Jennifer Black

Instructional Improvement Plan

1. Identify the contextual factors that a principal must know and understand about her school.
Majestic Elementary School is located in West Jordan, UT. It is in Jordan School
District. It is a Title I school with approximately 355 students.
The school community is made up of mostly low-income, diverse households. 71.2% of
students are deemed economically disadvantaged. Many households have one parent who is
unemployed or working for minimum wage. Housing includes older homes, apartments
buildings, government subsidized apartments, and a womens crisis shelter. There is a large
Hispanic population in the school boundaries. The majority of these are from Mexico. Many
live with multiple related families in the same household. Most speak little English.
The student population is diverse for Jordan School District. 61.1% of students belong to
an ethnic minority group. 31.5% of students at the school are English language learners. 12.4%
of students qualify for special education.
The school also has a high rate of students who have additional factors that make success
at school difficult. Attendance is a problem. The chronic absenteeism rate is 33%. The mobility
rate for the school is 30%. These students transfer in or out of the school during the year. Some
families visit their family in Mexico for several months at a time then return to the school.
Because of the abundance of apartments and homelessness, housing is less stable.

Student test performance is traditionally the lowest in the school district. The State of
Utah gave Majestic a D grade in 2013. They ranked 486 out of 542 elementary schools in
language arts with 63% of the 204 tested students being proficient. This put them at the bottom
of the district. They were 464 in math, with 64% proficiency, which put them at third to the
bottom. There were 155 students tested in science, and 48% were proficient. This placed them
at 489 out of all elementary schools in Utah, and lowest for Jordan District.
At the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, a new principal assigned to the school.
He immediately made changes for teaching including having teachers select three standards that
they would guarantee to teach each month, and purging the school of excess furniture and
supplies that were inhibiting performance. The school also was included in the Turnaround
Schools partnership with the University of Virginia. There are goals that must be made and
achieved.
These changes have started to pay off. After testing in 2014, the school grade moved up
to a B. The tests have changed which means that fewer students show proficiency, but the
school ranking is moving up. There are 33 elementary schools in the district, and Majestic
performed toward the middle level of all the schools. The scores and comparisons are indicated
in the Figures 1-4 below.

47
46
45
language arts

44

math

43
42
41
3rd grade

District

Utah

Figure 1. Majestic 3rd grade 2014

SAGE scores

4th grade
District
Utah

Figure 2. Majestic 4th grade 2014

SAGE scores

5th grade
District
Utah

Figure 3. Majestic 5th grade 2014 SAGE

scores

6th grade
District
Utah

Figure 4. Majestic 6th grade 2014

SAGE scores

While these gains are commendable, there needs to be continued increased student
performance. The Turnaround Schools program has a powerful accountability component, but
there are some additional changes that could be made in the supervision of teachers to help bring
about the continued growth that is needed.
2. Describe your Philosophy and Vision for Improving Student Achievement
I believe that every student can learn. Teachers have an obligation to do whatever they
can to help students learn. At Majestic, business as usual is not going to work. We need to keep
up the positive momentum that has already begun. I think its time to move from everyone being
told what to do, to letting everyone start to help make the decisions about what is best for student
learning.
Its important for my faculty and me to agree on our beliefs about students. I dont think
that it is imperative that I decide what that has to be. I am firm in the belief that all students can
learn. I will present that to the faculty as something that is non-negotiable, but Ill ask them to
brainstorm a list of other beliefs about students that we should share in our school. Well decide
what our most important beliefs are, and then commit to making them the focus of our
instructional decisions. Ill post our beliefs on the faculty room wall and make a small laminated
copy for everyone to have to keep our focus fresh in our minds.
My philosophy for teacher supervision and evaluation is that every teacher can learn. If a
teacher is not improving, they are moving in the opposite direction. There is no such thing as
maintenance. Just as students learn and grow in different ways, teachers need room to grow in
the way that works best for them. My supervision style will be dependent on the needs of the
teacher. The district evaluation tool is mandatory, so my philosophy of evaluation is mostly

