct impact upon outcomes. It is because Action Association Research relies upon the direct involvement of the researcher in the question at hand that Action Research can bring about such powerful change (Kidd & Kral, 2005, p. 188). It is for that reason that Action Research calls upon practitioners to research their own work. New Jersey Principals and Every educator has the means to become an Action Researcher. “Action Supervisors Association Research is a process of posing a question, collecting information, and using 12 Centre Drive that information to answer the question” (Anderson, O’Connor, & Greene, Monroe Township, NJ 08831 2006, p. 16). Rather than calling on already busy practitioners to add a new Tel: 609-860-1200 job to their task lists, Action Research is embedded within the job experience. Fax: 609-860-2999 This means that the structured practice of Action Research not only provides a Web: www.njpsa.org means to improving the researchers individual practice, but also provides peers Email: [email protected] with a wealth of information that has been tested in real world settings and been shown to be an effective method to bring about positive change. “Action Research is most valuable when conducted over time, findings are NJPSA Executive Director compared from year to year and group to group, and the teacher researcher JoAnn D. Bartoletti matures in his or her abilities to remove minor findings and eventually focus Managing Editor on those that are truly meaningful for effective local change and better Erica Fineman-Bertoli achievement by both the teachers and the students” (Callison, 2007, p. 42). Initiated in the 1940’s as a means to identify workflow issues and improve Graphic Designer real world outcomes, Action Research has become a tool for practitioners in Gina DeVito all areas of social science, allowing greater flexibility than more traditional Copy Editor research techniques, which hold the researcher apart from the subject being Carmen DePresco studied. Action Research entered the field of education in the 1950’s as educators sought a practical, data driven way to improve classroom outcomes NJ EXCEL Liaison (Hammersley, 2004, p. 166). Linda Batz Effective Action Research allows the researcher to not only draw conclusions, but also test these conclusions in real world settings to determine the most effective mechanism for change. As such, it is incumbent upon the professional community to share findings and to work collaboratively to ensure that the positive change brought resulting from Action Research becomes a professional trend rather than an isolated success. Within this issue of Educational Viewpoints, you will find eight examples of Action Research that have not only produced tangible success, but more importantly, that were conducted by principals and supervisors from across New Jersey. As you discover their work, take this opportunity to awaken your own internal Action Researcher. By looking at the professional practice of education through the lens of Action Research, the opportunities for positive change are limited only by your imagination. References Anderson, P., O’Connor, K., & Greene, H. (2006). “Action Research: Questions Asked, Questions Answered.” The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 72 (4), 13-16. Avison, D., Lau, F., Myers, M., & Nielsen, P. (1999). “Action Research.” Communications of the AMC, 42 (1), 94-97. Callison, D. (2007). “Action Research.” School Library Media Activities Monthly, 23 (10), 40-43. Hammersley, M. (2004). “Action Research: A Contradiction in Terms?” Oxford Review of Education, 30 (2), 165-181. Kidd, S., & Kral, M. (2005). “Practicing Participatory Action Research.” Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52 (2), 187-195.

3 Speaker’s Reflections: NJ EXCEL Graduation Ceremony, October 2007

What is My Platform? by Scott Shaw

I stand on a wave pool undulating beneath my feet, Wavy reflections disclose unscripted noises beckoning for discovery. I wonder, can I stand in front of supervisors, teachers and students fostering lifelong learners by just being me? I stand on whispers of great educators, coaching me to understand, Sophocles, Socrates, mommy, none of whom are holding my hand, They say this is my time to discover and my time to shine, I stand on words that define schooling, practicing, delivering and growing Listen… Educating is work, work, skill, skill, patience, humor, control, study, presentations, understanding, exhausting, insecure, confidence, confusion, questioning, questioning, oh yes critical questioning, documenting, proxemics, tone of voice, control, grades, smiles, concern, help, assessment, adventure, creativity, relief, anxiety, satisfaction, rewarding, friendly, shocking, surprising, discipline, rigid, rigor, repetition, free, politically correct, lessons, lessons, lessons, plan, planning, planorama, please, please, respect, nervousness, quick-quick thinking, trouble shooting, sharing, advising, seeking, discovering, studying, researching, budgeting, controlling, allowing, listening, PowerPoint, technology, evaluations, chalkboard, whiteboard, Smartboard, bored, chalk, chalk dust, chalk sneeze, board screech, verbs, verbal, sight, sounds, actions, community, parents, recall, it’s ok, work it out, collegial, recall, what, huh. Slip slide always on time, but never knowing which way to go Teachers listen but pay no mind The agenda my friends; One day a kid asks me why I do what I do when I do what I do? My answer: It’s for the children. Yes…it’s for you Driving in my car, just wondering why Education is life I stand on an ocean undulating beneath my feet, Constant swaying, some big waves, some small I hear the hands touching my leg begging to be lifted out of the water But I scream, dive down and explore Why do they ignore, can’t they see what is underneath? No! Theory and assembly line objectives keep them afloat No more goal or anticipatory set, listen to your vision, believe in the future and create a date with learning What is this schooling thing? Why do so many kids get left behind in an era of no kids left behind? Why do so many teachers leave and find a new way to spend their time? No focus, no vision, hello report to the nurse I’ve gotta curse because I’m screaming inside, I can’t hide the truth of poor practice I am an administrator, a motivator, and an educator What is my platform? Scott Shaw, an educator for I stand on the voices of little ones shouting sweet songs of discovery over 10 years, has been the Supervisor of Instruction at I stand on the whispers of Dewey, Kant, and Bloom Morris County School of I hear a little one cry out “Help me be me!” Technology since March 2007. Focus on learning when you focus on learning, He has a BA from Rutgers Or NO one is earning University and an MA from I can’t deny that at times I’ve cried…What is my platform? Kean University as well as NJ EXCEL certification.

4 There was evidence to support this hypothesis. The text Improving Students’ required by the Elizabeth School District is the University of Chicago Math Project Transition Mathematics. Each section Performance in of the text is organized so that students are able to read the lesson and then answer questions about what they have read. Mathematics The answers to the questions are found directly in the text. My students were able to decode the text, but they were Through Teaching Content not able to comprehend information about the concepts presented without substantial explanation from me. As Area Reading a result, I found that I needed to introduce and teach the concepts of the lesson first and then go over the reading in the lesson with the students. While this method enabled Abby Hersch students to learn the necessary math concepts, it did little to help them become independent readers of mathematics. I realized that my students’ lack of abilities to read and make meaning from text written about mathematics might be a major Introduction factor in their low test scores on the GEPA, which presents I am a mathematics teacher with over twenty years of almost all problems as word problems of significant length. experience. In that time, the teaching of mathematics has Students struggled to perform well on this test and on any changed significantly. When I first started teaching, the assignment where extensive reading was required. I determined content was based on computation skills, and students were that in order to improve my students’ academic success in assessed on how well they could compute with different types mathematics, I would have to help them improve their ability to of numbers. The problems they solved involved little, if any, comprehend mathematics from written text. This would require text. As students began to use calculators and computers, the embedding instruction in reading into my content instruction. content changed. Instruction started to focus on solving word problems and teaching the relevant math skills needed to Research Questions solve those problems. There were several questions that grew out of this review This change of direction was also reflected in the standardized of my students’ performance on mathematics assessments tests that students were required to take. Computation was and their class work. Would teaching students reading skills no longer emphasized; students were expected to answer related to the type of reading they encounter in middle questions that showed their mathematical reasoning and school mathematics improve their academic achievement their ability to provide explanations for their work. For many in mathematics? Would teaching students specific reading students, this became a daunting task. Instead of encountering strategies improve their ability to comprehend mathematics numbers and symbols, they now encountered text-heavy from written text? Would teaching vocabulary improve material. Success in mathematics became dependent on the students reading comprehension, and by doing so, improve students’ reading and comprehension abilities. their academic performance in mathematics? Would teaching students reading strategies related to word One reflection of this shift was that students in my eighth problems improve their abilities to find correct answers to grade mathematics classes were scoring poorly on the test questions similar to those found on the GEPA? New Jersey Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA), with 24% achieving a proficient score in 2005. Scores over Context for the Project the last two years have declined. Numerous strategies have Marquis de Lafayette School in Elizabeth, New Jersey has been implemented to help increase test scores. Additional students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. class time was allocated for test preparation. Supplemental It is a large urban school with almost 1,200 students material related to coaching for the GEPA was used. representing many different cultures and speaking many Instruction was focused on how to answer open-ended different languages. The middle school of Marquis de questions like those on the GEPA. Content was reviewed Lafayette School includes about three hundred students throughout the year to increase retention of concepts. None in Grades Six through Eight. There is a program for English of these interventions had a positive significant effect on as a second language instruction, a resource program the GEPA scores. Yet, I believe that my students were better that provides in-class support for special education math students and had greater students, self-contained special education classes, and a knowledge of mathematics than dual language program. The school has failed to meet its their performance on benchmarks for annual yearly progress on the Language the GEPA indicated. Arts Literacy and Mathematics sections of the Grade Eight I became convinced Proficiency Assessment for the last two years (Figure 1). that what was impeding The rationale for this action research project was to find a their progress was their new approach to teaching mathematics that would increase inability to read and my students’ knowledge and their abilities to demonstrate comprehend mathematics when that knowledge through solving problems, such as those written in text form. found on the high-stakes tests that they must take and pass.

5 Research Base fluent readers who are able to make meaning from written text. Teachers who include strategy lessons that familiarize Middle school and high school students are presented with students with written language structures, text features, and large amounts of information in the form of written text. content vocabulary help those students read for meaning more As such, a student’s level of literacy becomes a determining efficiently and effectively. By including this type of instruction factor in his or her academic success. Students come to on a regular basis, teachers can demonstrate to students the middle school with the ability to decode text but with different importance of literacy in content areas (National Council of levels of ability in comprehending what they read. The literacy Teachers of English Commission on Reading, 2004). skills necessary for middle school are more complex than those required in elementary school. It becomes necessary In the reading process, students bring information about for content teachers to embed reading instruction into their what they know about a topic to the text they read, making classes to meet the literacy and learning needs of all their connections with the information presented. Teaching reading students (Ruddell, 2001). comprehension is a process that involves three stages. The first stage is pre-reading. During pre-reading, teachers can assess Content literacy requires students to use reading for the the background knowledge that students bring to the material, acquisition of knowledge in a subject (Alverman and Phelps, which will influence how they read and learn from a text. 2002). “Reading is defined as a complex, purposeful, social, This information can help the teacher bridge gaps for students and cognitive process in which readers simultaneously by clarifying concepts and vocabulary. Pre-reading engages use their knowledge of spoken and written language, their the students by previewing the ideas presented and giving knowledge of the topic in the text, and their knowledge of them an entry point to the material. The second step is guided reading. Figure 1 GEPA Scores for Marquis De Lafayette School Students need strategies to help them go beyond the literal meaning of the text to have deeper understanding. 70.0% 66% The final stage is post-reading, where students have the opportunity to 60.0% 58% show what they understand and apply 49% 50.0% 47.9% their knowledge to new situations.

41.8% Teaching reading in the content 39% 40.0% areas in these three stages supports students in their understanding of 31.2% 30.0% the texts they are reading, increases 24.5% Percent Passing their comprehension, and develops 20.0% vocabulary (Jacobs, 1999). Reading in mathematics is the 10.0% same cognitive process. It requires decoding and comprehending what 0.0% is read, using prior knowledge to L L L L th th th th A A A A a a a a L L L L 4 k 5 k M M M M 0 r 0 r 4 rk 5 rk help construct meaning, drawing 0 a 0 a 0 a 0 a -2 m -2 m 0 0 3 h 4 h -2 m -2 m 0 c 0 c 3 h 4 h 0 n 0 n 0 c 0 c conclusions about what is read, and 2 e 2 e 0 n 0 n B B 2 e 2 e 4 5 B B 0 0 4 5 0 0 0 0 applying the knowledge gained to -2 -2 0 0 3 4 -2 -2 0 0 3 4 0 0 0 0 solve problems. Mathematics reading 2 2 0 0 2 2 requires additional skills as well. 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 Scores Mathematics text contains a great amount of information in a short culture to construct meaning” (National Council of Teachers amount of text, and that information is often abstract. Words of English Commission on Reading, 2004). This is also true have exact meaning and sentences are often interdependent, for the content area of mathematics. The National Council so it is difficult to skim mathematics text for meaning. Students of Teachers of Mathematics in Principles and Standards must also be proficient at decoding numbers and symbols. Text for School Mathematics (2000) include the standard of is often interrupted by graphics or examples, making it hard to mathematics as communication. They present the idea of follow (Barton and Heidema, 2000). mathematics as a language with the skills of reading used To comprehend mathematics, students must create their to interpret and evaluate mathematical ideas. own meaning for what they read. To do this, students Teachers who accept the idea that reading instruction is must activate prior knowledge, have a clear understanding the responsibility of all teachers are better able to help their of how mathematical concepts are related, and be able to students achieve. Students who are successful readers are summarize what they have learned in their own words. able to apply strategies to comprehend difficult text. Content Reading mathematics requires that students continually teachers can assist struggling readers, facilitating their develop their vocabulary. Students must learn to recognize access to content-based materials (Teaching Today, 2005). the connection between a symbol and the idea that it Students need this instructional support in order to become represents. They must be able to comprehend ideas that

6 are represented in tables, graphs, or diagrams. Then, there asking themselves if they can explain the vocabulary, if they are different types of writing in mathematics text. Exposition understand the sample problems, and if they can they use explains concepts, vocabulary, and rules. The reader is what they have learned from the text to solve other problems expected to comprehend the material but may not have to (Timberview Times Newsletter, 2005). These steps provide use the information immediately. Instructions tell a reader to students with experience in critical examination of the texts perform a task. It is necessary for the reader to understand they are reading and thinking critically about how they read. what process or operation is needed. Exercises and examples One extremely important component of helping students require the student to practice or apply the concept that was to read with comprehension is vocabulary development. just introduced. Peripheral writing introduces the material or The link between vocabulary knowledge and academic helps the reader transition through the text. Signals aid the achievement is well-documented. “The beginning point reader by pointing out important information (Barton and in designing a vocabulary program to enhance students’ Heidema, 2000). Students need instruction in recognizing the academic background knowledge is to identify those terms different types of writing encountered in math texts and how to that are central to academic learning (Williams, 2003).” This use each type of writing to construct meaning. is especially important in mathematics where concepts are Mathematics reading incorporates general reading embedded within other concepts to be defined or understood. strategies that apply to all content areas, along with some Vocabulary instruction should start with what students that are specific to mathematics. Mathematical concepts already know and build new terms on that knowledge. are presented in a precise format which can be difficult to Students need multiple exposures to new terms. Activities comprehend with the first exposure. This means that reading that involve using new terms help strengthen students’ mathematics is not a linear experience but requires revisiting learning, especially those that require students to explain the material to increase understanding. The reader cannot terms in their own words (Alverman and Phelps, 2002). be passive but must decide whether he or she has a clear understanding of the concepts presented (Simonson and Direct vocabulary instruction is one technique to help Goveau, 2005). Success in reading mathematics requires the students acquire a rich content-based vocabulary. Students development of skills in four areas including: construction, receive a brief explanation of the term. Then, they receive collaboration, context, and communication (The ERIC an imagery-based representation for the term. Students Development Team, 1997). explain the term in their own words and create their own imagery-based representation for the term. They make Reading in mathematics has two important functions. One is connections with the term to other words. Finally, students to acquire information from a text, and the other is to solve add new information to their understanding of the term. word problems. An instructional framework is needed to Teaching vocabulary systematically enhances students’ teach students the skills needed for comprehension related academic background knowledge and improves their to both tasks. Introductory activities that motivate students reading comprehension (Williams, 2003). and prepare them for the text they are going to encounter should start a lesson. Reviewing background knowledge Reading is the foundation for problem-solving skills, since most is essential at this step. A purpose for the lesson should problems that students have to solve are presented in written be established, letting students know what they will be form. Reading in mathematics requires careful analysis and expected to do after reading. Directions for reading should attention to detail; students cannot skim through a verbal be given, which include discussing strategies useful in problem. They need to read critically and carefully for meaning. comprehending the text. Essential vocabulary should be As teachers, we must help our students become more critical taught. After reading, activities that reinforce major concepts readers, since there is a strong link between language and how should take place, allowing students to internalize their well students understand mathematical concepts (Krulick and understandings (Barton and Heidema, 2000). Rudnick, 1993). Students can be taught how to read a math text using a Word problems are not organized in a way that is familiar seven-step process. The first step is to set a purpose by to most students. The topic sentence usually appears at identifying the main topic of the section of the text that the end of the problem, while facts and details appear at is going to be read. Next, prior knowledge is activated by the beginning. As a result, students may have difficulty building on math concepts that were previously taught. The understanding their purpose for reading. Equally confusing text is previewed by looking at titles, headings, highlighted may be irrelevant details and distracters that are included in terms, diagrams, and the introductory paragraph. There is word problems. discussion of what was learned from the Students need experience in reading word problems and in preview focusing on key terms that identifying the main idea and supporting details. They need to will be important. Text structure is be able to understand exactly what the topic sentence means examined next, looking for how as it is often the question asked or problem posed. To read the selection is organized. During word problems successfully, students have to monitor their reading, students read for a comprehension as they process the information found in the purpose, such as identifying text. Three steps can be used to accomplish this goal: planning, key terms. Lastly, students monitoring, and remediation (Barton and Heidema, 2000). reflect on what they have read,

7 The planning phase includes identifying the goal for reading, they used and if their reasoning was correct. By modeling such as producing an answer, choosing a method of these strategies for students, assisting them in their use, solution, or choosing a correct operation. Students need to and eventually having students use them independently, be encouraged to explain how they determined their goal students can increase their mathematical reading to become for reading. Monitoring requires that students check the successful problem-solvers (Barton and Heidema, 2000). effectiveness of the strategy they have chosen to solve a In order to support my idea that teaching students to problem against the goal they set. They should verify whether be better readers would increase their mathematics their answers are sensible, given the information in the performance, I selected my seventh grade mathematics class Figure 2 2005 TerraNova Score Comparisons with which to work, since I would between Reading and Math Scores be able teach them through the for the Eighteen Students in the Study next year as eighth graders. In May 2005, I examined their seventh 100% grade TerraNova scores in reading

90% and in mathematics. There was a correlation between reading 80% performance and mathematics performance. Students who scored 70% high in reading tended to score higher in mathematics as well. 60% Conversely, students who scored

50% poorly in reading tended to score poorly in mathematics (Figure 2). Math Scores 40% At the end of their seventh grade year, eighteen students were given a 30% pre-test to assess their mathematics

20% performance. The test consisted of ten multiple choice questions and two 10% open-ended questions, which required students to show their work and write 0% short explanations for their thinking. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Students had thirty-five minutes to Reading Scores complete the test. They were allowed 2005 TerraNova Scores Linear (2005 TerraNova Scores) to use calculators and had access to a math reference sheet with geometric formulas. The questions were framed problem, and that work was performed correctly. Remediation as word problems, and the questions, the format, and timing includes finding out where reading comprehension failed to of the test mirrored the GEPA that the students would take produce understanding of the parameters of the word problem next year in eighth grade. The questions on the test covered (Barton and Heidema, 2000). concepts that the students had received instruction on during the year. The scores the students received would become a Teachers can help students who can read all of the words in a base-line measure of their performance before any instructional problem yet who cannot arrive at an answer. Teachers should interventions had been implemented. model how to comprehend the information in a word problem by selecting only those words in a problem that are necessary Students were exposed to six weeks of planned instruction to solve the problem. Students need to know how these words in reading mathematics, beginning the week of September indicate the action that must be taken to solve the problem. 12, 2005. This focused on three areas: reading mathematics Next, is to identify words or symbols in the problems that textbooks, vocabulary development, and reading word refer to specific concepts or vocabulary words that need to be problems. Each day reading instruction was embedded reviewed. Finally, students need to practice explaining how they into the math lesson. The instruction took place during know how to work a problem. Instruction in this process should the students’ regular ninety minute math block five days a include having students survey the problem, looking for the week. Every class was structured in a similar way to provide question or declarative statement that tells what is required for continuity of strategies. an answer. Students should be encouraged to ask questions Students’ responses to the pre-instruction survey administered about what they are being asked to find. While reading the at the start of the year were used to give direction to the problem, students should be asked to identify key information instructional plan. The survey showed that students were and words. From that information, they should select a process confident about being able to use information from the text to solve the problem. The answer should be determined to solve problems and about using a set of steps to solve and checked for accuracy given the facts of the problem. problems. They were less confident about understanding what Finally, students should explain why they chose the process they read and knowing what math to do from what they read.

