Reflection # 7

The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 2006 was aimed at providing an increased focus on the academic achievement of career and technical education students, strengthen the connections between secondary and post secondary education.  Career and  technical  programs are dedicated to preparing young people to manage the dual roles of family member and wage earner. These programs enable students to gain entry- level employment  in a high-skill , high-wage job and also helps them continue their education.

The purpose of the Act is to develop the academic, career and technical skills of student who enroll in the career and technical education program by developing challenging academic  and technical standards to meet the demand of occupations in current or emerging professions.

The Act also aims at developing services and activities that integrate rigorous and challenging academic , career and technical instruction, conducting  national research and disseminating information on best practices that improve career and technical education programs, services, and activities. These programs provide individuals with opportunities throughout their lifetime to develop  without compromising their educational goals.

The program also provides an industry recognized credential, a certificate, or an associate degree apart from academic knowledge that challenges higher order reasoning and problem-solving skills, work attitudes, general employability skills, technical skills, and occupation-specific skills, and knowledge of all aspects of an industry, including entrepreneurship, of an individual. The financial provisions  for the support of the program is provided in TITLE I PART A- Allotment and Allocation.

The Career and Technical Education(CTE) provides direction and leadership to the CTE programs throughout Texas, the Unit staff assists districts with the implementation of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills(TEKS) for CTE, they also collaborate with various professional organizations regarding CTE programs and assist in overseeing the textbook  and other instructional materials adoption process. The CTE also provides communication related to curriculum and graduation requirements. 

I work in a charter school and we do not  have a career and technology program, however, we do have a carpenter shop that teaches carpentry as an elective, I did speak to the department and learned that, the CTE program could add lot of academic value to many of our students. Most of our students come from poor social backgrounds, and do need a job as they transit form school to college, such a program could help them "earn while they learn", support their families and also continue their education. Most of the skills acquired through such programs are high need, high-wage jobs that would provide financial stability and an opportunity for continuing their academic pursuit.

Reflection # 6

A professional school counselor is required to have teaching experience as an instructor and should be able to relate and understand the dynamics of the classroom and school setting before  taking the coursework leading to a school counselor certification.

The profession of school counseling requires continuous professional growth and development and thus the school districts are to provide in-service training for school counselors. A fully certified school counselor is expected to carry out eight basic responsibilities, competently in a professional and accountable manner.

Program Management: Counselors are required to collaboratively plan, implement and evaluate  a comprehensive developmental guidance program. There are four components to this program; guidance curriculum, responsive service, individual panning and system support. The counselors collaborate with all to ensure that a balance is maintained between all the components so as to meet student, community needs, priorities and objectives to effectively support the total educational program.

Guidance: Counselors assist the students to develop and apply skills to maximize their educational, career, personal and social growth during school years and beyond, they do individual planning and provide appropriate activities that will help development.

Counseling: When students have developmental needs, personal concerns, or problems that might affect their continued educational, career, personal or social development, counseling  is provided.

Consultation: Counselors provide professional expertise to faculty, staff, administrators, parents, and their community members to help understand individual behavior and human relationships, this task of the counselors helps in increasing effectiveness of education and promotes student success.

Coordination: One important task of the counselor is to bring people and resources in the home, school, district, and community to support students' optimal academic success, career, personal and social development

Student Assessment: Counselors interpret standardized test results and other data to take decisions to help students' development.

Professional Behavior: Through continuous efforts the counselors are required to maintain professional competence to maintain collaborative inter-professional relationships.

Professional Standards: Counselors are required to adhere to professional standards in all components of comprehensive development guidance and counseling program.

Now as a school administrator, the first step will be to employ adequate, qualified number of counselors, the American School Counselor Association recommends a student to counselor ration of 1:250 and the Texas School Counselor Association recommends 1:350, this is an important factor to ensure the quality and efficiency of the program.  

The  program development cycle in Chapter V provides a clear structure as to, how to effectively develop and implement the program. The main components are organizing, planning, designing, implementing and evaluating.

Organizing: The most important component in the successful implementation program is to commit to action; this should be  made by the administrative and counselor leaders, the vision and goal should be clear to study the need and bring about the required change. After having committed to action, the next step would be to identify the leadership both at the district and school level having representatives from all stake holders, for the successful implementation of the program.

Planning: The process of planning involves studying the program model, including the content areas that specifies the relevant content for the local needs, the Texas Comprehensive, Developmental Guidance and Counseling Program model suggests seven content areas as the foundation for the program. Some of the content areas are in building up self-confidence, motivation to achieve, decision making, goal-setting, planning, communication skills and responsible behavior.