irrelevant. However, it is important for me to note that evaluation is summative. The formal
evaluation is the time for me to pass summative judgment. All other supervision activities are
formative and meant to promote teacher growth.
Majestic has the benefit of having two instructional coaches. Because of this, supervision
and evaluation may be able to be split with the coaches supervising, and myself administering
the evaluation. One of the problems in the past is that the coaches have worked so closely with
principal as part of the leadership team, and teachers have been so removed from the leadership
and decision making process, that the coaches are viewed in an evaluative manner. There is not a
relationship of trust between coaches and teachers. By including teachers in decision-making
and differentiating supervision based on teacher need, coaches will be better able to supervise in
a productive manner.
I believe in having differentiated teacher supervision. Some teachers need more support
than others. Some teachers or teams of teachers may need to work on specific things where
others wont. My leadership team and I will need to look at teacher performance and decide
what approach to supervision might work best. For those who are brand new or struggling, a
directive approach needs to take place where I decide what the teacher will work on and how it
will be done. For the rest of the provisional teachers and teachers who are new to our school
programs, a directive instructional approach would be used. The teachers take more of a role in
decision-making, but my leadership team will need to help lead them in the right direction. For
the rest, collaborative supervision will be used. Teachers will be able to work on their own goals
toward our shared vision of student learning with the leadership team collaborating with them to
help clarify as needed.

Supervision is meant to do more than assess whether or not teachers are learning and
working toward our school vision. It is also to inform me of the general performance of the
teacher so that deficits can be made up before summative evaluation. The standards that will be
used for this part of supervision will be the Utah Effective Teaching Standards. I will use the
Administrative tools and forms provided by our district to check that teachers are meeting the
standards. I will follow up with teachers to let them know about the good things Im seeing in
their classrooms and the things they may want to look at before their evaluation.
In considering Golemans (2000) six leadership styles, there are two that would be most
fitting for supervision, authoritative leadership and coaching leadership. Authoritative leadership
requires the leader to have a clear vision and unfailing positivity. It helps build self-confidence
in employees and mobilize them to change. The employees understand what to do and why to do
it. Coaching leadership helps develop leadership in others. The leader acts as a counselor and
helps the employee develop their strengths and overcome their weaknesses. It is great for
helping employees improve performance.

3. Describe Curriculum Expectations of Teachers

Teachers are responsible to know the curriculum that they will be teaching and to be able
to teach it in an effective manner. It is my job, as an educational leader to make sure they are
aware of learning and teaching standards and to provide them with resources they need to meet
these standards. I also need to ensure that they are following the standards.
The pedagogical standards that Majestic teachers will be following are the Utah Effective
Teaching Standards. This is available online through the Utah State Office of Education. For

those who would like it, I will arrange print copies. These standards are closely followed in the
Jordan Performance Appraisal System evaluation tool that is used by Jordan District. Jordan
District provides educational materials related to the standards assessed by JPAS which I will
need to provide to my faculty.
There are five domains on the JPAS evaluation. Domain I is managing the classroom,
which includes standards on engaging students in learning, managing student behavior, and
managing time and routines. Domain II deals with the delivery of instruction. Standards in this
domain include presenting information, developing thinking skills, and coaching performance.
Domain III is interacting with students wherein teachers are evaluated on encouraging
participation and providing feedback. Domain IV is planning, where teachers are judged on their
structuring of the class and preparation of instruction. Domain V is professional growth and
responsibilities, which includes enhancing skills and maintaining relationships. It is a
requirement for me to make teachers aware of the evaluation process and standards, which is
done at the beginning of the year. Students and parents are generally not provided with
information on pedagogical standards, but the information is no secret. Parents and students
have free access to the information on the websites. If it is appropriate, I will share the materials
with them.
Teachers will be held accountable to these pedagogical standards through supervision and
evaluation. The JPAS evaluation is used every three years for tenured educators, and twice a
year for all provisional educators. On years that teachers are not evaluated, they must complete
an interim evaluation, which consists of a self-evaluation, personal growth goals, stakeholder
input and student growth measures. Supervision of teachers will help determine if they are

