School Evaluation Summary

December 9, 2012 1 Comment

This assignment was actually quite challenging for me. Early on, I wrote Heads of School for two boarding schools seeking assistance and permission on this project. I also sought permission from the local high school. None of the senior administrators replied. I was shocked; but, moved ahead. I sought help from next-level administrators and received a reply from only one. That occurred only after soliciting help from the administrative secretaries. Still none offered help until after the first of the new year.

Eventually, rather than use ancient data, I solicited help from a few faculty members, the head of IT and a secretary at one of the boarding schools originally on my radar. Not being currently employed made this task more challenging that it was likely intended to be and added a layer of frustration as the semester winds down.

From an administrative standpoint, this was an enlightening assignment, forcing the evaluator to get to the marrow of each skeletal element of an organization’s use and incorporation of technology. I can see having to make just such an analysis once employed as a Technology Integration Specialist. It would help many stakeholders see vantage points they do not often take. Certainly, this study offers a view of every aspect of the organization and how to best focus on a plan moving forward. Simply saying, “We need X.” is not enough in today’s economy. Seeing such an analysis opens the door to dialogue to a unified plan of action for the betterment of the future.

This assignment meets the following AECT Standards: Standard 4.2 Resource Management, 5.1 Problem Analysis, 5.2 Criterion-Referenced Measurement, 5.3 Formative and Summative Evaluation and 5.4 Long-Range Planning. Using unbiased measurement, identifying problems, analyzing resources and making evaluations and recommendations are crucial to any long-range plan. All stakeholders need to see the issues and agree before working together within the document to reach for solutions and setting goals for the future.

Link to Maturity Benchmark Survey – http://tinyurl.com/MBenchmarkSurvey

Link to full-size evaluation document – http://tinyurl.com/SchoolEvaluationDMB

Filed under 4.2 Resource Management, 5.1 Problem Analysis, 5.2 Criterion-Referenced Measurment, 5.3 Formative and Summative Evaluation, 5.4 Long-Range Planning, Standard 4: Management, Standard 5: Evaluation

About "B" Bernheim
“B”, his nickname, returns to the other side of the desk after many years. Graduating from UNC-Charlotte in 1983 with a BA in Education (K-12), he entered active service with the US Army. He began teaching high school upon completion of his tour of duty. B taught Language Arts and Social Studies for one year at the middle school level. English, Composition, Public Speaking, Theater, Forensics, and Technical Theater are among the subjects he has taught in public high school settings. Most recently, he was a Strategies of Instruction teacher, Assistant Dean of Students, dorm parent, girls’ hockey coach and rock climbing instructor at The Forman School in Litchfield, CT. The Forman School is a 9-12 boarding school specifically targeting students who learn differently.

One Response to School Evaluation Summary

  1. Scot Hymas says:
    December 12, 2012 at 12:09 am

    Initially I faced similar “roadblocks” with senior management at the private school that I evaluated. I anticipated that I might not get senior management’s full attention so I reached out via email in October giving everyone head’s up that the assignment was coming in late November early December. That helped but still I had to wait 10 days longer than I wanted before final approval to enter the inner sanctum was secured.

    I second your comments about the power of this analysis/evaluation process to help both engage and more importantly to rally all stakeholders so that collective of the situation around agreed upon definitions is achieved. Hard to move forward without agreeing on where we are at currently.

    I am glad you were finally able to get access needed to make the assignment meaningful.

    Overall it looks like you met the requirement as laid out in the rubric. See ya around. You can officially call it done. Ed Tech 501 is in the books. Merry Christmas.

    Reply

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