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Story 26-4 Wes Kinghorn Interview
Get PDFWes Kinghorn shares his experience surrounding a demonstration by the London heritage community to save four hospital buildings
School Leadership and Student Engagement in Core French
Get PDFThis Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) examines the problem of lack of student engagement in core French classes and how school leadership, defined as the school administration and core French teachers, can lead to improved student engagement in core French. Student engagement is described as students’ attitudes to a course, readiness to exact themselves to task, and willingness to participate in class and complete assignments. The OIP further discusses in greater detail what engagement looks and feels like in the junior and intermediate grades of a K-8 elementary school in Ontario, Resilience Junior Middle School (RJMS). With the understanding that lack of student engagement is a serious issue in the teaching and learning of core French in Ontario’s elementary schools, the OIP analyzes school leadership approaches to address the problem of practice. Informed by a liberal world view and a belief that every student can succeed to a high extent, the OIP uses the culturally responsive leadership approach as framework to analyze three possible solutions to address the problem. With the Change Path Model for change process to guide the implementation, three strategies based directly on the possible solutions to address the problem are designed to implement the OIP. Attention is paid to monitoring and evaluating the implementation to ensure that the desired goals are achieved. A communication plan is also developed as part of the implementation in three phases. The phases are preapproval, midstream change, and milestone communication, confirming and celebrating the change success. Next steps are discussed as ways to ensure sustainability of the change
A Strategic Approach to Increasing Course Completion
Get PDFThe motivation for this Organization Improvement Plan (OIP) is rooted in the issue of low course completion in a small, rural junior-senior high school in Alberta. Poor attendance is the key problem that results in poor course completion. Previous strategies to improve course completion have had limited success. An analysis of the organization’s readiness for change reveals that School X is facing the urgency of finding a solution to the problem. In this OIP, the author investigates several strategies to ensure that all students in School X complete their course requirements to enable them to meet the necessary requirements for graduation. The change is informed by a blend of critical theory, adaptive leadership, and Cawsey, Deszca, and Ingol’s (2016) change path model as frameworks to guide the process. A critical lens permeates this OIP, in that it suggests equitable and alternative ways of thinking about and acting to meet all students’ needs. Observing the problem of low course completion through a critical lens helps both teachers and leaders to make more informed judgements and actions (Brookfield & Outcalt, 2002). Adaptive leadership helps the school population, both individually and collectively, to adapt and respond effectively to the reoccurring problem of low course completion and will foster all stakeholders’ participation in solving the challenge and transforming the school. This transformation will come by way of Cawsey et al.’s (2016) change path model, which will help School X’s leaders to lead the change process by devising possible solutions and communicating actions. The proposed solution in this OIP will help the leaders in School X to use a professional learning community (PLC) model to shift teachers’ practice through collective efficacy and track and monitor students’ progress. Once implemented, the author anticipates that the OIP will ensure that students will complete their course requirements and that all learners will reach their full potential. This will be of interest to similar schools whose leaders want to increase the course-completion rates for all students
Creating a Culture of Data-Informed Strategic Enrollment Management at a Canadian Higher Educational Institution
Get PDFHigher education institutions are focusing significant energy to attract and retain students through strategic enrollment management (SEM). This organizational improvement plan (OIP) addressed the lack of a data-informed approach to strategic enrollment management at a small Canadian University campus. Although the SEM process is complex, without a data-informed approach to SEM, institutions are wasting their time and resources. This organizational improvement plan used a cultural change approach as well as a combination of authentic and distributed leadership approaches to provide a solution to the problem of a lack of data-informed strategic enrollment management at a Campus X. With enrollments almost stagnant for two decades at Campus X, deep change in process and institutional culture are necessary. Using existing institutional data, a strong case for the urgency of change was demonstrated. To change the processes at the institution, a clear change process was outlined. To change the institutional culture in a deep and meaningful fashion, a longer and in-depth change process was discussed. To create deep cultural change, the ethical consideration of changing institutional culture and using student data was discussed. Institutions must ensure that they have the appropriate policies and procedures in place to adequately address student privacy concerns. At the forefront of any change process are the plans to communicate. Guided by the leadership approaches of authentic and distributed, an in-depth communication plan, and process was outlined to address the changes in process and to work to create deep cultural change in regards to a more data-informed approach to strategic enrollment management
University-wide Internationalization of Curriculum: An Organizational Improvement Plan