meeting these standards when they are not being evaluated, and will inform me of areas that
might need to be addressed through professional development activities.
Teachers are also responsible for meeting curriculum standards. Standards for curriculum
should be clear. Majestic Elementary teachers will be following the Utah Core Standards for
their curriculum. There are standards for every subject offered through the district. The
curriculum is available to teachers online through the Jordan District website, as well as the Utah
State of Education website. The District has extensive resources to help teachers in their
instruction of the curriculum. The District also has resources for parents and students to assist
them with their studies. Teachers make parents and students aware of these resources.
Accountability for meeting curriculum standards is achieved through several different
activities. First, teachers meet weekly in PLCs to discuss student performance and work together
to maximize instructional effectiveness. This measure helps ensure that teachers are up to date
on what they should be teaching. If some teachers on a team are less familiar with curriculum
topics, other team members help them to fill in the gaps. Second, Majestic Elementary teachers
must post lesson plans. As part of the Turnaround program, posting of shared reading lesson
plans has been required. This has guaranteed that teachers are aware of what they should be
teaching. Moving forward, additional language arts and math lesson plans should be required.
Finally, District Benchmark Tests in language arts and math are required, and scores must be
reported. These tests address curriculum areas and provide another reminder to the teacher of the
standards that should be taught.
In the past, the Coercive leadership style has been used as far as curriculum and
pedagogy compliance are concerned at Majestic. This has been appropriate, as there was a drive

for achievement and the school was in crisis. There was no choice for teachers. They had to
have immediate compliance. Moving forward, it will be important to retire this negative
leadership style. Teachers at the school are more familiar with the need to meet curriculum and
pedagogy standards. A more Democratic style might be more appropriate now. Collaborating
and building team leadership will give teachers more ownership over the school turnaround.
This style will help teachers to make a personal investment into the school improvement and the
leadership team will gain more time as teachers take over some of the responsibilities and
ownership they have been denied to this point.

4. Describe Planned Staff Development/Teacher In-service Programs

Staff development needs to be differentiated, just as supervision activities need to be
differentiated. There is some staff development that will need to be done school-wide, but other
development should be up to smaller groups or individuals.
The leadership team and I will need to look at a variety of data to make decisions about
the types of development that are needed. First, we will look at assessment data. We will look to
see if there are classes that perform better than others and determine if it is a regularly high
performing group or high performing because of the teacher that was assigned. We will
determine if there are holes in the curriculum that are shown from poor test performance.
Second, we will look at PLC data to determine what teachers are doing to address student needs,
how they are working together, and their attitudes about their work. Teacher evaluation data
should also be used. Evaluation data will show which pedagogy standards teachers are lacking
in. It will also help us to determine which teachers will need focused, required professional

development and which teachers can handle a self regulated approach. Finally, we should
administer a teacher need survey for data on what teachers feel that they need and would like for
development. All of these sources of data will help us to get a clear direction to take for the most
effective staff development.
Currently at Majestic, there is a one size fits all approach to professional development.
Before the school year begins, teachers are invited for a week of intensive professional
development classes that are centered on improving teacher pedagogy. Last year, the focus was
on Anita Archers book, Explicit Instruction. The staff discussed efficient classroom set-up and
effective instructional strategies for promoting student success. During the year, lesson plans
had to be posted listing instructional strategies, and classroom walk-throughs were frequent.
Coaches were available to help teachers with incorporating a variety of strategies to increase
student engagement. This was an excellent approach to launch the Turnaround Schools program
and met the needs of the many new teachers to the school. The approach, however, left highly
effective, veteran teachers feeling stifled. Moving forward, there need to be more options so that
everyones needs, including those of veteran teachers, can be met.
The first component of the professional development program at the school should be
whole faculty training at the beginning of the year. The District prefers it and teachers expect it.
It provides a focus for the upcoming year. Our development should include our student vision
activity that was discussed in section 2. It should also address issues that were identified while
looking at data that would benefit the majority of the staff. For Majestic, this may include some
training in language arts curriculum and strategies, as well as behavior management techniques
for difficult students. This whole group training should include implementation activities that
coaches will monitor throughout the year for all faculty members.