8 The survey also showed that many students did not look up students refined those predictions using the information from unfamiliar words. I interpreted the results of the study to mean each sub-heading. Natural stopping points were chosen for that students felt that they were good readers but were not each section of the text in order to discuss what was read and always able to make meaning of what they read. While they so I could question students and assess their comprehension. felt they could use information from their reading to solve If information needed clarifying, it was done at this point problems, they were not always clear about what mathematics through additional discussion or by providing other examples. should be used. With this as background information, I began The text book the students used included a set of questions to implement instruction on how to read mathematically. at the end of the lesson called “Covering the Reading.” Each day, instruction in class was centered on one of the The questions referred back to what the students read and sections in the Transition Mathematics textbook. The objective included recall questions, giving definitions and problems for the lesson was posted on the board, and I started class by that mirrored the examples in the lesson. Students worked discussing what we were going to learn. This gave students in pairs to answer the questions. If someone was having an opportunity to access prior knowledge and also gave me difficulty, I referred them back to the appropriate section information on how much review of underlying concepts would of the text to see if a second reading would help. We then be needed. discussed the answers to some of the questions as a class. Next, I introduced vocabulary that was essential to understanding the Figure 3 Pre-Test And Post-Test Math GEPA Practice Test Scores concepts of the lesson. Students used for the Eighteen Students in the Study a graphic organizer called vocabulary 100% rectangles. Students took notebook paper and folded it in half vertically. 90% On the left side, the students wrote 80% the vocabulary word. On the right side, I gave the students a formal 70% definition. Then we discussed the word and posed different ways to represent 60% Pre-Test the word as images. We also listed 50% Post-Test words with which the vocabulary word was associated. Students recorded Percent Scored 40% these under the word on the left side 30% of their paper. A horizontal line was drawn and students were ready for 20% the next word. Throughout the lesson, 10% students had the opportunity to use the vocabulary to talk about the math 0% they were learning. A second phase 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Student Number of vocabulary instruction was to teach students words commonly found in word problems that indicated directions. Figure 4 Pre-Test and Post-Test Math GEPA Practice Test Scores A list of twenty-five words was compiled for the Eighteen Students in the Study by examining GEPA preparation 100% materials. Instruction for these words also utilized vocabulary rectangles. 90% Students then opened their text 80% books to begin to read the lesson. To 70% introduce the reading, we activated prior knowledge by looking at the 60% title of the lesson, the pictures in the Pre-Test 50% Post-Test lesson, the graphics, and any words in bold type. We talked about what Percent Scored 40% we knew about the topic and what 30% other concepts were related to it. This gave students a point of entry to the 20% material to be covered. I asked the students to predict what they would 10% learn during the lesson and what 0% kind of problems they might have to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Student Number solve. As we went through the lesson,

9 The next section of the text was called “Applying the more importantly, they would be taught how to be independent Mathematics” and had problems for the students to try. Most learners by gaining meaning from text. Teachers would benefit of the problems were word problems. Students were given by having an array of strategies to help students with their instruction in how to read word problems. They were to read comprehension of text. The school would benefit by having the problem through once, noting any words that provided students who were able to access information and use it to direction on how to answer the problem. Then, they were to show their proficiency on standardized tests. Finally, teaching write down what they thought the problem was asking them students to read mathematically costs nothing to implement, to find out. We discussed whether this information would be shows results quickly, and requires only the investment of found as a question or as a statement. We also discussed time from teachers dedicated to giving their students the where in the problem this information would be found. Then, best education possible. students were asked to list the facts of the problem. Using what they discovered from these steps, students were asked Application to Leadership Practice to decide what math they would have to perform to solve the I believe it is imperative for all educators to believe in the problem. Finally, they were asked to solve the problem and abilities of their students to be successful. It is necessary to check to see if their answer fit the facts of the problem and look for new ways in which to make that happen. When a was reasonable. If the students were solving a multi-step school is labeled a failing school, as is the case with Marquis problem, I also asked them to provide a written explanation de Lafayette School, it becomes of even greater urgency. The of the process they used to solve the problem. students I teach vary greatly in their ability to be successful in school. While there are many factors that contribute to the At the end of each lesson, we reviewed the concepts covered. performance of a student, the ability to access information As part of the homework assigned each night, students were is one of the most important. There is little help for students to write a summary of what was covered in class. They were who are not achieving academically. We have an Intervention to use the vocabulary introduced in their explanations, to and Referral Support Service to whom we can refer students define concepts in their own words, and to give examples of who are having academic difficulties. My experience with the types of problems that were solved during the lesson. this process is that the interventions that are recommended, After six weeks of instruction in reading mathematically, such as moving the student’s seat to the front, repeating students were given a posttest. The posttest resembled the directions, or modifying the quantity of an assignment, don’t pre-test in content and structure but was changed slightly to address the fundamental problems the student is having. Of avoid any effect from practice. Scores for each student were the students who are referred to the Child Study Team, few compared. Seventeen of the eighteen students tested showed are recommended for testing, and of those that are tested, a higher score on the posttest with a mean increase of 86% few qualify for services. in individual scores. The mean score from the pre-test was This means it is up to the teacher to find ways to help his or her 38%, while the mean score from the posttest was 64% with students learn. I believe most students who have academic a mean increase of 68% (Figures 3 and 4). difficulties are poor readers. This is the issue that must be The increase in scores for 94% of the students indicates that addressed. I would like to study how we teach reading from teaching students strategies to read mathematically has the elementary grades through middle school. I would also a dynamic impact on test scores for tests that are heavily like to investigate programs that address reading difficulties text-based. Since these strategies proved to be effective at an early age and provide interventions. I would also like to with one class, it would be my recommendation that this learn about programs that address the needs of middle school type of instruction be implemented in all middle school students who are reading far below grade level. mathematics classes. This would require a collaborative Technology has brought about an abundant amount of effort on the part of all the mathematics teachers to learn information. We are becoming an information-based society. the strategies of teaching reading in the mathematics The ability to read and comprehend text will separate those content area and to participate in peer coaching to help who are able to achieve academic success from those embed the instruction into the regular math lesson. Support who cannot. The ability to read and comprehend text will of the administration would be essential to arrange for determine the future of our students. Therefore, it is essential professional development and planning time for the that, as educators, we provide every student with the teachers willing to participate in this endeavor. opportunity to be literate in all content areas. The benefits of putting into action an instructional plan such as this are many. Students would gain in their understanding of mathematics, their ability to solve problems would increase, their performance on high-stakes tests would improve, and

10 References Alverman, D., Phelps, S. (2002). Content Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today’s Diverse Classrooms, 3rd edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Barton, M., Heidema, C. (2000). Teaching Reading in Mathematics: A Supplement to Teaching Reading in the Content Areas. Aurora: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning. The ERIC Development Team. (1997). “The Mathematics and Reading Connection.” ERIC Digest, ED432439. Retrieved August 10, 2005 from www.ericfacility.net/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed432439.html. Jacobs, V., “What Secondary Teachers Can Do to Teach Reading: A Three-Step Strategy for Helping Students Delve Deeper into Texts.” Retrieved August 10, 2005 from http://www.edletter.org/past/issues/199-ja/secondary.shtml. Krulick, S., Rudnick, J. (1993). Reasoning and Problem-Solving: A Handbook for Elementary School Teachers. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. National Council of Teachers of English. (May 2004). “A Call to Action: What We Know About Adolescent Literacy and Ways to Support Teachers in Meeting Students’ Needs. A Position/Action Statement from NCTE’s Commission on Reading.” Retrieved August 12, 2005 from http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/read/118622.htm. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000). Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Reston: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Ruddell, M. (2001). Teaching Content Reading and Writing, 3rd Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Simonson, S., Gouveau, F. “How to Read Mathematics.” Retrieved August 12, 2005 from http://www.stonehill.edu/compsci/ History_Math/math-read.htm. Teaching Today. (April 2005). “Reading in the Content Areas: Strategies for Success.” Retrieved August 12, 2005 from www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/12. Timberview Times. “Reading a Math Book.” Retrieved August 12, 2005 from http://academy.d20.co.edu/tms/departments/ reading/math.html. Williams, B. (2003). Closing the Achievement Gap: A Vision for Changing Beliefs and Practices, 2nd edition. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Abby Hersch: Biographical Information Author’s Acknowledgements I have taught mathematics at Marquis de Lafayette I would like to thank Linda Gross for her guidance and School in Elizabeth, New Jersey for the past twenty outstanding ideas. years. I hold New Jersey certification in mathematics, I would like to thank Franc Lacinski for his unwavering and am well grounded in my content. I am always support and for providing valuable feedback. trying to find new ways to help my students achieve in mathematics. My instruction techniques are varied and include using manipulatives to help students move from concrete thinking to the abstract thinking required for algebra and higher mathematics. It is my goal for all my students to develop the skills that will allow them to have mathematical power. Yet, I have not accomplished that goal. My students perform poorly on standardized tests and do not have a strong foundation in mathematics. The rationale for this action research project was to find a new approach to teaching mathematics that would increase my students’ knowledge and their abilities to demonstrate that knowledge through solving problems such as those found on the high-stakes tests that they must take and pass.

11 Evaluating the Effects of Significance of the Study Phonemic awareness instruction is one of the five Supplementary components of teaching reading as listed in the report by the National Reading panel (2000). In addition, phonemic Phonemic Awareness awareness instruction, as stated in numerous research studies, causes children to learn letter/sound relationships on Student more readily, and to acquire early reading skills more Instruction quickly than children in control groups (e.g. Bradley and Literacy and Achievement Bryant, 1985; Lundberg, Frost, and Petersen, 1988; Byrne and Fielding-Barnsley, 1991). Acquiring phonemic awareness in the Area of Language is necessary for learning to read and write words. Children Arts Literacy for Students in need to map the sounds onto the symbols, and this process can be hastened with systematic training (Smith and Elley, Kindergarten 1997). These factors demonstrate it to be imperative that students acquire phonemic awareness instruction in order to become proficient readers and writers. With this goal in Elizabeth A. Calabria mind, the Winslow Township School District has made a firm commitment to ensuring high-quality instruction in the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary knowledge. Introduction A comprehensive and ongoing staff development program The focus of this study was to describe the effects of has been implemented to assist teachers in utilizing these supplemental phonemic awareness instruction on student new resources, programs, and strategies for the purpose of literacy and achievement in the area of language arts literacy delivering, reinforcing, and enhancing instruction. A state- for students in kindergarten in the Winslow Township School trained reading coach provides in-class support modeling District. After a year of piloting four reading series, the district instructional techniques and strategies and critiquing staff chose the Macmillan, McGraw-Hill series for adoption. Initial members’ instruction. This has been a key piece to the implementation began during the 2002/2003 school year. success of the district’s professional development program. At the conclusion of the calendar year, kindergarten staff As these new programs were being piloted, there was a members expressed concern that the series did not offer strong need to work closely with teachers to find successful enough strategies, materials, and instruction in the area of methods of delivering reading instruction. Staff development phonemic awareness. and ongoing support were imperative. This study was the first The purpose of this study, which began in October of 2003 step for the district in developing successful procedures to and concluded in June of 2004, was to determine the impact determine the effects of resources on student achievement. of the supplemental phonemic awareness instruction on To meet the purpose of this study, skills relating to the student literacy and achievement in the area of language area of language arts literacy were defined and evaluated arts literacy for students in kindergarten in the Winslow for evidence of improvement. This project was aligned Township School District. Last year, three supplemental with the district’s goal of assessing and improving student phonemic awareness programs were purchased, and achievement in the area of language arts literacy. This year, following professional development, three staff members at due to static LAL test scores, the district made a commitment the kindergarten level utilized one of each specific program’s to target the area of language arts literacy as one of the major materials, resources, and strategies. These resources areas of need. The LAL curriculum has recently been rewritten were used in addition to the existing phonemic awareness with close alignment to the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content instructional strategies available through the district Standards. Determining if, in fact, supplemental phonemic reading series (Macmillan, McGraw-Hill). Two kindergarten awareness instruction has a positive impact on the area of classrooms utilized the district reading series alone. language arts literacy was an important study, especially at a The programs utilized included Sounds Abound, Open Court, time when the district was searching for successful and Wilson Language – Foundations. Each publishing company methods of improving student representative familiarized teachers with their specific achievement in program by providing initial and ongoing staff professional this area. development workshops. Phonemic awareness workshops and in-services were also offered to all kindergarten staff, which included general hands-on strategies and various activities. Meetings were conducted after school on a regular basis to promote dialogue and provide feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of each program.

12 Understanding the Importance of Phonemic Developing Phonemic Awareness Awareness Students who have developed phonemic awareness can It is important to understand the role phonemic awareness manipulate spoken language in these five ways: instruction plays in the reading/language arts curriculum. • Match words with sounds It has been clear for many years that phonemic awareness • Isolate a sound in a word plays a crucial role in learning to read and write (Barone • Blend individual sounds to form a word and Mandel-Morrow, 2003). A child’s level of phonemic • Substitute sounds in a word awareness is a very good predictor of beginning reading • Segment a word into its constituent sounds (Yopp, 1992) success. Phonemic awareness develops through a series of Songs, chants, and word-sound games are ideally suited stages in which children first become aware that language toward developing young children’s sensitivity to the sound is made up of individual words, that words are made up structure of language. Time spent on wordplay and general of syllables, and that syllables are made up of phonemes exposure to storybooks, contribute to phonemic awareness. (Cunningham and Allington, 1999). Developing this skill Classroom teachers must provide their students with linguistic enables children to use sound/symbol correspondences to stimulation in the form of storytelling, word games, rhymes, read and spell words. Phonemic awareness is not sounding and riddles in order to facilitate this skill. Yopp recommends out words for reading, or using spelling patterns to write that teachers read books with wordplay aloud and encourage words. Instead, phonemic awareness is a component students to talk about the way the author manipulated words. of phonological awareness. The phonological system is Experimenting with sounds and nonsense words are also significant for acquiring both oral and written language. stimulating activities. These activities should be playful and Children use their knowledge of the phonological engaging, interactive and social and should stimulate curiosity system as they learn to read and write. If English were and experimentation with language. Phonemic awareness a purely phonetic language, there would be a one-to-one instruction should also be deliberate and purposeful. In correspondence between letters and sounds, and teaching addition to being child appropriate, phonemic awareness students to sound out words would not be such a difficult instruction should be intentional and not incidental in nature. process. However, there are 26 letters and 44 sounds, which Griffith and Olson (1992) argued that phonemic awareness leave us with many ways to combine letters and spell out activities would not be helpful unless they can be placed in sounds. The relationship between phonemic awareness and a context of real reading and writing. Considerable evidence learning to read is extremely important, and researchers indicates that in addition to being immersed in a classroom have concluded that at least some level of phonemic rich in opportunities for rhyming, language play, and informal awareness is a prerequisite for learning to read (Tunmer & phonemic awareness development, some children need to Nesdale, 1985; Yopp, 1985). Moreover, phonemic awareness participate in phonemic awareness lessons that focus on has been shown to be the most powerful predictor of later segmenting and blending. (National Reading Panel, 2000) reading achievement (Lomax & McGee, 1987; Tunmer & Research also suggests that development is enhanced if Nesdale, 1985). instruction is done in conjunction with attention to letter-sound relationships. Activities should be connected to literature focus units and thematic units whenever possible. Classroom

Definition of Key Terms Alphabetic Principle: The ability to manipulate small sound Phonics: The set of relationships between phonology units in spoken words to blend them together to pronounce (the sounds in speech) and orthography (the spelling a word; blending onset with a rime, which indicates a patterns of written language); the phoneme/grapheme rudimentary level of phonemic awareness. Children must correspondences and related spelling rules that are an also recognize that alphabetic letters in written words match important part of reading instruction. up to the phonemes heard in spoken words. Phonological Awareness: The ability to hear, identify, and Graphemes: Letters of the alphabet. manipulate sounds in words; hearing rhyming patterns, detecting the differences in beginning, medial, or ending Onset: The spoken segment of a word that occurs before sounds, identifying individual sounds that make up words, the vowel. identifying syllables and blending sounds together. Phonemes: The smallest unit of speech sound, which is Phonological System: There are approximately 44 written as a grapheme. speech sounds in English. Children learn to pronounce Phonemic Awareness: The highest level of phonological these sounds as they learn to talk, and they learn to awareness; the ability to isolate individual sounds (phonemes) associate the sounds with letters as they learn to read in spoken words; is children’s basic understanding that and write. This system is used to create invented or speech is composed of a series of individual sounds, and it temporary spellings. These sounds are called phonemes. provides the foundation for “breaking the code” (Yopp, 1992); Rime: The spoken segment of a word that includes the the ability to take words apart, put them back together again, vowel and the phonemes following the onset. and change them.

13 practice and instructional materials should be specifically Teacher surveys were completed to determine the effects designed to develop phonemic awareness. In these activities of supplemental phonemic awareness instruction on students are experimenting with oral language. They do student achievement through other less measurable not read or write letters and words, because the focus is on factors including the hands-on approach, students’ self- speech. Organizing activities in this way stimulates children’s motivation, positive attitude, higher interest level, and interest in language and provides them with valuable feelings of success and pride. experiences with both books and words. Research indicates Data collected throughout this study was used to determine that two out of four children in each classroom who don’t what impact, if any, supplemental phonemic awareness develop phonemic awareness initially can develop it within a instruction has on student achievement in the area of few weeks, if offered some targeted tutorial or small group language arts literacy in kindergarten. intervention. The remaining children may require a more intensive intervention (Braunger & Lewis, 1997). • Will utilizing a supplemental phonemic awareness program’s strategies and activities improve students’ It is important to build this foundation for reading and literacy performance as evidenced on multiple and varied writing. The National Association for the Education of Young assessments (Pre/Post ELBRS, Pre/Post Holistic Writing Children (NAEYC) states, “Children ages 3-6 learn far better Samples, End-of-Year Reading Test, Teacher Survey)? through direct, interactive experiences than through listening • Will supplemental phonemic awareness instruction improve to someone talk. What they learn needs to be relevant and students’ writing abilities (Pre/Post Holistic Writing Samples, interesting on the day they learn it, not just in the context of Pre/Post ELBRS, Teacher Survey)? some future learning.” • Does explicit phonemic awareness instruction improve Potential Concerns Associated with Phonemic students’ reading comprehension and fluency (End-of-Year Awareness Instruction Reading Test, Teacher Survey)? There are two potential concerns associated with phonemic In conclusion, the validity of this study is based on the fact awareness instruction. The first is the amount of attention that a variety of assessment instruments and data collection given to this instruction. Teachers must understand that techniques were utilized, including pre and posttesting, select phonemic awareness is not the essential element in an sampling at regular intervals, teacher surveys, and end-of-year early literacy curriculum. This is only one of the components test instruments. Both quantitative and qualitative data were necessary in teaching children to read (National Reading collected and evaluated. Other factors adding to the validity of Panel, 2000). It is necessary to provide high-quality instruction this study include: in the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, reading • A consistent scoring method (developmentally appropriate comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary knowledge. These adaptation of the New Jersey Registered Holistic Scoring skills should be developed simultaneously through experiences Rubric) was utilized for all writing samples assessed. that are meaningful to children. The second point is that • Identical writing prompts and time intervals between phonemic awareness instruction should not be considered writing activities were used in all classes. an “add-on” or a separate block of time in the Language Arts • Students with similar ability levels were tracked between Literacy block. It should be a central part of the LAL program classrooms. working together with all other essential components of early • Students with varying ability levels were tracked literacy development (Barone and Mandel-Morrow, 2003). throughout the study. • Other factors known to improve student achievement (self- Methodology motivation, positive attitude, higher interest level, hands-on Data Collection Approach approach, and feelings of success and pride in the finished product) were also evaluated. Through the Emergent Literacy Basic Reading Survey (ELBRS) assessment, pretests and posttests were administered to Presentation of Research Findings determine the level of overall growth and improvement in student achievement in the area of language arts literacy, Results of Data Collection - Pre/Posttest specifically addressing the component of phonemic awareness Comparison (ELBRS) in kindergarten from the beginning to the end of the study. To demonstrate the effects of supplemental phonemic Pre and post holistic writing samples were collected, containing awareness instruction in the area of language arts literacy in samples from students with varying levels in each class, to kindergarten, a pre and posttest (the Emergent Literacy Basic determine whether student achievement in writing improves at a Reading Survey) was administered to all students. Results of greater rate with supplemental phonemic awareness instruction. data compiled indicated substantial growth in the 11 areas Ongoing writing samples were collected throughout the year, assessed with the most significant increases in letter/name which allowed teachers to further rate this study. and letter/sound association. There is a marked difference in growth between the classrooms utilizing supplemental End-of-Year Language Arts Literacy tests were administered phonemic awareness programs and those utilizing the to determine the level of student growth and achievement reading series alone. in reading in kindergarten. Ongoing reading series unit tests were given throughout the year, which allowed teachers to further rate this study.