Get PDFIn the past few decades, higher education institutions have witnessed a greater interest in the way international perspectives including political, social, cultural, economic and technological perspectives impact graduates’ global competency. The rationale behind this view is to develop a more relevant understanding in graduates of global cultures, global knowledges, and global problems so that they are better prepared for the world of work that awaits them outside the university campus, regionally or internationally. This OIP problematizes the lack of international perspectives in curriculum and proposes a university-wide solution to incorporate internationalization of curriculum. It draws from the theoretical concepts of culturally responsive pedagogy and international mindedness as foundational drivers of change and incorporates research and evidence-based models of internationalization of curriculum to the improvement plan. Both these foundations are significant as the former demands cross-cultural understanding and the latter demands the fulfillments of compelling pressures of globalization. An internationally minded strategic plan executed through strategic and transformational leadership approach using internationalization framework for curriculum forms the foundations of this OIP. The planning and development stage employ Cawsey et al. Change Path Model to plan and propel change forward and uses a PSDA model to monitor and evaluate change. The outcome is an internationally minded approach to curriculum flexible enough for different disciplines to adopt and execute, yet strategic enough to promote institution-wide change
Teachers Supporting New Immigrant ESL Learners
Get PDFAbstract
This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) examines how a teacher leader with influence can support classroom teachers in establishing a more inclusive and culturally competent learning environment. It is framed around a Problem of Practice (PoP) that emerged from a significant increase of new immigrant, English Second Language (ESL) learners enrolling at Rankin Elementary. Formal and informal school assessments revealed that ESL learners were achieving lower than their English speaking peers. This OIP serves to address how classroom teachers can effectively support new immigrant, ESL learners as they work to improve their English Language Proficiency. This OIP is viewed from a social justice lens and informed by critical theory. Transformational and culturally relevant leadership support a bottom-up approach to leadership. Culturally relevant pedagogy frames this OIP as a culturally relevant, whole child approach to instruction is explored. Lewin’s three-step model of unfreezing, change and refreezing serves as the leading change framework while Nadler and Tushman’s Congruence Model is used as the change path model, providing critical organizational analysis. The implementation plan outlines priorities and goals of the planned change and necessary supports and resources are identified. The PDSA model serves to monitor and evaluate the change process and a plan for communicating the need for change is developed
Increasing Non-Academic Employee Engagement
Get PDFThe nature of administrative work in higher education institutions (HEIs) is changing. HEIs are operating within an environment of increasingly complex conditions, including increased demand for access to its services, reduced government funding, and increased internationalization and market competition. Consequently, administrative work in higher education has increased in complexity, as, too, has the talent required to execute this work. No longer are HEIs comprised of homogeneous talent; today, these entities are experiencing increased hiring of individuals in non-academic roles who bring diverse experience and skills. With this change in talent composition, this Organization Improvement Plan (OIP) focuses on a Canadian Research-Intensive University (RIU) that must now evaluate its human resource management (HRM) practices and determine how its talent development practices may be disabling the achievement of its organizational goals and objectives. The systemic influences of human capital economic theory and social exchange theory (SET) have resulted in RIU’s non-academic talent being professionally marginalized. The professional marginalization practices of RIU result in lower levels of employee engagement, which brings significant risks, including increased talent attrition, decreased productivity, and disengaged leadership. It is in this context where the OIP for the RIU introduces a talent development solution to address the absence of evidence-informed strategic and integrated talent development practices to increase employee engagement
Story 17-3 Hilary Bates Neary Interview
Get PDFHilary Bates Neary shares her joy at discovering the fugitive slave chapel is the original building
Student Responsibility Through Building Teacher Capacities
Get PDFBound Yet Free Christian School is an organization committed to a growth mindset. The school’s Board of Directors invests in school improvement efforts, making use of external evaluations and encouraging professional development. Building on the previous external evaluations of the organization, two of the local school board’s resulting initiatives are explicitly addressed in this Organizational Improvement Plan. Making academic success a priority while building teacher capacities in intelligent, evidence-based pedagogies are the goals. A specific focus on assisting student development of responsibility and ownership for their learning is the focal point for improving student learning. This plan seeks to outline a detailed strategy for building teacher capacities in evidence-based practices for improving student responsibility and independence. Such pedagogies include sharing learning goals, metacognitive strategies, assessment for and as learning, and academic press, focusing on the co-responsibility of teachers and students to create and protect a conducive learning environment. Using a Christian servant leadership paradigm, where love serves as the supreme ethic, and with the goal of establishing a culture for continuous improvement, this plan seeks to make use of an 8-step organizational approach to change and then complement that approach with the implementation of a Plan-Do-Study-Act process. In order to initiate this change, the problem of practice, namely, the poor development of ownership and responsibility for learning among many BYFCS students, demonstrates the necessity for creating a sense of urgency among stakeholders. Communication of this plan with stakeholders takes a one-sided messaging approach, providing an evidence-based rationale for its necessity. Various elements of the plan are shared with parents, Board members, staff, and students in order to create a uniform understanding for the vision of change. Particular attention is given to the important role of building a guiding coalition among the teachers to receive initial feedback on the plan, to develop clarity of goals, to maintain focused attention on those goals, and to help ensure the momentum for continuous improvement