Designing: The next stage in the process is to design the program,  by establishing the desired program design taking into consideration(demographic date, student achievement data and student conduct data), publish the program framework, plan a smooth transition to the desired program and finally develop and implement a master plan for changed implementation.

Implementation: At this stage a closer look at the program is required to see for any improvements and them the priority should be set. The counselors job description should be made clear, provide staff development for counselors, teachers, parents, administrators and all others involved in the process to encourage growth. The performance of the counselors is a crucial factor in the successful implementation of the program.

Evaluation: Like in the implementation of any program, evaluation of the program is critical to the success of the program, evaluation should include the changes made, the program design, the implementation and the professional staff. Evaluation will provide insights to modifications and required changes and also what is working well that does not require change.

The ultimate purpose or goal of a school administrator  is to ensure that all students are  successful, thus one should use all the resources and provisions available, thus I would strongly support the implementation of a  comprehensive, developmental guidance and counseling program and implement it using the model provided above.

Evaluation is a critical component for the success of any program, evaluation brings in effectiveness, productivity and ensures accountability from all involved with the program. The process of evaluation helps in determining the value of the program, its activities and the staff in order to make informed decision and make necessary actions to the future implementation.

Chapter VI provides a process of evaluation that includes eight steps; stating the evaluation question, determining the audiences/uses for the evaluation, gathering data to answer the questions, applying predetermined standards, drawing conclusion and finally considering the context, making recommendation and acting on the recommendations. These steps clearly provides a systematic approach for an effective evaluation of the program.

The process of counseling is to assist the teachers and other staff in the integration of instructional and school  objectives, thus there should be a collaborative effort among all involved in the program to evaluate the success of the program.

The evaluation will help determine the impact of the program on students, faculty, parents and on the overall school climate. The purpose and scope of evaluation can be summarized as follows:

·         Will help know if the program is accomplishing the intended goals

·         Evaluation helps identify what remains to be accomplished

·         Evaluation will help identify effective components and also eliminate or improve less effective components

·         Adapt and refine the guidance and implementation process

·         Evaluation will help in determining professional development and staffing needs

·         critically see if some additional resources are required and also provides accountability information to educator and the community.

The success of any program will depend on the will of the leadership and the consistent, systematic way in which the whole process is organized, planned, designed, implemented and evaluated. As an administrator I strongly believe  that "no stone should be left unturned" everything possible should be done to see that our students are successful as this would decide the future of our country.

Reflection # 5

Before going into whether or not I support the authors' position in serving gifted and talented students, it is important to relate to  what does this mean, well, acceleration is defined as an intervention program that moves students at faster rates by matching the academic level, complexity or pace of curriculum to the ability, readiness and motivation level of the student. This could be achieved by early entrance to school, grade-skipping, moving ahead in one or more subject area or taking Advanced Placement classes.

A "Nation Deceived" has been authored by three people who have collectively spent more than 100 years in education, and over 50 years of research to speak on the topic, they have committed their entire careers in helping the nation's students soar to where their minds and hearts can take them  . I strongly support the need of providing accelerated academic programs to the gifted and talented, because in every state and every school be it in huge cities or small farm communities there are students who are ready for greater challenges than what the schools are able to provide.

These are students who are able to surprise their parents, grandparents and teachers by their unusual ability to read, write and do arithmetic much faster and better than their peers. But when they enter the school system, they are often frustrated and bored as they learn very little from what they have already learned. The schools are not able to provide them the challenge that keeps their spirits high and motivated. The system does not recognize their need for higher learning  and advancement, instead shuts them down with a "no" for most of their inquisitiveness.

Many a times instead of letting them soar high and fly, they are forced to stay tied to their seats and stay where they are in the grade and intellectual level at the cost of a steady erosion of American excellence. If frequently these students are ignored and their challenges are not met, the desire for excellence will lose its vibrancy and will be replaced  with complacence and apathy. As a nation "no" to excellence means lowering our national standards. With the present economic situation the challenge before the nation is not in average, mediocre students, but in those who can stay ahead of the world in all professional spheres to lead by example of providing excellence that can bring back the American pride of being a world leader.

The authors have brought about many myths and the first one states that "Acceleration is not an important issue because most students don't need it" as a teacher and educator it is just like saying " you don't need to know more, just learn what you are taught" the basic  philosophy of education is to meet individual needs and does  challenge educators to provide for that. Acceleration is a legitimate educational need of high ability students and should not be put on the shelves because of inadequate numbers, it might be that one student who could find a solution for "cancer cure".