14 Results of Data Collection - Teacher surveys clearly indicated that students were motivated End-of-Year LAL Test and experienced success in all of the areas, including the hands-on approach, students’ positive attitudes, higher interest An end-of-year LAL test (in-house created) was administered level, and feelings of success and pride. More than likely, this to all students in kindergarten to determine the effects of is due to the fact that students became more proficient at supplemental phonemic awareness instruction in the area reading and writing; therefore, they developed more positive of language arts literacy, particularly reading. The district affective traits. Equally established, self-esteem is clearly created this test mid-year to replace the reading series end- linked to student success. of-year test (Macmillan, McGraw-Hill). As this was the first year administering this assessment, it was difficult to utilize All staff surveyed (including those utilizing the reading the results to establish growth. Also, as this assessment was series alone) felt that the phonemic awareness focus and in-house created, the validity is in question. However, the staff professional development experiences greatly contributed to was able to look at the overall results and compare to past student success in their classrooms. While these successes student general performance. The teachers also administered may not be as clearly measurable as skills assessed on the reading series unit tests periodically, throughout the year. standard achievement tests or in random writing samples, Utilizing both types of assessment, they were able to gauge they are just as important and imperative to the overall the effect of supplemental instruction as evidenced in the achievement of students in a learning environment. teacher survey. There is some difference in performance Conclusions between the classrooms utilizing supplemental phonemic awareness programs and those utilizing the reading series While the end-of-year LAL test results could not be utilized alone. However, the difference in reading ability is not as to clearly indicate that supplemental phonemic awareness marked as that of the ELBRS data. instruction had a strong positive effect on student achievement in the area of language arts literacy in kindergarten, the Results of Data Collection – Pre/Post Holistic pre/post ELBRS test and holistic writing samples, as well Writing Samples as teacher survey results evidently demonstrate this fact. The data collected overwhelmingly reveals that this type of Pre and post holistic writing samples of students in instruction greatly influences student success, as well as kindergarten were collected, as well as samples throughout students’ motivation and positive attitudes toward learning. the time frame of this project to determine the effect of supplemental phonemic awareness instruction on students’ With this in mind, it is the intent that supplemental phonemic writing ability. The pre and post assessments provided the awareness instruction be implemented in all of the district’s same writing prompt to clearly demonstrate growth in this early childhood classrooms. However, it is imperative that area. All writing samples were holistically scored, using a this study continue to compare the three programs piloted consistent scoring rubric. for an additional year in kindergarten and first grade classes in all four elementary buildings in order to make an informed Results of data compiled indicated significant growth in decision as to which program is a better fit for the district. writing ability. Two of the classrooms utilizing supplemental phonemic awareness programs demonstrate a marked Implications and Recommendations for difference from those classrooms utilizing the reading Future Study series alone. However, one classroom’s growth was similar to those without supplemental programs. This form of research will be applied to improve leadership practice in other curricular areas in the future. This project Many factors come into play in the results included in became a starting point or focus to determine whether this study. Writing instruction varies from classroom to supplemental phonemic awareness instruction programs classroom, as does teacher proficiency in teaching the have an effect on student success in the area of language writing process. These factors play an important part in arts literacy. This type of research and focus can be applied to the level of student achievement. other components in LAL as well as to other content areas. Results of Data Collection – Teacher Survey Over the past year, the Winslow Township School District and Interviews has made a commitment to improving student achievement in the area of mathematics. Three cluster areas have been Student success can be measured in many ways. Another form identified and targeted as areas in need of improvement of data collection occurred through the use of a teacher survey. (number sense, computation and problem-solving). Research, Teachers rated the effect of supplemental phonemic awareness as well as data collection and analysis will aid the district instruction on students’ performance in the area of language in determining what instructional methods, practices, and arts literacy. Staff members who utilized the reading series materials will support student growth and achievement in alone only answered questions that applied to their instruction. those areas. Staff members stated opinions of the hands-on approach, professional development, student achievement, motivation, attitude toward learning, higher interest level, and feelings of success and pride in work.

15 References Barone, Diane M. and Mandel-Morrow, Lesley. Literacy and Young Children Research-Based Practices (New York: The Guilford Press, 2003) Braunger, J. and Lewis, J. P. Building a Knowledge Base in Reading (Delaware: International Research Association, 1997) Cunningham, Patricia M. and Allington, Richard L. Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write, Second Edition (New York: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc. 1999) Griffith, F. and Olson, M. “Phonemic Awareness Helps Beginning Readers Break the Code” (The Reading Teacher, Vol. 45, 1992) p. 516-523 Lomax, R. G. and McGee, L.M. “Young Children’s Concepts about Print and Meaning: Toward a Model of Word Reading Acquisition” (Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 22, 1987) p. 237-256 National Reading Panel. Report of the National Reading Panel: Reports of the Subgroups (Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Clearinghouse, 2000) Smith, John and Elley, Warwick. How Children Learn to Read (New York: Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc., 1997) Tunmer, W. and Nesdale, A. “Phonemic Segmentation Skill and Beginning Reading” (Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 77, 1985) p. 417-427 Yopp, H.K. “Phoneme Segmentation Ability: A Prerequisite for Phonics and Sight Word Achievement in Beginning Reading” (New York: National Reading Conference, 1985) Yopp, H.K. “Developing Phonemic Awareness in Young Children” (The Reading Teacher, Vol. 45, 1992) p. 696-703

Elizabeth A. Calabria: Biographical Author’s Acknowledgements Information I would like to recognize all those who contributed their Bellmawr is a wonderful community with excellent expertise to this worthwhile project. This includes those students and very caring and involved parents. I am proud involved in the administration of the assessments utilized to be a part of the Bellmawr administrative team working in this study, as well as those assisting in data analysis. with a caring and supportive staff. The team included the reading specialist, basic skills staff, classroom teachers and aides, and district reading Principal, Bellmawr Park School, 2006 to present coach, as well as the principal of School One, who worked Director of Curriculum for the Bellmawr School District tirelessly in the fall to assess all students utilizing the 2006-2007 pre-test, Emergent Literacy Basic Reading Survey (ELBRS). Interim Superintendent, 2007 (Bellmawr School District) The reading specialist and principal also labored diligently Degree Information: in the summer to assist me in analyzing the results of the Bach. of Arts in Elem. Ed. from Glassboro State College; data collected through the various assessments. Their Master of Science in Reading and Literacy from Walden dedication and professionalism are greatly appreciated. University This was a formidable task, which could only be completed Certifications: with the collaboration of all members of the team. Supervisory Certification - Rowan University Principal & Administrator Certification - FEA/NJPSA EXCEL Program 17 years in education, including: Curriculum Coordinator, Winslow Township School District 2000 to 2002 Director of Early Childhood Education, Winslow Township School District 2002 to 2006

16 having its own administration staff, counseling staff, and Transitioning Middle faculty. Due to the increasing number of students, it has become important to share faculty and space. The district School Students to offers five levels of academic instruction: • Level 1 (Honors) High School • Level 2 (College Prep) • Level 3 (modified College Prep) Bill Cornell • Level 4 (mainly HSPA directed classes) • Level 5 (special education) Research Base Introduction There is a problem in many public schools today for students Last year, I observed an inordinate number of freshmen transitioning from middle school to high school. “The transfer receiving D’s or F’s on their first interim report cards. A number to a new school or grade has been identified as a typical of parents called, concerned over the fact that their child transition period for students that is usually characterized by had never gotten below a B in middle school. Teachers were declining academic performance and increased absences.” accused of being too hard on students, and the curriculum (de Mesquita, 1992). was accused of being too strenuous. Teachers complained Further evidence was cited by studies as early as 1981. that the students did not complete homework and did not take “Some students encounter difficulties during the transition homework seriously. The teachers further complained that to high school from which they never recover. Declines in students did not know how to take notes, did not know how to grades, failing courses, increased absences… are evidence study, did not know how to complete a science lab, and could of such difficulties.” (Felner,et al. 1981; Roderick and not formulate ideas on their own. Camburn, 1996). Another researcher states that “it is Often times, those identified as “at risk” are sent to the I and likely that many students who stay in school fail to reach RS Team and PAC for identification or recommended for less their academic and social potential because of difficult rigorous classes. transitions” (Schiller, 223). The Lenape Regional High School (Grades 9-12) is made up In another study on student transition, Morgan and Hertzog of four high schools with a population of just under 8,000 (1997) found that high schools with minimal or no transition students. In addition, there is Sequoia - the Alternative programs… “reported a retention/failure rate in Grade 9 as Transitional High School, which includes the Bridges at high as 40 percent.” (Hertzog and Morgan, 1998). This data Sequoia Program. The four high schools serve eight sending supports the need to address this issue at the high school level. districts: Evesham (Marlton), Medford, Medford Lakes, Mount “Organizations such as the National Association of Laurel, Shamong, Tabernacle, Southampton, and Woodland. Secondary Principals (NASSP), the National Middle School Cherokee High School opened in September, 1975. In Association (NMSA), and the Carnegie Council on Adolescent 1999-2000, a major construction project was completed Development have acknowledged the need for educators to that created two schools in one complex. The new addition, develop and implement age-appropriate programs to assist Cherokee High School South serves grades nine and ten. The students in bridging the gap between the two levels.” (Hertzog old building, Cherokee High School North serves grades 11 and Morgan, 1998). and 12. Each basically operates independently, with each It was further cited that “findings of serious problems associated with the school experience (transitioning) leads to such things as declines in achievement, delinquency, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation”. (Barber and Olsen, 2004). Fortunately, there has been a foundation lain, and many of the studies have led to significant strides in addressing this issue. The answer that seems to be the most promising is small learning communities. Here “students in high schools and middle schools remain in the same community for all the years they are in school” (Engelmann, 2006). The smaller communities enable students to have more personal interaction with teachers and fellow students. “The paradigm shift needed for schooling in the United States… has brought about this restructuring process [that] was the concept of learning communities” (Funk, 2002). The success of these schools includes: higher test scores, less academic failure, fewer attendance issues and far fewer dropouts. Districts such as the School District of Chicago (Hung and

17 Nichani, 2002 and Lackney, 2001), Philadelphia’s Ninth Application to Leadership Practice Grade Academies and the newly instituted academy system Students need to be taught to value success, and teachers at Pemberton High School (Burlington County, NJ ~ Abbott need to help students address their individual needs. District), have found success in this “planned” system of Teacher training is crucial in the development of programs education by addressing the needs of students transitioning for students. Once students can see success, they will to high school. become more involved and academically victorious, and Methodology there will be less absenteeism and fewer school dropouts. Smaller learning communities can help address the In conducting the data collection for this project, twenty students’ individual needs. students were selected. The selection was handled in the following manner: Further studies and visiting schools where small learning communities are in place would be interesting. Reviewing a. During transition meetings, middle school counselors were statistical information, regarding the progress of students, asked to recommend students for the program. would be beneficial and necessary in researching future b. Students’ academic records were reviewed (report cards for studies in this area. Grades Six, Seven, and Eight, with emphasis on Grade Eight). c. Students’ standardized test scores, including Terra Nova and GEPA were reviewed. The Plan to Address the Needs d. The selection was narrowed to 25 students. of These Students e. Letters were sent to the candidates parents/guardians. a. Students were placed in the same study hall for the entire year. f. Three parents responded with questions and approved the opportunity. b. The same teacher (Freshman English teacher) was to work with the group for the school year. g. Four students decided to go to BCIT (Burlington County Institute of Technology). One additional student moved out of the area. c. As school counselor, I was to meet with the students weekly. h. A teacher was selected to oversee the study hall. d. Students took a learning assessment to determine The final piece to the preliminary planning was a brief their learning styles and address study/climate issues. ‘interview’ with each student to discuss the program and the role they would play. e. Individual student meetings included looking at the items addressed in the assessment evaluation and Number of Received Received Received all Problems establishment of two or three goals for improvement Students at least at least Satisfactory with Ea. throughout the school year. in Class one D one F Science f. Individual students/student counselor meetings were 19 15 (79%) 5 (26%) 4 (25%) 15 (79%) conducted at the end of each interim and marking period to discuss grades and goal progress. Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations g. From the assessments, teachers would be assigned There is a definite problem facing students who transition to work with groups of students identified as being from the middle school to the high school. The attached in need of study skill development or test taking chart indicates significant academic problems facing these skills improvement. students in their first interim report. h. Teachers volunteered to meet with the students to As educators, there is a need to address the issue of students discuss opportunities for clubs and sports within transitioning from the middle school to the high school. We the school. It was agreed by many students (and need to identify these students early and become proactive in researchers) that involvement in school activities finding solutions to address their needs. would help to make friends and improve academics. Recommendations would have to begin with a district-wide i. Students from different groups and activities within exploration into developing a program that will help meet the the school would speak to the students to discuss needs of this large group of students. By giving them better opportunities for them at Cherokee High School. direction, sources for self-improvement, and individualized j. Within the study hall, would be created “inquiry help, we can build a stronger student population, ready to groups” or “study teams” to help students in need pursue further education or employment. Second, we need of academic remediation by knowledgeable peers. to look at each student, set-up goals, and institute plans for them to be successful. We do this in special education, but fail to address the general population. Finally, we would need to put an extensive training program in place to meet the needs of the educators. This training would not only include implementation, but reframing the mindset of those who feel that it is the students’ problem alone to be successful.

18 References Barber, B.K. and Olsen, J.A. (2004). “Assessing the Transitions to Middle and High School.” Journal of Adolescent Research, 19(1), 2-30. de Mesquita, P.B. (1992). “Developing Support Networks to Reduce School Failure Among At-Risk High School Students.” Presented to the Mid-South Educational Research Assoc., Knoxville, TN. (November, 1992). Retrieved July 16, 2006 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home/portal Englemann, S. (2006). “Small Learning Communities.” IRRE (Institute for Research and Reform in Education). Retrieved June 30, 2006, from http://www.irre.org/AF/sk.asp Felner, R.D. and Primavera, J. and Cauce, A.M. (1981). “The Impact of School Transitions: a Focus for Preventative Efforts.” American Journal of Community Psychology, 14(1), 185-204. Funk, C. (2003). “Creating Learning Communities.” Sam Houston State University Press, Opinion Papers. 8 pp. US Department of Education. Hertzog, C.J. and Morgan, P.L. (1998). “Breaking Barriers Between Middle School and High School: Developing a Transition Team for Student success.” National Association for School Principals, NASSP Bulletin, 82(597), 94. Hung, D. and Nichani, M.R. (2002). “Bringing Communities of Practice into Schools.” International Journal of Instructional Media, 29(2), 171-183. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home/portal Lackney, J.A. (2001). “Forming Small Learning Communities.” Educational Facility Planner, 36(3), 5-10. Retrieved July 23, 2006, from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home/portal Roderick, M. and Camburn, E. (1996). “Academic Difficulty during the High School Transition.”Consortium on Chicago School Research, pp. 134-171. Schiller, K.S. (1999). “Effects of Feeder Patterns on Students’ Transition to High School.” Sociology of Education 72(4), 216-233.

Bill Cornell: Biographical Information Author’s Acknowledgements This is my third year with the Lenape Regional High School This report is prepared on behalf of the ninth grade District. As a counselor for grades 9 and 10, I became students, present and future, who have difficulty readily aware of the issues facing our incoming freshmen. academically, transitioning to the high school from I became more and more concerned about these students. middle school. The combination of the initial project for our district’s Thanks especially to the twenty students who make up Research for Better Teaching (RBT), the NJ EXCEL program the investigational study hall. These students have been requirement, and my personal need to help my students positive in all dealings I have had with them. This was, for were the basis of this research and the beginning of my many of them, the first time that they have been made embedded project. accountable for their own actions. For many of these Counselor - Cherokee High School South (grades 9-10); students, they were not only facing academic frustration, Part of the Lenape Regional High School District but also social issues. Adjunct - Burlington County College (English) A particular heartfelt thank you to Janet Pulverenti who Degree Information: sits daily with these students. Janet has taken on the role BA English Literature – SUNY Geneseo of teacher, disciplinarian, coach, parent and friend. BS Education – SUNY Geneseo Ken Denn (Principal, Cherokee South) and JoAnn Jankowski MA Student Personnel Services – Rowan University (Assistant Principal, Cherokee South) deserve special Certification Program NJEXCEL – New Jersey Principals credit for encouraging this experiment. Their genuine and Supervisors Association support and interest in the academic welfare of these Certifications: (NJ) students made the program possible. Elementary Education Finally, thanks to my inquiry group, who offered support, English (K-12) thoughts, and their insight. Their friendship and Special Education encouragement will be a bond between us for a very Supervisor long time. Principal School Administrator

19 The Paradigm Shift to Problem How can we transform professional development into Collaborative professional learning? What mechanisms need to be implemented to create teacher learning teams, design Professional Learning collaborative learning models, strengthen teacher’s content knowledge, and enhance alignment of professional development with achievement? How can we support in Our Schools: a culture of continuous professional inquiry focused on Orange Township improving achievement of all students? Context for the Project The City of Orange Township Public Schools has been actively Julie Glazer engaged in developing curriculum, aligned to the New Jersey Core Content Curriculum Standards, for all disciplines. The district has made a commitment to increasing student engagement, curriculum alignment, and rigor. Since 2005, Introduction Orange has not only participated in the Professional Learning High-quality, ongoing professional development for teachers Plan pilot, but is also piloting the Abbott Secondary Initiative and educational services personnel is an important part of New of Small Learning Communities, and is implementing the Jersey’s standards-based education reform movement. With the Connected Mathematics Program at the Middle School adoption of a set of rigorous Core Content Curriculum Standards Level. All of these have required extensive and intensive by the State Board of Education in May 1996, the NJ Department professional development. The collaborative learning model of Education thought it essential for teachers to acquire the is being applied to each, and district support has been knowledge and skills needed to enable students to reach those unprecedented. This action research project is in support of standards. In 1998, an amendment to the regulations concerning the district goals to raise student achievement/test scores, the required professional development of active teachers was increase accountability, and increase parent involvement. proposed. Since 2000, districts have been implementing these Research Base regulations, which were established to provide a vehicle to enable teachers and educational service personnel to stay current with Current research is clear that professional development can the latest research in their respective fields and equip them to have a major impact on student learning, if it is the right kind assist students in achieving high academic standards (A New of professional learning. Too often in the past, professional Vision of Professional Development, 2001). development was ineffective. Far too often, teachers attended lecture-style workshops that had little relevance to their Recognizing the critical need to improve teaching and learning in classroom practice. Research tells us that for professional the Abbott districts, in October, 2005, districts were advised that development to be most effective, teachers should be actively guidelines and technical support would be provided as part of a engaged with their peers in learning opportunities related to the renewed focus in the Abbott regulations on professional learning curriculum they are teaching on a regular basis (A Framework that targets instructional priorities and reflects best practices. for Planning and Reporting Professional Learning). During February, 2006, the Division of Abbott Implementation, in partnership with the Division of Educational Programs and The link between teacher and student achievement has long Assessment at the New Jersey Department of Education, and been recognized. The U.S. Department of Education report, the Princeton Center for Leadership Training, held a two-day What Works, states: “Students benefit academically when conference to explore what collaborative professional learning their teachers share ideas, cooperate in activities, and assist looks like in the daily life of schools. In addition, a plan was one another’s intellectual growth…Good instruction flourishes provided that districts could choose to use in developing when teachers collaborate” (US Department of a professional learning plan to implement teacher-driven, Education, 1987). collaborative professional development that is job-embedded. Educators and researchers Through this model, professional development becomes a have gradually expanded daily norm. As a teacher on special assignment working in the the definition of teaching Department of Curriculum and Testing in the City of Orange to include not only Township Public Schools, I made the recommendation to classroom interaction become one of the districts to pilot the development of a between teachers professional learning plan. This would be a departure from the and students, but comprehensive professional development plans that had been also the full range of previously developed. In this model, a set of baseline data would responsibilities that have to be gathered with the intention of starting conversations comprise teaching. district-wide about the quality of professional learning. This The National Board for data, and the conversations surrounding it, would provide an Professional Teaching opportunity to make changes that could significantly affect Standards cites five key student learning. principals as the foundation

