School Improvement Goals and the ATP
Stacey Harker
Royal Roads University
EDLM 540
Lisa Read
December 16, 2012
School Improvement Goals and the ATP
Building community between students is a current goal identified by the staff at Hastings Education Centre, a school for adults upgrading or working toward high school graduation. An earmark of adult student success is the act of bonding with teachers and students at the school. It is a given that the teachers will make every attempt to connect with students, but students are not always inclined to bond with one another. The school staff has always felt that student-to-student interaction could be enhanced by a communal space for students outside of the classroom context. However, the school consists of four classrooms, three offices, and a narrow hallway; so the idea of a student lounge has been dismissed as impossible.
At a recent staff meeting, I proposed that the school take advantage of an occasionally unoccupied classroom by making it available to students at certain times throughout the week. It was a bit of an “aha moment”, and the meeting was energized by this repurposing of resources. Staff morale grew with each increasingly exuberant suggestion about how the room could best serve the students: volunteer tutors, study groups, potlucks, movies, extra credit for peer tutoring, guest speakers! I will admit that my excitement was blossoming alongside my colleagues’, but when someone blurted out, “We can even have an art gallery!” it occurred to me that perhaps we were getting carried away.
It was then that Margaret Wheatley’s first principle of healthy change, “people support what they create”, came to mind. Certainly this principle was proving true at the meeting where everyone was giving every indication of caring deeply about creating a student lounge. The problem, as I saw it, was that we were creating something on someone else’s behalf and without their consent or contribution. I suggested that we slow the process a bit and move away from the “If you build it, they will come” approach, and move toward “If they build it, they will stay”. This concept was well received and the exuberance was redirected to determining the best ways to involve the students in the process of creating a student lounge. Now the planning itself is achieving the goal of building the student community. The very act of including students in activities that encourage social interaction enhances the student community. I imagine that a student lounge created by the teachers could have achieved the original goal, but including the students in the process achieves the goal even if the student lounge does not prove popular. Furthermore, student involvement will help ensure the common area is meaningful and relevant to the population it will serve.
School goals reflect the school’s identity. Keeping partnerships linked to the school goals helps these communities understand the purpose of their contribution(s) by clarifying what is needed to maintain and improve school success. In effort to ensure shared understanding, the Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) is a useful guide for facilitating a large and likely disparate group because it can help funnel many voices into one. Its formatted structure also allows for leadership delegation.
The many roles of the ATP would make it impossible for a small school to follow the ATP format. One size may not fit all, but the ATP guidelines and templates can be interpreted to suit a diversity of needs of any school by looking beyond the assigned tasks toward achieving the intended purpose. The structured outline of the one-year action plan offers guidance in determining what plans need to be executed, which voices need to be heard, and how long it should take for a plan to be implemented. Furthermore, many of the activities can help clarify the purpose of a meeting. This could prove particularly useful for outside community members attending meetings with a small staff accustomed to organic communication styles replete with prior knowledge.
Even though the ATP is intended for a broader scale of involvement, it can be applied to creating a student lounge at Hastings Education Centre. For example, although a one-day team-training workshop would be too much, taking time to build the team is an excellent strategy for garnering commitment. Furthermore, teambuilding itself would work toward the goal of building the student community. To that end, I will suggest that the first Student Lounge Committee meeting be more than just business.