Another important myth that caught my attention is that "Acceleration is for the wealthy" unfortunately, over the years race, color and wealth has always been projected as a deterrent for many good programs. This has affected the progress of the nation, fortunately talent cuts across all demographics; such as race, color, ethnicity, gender or socio economic backgrounds. The authors brought out a valid point that it is the students from modest homes that will benefit the most, as the wealthy will be able to provide extra opportunities to their children  by moving them to private schools.

TEA's policies does compliment the acceleration program, however there is  contradiction as far as  the goal of  Equity is concerned, the goal states: " The Equity in Gifted and Talented(GT) Education project is to encourage equitable representation of student populations in GT programs throughout the state. The author clearly states that  fortunately the  acceleration program cuts across all demographics and it is incorrect to look for equal representation, all needing the challenge should be provided  the opportunity to reach higher goals, such view that there has to be equity will only create hurdles, a fair selection process that is able to identify the GT students and providing them the appropriate challenge should be the sole aim.

Reflection # 4

The Texas Education Agency provides the English language proficiency standards and student expectations for English language learners (ELLs) and requires School districts to implement this as an integral part of each subject and is also to be linked along with the Texas Essentials Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for each subject. This means that the TEA provides the frame work and legal requirement to implement the program by all school district. The TEA policies also provide for effective instruction in second language giving Ells the opportunity to develop all aspects of a language such as listen, speak, read and write at current levels of development that would gradually lead to linguistic complexity.  

The TEA clearly defines the expectations through the TEKS; stating that “It is the policy of the state that every student in the state who has a home language other than English and who is identified as limited English proficient shall be provided a full opportunity to participate in a bilingual education or English as a second language program, as required in the Texas Education Code, Chapter 29, Subchapter B”. With this policy the TEA requires all school districts to:

·         Identify limited English proficient students based on criteria established by the state,

·         Provide bilingual education and English as a second language program as provided in the Texas Education Code 4.002’

·         Provide certified teaching personnel, so that students with limited English proficiency have full opportunity to master the essential skills and knowledge ,

·         Finally schools should be able to assess achievement for essential shills and knowledge in accordance with the Texas Education Code 39.

I do see that the TEA has provided a very comprehensive framework or guidelines to implement an effective language program for limited English language learners, the effect of the legal provision or policy could be nullified if the schools don’t implement the program understanding the need and the spirit behind helping students with limited English language proficiency.

It is also interesting to note that there is a partnership program between the TEA and the Ministry of Education of Spain to provide Spanish resource centers with American Universities, visiting teaching programs and development of other education programs that involves American students and teachers to promote teaching Spanish as a second language and culture.

The requirement of 89.1205 requires a bilingual program to be offered only if the enrollment of limited English proficient students is 20 or more, so my concern is what happens if there are only 15 students, could the school deny language support if it wishes do to so?

I believe that the number of students should not be limited to 20; all schools should be required to implement a program for students with limited English proficiency as the academic progress of the student will greatly be influenced by the language skills.

Title I (NCLB 2001, ARRA 2009)

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 aimed at improving the academic achievement of the disadvantaged so as to ensure all children have a fair, equal opportunity to obtain high quality education by which they achieve minimum proficiency on state academic achievement standards and academic assessments.

The major components of Title I  are:

Title I : Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged

Title I, Part A : Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational agencies

Title I School Improvement Program : Title I School Improvement Program

Title I, Part B, Subpart 1 : Reading First

Title I, Part B, Subpart 3 : William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy Program

Title I, Part C : Education of Migratory Children

Title I, Part D : Prevention and Intervention Programs for Children and Youth Who Are

Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk

Title I, Part F : Comprehensive School Reform

The goal  of Title I, Part A ARRA funds was to stimulate the short term economy and to invest in education to improve results for low achieving students. With these goal the ARRA funds were required to be spend quickly to save and create jobs, improve student achievement through progress toward rigorous college and career ready standards and high quality assessments. The funds are also available for improving teacher and school leader effectiveness, providing intensive support and effective interventions for the lowest achieving  schools. The program also required establishing data systems that track progress and foster continuous improvement.

The NCLB Act of 2001 aimed at  prioritizing education with an attempt to give equal educational opportunities to all ,closing the achievement gap with stronger accountability, flexibility(more freedom for states and communities, proven education methods and more choice( for parents), so that no child is left behind

It is heartening to note that the financial support is there through the ARRA 2009 and NCLB 2001, the extra funding is there for bridging the academic gaps by providing the required supplemental educational support in reading, math or any  subjects. There has always been this debate about the inequality in educational funding, these Acts provide for those gaps  and does bridge the cost to ensure all children have a fair, equal opportunity to obtain high quality education by which they achieve minimum proficiency on state academic achievement standards and academic assessments.