20 for the assessment of accomplished teachers. Three of other the art of teaching. For this to happen, collaboration those are also integral to the success of the planning and had to occur in a radically different way… Productive implementation of the Professional Learning Plan: collaboration could not be casual or general; it was instead “Teachers are committed to students and their learning.” characterized by: frequent, continuous, and increasingly concrete and precise talk about teaching practice… “Teachers think systematically about their practice and adequate to the complexities of teaching and capable of learn from experience.” distinguishing one practice and its virtue from another…” “Teachers are members of learning communities.” (DuFour, R. and R. Eaker, editors, 2005) As teaching becomes increasingly grounded in research, The accumulated research shows that teachers make the concept of teaching as a true profession, with all the thousands of professional decisions daily. The shift to implications of such a transformation, is becoming more collaborative learning supports and challenges educators evident. This is a relatively new area, and the available in their efforts to expand and deepen the knowledge base research reflects this. Much of the research is theoretical, from which they make decisions that affect the lives and and not well grounded in empirical studies. This includes the learning of students. Rather than single-day workshops that teacher as researcher, the exact dimensions of professional are often unrelated to life in the classroom, this model places development, the benefits of contributing to the school, district, the emphasis on job-embedded activities such as mentoring, or profession, and the nature of professional decision making. action research, collaborative planning and assessment, collegial observation, reflection and feedback. These are Newmann and Wehlage offer research into the many the kinds of professional activities that have been proven to benefits of collaboration (Newmann, FM, WG Secada, and GG develop and refine actual, ongoing practice A( New Vision of Wehlage, 1995). Three points in particular stand out: there is Professional Development, 2001). consistency about learning outcomes and methods of learning, collaboration enhances teachers’ technical competence, and it Additionally, research has proven (Newmann & Wehlage, creates collective responsibility for student success. Bryk & Schneider, Louis & Kruse, Little, Hord et al; Rosenholtz, McLaughlin & Talbert) that successful schools, “…When school goals are vague or when consensus is low, schools that disproportionately improve student learning, teachers may feel comfortable with the autonomy they have have teachers and administrators who form professional to pursue their own unique interests. But individual autonomy learning communities, focus on student work (assessment), can reduce teacher efficacy when teachers can’t count on change instructional practices (pedagogy) accordingly to colleagues to reinforce their objectives. . . [C]lear shared goals get better results, have clearly defined, rigorous learning maximize teacher success though collective reinforcement…” expectations (curriculum), and provide a supportive culture “…as teachers work with students from increasingly that encourages risk taking, experimentation, deprivatization diverse and social backgrounds, and the curriculum of practice, and knowledge sharing. begins to demand more intellectual rigor, teachers require Decades of research on implementation of new learning information, technical expertise, and social emotional from professional development have definitively concluded support far beyond the resources they can muster as that little implementation will occur without school-based individuals alone. When teachers collaborate productively, follow-up in the form of coaching from both experts and they participate in reflective dialogue to learn more about peers and ongoing learning including collaboration with professional issues, they observe and react to one another’s colleagues and monitoring by the school principal. The teaching, curriculum, and assessment practices, and they following diagram, adapted from Robby Champion, outlines engage in joint planning and curriculum development….” the process for transforming professional development, “…A culture of collective responsibility puts more peer including the inevitable lack of change during the learning pressure and accountability on staff who may not have curve (Champion, Robby, Champion Consulting, 2006). carried their fair share, but it can also ease the burden  HowProfessionalDevelopmentandtheChangeProcessShouldWork... on teachers who have worked hard in isolation but who  felt unable to help some students. In short, a professional Level1 community within the teaching staff sharpens the RaiseAwareness educational focus and enhances the technical and social support that teachers need to be successful….” Level4 Mike Schmoker, Rick DuFour and others also espouse the SupportInstitutionalizationof benefits of professional collaboration: NewProtocolsandPolicies “…True learning communities are characterized by disciplined, professional collaboration and on-going Level2 assessment. This is the surest, most promising route AdaptedfromRobbyChampion, DevelopSkills to better school performance, and the reasons are “UsingtheResultsDrivenParadigm” compelling. Teachers do not learn best from outside experts or by attending conferences or implementing Level3 ‘programs’ installed by outsiders. Teachers learn best from SupportImplementation other teachers in settings where they literally teach each

21 Methodology to develop three to ten month collaborative professional learning experiences in a school or among two or more schools for the Stakeholders were gathered for a summary and analysis of the 2006 – 2007 school year. School-based plans were due May district-wide staff professional development that had been held 5, 2006. Release time was given to team members so that since September 2005, and to be introduced to the Framework they could work on their plans, as well as receive support in for Planning and Reporting Professional Learning. At this time, designing, conducting, applying, evaluating, and reporting on the building principals district-wide were asked to develop school- planned professional learning in their schools. based professional learning teams consisting of themselves, at least three teachers — one representing each of the instructional Teams were asked to review their school’s Two Year Report on priority areas of mathematics, language arts, and science — at Instructional Priorities and refocus the vision from professional least one member of their School Leadership Committee (site development as we know it, to collaborative learning. They were based management), and representative staff from special to concentrate on the instructional priority areas of language education and technology. Principals were encouraged to arts literacy, math, and science, and target professional include coaches, facilitators, and science resource teachers as learning practices that would lead to improved instruction and they would be responsible for much of the daily, job-embedded student achievement. School-based teams were challenged to professional learning. On March 17, 2006 the school-based incorporate the use of informal, job-embedded learning for staff collaborative professional learning teams met to learn about throughout the workday. Individual coaching, faculty meetings, collaborative professional learning, and to receive their charge team analysis of student work, ad hoc project groups, book

Collaborativeprofessionallearninginschoolandbeyond:atoolkitforNewJerseyEducators

22 study groups, tuning protocol sessions, collaborative planning, Montclair State University, monthly classroom modeling and and co-teaching were all offered as suggestions for achieving the demonstration lessons, 52% of all professional development goal of at least one hour per day of job-embedded professional in the district was dedicated to language arts, 33% to development per employee. mathematics, and only 15% to science. We were also surprised Comprehensive needs assessment was the centerpiece of when we dissected the expenditures. $249, 240.00, or 24% of the planning process. In addition to identifying strengths and the professional development budget was spent on contracted weaknesses, it is essential in developing priorities for improving outside providers. Substitute costs were an additional 24% student achievement and success. To assess the needs for this at $247,640.00. Stipends paid to staff, including summer process, self-assessments of the current state of professional articulation and curriculum design and training, amounted to 14% development were conducted by teachers in the buildings at $144,472.00, and materials accounted for an additional 14% and district-wide. Teams considered district and school goals, at $142,629.00. External conference and workshop expenses reflected on the NJ Core Content Standards and the Standards were $154,649.00 — 15% of the budget. The remaining 8% for Teachers, studied student learning, and collectively analyzed was allocated for tuition reimbursement. evidence such as student work samples and assessment 8% results. In addition, non-academic data such as numbers of 25% subs staff sent out of district for professional learning, numbers of 15% in-house presenters, and evaluations from district professional stipends development was also analyzed, and feedback was gathered materials from students and the community. This baseline data was the ext. prov foundation of conversations about the quality of professional learning and provided the impetus to make changes that can 24% 14% ext. wksp significantly affect student learning. Through engaging in this tuition needs assessment, a learning community began to be defined 14% with everyone being involved in, and sharing responsibility for learning. The following diagram outlines the state-provided It was clear from the school reports that district-wide model that guided the process. professional development was being refined to reflect professional learning, including the essential components of Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations coaches, science resource teachers, technology coordinators, The collected data revealed a number of areas that helped and media specialists. Encouraging teacher leadership the school and district teams identify opportunities to impact will support these efforts. Providing multiple opportunities student achievement through targeted professional learning. to build capacity, through grade-level discussions, collaborative We identified the number of staff teaching language arts, team meetings, common planning time, presentations to mathematics, and science Pre-K-12, and the number of colleagues, inter-school networking, articulation, and other administrative and out-of-classroom staff including positions job embedded professional learning, will allow teachers to such as coaches, technology coordinators, librarians, facilitators, become experts in their respective areas. It is expected that and guidance counselors. Additionally, we looked at the planned this will also instill confidence in their abilities, ultimately professional learning that was content focused and estimated maximizing student achievement. This is also true of district the person hours involved. Participation structures such as principals, supervisors and other administrators. More university course work, individual attendance at conferences, focus needs to be placed on them as instructional leaders. coaching/mentoring, inter-school, department, or grade-based This was emphasized at the 3-day leadership academy held collaborative teams were listed. Then, in-school, in-district, in August, 2006, and has been reiterated monthly at the and out-of district professional learning was analyzed; and a administrative council meetings. Of the more than 126 cost breakdown was developed for each area including fees sessions (run over three district-wide professional development for substitutes, stipends, service providers, materials, travel, days from 2005 – January 2006) and 150 presenters, 82 and tuition reimbursement. Using the surveys, we were able to sessions were planned and delivered by district personnel. determine where individual schools and the districts were on a A number of reoccurring themes emerged from the data, and scale from more traditional professional development practices these were incorporated into the plan. Staff wants more time to more results-driven professional development, and compare to work in their buildings, and more opportunities to work where we are in relation to daily job-embedded structures and with supervisors and administrators. They need more time individual versus team learning. This data was used to plan and opportunities to practice, reflect, and revisit concepts and and develop professional learning opportunities in the content strategies that have been introduced. District-wide, teachers areas, and project outcomes of professional development in will continue to be trained in the use and implementation of instructional change and student achievement. specific instructional programs and materials to help ensure We were surprised to learn that although we had instructional efficiency. Technology in particular is an area implemented the FOSS Science Program K-8 working with that each school identified as a focus. The consensus is an independent consultant and teams of teachers, including that existing technology needs to be further integrated monthly release time, and although we were implementing the into daily instruction. Also noted is the requirement for Connected Mathematics Program with the support of PRISM at many teachers to increase their repertoire of instructional

23 strategies. Necessary for instructional change is a return development to be effective, district and school staff need to district-wide articulation, both vertical and horizontal. to share the responsibility for planning, implementing and Increased opportunities for personalized professional evaluating professional learning opportunities. Continuous development were also requested. improvement occurs when colleagues engage in evaluation District reports were reviewed by the Department of and by frequently asking: Education staff and members of county professional • What are we doing that is working? development boards based on a provided rubric. Orange • How do we know? received feedback on their plan in September 2006, and • What are we doing that isn’t working? the results were reported at a stakeholder’s Meeting. • How do we know? Through engaging in this process in Orange, learning • What will we do about it? communities have emerged, and they are active. Now beginning the third year of this pilot program learning remains very visible. Counting seat time has been the professional development Additional District-wide professional development days standard for evaluating training: the number of trainees have been added, including three early release days for PK multiplied by the amount of time spent in workshops. The results -12 articulation and three for Small Learning Community of workshops have not been a pressing issue. Effectiveness planning. A leadership cadre has been identified and trained has been evaluated by measuring trainee reaction on short to lead the curriculum mapping initiative, and common exit surveys. This is true in Orange as well; however, our form planning time has become contractual at the secondary also includes space for comments, suggestions for improving level. As a district, we search for ways to work collaboratively and set collective goals for students. We strive to involve the workshop, or recommendations for future workshops. the entire staff in decision-making and encourage teacher The results are statistically analyzed, and comments and leadership to build consensus on important issues. Leadership suggestions are recorded for planning future professional that emphasizes problem-solving is continually reinforced. learning. The results are reported to trainers and stakeholders. There are increased opportunities to engage in discussions Those who are not evaluated well are not invited back. We also about teaching practices and our shared responsibility have continued to survey the entire staff each year to make sure for student learning. There is continual engagement in our efforts are results driven, and differentiated to staff needs. collective inquiry and collective action. Teachers have more Thomas Guskey has taken evaluation of professional opportunities for high-quality professional development development to another level with a very simple adaptation focused on deepening their content knowledge, especially in science, literacy, and math, expanding their pedagogical of Kirkpatrick’s famous and widely used evaluation model repertoire to be able to differentiate instruction to meet the (Guskey, Thomas R., 2000): needs of all learners, and increasing their use of ongoing • Did participants like it? assessment that allows them to know what the students know • Did participants learn it? and can do, and to fine tune instruction. All teams should be striving for four outcomes: • How did administration change and provide support? • Did participants use it? • Did we deepen content knowledge? • Did student results change? • Enrich the instructional repertoire? We will be incorporating these questions into evaluation of • Improve assessment strategies? professional learning in Orange. • Improve the effectiveness of small learning communities? Follow-up can not be optional, as it was in the traditional model The staff themselves must now also take ownership of and of professional development. Follow-up is a major emphasis responsibility for their own growth and for the services they with the use of a variety of creative activities to get staff involved provide to students and the profession. Teachers must be in implementing the initiative. lifelong learners if they are to prepare students to assume their own proactive and productive roles in the ever changing, and increasingly technological world. For professional

24 References A Framework for Planning and Reporting Professional Learning in Abbott Districts: A Guidance Document. Prepared by the New Jersey Department of Education Division of Abbott Implementation Division of Educational Programs and Assessment A New Vision of Professional Development for New Jersey Teachers, Implementation Guide (2001). Prepared by The New Jersey Professional Teaching Standards Board and the New Jersey Department of Education Office of Standards and Professional Development Calhoun, Emily F. (1994). How to Use Action Research in the Self-Renewing School, Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD Champion, Robby, Champion Consulting. Presentation: “Using the Results-Driven Paradigm for Professional Development.” March 31, 2006 ASCD Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois Collaborative Professional Learning in Our Schools: Shifting Into High Gear, A Tool Kit (2006). Sponsored by the Division of Abbott Implementation in partnership with the Division of Educational Programs and Assessments, NJ Department of Education. Danielson, Charlotte (1996). Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching, Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD Darling-Hammond, Linda. “Teacher Learning That Supports Student Learning.” Educational Leadership, February 1998, pages 6-11. DuFour, R. and R. Eaker, editors (2005). On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities. National Educational Service, Bloomington, Indiana, pages 141-142. Fullen, Michael and Andy Hargreaves. What’s Worth Fighting For In Your School? Teachers College, Columbia University (1996). New York Fullan, Michael (1999). Change Forces: The Sequel, Palmer Press, London Guskey, Thomas R. (2000). Evaluating Professional Development, Corwin Press, California Killion, Joellen, Director of Special Projects, National Staff Development Council. Presentation: “Implementing Collaborative Professional Learning Teams.” June 2005, January 2007—NJDOE. National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future (1996). New York National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching. Revisioning Professional Development: What Learner- Centered Professional Development Looks Like (1999). National Staff Development Council, Oxford, Ohio Newmann, FM, WG Secada, and GG Wehlage (1995). A Guide to Authentic Instruction and Assessment: Vision, Standards, and Scoring. Wisconsin Center for Education Research, Madison. Professional Development and Instructional Issues: NJEA (2005). Tools for LPDC Members; Updates and Completing the Plan. Professional Development Council, New Jersey Education Association. Renyi, Judith. “Building Learning Into the Teaching Job.” Educational Leadership, February 1998, pages 70-74. Roberts, S. and Pruitt, E. (2003). Schools As Professional Learning Communities: Collaborative Activities and Strategies for Professional Development, Corwin Press, California US Department of Education (1987). What Works: Research About Teaching and Learning. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office

Julie Glazer: Biographical Information Author’s Acknowledgements Julie Glazer is currently serving as the Supervisor of In addition to the staff in Orange, I would be remiss Instruction and Professional Learning, City of Orange in not recognizing the contribution that Joellen Killion Township Public Schools. A graduate of NJ EXCEL, and has made to my understanding and implementation of a Nationally Board Certified teacher, Mrs. Glazer has Professional Learning. Her guidance and response to my more than ten years experience as a supervisor, teacher, many questions has been invaluable. (Not to mention and teacher leader, PK-12. Her specialty is in standards- the cover chart from her PowerPoint!) based education and differentiated instruction, with an In addition, Vicky Duff, from the Department of Academic extensive background in developing and implementing and Professional Standards at the New Jersey Department curriculum. She was recently honored, with her local of Education has been a wealth of knowledge and a font of professional development committee, by the New Jersey patient support. Education Association with the award for Best Practices in Professional Development. I so appreciate their efforts on my behalf.

25 1867, when a Republican-controlled legislature passed a Antiquated Practices sweeping educational law. It contained the first elements of compulsory attendance provisions and also made clear the in Changing Times: role of students: A Look at Traditional “And be it enacted, that the pupils of the public school shall comply with the regulations established in Attendance and Course pursuance of law for the government of such schools; shall pursue the course of study, and use the series Placement Policies in a of text books prescribed by the trustees and county New Jersey Public High School superintendent, and shall submit to the authority of the teachers; continued and willful disobedience, or open defiance of the authority of the teacher, the use of habitual profanity or obscene language, shall constitute Michael LaSusa good cause for suspension or expulsion from school; any pupil who shall in any way cut, deface, or otherwise injure any school house… shall be liable to suspension and punishment…” (Laws of New Jersey, 1867, p.370) Comprehensive public high schools are bureaucratic organizations whose foundations The current statutes concerning the above expectations of lay in the nineteenth century. Frequently, the policies and student behavior demonstrate how in some ways very little procedures governing key operations of these schools have has changed with regard to New Jersey’s school laws: been in place longer than most of the personnel in the “Causes for suspension or expulsion of pupils. Any particular school building and are infrequently scrutinized pupil who is guilty of continued and willful disobedience, or altered by said personnel. As a result of the perpetuation or of open defiance of the authority of any teacher or of these policies and practices, schools may fail to grow or person having authority over him, or of the habitual use of evolve in a way commensurate with the ever changing greater profanity or of obscene language, or who shall cut, deface, world of the twenty-first century. It is imperative that future or otherwise injure any school property, shall be liable to school leaders engage in a process of critical examination punishment and to suspension or expulsion from school.” of school policies so that our public educational institutions (New Jersey Statutes Title 18A, 2003, p.461) evolve in order to meet the needs of contemporary learners. The examples of the hundred-year-old spirit of New Jersey The problem this report investigates is whether or not school laws are numerous, and the above demonstrates the formal policies governing student attendance and that certain fundamental laws governing schools have not student selection of courses in a high-performing suburban changed with the times. For the purpose of this study, two New Jersey high school appropriately maximize learning other areas of consideration are that of attendance and outcomes for all students. course of study. New Jersey Statutes Title 18A:38-25-35 The nineteenth century was a breeding ground for public holds that children between the ages of 6 and 16 must schools. At the time of the Constitutional Convention of attend school and that attendance officers shall compel them 1787, few of the thirteen states even had laws regarding to do so by invoking disciplinary measures against students schools. New Jersey was not one of them. Yet during the next who are truant. With regard to course of study, students 100 years, in part as a result of intense economic, social, are required to “pursue the prescribed course of study and and political change, states adopted school systems that submit to the authority of the teachers and others in authority sought to ameliorate the conditions of the poor, integrate over them” (New Jersey Statutes Title 18A, 2003, p.461). immigrants into an “American” culture, and ensure that The language contained in these statutes makes clear that democratic principles would be lasting (see, for example, children must “submit” to the bureaucratic rules of the Cremin, 1980; Tyack, 1967; Monroe, 1940). Despite these institution known as school. Naturally, schools undergird their high-minded ideals, however, school systems manifested policies with the same language and have done so as long as themselves as bureaucratic machines that often followed a such statutes have existed. late nineteenth century industrial model of production. One result of this type of model was the imposition of hard and Attendance fast rules on children that converted them into “receptacles” An examination of attendance policies began with the of information (Freire, 1970, p.53). Children, in short, were identification of the student policy outlined in the Chatham seen more as products than as people. Many of these rules High School Student Handbook. For the 2004-2005 school and policies, clear remnants of an early period of history, year, the policy held that students would be placed in endure today (Katz, 1975, p. xvii). “provisional credit” upon their 10th absence from a class and Some of the laws upon which New Jersey schools base then lose credit for a course upon exceeding 12 absences. The their operations are indicative of the above. For example, efficacy of this policy was a source of contention in the school, though the New Jersey Legislature passed the state’s first at least according to many teachers. The underlying perception comprehensive school system law in 1838, many of the was that the policy was not often enforced by administration. key propositions of New Jersey’s current system arose in Upon closer look, however, it became clear that teachers

