Reference no: EM132304642

You are seeking a position as curriculum director in a public school district. During a lengthy job interview, the superintendent spends considerable time laying out his desire to engage individual school sites more actively in the budget process and particularly to hold school principals and staffs accountable for the use of decentralized money’s through aggressive academic performance targets. As the interview evolves, you learn that the state has recently placed two of the school district’s 12 elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school academic probation for failure to meet state assessment standards and that several other schools in the district might be verging on a similar fate. The superintendent seems convinced that a turnaround could be achieved if principals and staffs were given both the charge to increase performance and the promise of sufficient resources to meet standards. The superintendent makes it clear that he expects the new curriculum director to spearhead this initiative and to put a well-founded action plan into place within a year's time. Upon conclusion of the interview, he notes that he would expect the new director to forward a proposed calendar of events within a matter of weeks. A week later you receive the job offer from this school district. You lady accept the offer, knowing that you face a tough challenge. Shortly after accepting your new position, you attend a national conference on raising student performance levels. The many excellent sessions you attend convince you that your new school district indeed can achieve a turnaround by setting high goals, analyzing student data, investing in staff training for school improvement, reducing class sizes, increasing instructional times, implementing best-practice models in teaching and learning, providing extra help for struggling students, engaging parents in students' progress, and creating a community of shared leadership. The problem, how to get others involved, how to build support, what tasks to engage and in what order, and of course how to manage high stakes with too little time.

1. Is your new school district headed in the right direction? why or why not?

2. Who should be involved in the initial planning stages of this transformation? Who are the most critical players? How will you garner their support? What barriers do you anticipate?

3. What are the most pressing priorities in beginning this planning process? What do you believe are the critical elements for change of magnitude to succeed?

4. What will your proposed plan of action contain: that is, what calendar of events will you propose? In what areas do you anticipate the need for greater resources?