Next, the professional development program should include a provision for new teacher
induction. This has been sorely lacking at Majestic. Because of the rigorous requirements r the
Turnaround Schools program, more than half of the teachers that had been working at Majestic
left to teach at different schools. That left a faculty of mostly new teachers. While they werent
necessarily completely new to teaching, they were new to the school and its issues. Nothing,
however, was provided to socialize these new teachers to their new assignments. A New Teacher
Group should be created now to help introduce teachers to the new school, its culture, and
expectations. The Culture and Climate Specialist could meet these teachers once a month to
discuss school specific issues and answer questions that they might have.
Additionally, a Provisional Teacher Group should be created to address the needs of
teachers who are new to the profession. Currently, new teachers are assigned to mentor teachers
in the school. Because of the demands of the Turnaround Schools program, little was done to
make sure that these new teachers were being mentored properly. Having a Provisional Teaching
Group that met once a month would give new teachers and their mentors a set time to address
issues, as well as a time that I could address issues that I saw the group needed as a whole. This
group may also require additional meetings for trainings on teaching pedagogy that may not be
relevant to the entire staff. It is important that I head this group so that we build strong
relationships and I have the opportunity to communicate my vision from the very beginning.
It will be important for my entire faculty to have their ESL endorsement, so this will also
be one of the requirements of my professional development program. The high number of
minority and ESL students make it necessary for teachers to have this training. Students who are
assigned to untrained teachers rooms must go to an endorsed teacher for a certain amount of
time every day, which creates additional burden on endorsed teachers, and causes a lack of

continuity for students. Students are better served when they can stay in their own classrooms
with an endorsed teacher. Jordan District provides ESL endorsements through Southern Utah
University in classes held at the District offices. I will need to provide the funding for my
teachers to get these endorsements.
Finally, for more experienced staff members, choices for development should be given.
Veteran teachers should be given the option of choosing a project or a book study group that they
would like to participate in for their development. This will allow these teachers to work on
areas that they feel will benefit them the most. It will also reinforce their professional identity
and promote teacher leadership as they become responsible for their own learning and selfreflection. Projects and groups will be monitored by the leadership team.
Currently, teachers are expected to meet bi-monthly for professional development
meetings. The leadership team determines areas for improvement and addresses them at these
short meetings. The variety of other development activities that are being implemented will
eliminate the need for these regular meetings. I should, however, continue to analyze data and
meet with the leadership team regularly. We can decide to provide additional professional
development as the need arises. This additional professional development will be provided by
myself, a member of the leadership team, specialists, or teachers, or whomever is best qualified
to address the topic that is needed. Working together, we can provide my teachers with the
development that is most relevant and beneficial to meet their needs.
I believe an Affiliative and an authoritative leadership style would work well when
addressing teacher development. In the Affiliative style, people come first and loyalty is created.
This is important at Majestic because the Turnaround School program is difficult, but incredibly

important, and many teachers have been hurt by the coercive style of the past. Using the
Affiliative style to give people more freedom to do their jobs in the way that they see as most
effective will help build vision buy-in and willingness to improve. Of course, I would like the
teachers to make growth toward my vision for the school, so the Authoritative approach would
work in this instance, also.
5. Parental Involvement
Parental involvement is a major component that must be addressed in Title I schools.
Like many Title I schools, parental involvement and Majestic is much lower than at other, more
affluent schools. Parents work, language barriers, government mistrust and social problems keep
them from being more involved. Funding is provided specifically to increase parental
involvement. Title I schools in the District have also hired Climate and Culture Specialists who
are meant to help increase parent support. Traditionally, organized parent involvement at
Majestic is found in four different programs: PTA, Family Learning Center, Parent Teacher
Conferences, and learning night activities. Building upon these programs will help increase
parent involvement, which will help increase student achievement.
Majestic Elementary has a Parent Teacher Association. This group is made up of a very
small number of parents who participate year after year. They provide a few programs for
students and provide meals for teachers during conferences. There are two ways that I might
encourage change in the PTA so that parental involvement is increased. First, the parents who
participate are Caucasian and middle class. Most of our population is Hispanic and low income.
They dont identify with the people running the organization. We need to find ways to make the
organization more appealing and relevant to these parents. Also, I think that the PTA might