26 did not adhere to the policy either. Anecdotal evidence, reason would there be for them to attend? For example, if a collected through interviews with random teachers, indicated student were earning a “B” in a math class in which she was that teachers often did not report students for excessive absent 20 times, why should an administrator — someone absenteeism because they did not wish to see those students not acquainted with mathematics or this particular student — lose credit in their courses. Further, analysis of the number impose a policy whose result is an “F” in the course in spite of of students absent from school at least 12 times during the the assessment of her math teacher. Further, if the student 2003-2004 school year revealed two things: first, that 11% of was responsible enough to earn a “B,” why would it matter if the entire student body had indeed been absent at least that she were to attend class more regularly? many times; and second, that few students characterized by These findings were presented to members of the Chatham High excessive absenteeism failed courses. Table 1 demonstrates School Site Council, and it was immediately and unanimously that, although students with low absenteeism rates perform decided that a committee should be formed to address the better academically than students with high absenteeism issue. While many teachers believed it important for a school rates, only students absent in excess of thirty times in a year to encourage responsible behavior with respect to attendance, hold a G.P.A. of lower than a “C.” Indeed, students absent many also agreed that it made little sense for a student to be between 12 and 20 times maintain, on average, a “B-.” Table able to earn passing grades without being in class regularly. The 2 bolsters the fact that absenteeism does not always translate committee charged with examining the issue met several times, into failing grades, as only 19% of students absent at least 12 solicited faculty input, and ultimately constructed a new policy. times earned a grade of “F” in any course. The new policy made a significant break from the past in that it The above data indicated that the attendance policy was did not call for punitive punishments for failing to attend school, misguided for several reasons. First, many students were but rather sought a more humanistic approach in an effort exceeding the allowable number of absences without to address the reasons why a particular student struggles disciplinary consequence. This fact owed not only to the with attendance. The new policy, adopted for the 2005-2006 refusal of administrators to take credit from students, but also school year, calls for a progressive and largely non-punitive from the decision of teachers not to turn in students to the approach toward addressing attendance problems. First, administration on the basis of attendance. But a much more it calls for the administration to run reports each week to significant problem undercut the policy: If students managed monitor student attendance. If a student is absent eight to earn good grades in spite of many absences, then either the times, a letter is sent to the parents informing them of students were gifted to the extent that they could master the the excessive number of absences. Upon 12 absences, the class material without attending class, or whatever students administration sends a similar letter that also makes mention might gain from being in class was not necessary to perform of an action plan that will be enacted if the student accumulates well on assessments. In either case, it called into question the 16 absences. Upon 16 absences, a teacher mentor is assigned necessity of attending class. In other words, if students could to the student. The mentor works with the student to develop perform well without being present, then what compelling an action plan aimed at improving attendance and then to

Table 1. Effect of Absences on Grade Point Average Number of Absences Final Grade Point Average (during 2003-2004 school year) (for 2003-2004 school year) 0-2 3.36 3-5 3.27 6-8 3.09 9-11 2.87 12-15 2.67 16-20 2.65 21-30 2.23 <31 1.43

Table 2. Excessive Absences and Low Grades

Number of students absent 12 or more times during the 94 (11% of student body) 2003-2004 school year: Number of students absent 12 or more times receiving 57 at least one grade of “D” or “F” during the school year: Number of students absent 12 or more times receiving at 18 least one grade of “F” during the school year:

27 Table 3. Number of Students Absent 12 or 16 or More Times in Various Years School Year Enrollment Number of Students Percentage of Number of Students Percentage of (Through 3/28) Absent 12 Times Enrollment Absent 16 Times Enrollment 2003-2004 832 40 4.81% 18 2.16% 2004-2005 864 50 5.79% 16 1.85% 2005-2006 878 41 4.67% 11 1.25%

subsequently and regularly meet with the student to ensure Course of Study and Course Selection compliance with the plan. If attendance does not improve, credit The issue of course of study within the several academic may be withdrawn from the student. disciplines was also one of enormous debate among teachers As the 2005-2006 school year progressed, it was important and supervisors. The school policy for the course selection process to monitor and adjust this policy as appropriate. The was as follows: For every course in the school, there existed some number of students absent 12 or 16 times decreased type of pre-requisite. The pre-requisite for most regular level and over the previous years, especially when the number of basic level courses was a teacher recommendation. The pre- students enrolled in the school is taken into account (Table requisite for honors and A.P. level courses was more involved and 3). While attendance problems were not eliminated, it is clear depended on the discipline. In some areas, like social studies that shifting from a punitive attendance policy to a more and English, students were required to take an essay test and individualized one did not have the effect of increasing the attain a certain grade in a regular level course in order to gain rate of absenteeism, something that some faculty members entrance into an honors or A.P. level course. In other areas, such feared. In addition, in response to concern from many as math and science, a teacher recommendation and certain faculty members, the decision was made to treat tardiness minimum grade were the requirement. to school and cutting class more severely than in the The lack of consistency among departments with respect past. The rationale for so doing was to send a message to course entry requirements was not the only contentious to students and teachers that unexcused absences from part of the issue. A process existed for students who did not class would confer heavy discipline measures. Specifically, meet the pre-requisites or receive approval from a teacher students who exceed 16 late arrivals to school are now issued to still take a course of their choosing. Those students could a central detention and students who cut class are issued then petition for entrance into a particular course. This four-hour long Saturday school detentions as opposed to a entailed submitting a written request to the supervisor of the central detention (which had been the previous penalty). The department. If the supervisor approved of the request, then result of these changes is that the number of students cutting the student was admitted to the course. If the supervisor class has been greatly reduced. rejected the request, then the student and parent could

28 Table 4. Performance of Students Who Waived into Courses in Selected Disciplines 2003-2004 School Year School-wide Math Science English Social Studies Number of Students Waiving 30 2 9 9 10 Waivers into Higher Level Courses 30 2 9 9 10 Waivers into AP/Honors Courses 28 1 8 9 10 Number Receiving B- or Better 19 0 6 6 7 Number Receiving B or Better 17 0 6 5 6 2004-2005 School Year School-wide Math Science English Social Studies Number of Students Waiving 29 4 8 5 12 Waivers into Higher Level Courses 29 4 8 5 12 Waivers into AP/Honors Courses 22 1 4 5 12 Number Receiving B- or Better 13 1 2 2 8 Number Receiving B or Better 7 1 0 1 6

commit to the waiver process, which entailed meeting with pursuing the most rigorous academic work of which they were the principal of the school and signing a document containing capable. The group agreed to share the information among the a provision that the student forfeited her or his right to various departments to gauge how the teachers perceived the withdraw from the class for the length of the following school matter and if they thought changes were in order. year. Supervisors and teachers were generally pleased with At the subsequent meeting of administrators and supervisors, this process, though some felt that students and parents the various supervisors shared what had been discussed at should not have the ability to enter a course in spite of a the departmental level. The responses varied widely with teacher’s recommendation not to do so. several departments believing that change was in order and To determine whether or not this policy was effective—that is, if others feeling that the current policies were working fine. The it encouraged students to take the most challenging courses in administrative and supervisory group continued the discussion, which they could attain success while steering students toward and it was clear that the majority of supervisors and all courses most appropriate for them—it was necessary to compile administrators believed that the policy had to be changed. data regarding how students who waived into these courses Additionally, a philosophical belief emerged among the group performed. The results were quite revealing. Table 4 indicates that students should be the ones most responsible for choosing that over the course of two years, in several disciplines, the their course of study. A decision was made, articulated by the majority of students who waived into courses performed quite principal, to change the requirements of entry into courses. The well. Put another way, most students who defied their teachers new policy would have a universal prerequisite that to enter a and supervisors performed at an acceptable level in the courses given course, a student would have to demonstrate successful into which they waived. Interestingly, the disciplines with the completion of the previous course and receive teacher greatest number of requirements for course entry, social studies recommendation. No essay process or specific grade was and English, were also the disciplines in which students who did stated. If the student did not receive such a recommendation, not meet the stated requirements achieved the most success. s/he would have the right to waive into the course by submitting The above results were presented to the rest of the a written request to the supervisor, as opposed to the building administrative team and the supervisors of the school. A principal, who would then have the student and parent discussion ensued about how to best go about addressing the complete the document containing the provision that the seeming discrepancies as revealed by the data. Specifically, child would remain in the course until its completion. the discussion focused on whether or not the requirements While it is too early to determine all of the results of the were appropriate given that students who did not meet them above change, it has resulted in a slight increase in the still performed well in their courses and whether or not the number of students taking honors and A.P. level courses. policy encouraged or discouraged students from taking The key data will be the performance of the students in those demanding courses in which they could be successful. The courses. In other words, if more students are performing well, majority of supervisors (though not all of them) believed, based despite the increase in numbers, then clearly the change in on the data, that the course requirements were not appropriate policy had the effect of encouraging more students to take and that the policy had the effect of dissuading students from challenging courses in which they could be successful.

29 Application Dissemination The two sub-initiatives that comprise this project have far Ongoing findings and data will be disseminated in a manner reaching applications. To begin, an attendance policy that similar to the way in which the initial data was disseminated. reduces absenteeism is beneficial to all stakeholders in the It will first be shared with building administrators and then school community. It benefits teachers by reducing their with supervisors. Supervisors will bring findings and data to administrative “paperwork” and allowing them to focus their their individual departments for collaboration with teachers. time on more students during class and fewer students When appropriate, or when policy changes are in order, in a catch-up scenario outside of class. It benefits school the information will be shared with the parent and student administrators and secretaries by reducing attendance community in advisory meeting sessions or through the problems that might otherwise require significant time. Most annual publication of the student handbook. of all, it benefits students by compelling them to come to The findings in both of these studies imply that it is crucial for school; thereby, maximizing their opportunity for learning and school leaders to examine policies that were likely in place in achievement. In the arena of course selection, similar benefits their buildings long before they became the leaders of those are found. Shifting to a policy in which there is less rigidity, buildings. This is something that the administrative team at with regard to course requirement, translates into less work for Chatham High School must continue to do. More specific to teachers because they no longer have to grade entry essays both of these studies, it will be important to continue to gather into given courses or provide lengthy rationales to parents and data in the future. The data for the course selection process, in counselors regarding their decisions. Since the policy is also particular, is incomplete. As we move into the next school year, more reliant on the decisions of individual students, students it will be necessary to evaluate the impact the policy has had on and parents are empowered to make choices in which they student performance. If it is a negative impact, then obviously have investment. The hope is that this empowerment will lead the policy will need to be reworked. If it is a positive impact, to improved student performance in more rigorous courses. then perhaps it would be prudent to go even further in supplying students the freedom to choose the courses they want to take.

References “Best Places to Live, 2005” (2005) http://money.cnn.com/best/bplive/snapshots/31984.html Cremin, Lawrence A. (1980). American Education. The National Experience. New York: Harper and Row. Freire, Paulo. (1993). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum Publishing. Katz, Michael B. (1975). Class, Bureaucracy, and Schools. New York: Preager Publishers. Monroe, Paul. (1940). Founding of the American Public School System, Vol. 1. New York: The MacMillan Company. New Jersey Statutes. Title 18A Education. (2003). Newark: Gann Law Books. “NJ School Report Card” (2006) http://education.state.nj.us/rc/rc05/dataselect.php?c=27;d=0785;s=010;lt=C;st=H&datasection=all Tyack, David. (1974). The One Best System. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Michael LaSusa: Biographical Information Michael LaSusa graduated from the NJ EXCEL Program in June of 2006. He holds a B.A. from Gettysburg College, an M.S. from Saint Joseph’s University, and an Ed.D. from Rutgers University. Currently, he serves as Co-Principal of Chatham High School, a high-performing secondary school in northern New Jersey.

30 school year in order to submit them to the NJ Department Creating the Best of Education for approval. This left little time to become an expert in science classroom designs; but there was, Science Room nonetheless, a necessity to do just that. Designs for Cresskill Research Base According to an article by James Biehle, “many high school science classrooms, including those recently designed and/ High School or renovated, are not equipped for 21st century science” (Biehle, 1997). These are classrooms that were designed with experienced architectural firms and science supervisors. Peter Hughes Unfortunately, they overlooked important factors such as the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the teacher’s ability to supervise the class, storage for necessary “The best way to predict the future is to create it. equipment, and even important safety requirements. The - Peter Drucker importance of doing research was paramount in designing Introduction labs that would be in compliance with all state and federal Cresskill, NJ is a small borough in the northeast corner of laws, as well as what is most appropriate for instruction. Bergen County, New Jersey. The community is comprised of How do you create science rooms that accommodate today’s mainly affluent professionals who work in New York City. The generation of students, as well as the learners of tomorrow? District Factor Group designation is I with a strong background Facility decisions often have long lasting and direct affects on in success as shown through their recent ranking by Newsweek instruction. “It is important to consider the upgrade of all systems as the 93rd best school in America. It is a small district with because it is rare that another renovation will take place within 25 only three schools, but the community has a long history of years” (Biehle, 1997). Researching this particular question of what supporting public education. In April of 2004, the Cresskill is appropriate for the learners who would be occupying the space Board of Education secured a thirty million dollar referendum was of vital importance in order to create classrooms that would aimed at renovating and updating the facilities of the Junior/ be well suited for their learning styles. Senior High School. These renovations would include: the The current student generation, the Millenial Generation, furnaces, windows, roof, science labs, gymnasium, and library. learns in new ways that deviate from other generations. Due The referendum passed with a large margin of two to one. The to the increased exposure to technology and multitasking, money was about to have a huge impact on the school. our current students are learning in a way that mimics the As the project began, architects had to design six innovative parallel organization of a computer and is known as mosaic science rooms for Cresskill High School. “While science learning. “Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains. The supervisors have little formal preparation in providing or tools we use define and shape our thinking” (Siemens, 2004). updating science facilities, most will at some point in their This form of learning involves exposure to many sources and careers, be faced with such a task” (Converse, 1988). As types of information before conclusions are drawn and actual science lead teacher, the job fell to me. learning takes place. This is very different from the traditional The most challenging part of this entire project was the time method of linear learning used by other generations and frame. The first meeting with architects occurred in February does not lend itself to lecture-based teaching. According to of 2005, and the finished plans were due by the end of the Hicks, “Mosaic learning permits faster processing and greater absorption of information than does a linear pattern.” In Definition of Key Terms: addition, students of today are adept at networking and working in groups to solve larger problems” (Hicks, 1999). Such learners Linear learning: moving from point A to B to C in require new ways of teaching and more engaging classroom succession in order to reach an organized conclusion arrangements than previous generations. Maximizing the (Hicks, 1999). interactions of students with each other would be advantageous Mosaic learning: moving randomly among a series of for this generation’s strengths, and therefore improve learning. points before integrating them in to a coherent pattern Current research into best practices in science education and drawing a conclusion (Hicks, 1999). dictates that “good science teaching involves facilitation, Millenials or Gen N’s: the generation born in 1978 collaborative group work, and a limited, judicious use of or later. This encompasses our entire current student information giving”. In addition, “science study should involve population (McFedries, 2006). doing science, that is, questioning and discovering — not Constructivist teaching: Constructivism is a philosophy just covering — material” (Zemelman, 1998). This model of of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on science instruction demonstrates the need for a classroom our experiences, we construct our own understanding of design that is focused not on the teacher as the center of the world we live in. Teaching, therefore, revolves around learning, but on the students being the discoverers of their assisting students in the discovery and reflection of new own knowledge. This student-focused learning environment experiences (Buell, 2006). needs to be a driving force in the conception of classrooms that will serve our students best.

31 Predicting the needs of future generations is much more Additional building codes have to do with accessibility. In complicated when designing science classrooms. The particular, the American with Disabilities Act mandates that students of today are going to be retiring closer to the 22nd renovated public spaces must maximize the accessibility Century than to the 20th (Ellis, 2004). Current trends in the for handicapped individuals. Even though the classrooms job market indicate that our future students will be facing are not new construction, many of the same rules apply an increasingly aggressive business world where people are (ADA, 1994). Unfortunately, the ADA Accessibility Guidelines competing globally for jobs and not locally or even nationally. make no special mention of science lab settings. Therefore, In order to be successful in the new global economy, students specific applications require judgment on the parts of of tomorrow will have to be adept at change, as well as being the science supervisor and architect. Elements that must lifelong learners (Friedman, 2005). The National Institute be considered in the design stages include wheelchair for Literacy has even created standards that focus on the accessibility at lab stations, safety features that are needs for the future. These standards focus on interpersonal handicapped accessible, and wide paths for people in skills, decision making skills, lifelong learning skills, and wheelchairs to move freely (Biehle, 1995). communication skills (Stein, 2000). All of these skill sets The integration of technology into the science classrooms support the need for constructivist teaching approaches. brings a number of problems associated with it. Technology Additionally, the State of New Jersey places focus on students if not planned out ahead of time can cause line of sight learning science by doing science. Actual science focuses on problems, issues of space, and even the danger of electric collaboration, questioning, and experimentation — not lecture shock (Fickes, 2001). It is imperative to locate computers and style classes (NJDOE Science Standards, 2002). technology away from water. It is also important to ensure Transforming the constructivist ideals, standards, and that the space that the computer takes up is considered research into an actual floor plan was the task that had to in the plan. Not properly planning for technology leads to a be accomplished with the help of architects and furniture number of problems. suppliers. A variety of table types and lab stations had to Additional technology was investigated to enhance be considered in order to find ones that met the needs of science instruction. SmartBoards were investigated, and a today’s learners. Each science room was created with the demonstration was done for the department. The interactive goal of collaboration and hands-on science at the heart whiteboards had a tremendous amount of functionality. They of the design. A requirement was created for tables that were not ideal, however, since the teacher had to stand in the could accommodate teams of four or more students in projector beam in order to write. collaborative settings. Data collection for this project was varied and ongoing Most of the initial teacher requests for classroom designs throughout the design process. It involved the following: had a layout conducive to lecture style learning rather than project based and collaborative learning. This was contrary • Interviews with the superintendent, teachers, and principal to what best practices have shown to be effective in science • Interviews and work sessions with architects education (Zemelman, 1998). In order to alleviate this • Site visits of other science labs in Paramus, Ramsey, situation, teachers were encouraged to go on site visits Montville, and Ridgewood of other schools that have done renovations to both view science labs, as well as interview teachers who were currently • Research into lab safety and science room design working in constructivist classrooms. • Research into the future of science education When designing a science classroom, there are guidelines • Research into educational technology to infuse into the one must follow. Building codes are imperative. It is the science room designs architect’s job to ensure that the classrooms are up to code; however, the science supervisor must understand what is • Demonstrations by salesmen of various technology required, since there are many options as to how to meet products available those requirements. Even though architects are experts in Throughout the time of this project, multiple meetings with design, they are not experts when it comes to education and stakeholders were continuously occurring to ensure that all how the design and function must compliment one another. parties had input. This was imperative, since the science Possibly the most imperative codes to follow are those involving teachers would no longer be meeting with architects after the safety in science classrooms. “Safety must be the primary initial plans were drawn. concern when constructing or renovating rooms for laboratory School visitations played a key role in gaining valuable insight use” (Converse, 1988). The most important area to focus into the pitfalls of construction. Science supervisors from on student safety is in the chemistry classrooms. This is the other districts became valuable mentors through the design area where students and staff may be exposed to dangerous stages and gave tremendous insights into what needed to chemicals that are often corrosive or even flammable. be accomplished, as well as what to watch out for. These Standard safety equipment is needed in each classroom mentors gave a strong idea of what needed to be done in the as well. Emergency eyewashes, showers, fire blankets, fire area of research to ensure that our classrooms would be the extinguishers, goggle cabinets, and first aid kits must be best possible. made available in each classroom to ensure proper safety precautions are in place (Collins, 2002).

