DATA & ACCOUNTABILITY

To prepare yourself for this module, study PSELs 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10 to understand the dispositions, actions, and responsibilities of a school leader. Pay attention to the specific elements of the PSELs to determine which ones apply to this project. This assignment requires you to take a close look at the standards again and to consider how they apply to you as a future school leader.

Read the lecture and watch the video by Dr. Martin to understand the necessary data needed to complete this activity.

Interview-One person required

Interview your principal or other school administrators who are responsible for interpreting the testing data and linking it to the instructional practices in your school.
During the interview, you want to learn about their thoughts concerning how they take the data results and set goals for teachers and students for testing growth and achievement improvements using the data. You should ask these questions and others related to your research:

What are your responsibilities as related to our school’s testing data results?
Explain how our school is affected by the state accountability system.
What plan do we have in place to collect and monitor our student testing and results?
What is important to focus on with the testing data?
What is important to watch for with the testing data?
What do you hold teachers accountable for with their testing data?
What are the strengths of our school’s student growth and achievement?
What are the weaknesses of our school’s student growth and acheivement?
How do you prepare teachers for understanding their own student data?
How do you guide teachers to use their data for student growth and achievement improvements?
Does your school need to improve in any areas? How do you propose to do that? Explain the plan with reasons to support your plan.

Activity Assignment

Read the assignment provided.

Data-Driven Decision-Making Activity Instructions.docx

Use this format to set your 3 goals and plans for this school (not your school).

Goal Setting Sheet for Data Activity.docx

Here is the data for you to review and set goals.

Data for MC Data-Accountability Module 7 Class.xlsx

Use what you’ve learned from this activity to write your paper.

Preparing the Written Report

This paper is to be written not as bulleted questions and answers or outline but with full paragraphs. and complete sentences. The organization of the paper can be made by changing the questions into sentences and providing the answers in full sentences.

Format the paper using APA formatting
(Links to an external site.)
. A sample APA formatted paper is in the Resource Module. Instructions for formatting APA papers can be found in many places.

Prepare a title page on the assignment that has the title Your School’s Name Data and Accountability.
Place your name, on the next line.
Add the name of the university–Mississippi College.
Number the pages in the header aligned to the right margin.
Format the paper:
Write no more than 5 pages but no less than 3 pages for this paper.
Use 1-inch margins (top, bottom, left, right).
Use 12 font Times New Roman.
Double-space all lines.
Use graduate-level grammar and mechanics.
The next page will begin with the title, centered on the page and not in bold.
All sections will be titled using APA formatting.
(Links to an external site.)
If references are used, cite them using APA formatting. To take credit for others’ ideas is intellectual theft (plagiarism). Guidelines for using APA citing can be found at Purdue Owl.
Title the first section Introduction.
Write a narrative Introduction that explains why this project is being conducted. Review the rubric for how scoring will occur.
Include the name and a brief description of your school’s accountability rating over the last 2 years.
Explain why and how elements from 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10 are related to school accountability. Don’t simply restate the standards, rather incorporate their meaning into your narrative. You choose the elements from the standards that apply.
Cite the PSELs using the author and year.
Title a section as School Data and Accountability Review. Review the rubric for how scoring will occur.
Use your knowledge about your school’s performance rating and information from the interviews as part of the research.
Describe the role of each person interviewed when referring to individuals.
Explain what you learned through the interviews in a narrative format. Do not rush this section, take time to organize your thoughts.
Remember, your notes from the actual interview will be added at the end of the assignment. What is important now, is how you interpreted the interviews.
Answer the questions provided to build your review.
Cite any comments made by the person interviewed that you want to include in your paper as personal communication.
Title another section as Data Activity Response. Review the rubric for how this section will be scored.
Explain how what you learned from this activity confirms something you already knew to be correct.
Explain how what you learned from this activity was new information for you.
Summarize your overall thoughts on what you learned from completing this activity.
Title another section as Application to My School. Review the rubric for how this section will be scored.
Explain how what you learned from completing the provided activity affects your knowledge about your school’s data and accountability rating.
Describe any changes that you think need to be made to how your school prepares students to improve in growth and achievement as a result of this activity. What does your school need to focus more on to improve your school’s accountability rating? This can be something done for teachers to help students too.
Describe what you think your school is doing well to prepare students for improvement. This can be by what your administrator does to prepare teachers too.
Title another section as Conclusion. Review the rubric for how this section will be scored.
Conclude with what you learned from this activity and how it impacts your view of accountability within your school.
Make sure these questions are answered as part of your conclusion:
Where do you still have concerns and questions?
How will your focus and attitude (as a teacher and future administrator) about the state testing accountability of a school change as a result of this assignment?
What can you do to help your school’s rating?
Title another section as References.
If any references are used in the paper( and there should be at least 3), add a reference page at the end.
Title a page Reference (place in the center of the top line on the page) if any references are used in the paper.
Provide an APA formatted reference list for any references used in the report.