As of May 14,2010 approximately  $ 84 billion has been awarded through the Recovery Act and the state of Texas has $ 948 M in the Title I, Part A Stimulus funding, with all these provisions I feel it is the responsibility of the schools to plan and take advantage of these funds, by implementing programs, providing services, investing in technology so as to enhance the quality of education in particular for  the economically disadvantaged.

Reflection # 2

Reflection # 2

Education as perceived in the earlier days was focused mainly on providing knowledge, the rote way, in the core academic subjects, and strict discipline was used to keep the children focused(Katz,1972), does this approach work even today is being debated by all in the field of education.

There is research based evidence that a mismatch exists between what the schools provide and the need; due to changes in cultural, social and linguistic diversity, and this is evident from the performance of students as compared to the academic and behavioral expectations. Is education keeping pace with the constantly changing society that is being heterogeneous, this is bound to happen and it should not be a matter of surprise to educators; because the environment that students are growing up is constantly changing.

The order of the day is split families, single parents, technology, prevalence of sex, drugs, violence and countless other factors contribute to the changing face of today's youth. Ingersoll and Leboeuf (1997) concluded that high quality, alternative programs provided by professional staff can decrease truancy  and act as deterrents to poor behavior, minimize suspensions, expulsions and will be able to enhance higher academic success.

The desire to provide alternative education programs in the United States began as early as 1925 by exploring different approaches to  providing education to high risk students, some who had even dropped out of school. Over time, there has been a significant increase in the number of alternative schools; such as charter , court, detention and magnet schools.

Fitzsimons Hughes and her colleagues (2006) provide three different types of settings that serves a specific population of children and youth. Type 1 Serves mainly gifted or advances students who have engaged in substance abuse, who are pregnant or with a history of truancy. Type 2 serve students on a short term basis for those that pose serious discipline problems and are court mandated due to serious behavioral infractions at school. Type 3 serves children and adolescents with serious emotional or behavioral problems. This approach is good as the alternative program should meet the different needs.

Finally for any program to be successful and sustain Quinn and Rutherford(1998)   identify six components as essential to quality alternative programs (a) good procedures for conducting functional assessment of academic and nonacademic behavior;(b)flexible curriculum for academic, social and life skills;(c)effective and efficient instructional strategies;(d)good transitional programs that provides smooth transition from alternative to mainstream settings;(e)comprehensive systems that provides alternative educational services and external community base services;(f) adequate resources and professional staff, who are passionate about serving such students.

Reflection # 1

Reflection # 1

Individuals with disabilities Act (IDEA) provides the legal support and frame work for educating children with disabilities, the United States considers the education of children with disabilities a top national priority. The provisions of this Act brought about a change in the way children with special needs were looked at and supported. This Act explicitly lays down the manner in which academic opportunities should be provided to students with special needs, and the result is evident, there are  over 6 million children receiving special education services(NICHY "Educate Children 3-22). There was a time when only one in five students with disabilities  had access to  some form of help with their special needs, for this to change the Act had to set high standards of expectations that provided the required guide, as to how special help and services could be made available to students who  needed assistance for their special needs.

It is a process of evaluating children with special needs and then deciding what kind of help is required, this decision shall be made by a team of qualified professionals and the parent of the child. After having identified a child with special needs, an Individualized Education Program is prepared, it is a written document that clearly specifies the services and support the child will receive.

The law also provides for how and where these services must be provided , "placement " decides where the IEP should be administered.  The underlying provision in deciding placement is that a student with special needs should be placed in a "Least Restrictive Environment" that  would provide maximum opportunity for the child to be with other children who do not have disabilities  in academic, social and extracurricular activities.

Through the entire process of identification, evaluation and deciding the placement services, it is critical for the team along with the parents to create an accommodation plan that would help the student. Though the law does not require what the accommodation needs to be, this should be a priority as the success of the program will depend on the implementation such as modifying the rest, preferential seating, providing study guides and notes, modification for physical education.

The Act provides for a mediation process to allow parties of disputes  to resolve such disputes before the process of due process is initiated by the parents. Administrators should take advantage of this by being knowledgeable of the provisions of the disability law, believing in the principles and effectively implementing the same rather than going through the motion. Effective, timely communication is a great tool to prevent expensive, time consuming legal procedures.  

Every child is unique and deserves the best to be successful in life, the provisions of this Act empowers a team consisting of teachers, administrators , specialist and the parent to decide and provide the best for the student.