32 Using what was learned in the school visits, each department The biology and physics teachers were resistant to change and member began to formulate a vision of what their needs the idea of constructivist teaching methods. This was against were. These visions were brought to the architects and me to the best interests of the students. Therefore, these teachers be implemented into the design process. The architects then were eliminated from some of the decision-making process. created plans for the rooms that the teachers had requested. However, they continued to have input into the process through The science room designs went through four revisions in meetings with the lead science teacher. Important insight was three months. Each revision was followed with architect gained, and “buy in” began to be established. meetings, conversations with teachers, and meetings with the Overall Classroom Designs superintendent. This helped to ensure that the visions were in Each of the classrooms caters to best practices in the line with one another and moving in a positive direction. sciences. There are areas for group work as well as labs. A consultant was brought in to assist with choosing Each room has a constructivist design and holds student casework (cabinets) and ensuring that all of the curricular safety above all else. needs were taken care of in the classroom designs. In this Technology is integrated into all of the science classrooms. meeting, valuable insight was gained about materials and Each classroom will have a ceiling-mounted projector, costs so that the science supervisor could make the best whiteboards, and School Pads to allow for highly visual possible decisions. lessons that are engaging to students. Classroom sets of Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations laptops are available from the library and will be augmented One of the most important findings was the actual with wireless internet throughout the science classrooms. agendas of the stakeholders. This was an important area Each teacher station will be equipped with a new desktop to understand, since every decision would impact various computer, DVD player, VCR, and camera to be used in stakeholders in different ways. In order to assist with conjunction with the projector. understanding the politics of the decisions, the figure below Each classroom has the necessary safety features and (Major Stakeholder Priorities) was constructed based on accessibility. Every room will have outside ventilation for interviews with stakeholders. noxious fumes. Handicapped accessible safety showers, eye This chart sheds light onto the issues that had to be faced washes, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and fire blankets by the science supervisor in order to get classrooms that have all been made standard and included in the designs. were engaging for the students of today and tomorrow.

Major Stakeholder Priorities Principal Superintendent • Preferred immovable furniture to prevent damage. • Wanted classrooms of the future. • Wanted a safe and logical design. • Highly motivated to create classrooms that are conducive • Did not have time to be involved in the plans for to learning. construction. • Wanted to keep costs to a minimum if they would not have • Delegated the project to the lead science teacher and direct impact on student learning. trusted that I would make the correct decisions. • Wanted to ensure that the classrooms take into consideration the needs of the current and future curriculum. Biology and Physics Teachers Lead Teacher and Chemistry Teachers • Desired convenience for their own teaching styles. • Wished to create rooms that are innovative and geared • They desired lecture-based classrooms and resisted the towards how our students learn best. idea of tables where four students sit together. • Wanted constructivist-based classrooms that would enable • The teachers believed that the traditional classroom students to explore science rather than be lectured about it. setting is better to prevent cheating and ensure that the • Wished to have a variety of learning areas and technology students have a similar educational experience as when to ensure that all students are engaged and learning in the they were in school. classrooms. • Believed that the rooms should be designed around student needs and not teacher desires.

33 Physics Classroom Designs  The initial design for the two physics classrooms, created with teacher input, went against best practices in science education. The classrooms were large, with only two students at tables that are six feet long. Everything is immovable and centered on the teacher. It would be very difficult for students to work collaboratively in such a setting. The teacher was far away from the back row with a demo desk in the way of teacher circulation. There was virtually nothing in this design that suggested hands-on and collaborative approaches to instruction. There was also no reason for a physics classroom to have so many sinks. The following design was a result after having met with the architects alone the second time. They focused more on constructivist teaching, but the designs were not ideal for the functionality of teaching physics. The architects presented two different furniture arrangements, but they did not take into consideration the special needs of the physics curriculum. Many of the experiments in physics involve large areas of space. Having so much built in furniture could be a problem. In addition, the physics teacher was very unhappy with these plans. This made for difficult debates within the science department. After long discussions with the physics teacher, something was finally suggested that would work with his vision, what the research dictates, and what the superintendent and science supervisor wanted. The physics teacher suggested tables on the outside that are immovable while the inside tables are moveable. The outside tables would have electricity for experiments, but the inside tables could be abutted against the outside tables in order to create the constructivist setting that was desired. The tables in the middle can be arranged as double desks, in one long table, or pushed against the immovable tables for group projects. This design maximized the flexibility and functionality of the room. Moveable tables are an answer when flexible space is needed (Biehle, 1995). This offered multiple learning arrangements in one class, while still offering electricity to perform experiments.  Biology Room Designs  This design for the two biology classrooms was the result of the initial meeting  with architects. There were some immediate problems which became apparent with these designs. The first is that the top biology classroom is exactly the same arrangement and configuration as the current classrooms being used. There are virtually no improvements or changes. Secondly, there is a tremendous amount of space between the teacher and the last row of seats, as well as a large demonstration table that hinders circulation of the teacher. This could lead to classroom management issues and decreased student performance. One serious problem with this design is the inconsistent classroom size. The top biology room has significantly more space and storage than the second biology room. This was caused by the location of load-bearing walls. This caused the arrangement of furniture to be awkward in the second biology room and created dangerous corners where the flow of people would be hindered. This is a safety hazard in a lab situation and had to be alleviated. The safety shower was also located directly near an area of high traffic flow (the doorway), which would make it prone to being used inappropriately by students. Many of the issues still needed to be addressed in the biology rooms. One of the main problems was the load-bearing wall and supports. They were preventing the architects from getting a room layout that would be attractive, functional, and safe. After further meetings with the architects and superintendent, it was agreed that the wall needed to be moved. The classroom sizes were evened out, and the desk arrangements became significantly better. Each room was outfitted with sufficient storage space, as well as the equipment necessary for two functional and modern science classrooms.

34 Special equipment was incorporated into one of the biology Application to Leadership Practice rooms to accommodate genetics research. Cresskill High School serves as a satellite training center for genetics Action Plan through a partnership with Princeton University. This plan The action plan for implementing school construction incorporated an ice machine, dishwasher, and freezer to is dictated by the phasing of construction, the bidding help accommodate the needs of running courses for this process, and the schedule of the builders. There can also be partnership program. unforeseen hold ups. Each of these elements can impact the A greenhouse was also planned that would be accessible timeline. However, the general timeline for the science room from both biology classrooms. This greenhouse would renovation is as follows: accommodate the needs of the horticulture class curriculum. It March – May of 2005: This was the planning stage of would also offer an area for plant experiments to take place. construction. Blueprints were created, presented, debated, and Chemistry Room Designs recreated. A vision had to be created through the help of all stakeholders. Curriculum and instruction had to be analyzed to A great deal of attention had to be paid to the design of determine the needs of the classrooms. Collaboration between the two chemistry classrooms. Accidents are most likely to the superintendent and the board of education had to occur occur in the chemistry rooms, and there must be adequate to ensure that we were designing science labs that the public planning that goes into minimizing these concerns. would approve of. This was the least expensive time to make The initial room designs took into consideration chemical changes to the plans and involved minutia such as determining storage, safety, and the ability to do demonstrations. Some the positioning of electrical outlets, data drops, gas, and water. limitations, however, were similar to those of the biology After this stage, changes become increasingly expensive since rooms. Due to load-bearing walls and posts, the classroom the architects create a variety of electrical diagrams, wiring sizes were not even. There were also areas where line of sight diagrams, etc… from these initial plans. If holdups occur at this  could be an issue for the teacher. After a few corrections, stage, they prevent the state from receiving the plans in time architects reached a finished plan (Below). for approval.  May of 2005: All casework (cabinets) was designed and picked  out to be installed. Appliances and equipment were fit into the plans. Materials for building were chosen, such as the resin type to use on the lab benches, the material for the casework, the types of tiles, and even the colors that will be in the rooms. June – August of 2005: Asbestos was removed from the areas where workmen will need access in the science rooms. This was completed by the construction manager. April 2005 – the summer of 2007: A variety of work projects were going on around the district. Science room renovations were in the third phase of construction. Even though these other projects did not appear to affect the science rooms, the truth is that any glitches in these other projects could have severely altered the timeline of the science room renovations. Implications and Recommendations for Future Study This action research had very real impact on the Cresskill community. Through extensive research, the likelihood of having well-designed science labs that address the needs of the community increases drastically. Mistakes in layout, function, and safety can be avoided and may result in significant cost savings for the district. An area for future study is to look at the impact that the new classrooms will have on student performance. It would be interesting to look at the influence that a constructivist classroom design and teaching techniques have on students This new plan featured two identical classroom spaces in comparison to the current performance of students in the with separate lab and lecture areas. Chemical storage and lecture-based classrooms being used today. preparation would occur in a shared prep room between the two chemistry classrooms. When beginning the lab, the materials could simply be wheeled out into the lab space. The teacher demo area is off to the side to maximize the teacher’s ability to circulate through the class.

35 References ADA standards for accessible design. (1994). Retrieved Feb. 25, 2006, from Code of Federal Regulations Web site: http:// www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adastd94.pdf. Biehle, James (1995, May). “Complying with Science.” American School and University Magazine, May 1995. Biehle, J. T. (1995). “Six Science Labs for the 21st Century.” School Planning & Management, 39 - 42. Biehle, J. T. (1997). “Tomorrow’s Science in Yesterday’s Buildings.” AI Architect. Buell, Cindy (2006). “Constructivism.” Retrieved June 3, 2006, Web site: http://web.cocc.edu/cbuell/theories/ constructivism.htm Collins, J. (2002). Science Facility Standards: Kindergarten Through Grade 12. Austin, TX: Texas, Education Agency. Converse, R. (1988). Third Sourcebook of Science Supervisors. Washington D.C.: National Science Supervisors Association. Ellis, A. (2004). Exemplars of Curriculum Theory. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education Inc. Fickes, M. (2001, January). “The Furniture of Science.” School Planning & Management, Retrieved Feb. 25, 2005, from http://www.peterli.com/archive/spm/211.shtm. Flinn Scientific Inc., (1998). “Chemistry Lab Design: 45 Ideas, Tips, and Hints to Help You Design a Safe and Efficient Chemistry Laboratory.” Retrieved Feb. 25, 2006, from Flinn Scientific Inc. Web site: http://www.flinnsci.com/Sections/ LabDesign//labDocuments/45_Ideas.asp. Flinn Scientific Inc. “Frequently Asked Lab Design Questions.” Retrieved Feb. 25, 2006, from Flinn Scientific Inc. Web site: http://www.flinnsci.com/Sections/FAQ/questions.asp?subCatID=25&catID=10. Friedman, Thomas (2005). The World is Flat: a Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux Publishing. Hicks, Rick (1999). Boomers, X’ers, and Other Strangers. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers. Hoff, David (2003, April 30). “Science-Lab Safety Upgraded After Mishaps.” Retrieved June 4, 2006, from The Laboratory Safety Institute Web site: http://www.labsafety.org/news/Science-Lab%20Safety%20Upgraded.htm McFedries, Paul (2006). “Millennial Generation.” Retrieved June 2, 2006, from Word Spy Web site: http://www.wordspy. com/words/MillennialGeneration.asp NSELA, (2001). “NSELA Position Statements.” Retrieved Feb. 25, 2006, from NSELA Web site: http://www.nsela.org/ positionstatements/pp.html. New Jersey Department of Education, (2002). “Science Standards.” Retrieved Feb. 25, 2006, from http://www.state.nj.us/ njded/cccs/s5_science.htm. Ramsey, Robert (2006). Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Siemens, G (2004, December 12). “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age.” Retrieved June 2, 2006, from Elearnspace Web site: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm Stein, S (2000). Equipped for the Future of Content Standards: What Adults Need to Know and Be Able to Do in the 21st Century. Washington, DC: EFF Publications. Taylor, P. H. (1981). “Planning of Facilities for Teaching Science in Elementary and Secondary Schools.” The Science Teacher. Zemelman, Steven (1998). Best Practices: New Standards for Teaching and Learning in American Schools. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Publishers.

Peter Hughes: Biographical Information Author’s Acknowledgements Peter Hughes received a Bachelor of Arts in the This project could not have succeeded without the Biological Sciences from Rutgers University, as well assistance and guidance of many fine mentors and as a Masters Degree in Science Education from colleagues. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Charles Rutgers Graduate School of Education. After obtaining his Khoury for his guidance and trust in this project as the teaching certificate, Mr. Hughes spent six years teaching superintendent of Cresskill Public Schools. Additionally, biology, horticulture, forensic science, and earth science I would like to thank the fine science teachers and at Cresskill Junior/Senior High School and is currently the supervisors from other districts that acted as mentors Lead Teacher of Science for the district. through the science room renovation process. In particular, In addition, Mr. Hughes has worked during his summers as Mr. John Brick of Montville High School and Ms. Holly an adjunct professor for three years at Princeton University, Falcone of Ramsey High School assisted tremendously in where he aided in the professional development for biology helping me to avoid mistakes in the design process. Finally, teachers from around the country. Currently, Mr. Hughes is I would like to thank LAN Associates for helping me to make seeking certification as a supervisor, principal, and chief the vision a reality through their architectural expertise. school administrator through the NJEXCEL Program.

36 The next question would be what effect would such a book The Misfits: Using a club have on parents’ understanding of the balanced literacy Parent-Student Book Club program used by the school. to Combat Bullying

Richard Wilson

- Introduction “Furthermore, the school district will be liable for compensatory damages if: the district did not have in place appropriate anti-harassment policies, training programs, and monitoring mechanisms; or the district knew or should have known of the unlawful harassment and failed to take effective measures to end it.” - LW v. Toms River BOE Supreme Court of New Jersey December 7, 2005 “Schools and school districts are encouraged to establish bullying prevention programs, and other initiatives involving school staff, students, administrators, volunteers, parents, law enforcement and community members.” Research Base The research base for this project focuses on three areas. - Anti Bullying Law Since the first explicit area of this project involved the New Jersey State Legislature reduction of bullying and name calling, it is obvious that May 20, 2002 programs in this area should be reviewed. Secondly, research This project was an attempt by the school to expand its anti- that has been done on the use of literature in a balanced bullying program within the sixth grade of a K-6 elementary literacy program will be examined; and lastly, since this building that had been in existence for two years. The premise project also involved parents, some exploration into the area of the program had been that the school could reduce of community involvement should be included. incidents of bullying, harassment, and name calling through Since the Columbine incident there has been an explosion in their balanced literacy program with a focus on literature with the development of programs to address the issue of safety an anti-bullying theme. in schools. Much of this has focused on the issue of bullying The expansion called for a parent student book club that and harassment since these issues seemed to play such a would act as a bullying prevention program which would vital role in that incident (Kass, 2000) . involve school staff, students, administrators, and parents. An often cited study in the Journal of the American Medical The primary problem of this investigation was to explore the Association demonstrated the seriousness of bullying in effects of including parents through a Parent Student Book American schools. In a nationally representative sample of Club, using a book with a bullying theme, on bullying and over 15,686 students in the United States (grades 6 through name calling within a sixth grade population. The secondary 10), 29.9% self-reported frequent involvement in bullying at problem was to explore how involving parents in a book school, with 13% participating as a bully, 10.9% as a victim, club would increase their understanding of a new balanced and 6% as both (Nansel et al., 2001). literacy program that was used in the school setting. Packaged programs, such as The Olweus Bullying Prevention Considering the problems described above, there are Program (Olweus, 2007), and No Name Calling Week several research questions to be examined. First, there is (Hirschfeld, et al., 2004) focus on several aspects of the the question of what effect a parent student book club that bullying dynamic; including, making students aware of encourages examining the issues related to bullying and bullying and harassment behaviors, teaching strategies harassment will have on school environment, particularly for victims of bullying, increasing monitoring of bullying around the issue of school safety. Within the context of behaviors by school personnel, and developing a school that larger question is the question of what level of quality climate that discourages aggressive behavior. of conversations between parents and their children over The second factor to be discussed is literature and balanced these issues will result from such a program, and what are reading programs. The report of The National Reading Panel the differences between parents and their children in the set in place the basis for balanced reading programs that perception of these issues?

37 focus on phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and their children’s experiences had been. Parents were given a the use of technology. In terms of comprehension, the report reflection journal and were encouraged to use it to reflect on states that, “the data suggest that text comprehension is their reading. This was used for personal reference only, and enhanced when readers actively relate ideas represented in was not examined by the researcher. print to their own knowledge and experiences and construct At the end of the last night of the program, both parents and mental representations in memory.” It goes on to say, “the students completed an evaluation, focusing on their thoughts rationale for the explicit teaching of comprehension skills is and feelings about the effectiveness of the program. The that comprehension can be improved by teaching students researcher also kept anecdotal notes following each of the to use specific cognitive strategies or to reason strategically sessions to measure some of the qualitative interactions that when they encounter barriers to understanding what they are took place between parents and students. reading” (NIH, 2000). These seven strategies, which include monitoring for Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations meaning, using and creating schema, asking questions, Discipline records were examined for the period from February determining importance, inferring, using sensory and through June 2007 to see if there was an improvement emotional images, and synthesizing are often taught in a in student behavior comparing it to: a) the period from reading workshop with teachers modeling the use of one of September through January and b) the period from February the strategies (Keene, 2007). through June 2006 — a year when the same in school activities had taken place, but there had been no book club. Finally, we turn to the third component of this project, that of community involvement. Much of what is written The first question to be considered was the examination of about parent/family involvement stems from the National the perceptions of parents and children on the issue of their Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs (National experience with bullying and harassment. To examine this PTA, 1998). These seven standards include Communicating, question, a short survey was given to both parents and students Parenting, Student Learning, Volunteering, School Decision before we began the project. The discussion results became Making and Advocacy, and Collaborating with the community. a key component of the second week’s meeting. As might be While the importance of positive student/parent impact has expected, 100% of the students reported having experienced been documented (Redding, 1998) in recent years, there some kind of bullying or name calling at some point; 100% of has been an increased concern in the lessening of parental the parents also thought that this might be the case. As shown involvement in the academic lives of adolescents. This may in the chart below, there were some significant differences in stem from a parent’s lack of confidence in dealing with the the types of bullying that students had experienced and parents’ academic material students are facing, or might stem from perception of their children’s actual experience. the increasing complexity of both academic and social issues As can be seen, there are fairly substantial differences in faced by adolescents (Beyer, et al 2003). two areas. The first of these was the reporting of physical Methodology fighting. 58% of the students reported having been involved in physical fighting, while only 32% of the parents thought This project involved four weekly one hour meetings of a parent- their children had engaged in this activity. The area that led student book club to discuss literacy strategies and bullying/ to the most discussion in this area, however, was that of harassment issues using the book, The Misfits, by James Howe. cyber bullying. While 32% of the students reported being The meetings took place in the month of January, culminating involved in cyber bullying, only 8% of the parents thought with the school’s celebration of a No Name Calling Week. this had affected their children. In the discussion around this The three facilitators for the book club were two sixth grade issue, several parents thought that they were monitoring their classroom teachers and the researcher, who also serves as children’s computer activity or that this was something that a special education teacher providing in class support for happened with older students. language arts in one of the sixth grades. The school principal attended all four meetings. Fourteen of thirty students from the class signed up for the project. Each parent was given a copy of the book and assigned a reading Types of Bullying Experienced (percentages) section for each week’s meeting. Students read the book as a whole class novel in their Language 100 Arts class. The format of each meeting varied; but 90 in general, included an introduction, a focus lesson 80 modeling one of the comprehension strategies 70 60 that had been taught in class, an activity that Students 50 used the strategy taught using the content of the Parents 40 week’s reading assignment, discussion, and a short 30 closing activity. Data was collected in a number of 20 ways. Prior to beginning the book, students took a 10 short survey on their experiences with bullying and 0 harassment. The first night of class, parents took Physical fighting Verbal name- Cyber bullying Being excluded the same survey, focusing on what they considered calling from a group

38 When looking at where bullying and name calling take place, Student there were some differences in the exact location; but, there What We Have Heard Name Calling About Parent was general agreement among both children and adults that (percentage) almost all of this activity occurs in unsupervised areas. On the 80 survey, there was not an option for home, since in the mind of 70 60 the facilitators, this activity was concerned with school; but, 50 several students checked other, and then added home in a 40 blank space. Parents were much less apt to use the selection 30 of “other” as an option. 20 Next, to be examined were those traits that are the target of 10 0 name calling. Both students and parents agreed that there e n p n ly r c io u io i e n t o g m th a ta r li a r n G e F O was an issue with appearance, and that this, indeed, was the a ie ic R e r n p O h p l t A a E topic of the most agreement between the two groups. u r x o e e S c a There were three areas that showed discrepancies between R students’ experiences and parents’ perceptions. One of these was religion. No parent thought that religion would be Students: What We Have Heard Name Calling About a topic of name calling, while 20% of the students had the the Most (percentage) Appearance experience of religion being a subject of name calling. Race Sexual Orientation and ethnicity was another area of significant discrepancy; Race or Ethnic 17% Group 50% of the students reported having heard name calling over Religion 6% race and ethnicity, while only 16% of parents felt this might Family 0% be the case. Other

The last large discrepancy that also spilled over to the 6% 51% next survey item was around sexual orientation. 64% of the students reported hearing comments related to sexual 20% orientation, while only 30% of the parents thought that might be the case. This discrepancy was also present in the last question where 20% of the students reported that sexual orientation was the topic they had most heard name calling Parents: What Students Have Heard Name Calling About the Most (percentage) about, while not a single parent thought this would be the Appearance Sexual case. This is of special interest because the novel that was Orientation Race or Ethnic used, The Misfits, has been somewhat controversial over the Group inclusion of several seventh grade characters who are gay. 25% Religion Family The next question to examine is whether such a project actually has an impact on student behavior. On this question, Other there needs to be more collection of data than is available. It was the intent of the researcher to compare data of 6th graders from 2006 with 6th graders from 2007, and also to 0% 0% 75% examine data from the fall semester of the subjects of this 0% 0% study with the spring semester, one prior to the program, one following. The only data available for either year are While all parents felt that the book club would help reduce those offenses that formally rose to the principal level. bullying and name calling, 17% strongly agreed and 83% There is no data on those situations that were dealt with agreed. 80% of the students agreed that the book club would on the classroom level and might have been considered have an effect, while 20% disagreed and felt the book club lesser offenses. For the 2005-2006 school year, there is would have no effect. All participants felt that the book club only a summary sheet with less detail, making comparisons was a worthwhile activity, with the adults again being slightly difficult. Within the data that does exist, however, there were more enthusiastic in their response. two offenses that were classified as bullying or harassment in Lastly, we turn to the subject of helping parents understand the Spring of 2007. Both of these occurred with students who the use of a balanced literacy program in the schools. We had not participated in the book club, but had participated in can turn to one question on the final evaluation which asked all of the classroom No Name Calling Week activities. about the understanding of our literacy program. Some data was collected concerning student and parent As might be expected, all parents reported learning something perceptions of how successful the book club would be in about the literacy program at Haviland Avenue School. reducing bullying and harassment. This data is limited Surprising to the researcher, were the number of students who because of small numbers. While most participants felt reported that they had learned something about the literacy that the experience would lead to a lessening of bullying program. Perhaps this was because of the direct nature with and name calling, parents were more optimistic about the which facilitators discussed components of the program. possibilities than were students.