benefit from visiting with organizations from other schools. Though some programs offered by
the PTA in more affluent schools would not make sense for our school, many would. Looking at
the way other PTAs work may give our PTA ideas to increase parental involvement and student
achievement in our school.
There is a Family Learning Center at Majestic. The center occupies one of the
classrooms in the school building. A coordinator is hired to plan and run various classes that
parents can participate in. Typically, English and computer classes are offered. Other classes are
offered depending on parent interest. A new coordinator has just been hired at Majestic. Up
until now, there hasnt been anything happening in the Family Learning Center. Improvements
to consider would be to move the program to a portable outside the school building so that
parents who are wary of school might be more inclined to participate and so that night classes
might be a possibility. As more parents begin to participate, we could look at offering parenting
and school skills classes.
Parent Teacher Conferences are held twice during the year in Jordan District. Parent
participation is lower at Majestic than other schools in the District. Our school has had a Spanish
Dual Immersion program, which means that there are several teachers that speak Spanish and are
available to assist during conferences. The program is being discontinued, decreasing the
number of teachers who are fluent in Spanish, which may negatively affect parent participation
in future Parent Teacher Conferences. It will be important for me to make sure we have several
Spanish-speaking people ready to assist with conferences. We may also want to consider
planning home visits for those parents who are hard to get to come to the school. Providing
students with report cards in English and Spanish may also help to increase parent participation
at conferences.

Learning night activities are held during the year where parents can come with their
students to learn more about curriculum and the things that students are doing at school. In the
past, Majestic has had a literacy night and a math night. A science night was also held this year.
Parent attendance is good, especially if there is food or another incentive involved. Because
these nights seem to be fairly well attended, it would be worth our while to expand our offerings.
There are a variety of educational topics that could be addressed by having a fair or gathering.
Part of the Turnaround Schools program includes stressing the importance of being ready for
college. One idea would be to have a college night where parents can learn what opportunities
there are for students who attend college and what they need to do to prepare. Learning nights
seem to be an excellent way of getting parents to come to school. When parents come to the
school, they are showing their children that school is important. When school is important to
students, they will become more successful.
The leadership style that will be most effective for increasing parental involvement is the
Affiliative style. We need to build emotional attachment to the school. I need to show parents
that I care about them and their children. More communication will bring more parental
involvement. The Coaching style of leadership will also be valuable as I help develop the
capacity of these parents to do what is best educationally for their children. Both approaches are
positive and will help parents feel good about working with our school to help their students
succeed.

6. Reflection Activity

I think that the most important element of my Instructional Improvement Plan is teacher
supervision. A lot is expected of teachers. They must know what to teach and how to teach it
effectively. There are information and tools provided for them to know how to do their teaching
job, but there is so much more to the job than teaching. All of the extra responsibilities put on
teachers detract from the business of excellent teaching. Proper teacher supervision helps me as
the educational leader know when teachers are teaching effectively. It also helps me to know
what teachers need to work on so that I can give them the assistance they need to improve.
Supervision, instead of evaluation, helps teachers become better, which in turn, helps students
become better.
I think that effective teacher supervision will have the most significant impact on student
achievement for all students. The goal of teacher supervision is improvement and growth. The
needs of students change from year to year, so it is impossible for teachers to always be prepared
to meet the needs of all of their students. In supervision, student needs are considered and
teachers work on goals that meet their needs. If there are more English language learners in a
classroom, goals and supervision should focus on their needs. If there are students with
remediation needs, that could be the focus. Teaching becomes a work in progress, so no one
feels like they have achieved everything that is possible. I think that when a teacher believes
they are the best they can possibly be, there may be a tendency to blame students for their
learning deficiencies instead of changing the way they approach their teaching of those students.
Every child can learn, and teacher supervision helps support that belief.
Just as teacher supervision is a work in progress, so to is instructional improvement. This
Instructional Improvement Plan addresses the needs of Majestic Elementary instruction as I see
them now. This will not always be the best plan. As an educational leader, I will need to

constantly analyze data to determine what will be the best direction to take to increase student
performance.
Instructional improvement is also not a lost cause. There are a lot of factors that make
teaching at Majestic Elementary a difficult task. It is not a hopeless task, however. Our students
are making gains. It takes hard work, but it can happen. As an educational leader, I need to be
prepared to help teachers to do what they can to improve teaching and learning. Every student
can learn, even those at Majestic Elementary.