39 Finally, the anecdotal data gives some evidence of the The Bookbook ClubClub Was Was a a Worthwhile Worthwhile Project Project effectiveness of this program. This data comes from comments on evaluation forms, as well as discussions 12 before, during, and after the book club itself. 10 From the point of view of a facilitator, there were some 8 very powerful conversations throughout this project. For example, in small groups containing both parents 6 Parents and students, parents were asked what would have 4 Students made children of their generation targets of bullying 2

or name calling. Almost every parent went to their 0 own personal experience, either as bullies or victims. Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly One father related that, as a child, he was not very Agree Disagree neat, and had gotten the nickname “Pigpen” from the Peanuts comic strip. Then he said, “But the worst thing was the first person to call me that was my th4 grade With the data available, it is difficult to state that there is teacher.” His son, who is generally a quiet boy, then spoke a direct behavioral effect on school climate based on this about how he has difficulty with organization skills and has sample and the data available. It was the perception of a felt bullied over the years. It was very powerful to see father majority of students and their parents that this project will and son share these experiences. have a positive effect. By exposing parents to the language One of the goals of this project was to encourage meaningful that the school is using with their children, as well as the conversation between parents and children in early legal implications for the school when it comes to bullying adolescence, since the literature describes adolescence and harassment, it is hoped that there will be an increase as a time when both parents and their children pull away in parent support as students move to the district’s junior/ from each other. One mother reported that after they left senior high school, though that impact is outside the the book club one week, she and her son had continued the parameters of this research project. conversation for almost two hours. Observation, evaluations, and anecdotal evidence show There was also a good deal of conversation among parents that this project did, indeed, lead to increased conversation about the use of the book itself. The book has been between parents and their children around these issues. controversial in some places, and has even been banned Several times, this researcher was taken aback by the in some school districts and restricted in some public and depth of conversation in the short amount of time that was school libraries. Early on, a parent asked about the use of available for discussion. In one discussion on “golden lines,” this particular book. It was explained that the book seemed for example, participants were discussing a line from the to cover many different issues, and so lent itself to this book in which the narrator, a 12 year-old boy, states, “I just project. Facilitators also reported that they had used the see them as being dealt a hand. Some people get a royal book for two years and had always gotten a very positive flush and some get a pair of deuces. And some people get response from students. The parent went on to say that she nothing but a string of cards that no matter how they’re thought it was an excellent book and that she had difficulty played will never add up to a winning hand.” In response, one reading only the portions that were assigned. There seemed of the student participants shared with his group, “I don’t to be agreement among all the adult participants that this think I agree with that. After all, if you are playing poker, you was an appropriate novel for their children, with no negative can always turn in a couple of your bad cards and get some comments about the book in either discussion or on new ones.” Although not using these terms, this led to a evaluations. Outside of the book club, the school did have conversation between these children and their parents about one parent who objected to his daughter reading the book; free will vs. predetermination. This is just one example of the and she was given an alternate assignment on the same kinds of conversation this project was able to facilitate. topic while the students read The Misfits. In terms of educating parents about a balanced literacy Conclusions program, there is some evidence that this was successful. First, there is the parent reporting on the evaluation form, This project was constructed to see if engaging parents which is the most direct. Secondly, was the fact that in and their early adolescent children in conversations about several places in the comments section of the evaluation bullying and harassment around a piece of literature would forms, parents used terms from balanced literacy. Comments accomplish several goals. First, what effect would such about “golden lines” and “think, pair share activity” showed conversations have on improving school safety by reducing that some parents had embraced the language of the literacy the incidence of bullying and harassment? Second, would program their children experience each day. such a setting increase the level of conversation between these students and their parents around important issues? Third, what would be the effects of parent understanding of a school’s literacy program based on this experience?

40 Recommendations and the reality of the demands on people’s lives. The evaluation, asked participants about time, and many The first recommendation stemming from this study has to responded that more time was needed, though there do with the collection and keeping of data. More detailed was no consensus in how to structure that time. Further data from the 2006-07 school year, as well as the 2005-06 examination will have to be done to see how the demand years was needed to make any meaningful comparisons. for more time can be reasonably accommodated. The other issue was the small size of the group that participated in the program. As will be discussed in the Thirdly, in examination of the evaluation forms, several application section of this report, there are definite plans to students noted that they would like there to be more activity continue with this project; and at that time, improved data and less discussion. This was in contradiction to the large can be kept and examined. majority who felt there could be more discussion, which they found very valuable. Like in any classroom, the facilitators will The next recommendation concerns the time element of need to examine the program to accommodate for the needs the program. When asking students and parents to give of a wide variety of students and parents, who are coming to time outside of the school day, it is difficult to find the this project with a variety of backgrounds and skills. balance between the time needed for the task at hand

REFERENCES Beyer, R.D., Patrikalou, E.N., & Weisberg, R.P. (2003). “School-Family Partnerships for Adolescents.” The LSS Review. 2, 12 - 13. Howe, J (2003). The Misfits. New York, NY: Simon & Shuster. Kass, Jeff. “Witnesses Tell of Columbine Bullying.” (2000, October 3). Rocky Mountain News, Keene, E (2007). Mosaic of Thought the Power of Comprehension Strategies. Portsmith, NH: Heinemann. Nansel, T.R., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R.S., Ruan, W.J., Simons-Morton, B., and Scheidt, P. (2001). “Bullying Behaviors Among U.S. Youth: Prevalence and Association with Psychosocial Adjustment.” Journal of the American Medical Association, 285(16), 2094-2100. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and its Implications for Teading Instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Redding, S (1998). “Parents and Learning.” Retrieved August 31, 2007, from International Bureau of Education Web site: http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/EducationalPracticesSeriesPdf/prac02e.pdf Reiff, Sandra (2007). How to Reach and Teach all Children Through Balanced Literacy. Jossey-Bass. Wilson, R., McGilloway, L (2005, November). “Using the Misfits to Discuss Sexual Orientation Issues.” NJEA Review, 10-12.

Richard Wilson: Biographical Information Author’s Acknowledgements Richard Wilson has been a Special Education Teacher No project happens in a vacuum, and a project like this in Haviland Avenue School in Audubon, NJ for the last one, with all its risks, cannot happen without the support 21 years. Like many educators, he has developed a of strong colleagues, friends, and family. much keener awareness of the issues of bullying and And so, some thanks are in order: harassment in schools, particularly with early adolescents, Thanks to my Principal and mentor, Dr. Carleene Slowik, where the problem seems most prevalent. For the last who first came to me with the idea of the book club, and three years, the sixth grade class — where the researcher was there to support us 100% at every turn in the road. provides in-class support for special education students Thanks to my teaching partner, Lisa McGilloway, who — has used the materials from GLSEN’s No Name Calling constantly encourages me to be a better teacher, and a Week program (Hirschfeld, et al., 2004) as part of a better person as well. literacy unit with bullying and harassment as its theme. Thanks to my colleague, Paul Rogers, who took this project Two years ago, he co-authored an article with a colleague on and gave it his own unique stamp with all his usual inspired by this unit of study which was published in the energy and enthusiasm. NJEA Review (Wilson et al, 2005). Thanks to the parents and students who gave of themselves and made this project come alive. Thanks to my friends at NJEA and especially the LGBT Caucus, who give me great strength to continue. Thanks to the South Jersey E-group…you’re the best! And mostly, thanks to my life partner, Ray Becker, who is there at every turn with love, confidence, and support.

41 This action research project will investigate the attitudes Building a Strong regarding character education, plan for character education topics which can be addressed through curriculum infusion, Foundation: Assessing and address planning for professional development for staff members. In addition, character education materials and the Need and Planning for resources will be identified and offered to teaching staff Character Education for Our members in the target schools to support and encourage the infusion of character education instruction and activities in Elementary Schools their classrooms. Research Questions • Several factors have contributed to the need for a character Rosanne M. Moran education program in our schools. These include: • Evidence of disruptive behavior by students as documented by teacher referrals and anecdotal records; • Requests by parents and community to promote At the present time, there is no viable, sustained and district- classroom and school-wide activities which include coordinated character education program in place at the character education tenets, such as respect, truth, elementary school level in Old Bridge. Viable and sustained honesty, and responsibility; character education programs exist at the middle school and • An increase in school violence nationally, as evidenced by high school levels through peer leadership and anti-bullying incidents such as Columbine and the corresponding fear education programs. expressed by teachers, parents, and community members Working independently, principals in our twelve elementary that it could happen here; schools have partnered with teachers to infuse character • The need for students to realize that there are consequences education topics such as respect, honesty, and anti-bullying for the choices they make and that they are ultimately into the curriculum. However, many teachers feel challenged responsible for their actions; by the task of trying to build character education activities into an already packed school day. • The fact that children need to learn how to adapt and cope with living and working in a global society with diverse This Action Research Project was commenced to address the populations, as well as social and academic problems. need to develop a viable and sustained Character Education Program for the Old Bridge Township Public Schools, Grades • The realization that everyday conflicts occur and interfere K-5. The project will utilize surveys, polls, classroom visitations, with the students’ ability to learn. “With their diverse and monitoring of activities to evaluate the adoption, infusion, populations and social and academic problems, schools and progress of an elementary character education program. are unique arenas for learning how to thrive in the civilized society.” (Parker, 1997) The purpose of this project is to take the information garnered from a survey on attitudes and opinions on character education While both district administration and teaching staff and chart a course for the development of an elementary members recognize the need for character education, an school character education program. The survey addresses elementary school character education program is not the staff members’ knowledge and understanding of character mandated and is not uniformly offered through the district’s education, their value system, and their attitudes on infusing twelve elementary schools. District administration is character education into the curriculum. reluctant to place another burden on teachers who already

Research questions to be investigated in this project are: • What attitudes and opinions currently exist about • What professional development is needed for staff character education among students, staff, and members? What resources are available to offer community members? professional development? • What lessons are already in place that teaches character • What classroom materials and resources are available? education? What schools are teaching these lessons? How can they be made available to staff members, and • Who are the teacher leaders with regard to the infusion how can they be used? of the character education program? What “works” in • What activities or benchmarks can be noted which their classrooms? measure the students’ understanding of character • What is happening in neighboring school districts education concepts? with regard to character education? What “works” in • What can be done to reinforce or reward positive neighboring districts? character education traits exhibited by our students?

42 have packed agendas in their school day. In addition, character education programs, leaving participation in each elementary school maintains a separate and unique character education programs up to the state’s individual “neighborhood school” identity and pursues projects and school districts. adopts causes which are unique to their own neighborhood. Three years later, NJCEP still acts as a clearing house for The crux of the issue of developing and endorsing an character education information and training in New Jersey. elementary school character education program is to However, while encouraged, participation in character provide the resources and training to the staff members for education programs is still voluntary. The burden remains on a uniform, district-wide character education program; but, each individual school and school district to identify programs at the same time, allow the individual schools the flexibility or activities which will successfully infuse character education to pursue activities and projects which are targeted for their into an already packed school day. On the middle school and individual schools and neighborhoods. high school levels, infusion of character education themes Research Base and activities appears to be much easier, as clubs such as the National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of The concept of teaching “values” in schools is not a new America, as well as service organizations such as Key Club, one. Throughout our history as a nation, the teaching of make team work, ethics, and service to the community part values in our schools has been a recurring theme. In his of their goals. On the elementary level, however, it is more article, “Values and Character Education in Public Schools: difficult to group students, gather them after school hours, Should the Schools Teach Moral and Civic Virtue?” James or put service-learning activities into motion. Further, S. Lerning states that the teaching of values in schools has some character education “concepts” such as tolerance, been a concern to the American people under two sets of integrity, and compassion are often easier to demonstrate historical conditions: first, when the American people have than to define on an elementary school level. Therefore, is it felt our national unity was threatened by increasing diversity; imperative that character education initiatives can be easily the second, when, due to the rapidly changing nature of infused across the curriculum at the elementary grade level. contemporary life, the “family” and “community” have been perceived as ineffective in guiding our youth. (Lerning, 1997) A review of the literature, as well as character education websites reveals a common thread to approaching the Dr. Thomas Lickona, author of Educating for Character, character education dilemma: regardless of intent, you states: “moral education is not a new idea, in fact, as old as are a character educator. “Whether you are a teacher, education itself. Down through history . . . education has had administrator, custodian, or school bus driver, you are helping two great goals: to help young people become smart and to shape the character of the kids you come in contact with. to help them become good.” (Lickona, 1991) “The schools It’s in the way you talk, the behaviors you model, the conduct are going to do something . . . People are frightened by the you tolerate, the deeds you encourage, the expectations you Columbine craziness, and they are afraid their own kids are transmit.” (Elkin and Sweet, 2004) Therefore, an important getting away from them.” (Ryan, 1999) consideration in establishing a character education program New Jersey was thrust into the character education spotlight is to determine the attitudes and values of the staff in 2002 by “The Report of the New Jersey Character Education Commission” to former Governor McGreevey. (New Jersey Character Education Commission, 2002) This Results of 2005 Old Bridge Elementary Schools report served as the impetus for the establishment of the Character Education Lickert-Type Survey. New Jersey Character Education Commission on February • 100% of all respondents agree that encouraging 27, 2002, by Executive Order #9. (New Jersey Character students to take responsibility for their choices and Education Commission, 2002) This Report cited national actions builds character. surveys, media reports, community opinions, and the tragedy • 100% of all respondents agree that motivating of 9/11 as supporting evidence of the need for character students to do their personal best builds confidence. education. The Governor charged the commission to address the State of New Jersey’s compelling interest in helping • 100% of all respondents agree that character schools teach students the importance of good character education teaches students to understand, care traits . . . create classroom environments that encourage about, and act upon core ethical values. students to respect one another while promoting effective • 100% of all respondents agree that building a character learning; and teach students how to resolve conflicts without education component into the daily educational routine resorting to intimidation or violence.” (New Jersey Character improves student behavior in school. Education Commission, 2002) • 100% of all respondents agree that using a Following the signing of Executive Order #9, New Jersey character education program in an educational became the first state in the nation to provide state aid setting carries over into the funding for the purpose of implementing character education students’ daily lives. programs and services through the New Jersey Character • 99% of all respondents Education Partnership Initiative (NJCEP). (New Jersey agree that character Character Education Commission, 2002) While providing education reduces bullying state funding for character education initiatives in New behavior in school. Jersey’s public schools, the executive order did not mandate

43 members who will participate in the character education Programs may differ, but the basics of character education program without burdening them with another task in an possess certain characteristics. Therefore, establishing already full school day. “Effective character education is not a viable character education program at any grade level adding a program or set of programs to a school. Rather requires a “buy in” from the participants as to the importance it is a transformation of the culture and life of the school.” of character education concepts or characteristics. If teachers (Berkowitz, 2005) do not believe that “honesty” is important, “honesty” will not The goal of transforming the culture and life of the school is be important in their classrooms. a lofty and ambitious one. However, according to Dr. Thomas There are an abundance of character education materials Lickona, director of The Center for the 4th and 5th R’s, a and “how to” articles about character education. However, national resource for character education, all schools should the basics of character education seems to revolve around teach students that a person of character: the tenets delineated by Dr. Lickona. These tenets have • is trustworthy — possessing honesty, integrity, and loyalty. undergone various translations or transformations on various character education websites. However, a further extension • treats all people with respect — demonstrating courtesy, of these basic character education principles is found on the politeness, tolerance, and acceptance. Character Counts website. Character Counts is a nonprofit, • acts responsibly — acting with accountability, reliability, nonpartisan, nonsectarian framework that teaches the Six and self-control, and setting a good example. Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.” (Character Counts, 2005) • is fair and just — treating all people fairly. The Character Education Partner, another web-based • is caring — showing compassion, kindness, sensitivity, resource for character education, promotes “Eleven Principles and charity. of Effective Character Education.” (The Character Education • is a good citizen — accepting legal, civic, community and Partner, 2005) These Eleven Principles are: environmental responsibilities. (Starr, 2005)

44 1. Promotes core ethical values Results of 2005 Old Bridge Elementary Schools 2. Teaches students to understand, care about, and act Character Education Lickert-Type Survey. upon these core ethical values • 43% of all respondents agree encouraging students 3. Encompasses all aspects of the school culture to willingly work with others toward a common goal 4. Fosters a caring school community is difficult in the classroom. 5. Offers opportunities for moral action • 81% of all respondents agree students have difficulty displaying courage or the ability to do the right thing 6. Supports academic achievement even when it is unpopular. 7. Develops intrinsic motivation • 78% of all respondents agree accepting and 8. Includes whole-staff involvement applying the lessons of character education is each 9. Requires positive leadership of staff and students individual’s choice. 10. Involves parents and community members • 100% of all respondents agree inspiring students to contribute to the world around them while 11. Assesses results and strives to improve (The Character honoring the diversity that makes our country Education Partner, 2005) great builds community. In 2001, the 4-H Department of the University Extension Service • 100% of all respondents agree true success and and the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition jointly funded a study achievement in life is rooted in on the success of character education in South Dakota’s respectful, responsible, and schools. (Rutgers, 2002) Michael Josephson, president of the caring behavior. CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, called the study the “largest and most comprehensive evaluation of character education’s • 100% of all respondents effectiveness ever undertaken.” (Rutgers, 2002) agree character education affects the school climate in a Methodology positive manner. In the fall of 2005, one hundred staff members from four Old Bridge elementary schools were asked to complete a character All teachers expressed agreement that a character education education Lickert-type survey as the sample population. Ninety program in an educational setting carries over into the surveys were collected, representing 90 % of the targeted students’ daily lives and that encouraging students to population. The survey was intended to identify common willingly work with others toward a common goal is difficult in perceptions regarding the efficacy of character education. the classroom. Nearly all teachers agreed that students need Reflection of these results found teachers unanimously opportunities to demonstrate moral action, that when one agree on many core character education concepts such as hurts others, one hurts oneself, and that character education encouraging students to take responsibility for their choices reduces bullying behavior in school. and actions, motivating students to do their personal best Eighty-seven percent of teachers agreed that students have to build confidence, and teaching students to understand, difficulty displaying courage or the ability to do the right thing care about, and act upon core ethical values. Teachers agree even when it is unpopular and that accepting and applying on integrating a character education component into the the lessons of character education is each individual’s choice. daily educational routine, inspiring students to contribute to Ninety-one percent agreed that intrinsic motivation is the the world around them, while honoring diversity, to build a key to continued character development for all people, that sense of community, and that making mistakes is a natural character education in an educational setting is only for part of being a human being. Teachers agree that character students, and that evaluation of character education should education affects the school climate, as well as student assess the climate of the school, the staff’s functioning as morale in a positive manner and that taking responsibility for character educators, and the extent to which the students one’s mistakes is a sign of good character. Teachers agree manifest good character. that respect is treating others the way one would expect to be Based upon the above results, in order for a character treated and that core ethical values begin with compassion education program to be successful in an elementary for others. Teachers also agree the foundation for character school, teachers, students, and the entire school education is a healthy social-emotional attitude and that the community need to be accepting and open to working whole school should strive to be a caring community. toward a common goal, that of integrating a character All teachers agree that true success and achievement in education program into the daily routine of the whole life is rooted in respectful, responsible, and caring behavior. school. Teachers at an extremely high percentage Nearly all teachers agree that telling the truth and being kind expressed the desire to work toward this goal and felt that is important and that character education should include students and the school community as a whole would also thinking, feeling, and behavior components. Teachers nearly support a character education program. all agree that character education combines responsibility, A successful program would address the needs of all confidence, and a sense of community, has a positive impact participants: school staff, students, and the school community. on staff morale, and requires an intentional, proactive Teachers identified the need for teaching strategies to address: approach throughout the whole school.

45 • Encouraging students to willing work with others toward a common goal; Results of 2005 Old Bridge Elementary Schools Character Education Lickert-Type Survey. • Helping students display the courage to do the right thing even when it is unpopular; • 100% of all respondents agree character education has a positive impact on student morale. • Encouraging students to choose to accept and apply the lessons of character education as important for their sense • 96% of all respondents agree that when one hurts of self; others, one hurts oneself. • An understanding that intrinsic motivation is the most • 100% of all respondents agree making mistakes is a powerful support for a character education program as natural part of being a human being. intrinsic motivation functions on the individual’s desire to • 100% of all respondents agree that taking responsibility achieve his/her personal best. for one’s mistakes is a sign of good character. On-going and sustained professional development activities • 100% of all respondents agree must be provided to support character education throughout respect is treating others the the district. The use of professional development activities way one would expect to be would include a comprehensive explanation of a district- treated. wide character education program for the district’s twelve • 100% of all respondents agree elementary schools. As a component of this Action Research core ethical values begin with Project, a large number of resources materials were gathered compassion. and provided to the teaching staff members at each of the target schools. A “Character Education Resource Manual” was created by the researcher and introduced to faculty at each learning. Most felt that service learning projects and activities of the target schools. The manual provided the foundation would be more successful once the students understood and for infusion of character education activities into the embraced fully the tenets of character education and fully classroom; however, at the very least, additional support and understood the goals and benefits of service learning. methodology of instruction must be provided and supported Finally, when questioned about the need for professional on an on-going basis. development to identify and locate resources to support Open dialog and shared activities between district elementary character education in their classrooms, the majority of the and secondary schools, as well as those schools in neighboring teachers indicated that they already felt that they had a great school districts which support character education, would deal of resources in the Character Education Manual; that foster a true community spirit to nurture and support they could utilize the Internet and web resources listed in the character education and anti-bullying programs not only in Character Education Manual to locate additional materials; our schools, but also in community programs, such as those and were willing to investigate and locate resources on their offered by Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, Municipal Youth own to share with their colleagues. Alliance, as well as other civic and religious groups. For purposes of this Action Research Project, surveys, polls, Lastly, it is interesting to note that, in response to a poll on classroom visitations, and monitoring of activities were all topics for proposed character education-related professional utilized to evaluate the adoption, infusion, and progress of development, staff members at the four target schools an elementary school character education program. These identified either Curriculum Integration or Cooperative methods of evaluation must continue in order to measure the Learning Strategies as the most important topic for character success of the program. In addition, the school community education-related professional development which means would need an understanding that evaluation of character they are eager to learn ways to integrate character education education should access the climate of the school as a whole, seamlessly into their classroom instruction the extent which the students demonstrate good character, and the staff’s ability to integrate character education into Unilaterally identified by the respondents as their “least the daily routine of their classrooms. important” concern for character education-related professional development was the need for character The creation and administering of a character education survey education-related professional development on Classroom provided a valuable tool to steer the course of the development Rules and Procedures. In a follow-up interview, a majority of a viable and sustained character education program for the of the teachers responding stated that they felt they were elementary schools of Old Bridge Township Public Schools. already good classroom managers and did not feel the need Taking the information gleaned from character education to address classroom rules and procedures. websites, various articles, and research materials and creating a survey was an educational process for me as I developed When questioned in the follow-up interview about their a greater understanding of New Jersey Standards for School interest in Service Learning, a majority of the teachers Leaders Standards 1, 2, 4, and 7; which expound on a vision responded that they felt that, while they were interested in of learning, the nurturing and sustaining of a school culture, pursuing service-learning projects, they did not feel that at the collaboration of community, and the effective use of the present, they had fully established the foundation of technology. (New Jersey Standards for School Leaders, 2005) character education concepts necessary to support service

46 Utilizing the survey instrument to chart the course for an • helps students develop students’ sense of civic and social elementary character education program guided the vision for responsibility, as well as their citizenship skills. leadership by ensuring that the staff members have a voice in • fosters greater respect for one another among all participants. the establishment of a character education program. Ramsey states: “Decisions shouldn’t be made in a vacuum. Every leader • helps to improve school climate. needs a constant flow of new ideas in order to make decisions • provides a support system for students which makes them that are sound, timely, and relevant.” (Ramsey, 2002). less likely to engage in risky behaviors. By establishing a baseline of beliefs or attitudes of character • has a positive effect on students’ interpersonal development education principles, the survey results helped to nurture and the ability to relate to culturally diverse groups. and sustain a school culture; but, at the same time, helped • provides an avenue for students to become active, positive to establish goals for effective character education which contributors to society. (Education Commission of the applies an attitude of acceptance. Ramsey recommends States, 2005) that leaders support a “solutions-oriented environment” where “there is an open climate in which people at all levels As a follow-up to this Action Research Project, I hope really listen to each other; teamwork is the norm; and staff to continue to chart the growth and development of the members, at all levels, have time to think.” (Ramsey, 2002) Elementary School Character Education Program. It is my intent to create an access database to collect information Teamwork, the value of collaboration, and sound decision and data concerning our character education program to making are the foundation of collaboration of community. include resources, contacts, survey and poll results, etc. With In the Report of the New Jersey Character Education the commencement of the 2006-2007 school year, it is my Commission, the Commission acknowledged that “the key intent to work with the principals and staff leaders in each of starting point (for character education) has been to build the elementary schools to gather materials for an electronic a common language for staff and students. . .on a daily portfolio to showcase character education initiatives basis.” (New Jersey Character Education Commission, 2002) throughout the school district. Identifying key concepts, themes, or character education “buzz” words and infusing them into the daily activities of Finally, it is my intention to again write and solicit an Old the school is a challenge that the effective school leader Bridge Education Foundation Grant to support the character must meet in order to develop a successful character education initiatives in each of our schools, as well as to education program. look for other funding sources. The character education materials purchased this year for the target schools, with Lastly, the effective use of technology was utilized throughout the proceeds of the Old Bridge Education Foundation Grant the project through use of the Microsoft Office software to included: music CDs with character education songs, sheet collect survey data and graphically display the results. music and materials for character education skits, reward The survey results were disseminated to participants, as stickers, pencils, pencil “toppers”, and reward certificates— well as administrators and community members, through all of which were enthusiastically received by both students professional development workshops, the district curriculum and staff members. committee, and the activities of the Administrative Peer Review Committee. The Administrative Peer Review Committee is comprised of administrators and supervisors Results of 2005 Old Bridge Elementary Schools of the Old Bridge Township Public Schools who have joined Character Education Lickert-Type Survey. together to explore character education activities and make • 100% of all respondents agree a healthy social- recommendations for the adoption of a viable and sustained emotional attitude is the foundation for character character education program at the elementary school level. education. Some of the activities of the Administrative Peer Review • 5% of all respondents agree that telling the truth is Committee include: a character education resource website; overrated. development of professional development workshops on character education topics; the development of a “clearing • 4% of all respondents agree that kindness tends to house” of character education resources and materials for annoy others. use by staff members at various grade levels. • 98% of all respondents agree character education The value of viable and sustained character education on should be comprehensively designed to include the development of our children has been researched and thinking, feeling, and behavior. documented by many educational authorities. A cursory • 98% of all respondents agree that to review of the Internet returns a plethora of documented, develop character, students scientific research which supports the belief that character need opportunities to education is important. In an issue paper by the Education demonstrate moral action. Commission of the States, a compilation of evidence from the past ten years on the impact that character education • 91% of all respondents agree has had on students, schools, and communities indicates that intrinsic motivation is the that character education: key to continued character development for all people.

47 This project, although multi-faceted, has proven to be very enlightening not only to the researcher, but to the students Results of 2005 Old Bridge Elementary Schools and staff as well. The administration of the Character Character Education Lickert-Type Survey. Education Survey, the development and dissemination of • 100% of all respondents agree character education the Character Education Resource Manual, the application combines responsibility, confidence, and a sense of for the Old Bridge Education Foundation Grant to support community. the purchase of Character Education materials, the • 99% of all respondents agree character education classroom visitations, review of lesson plans, and teaming has a positive impact on staff morale. of teachers to infuse character education concepts into existing lessons, and the follow-up polls, surveys, and • 98% of all respondents agree that effective interviews — all of these components of the Action Research character education requires an intentional, Project provide the foundation and the building blocks proactive approach throughout the whole school. to establish a viable and sustained character education • 99% of all respondents agree that the whole school program for the Old Bridge Township Public Elementary should strive to be a caring community. Schools. The results of this Action Research Project • 6% of all respondents agree that character education will serve to guide district staff members in the further in an educational setting is only for students. development of the Character Education Program while, at the same time, allowing each school to maintain their • 90% of all respondents agree uniqueness by tailoring and supplementing lessons to meet evaluation of character the needs of their own school community. education should assess the climate of the school, the staff’s functioning as character educators, and the extent to which the students manifest good character.

References Adams, Andrea. “Old Bridge Township.” The Star Ledger (NJ). April 28, 2005. http://www.nj.com. Berkowitz, Marvin. As quoted in the Character Education Informational Handbook & Guide, North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction, Raleigh, North Carolina. Accessed 10/28/05 from http://www.ncpublicschools.org/charactereducation/ handbook/pdf/content.pdf) Briggs, D. (1996) “Turning Conflicts into Learning Experiences.”Educational Leadership, Volume 54, Issue 1, pp. 60-63. Brooks, B. David and Mark E. Kann, “What Makes Character Education Programs Work?” Educational Leadership, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (Nov. 1993) Calhoun, Emily F. (1994) How to Use Action Research in the Self-Renewing School. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum. Cali, Charlene C. “Creatures of Character: Winning with Character Education.” Professional School Counseling. Dec. 1997, Special Issue, Vol. 1, Issue 2, p. 19. EBSCO Host: http://src3.epnet.com. Elkind, David H. and Freddy Sweet, Ph.D Development.“You Are A Character Educator.” Today’s School. September/October 2004. Accessed 10/29/05 from http://www.goodcharacter.com. Foundation for Educational Administration, “Who Will Lead Our Schools? Program Manual.” New Jersey Standards for School Leaders. 2005. http://www.character.org. “Defining and Understanding Character Education.” The Character Education Partner. Accessed 7/15/05. http://www.charactercounts.org. Accessed 7/16/05. http://www.charactered.net/main/traits.asp. Accessed 2/15/06. http://www.charactered.net/main/correlation.asp. Accessed 2/15/06. http://www.ecs.org. “Service-Learning and Character Education: One Plus One is More Than Two.” Education Commission of the States. Accessed 7/15/05. http://www.ehow.com. “How to Write a Survey.” Accessed 10/10/05. http://www.educationworld.com. “Is Character Education the Answer?” Accessed 7/15/05.

48 http://www.oldbridge.com. Old Bridge Township Website. Accessed 10/13/05. http://www.oldbridgeadmin.org. Old Bridge Township Public Schools Website. Accessed 10/14/05. http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/char_ed/ Accessed 10/15/05. http://www.westga.edu. “Evaluating the Impact of a Character Education Curriculum.” Accessed 7/15/05. Leo, John. “C is for Character.” U.S. News & World Report. November 15, 1999, Vol. 127, Issue 19, p. 20. EBSCO Host: http://src3.epnet.com. Lerning, James S. “Values and Character Education in Public Schools: Should the Schools Teach Moral and Civic Virtue?” (1997) Accessed from www.uensd.org/USOE Pages/Char ed/fed proj/utah/hist/values.htm, July 15, 2005. Lickona, Thomas. (1991). Educating For Character. New York: Bantam Books. Marzano, Robert J. (2002). What Works in Schools: Translating Research Into Action. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, p. 35-40. Parker, W. (1997) “The Art of Deliberation.” Educational Leadership. Volume 54, Issue 5. pp. 18-21. Phelps, Richard. (1980) “Being Prepared: The Application of Character Building and the Beginning of the Boy Scouts of America.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (80th, Boston, MA, April 7-11, 1980). EBSCO Host: http://src3.epnet.com. Ramsey, Robert D. (2002). How to Say the Right Thing Every Time: Communicating Well With Students, Staff, Parents, and the Public. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, p. 179-181. Ramsey, Robert D. (1999) Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way: How to be a More Effective Leader in Today’s Schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, p. 14-16; 24-25. Report of the New Jersey Character Education Commission Submitted to Governor James E. McGreevey. September 30, 2002. Accessed from http://www.state.nj.us/education/index.html 10/13/05. Rutgers, The State University. (2001) “New Study Proves Character Education Works: Violence, Drug Use, Cheating, Cut Sharply.” http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/depts/rutgers/charactercountsreport.htm (accessed 2/19/06) Ryan, Kevin and Bohlin, Karen E. (1999). Building Character in Schools: Practical Ways to Bring Moral Instruction to Life. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons [Published by Jossey Bass]. Schaps, Eric; Esther F. Schaeffer, and Sanford N. McDonnell. “What’s Right and Wrong In Character Education Today” Education Week On The Web, Sept. 12, 2001. Accessed 10/27/05. Schroeder, Ken. “Character Counts.” Education Digest. (January 1995), Vol. 60, Issue. 5, p. 75. Starr, M. “Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education.” The School Administrator Web Edition. Accessed from http://www.aasa.org/publications on 7/15/05.

Rosanne Moran: Biographical Information for additional staff members, both at Kennedy High School and in the district’s other schools. Over the years, I currently serve as Supervisor of Technology for the J.F. Kennedy High School has earned national, state and Old Bridge Township Public Schools. Prior to coming to local awards for its Service Learning Projects. Old Bridge, I worked as a business education teacher at J. F. Kennedy Memorial High School in the Woodbridge It is my hope that I can utilize both my training and past Township School District. experience to assist staff members to develop a successful character education program for each of their elementary While employed at J.F. Kennedy Memorial High School, schools in Old Bridge. I taught Advanced Office Procedures and Web Design, as well as a variety of other skill application courses. In addition, I Author’s Acknowledgements served as the school’s Subject Area Leader for Computers What we learn with pleasure, we never forget… thank you and coordinated the use of technology throughout the school. to all of my colleagues who have made my educational J. F. Kennedy Memorial High School piloted the use of block journey unforgettable. Thank you to my family and friends scheduling for the Woodbridge Township School District, who have supported me — no matter what. A special thank beginning in 1997. The implementation of block scheduling you to my parents who taught me to set the bar high, work identified the need for the staff to develop cooperative hard, persevere, and most importantly, treat people kindly. learning strategies and differentiated instruction. They are loved and missed. During my time at Kennedy, I was part of the core team to receive in-service training in the implementation of service learning initiatives. The core team then served as trainers

49 Speaker’s Reflections: NJ EXCEL Graduation Ceremony, October 2007 The Journey Through EXCEL Was Similar to the Matrix – Morpheus Giving Neo a Choice: Red or Blue by Christine Abrahams We all picked the red pill — we chose change Now having graduated, I can’t believe that I lived through and the unknown — once we swallowed it the EXCEL experience, and I’m sure my cohorts feel the there were moans, gasps and self-doubts — oh my god, same way. I actually have some free time to try to imagine what did I do? Can I handle this. What’s an I, E and S and begin sowing the seeds of change. mentor? How many papers? How many books? Joe, can you Although I’m not an administrator yet, I’m trying to make go over it ALL again? Unfortunately, we lost one gentleman changes in small ways — trying to pull the Morpheus on the first day. He chose to be reinserted into the matrix… thing on some unsuspecting teachers, supervisors, and new During the first weeks, we discussed leadership styles counselors by challenging them to explore the possibilities of over beautiful, bountiful buffet lunches: Hey are you an the red pill. aggressive dynamic or assertive dynamic. Life at EXCEL was confusing but pretty good, even if we were shoehorned I’m blessed with the opportunity to teach a graduate class in into the smaller of the two rooms, the larger one given to counseling at TCNJ, and am trying my best to extract their our rivals in Models 1 & 2. minds from the Matrix by challenging their way of thinking about their profession and themselves. Then, the hard core training began, no more delicious buffets we were told… that part was over… it was time to get serious. I’ve already taught them about school politics and dealing with angry parents and have used UBD to put those big ideas in Unfortunately, or fortunately Ellie hasn’t found a way to place. I’ve given them options about what types of final projects insert information through the back of our necks, which they want to do — of course, Action Research being one. meant we had to learn the usual way… through books! Sadly, the matrix has infected higher education also. The As my husband knows, I have a book addiction. If Amazon. students are so worried about not getting A’s, that they resist com had a book buyer of the year award, I’d have won it. So, trying any new project for their final. With a bit of cajoling I welcomed with absolute joy and glee, the first two Barnes and charm, I’ve convinced all but one to either do an action and Noble bags, anticipating which ones to stack first on my research paper or a unit plan. I’ve also told them that if they nightstand. Then came the third bag, then the fourth. Believe it don’t get at least a “B,” they can redo their papers to improve or not, my addiction was cured. I too joined the collective groan their grades. When I announced this, they responded with at seeing the green pods perched neatly on each desk. shock and disbelief until they finally understood that I In addition to the books, we were introduced to… UBD, wasn’t out to get them; but rather, I was a facilitator who better known as Understanding By Design. This was the protocol wanted them to take chances and try to contribute to that would change our view of teaching and unit planning – education in a unique and positive way and to empower infusing rigor and relevance into the curriculum. Needless to them to effect change. After going through EXCEL, I am say, there was much resistance to this new programming that convinced now, more than ever, that we are all responsible EXCEL was trying to insert; but because I’m a nerd, I drank the for initiating positive change and that we needn’t rely only UBD cool aid, and as a result, my inquiry group voted me off on administrators, but need to take responsibility ourselves, the island… but eventually, they took me back. no matter what our capacity. Finally, it became clear, as Ellie said it would. We began to In closing, I want to thank Ellie, Linda, Joe, Jeff, Wanda, make sense of the assignments, theory, and more importantly, Ilsa, and all the wonderful instructors and inquiry group to see what great leadership is as we opened our eyes to the mentors who gave so freely of their time and knowledge. reality of the schools we worked in which sharply contrasted And a big thanks to our wonderful cohort, January ’06 (my with what we were learning. Each week we would discuss the God, ‘06!) for supporting each other through papers, babies, shortcomings of our districts and areas that needed change; EPRs, hour verification spreadsheets, freak-outs, and most but instead of feeling hopeless, disempowered and stuck, what importantly for the amazing support and encouragement we were learning gave us the tools, confidence, and knowledge you’ve given me and each to begin imagining change. And once you imagine something other to try for those jobs Christine Abrahams is a school and picture it, eventually you can make it a reality. that we might not have counselor at Hunterdon Central Ellie’s plan was taking effect… we weren’t buying into being part been so confident to apply Regional High School where she of the long held “educational reality” any longer. Instead we were for. I know I couldn’t counsels students in Grade 9. seeing how it hadn’t changed much since the beginning. And we have done it without the She is also a New Jersey certified were starting to develop radical ideas, which really weren’t that camaraderie. So, guys counselor and owns the radical, but just good sense about how a school should be run. just remember… always Inspire Institute, which creates choose the red pill. curriculum for children with At the end, we had finally seen what the matrix really is… an special needs. She is currently education system that resists change, but one that will have to working on her first novel. change in order to survive. Resistance is Futile!

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Educational Viewpoints 2008 The Journal of NJPSA Bright Ideas: Research and Reflection

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