Assignment 4: Investigating Your Local School District or Network

Context and Academic Performance

The Explore Charter Network is located in the Flatbush and Crown Heights sections of Brooklyn, New York, under Community School District 17. These areas are more or less diversified in economic and demographic makeup; many families have housing instability and income inequality issues. In the social context, during the last decade, gentrification has changed the old structure and introduced new socioeconomic conditions while offering certain opportunities and challenges to this network (New York State Education Department, n.d.). Inflation has played a role in enrolment changes as some families relocate due to housing costs, disrupting enrollment continuity: Assignment 4: Investigating Your Local School District or Network.

Academically, Explore Schools aims to provide a high-quality education for all students, but recent performance data highlight areas for improvement. For instance, 3 out of 7 Multilingual Learners (MLL) in third grade, 3 out of 7 MLL in fourth, and 5 out of 11 in fifth grade passed a recent mathematics assessment test. This means that while there is success for some students, the performance of MLL students is lower than that of other students (New York State Education Department, n.d.).

Explore has embraced various forms of assessment to check on progress in academic work, for instance, biweekly quizzes, and data derived from these assessments are incorporated into strategies used in the classroom (New York State Education Department, n.d.). Student support initiatives such as culture relevance student support initiatives and effective instruction for low-performing learners are core service delivery strategies for the network in the Intent gaps.

Founding and Mission Statement

Explore Charter Network was established in 2002 to provide meaningful education to students in needy areas and prepare them for college. The network’s schools are strategically located to target different students, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, emphasizing equal access. The mission of Explore is “to provide students with the academic skills and critical thinking abilities they need to succeed in a college-preparatory high school.” This mission establishes the network’s responsiveness to intellectual development needs and personal and academic readiness for the future.

It also comprises the key cause of learning throughout one’s lifetime (New York State Education Department, n.d.). Consequently, Explore aims to achieve the following mission by correctly aligning its programs and resources: To develop and maintain a safe, supportive, and academically rigorous learning environment for all students.

Discussion of PSEL Standards

The leadership within the Explore Charter Network demonstrates strong alignment with the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL). These standards provide a comprehensive framework for effective educational leadership, focusing on fostering academic success, equity, and well-being for all students. The following sections expand on the network’s adherence to key PSEL standards:

Mission, Vision, and Core Values (Standard 1)

The Explore Charter Network is grounded in a clear and purposeful mission: to equip the students with the academic skills and other more important aspects of critical reasoning that can enable students to move to college preparatory high schools (National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2015). It is not an overstatement to say that this mission defines all of the network’s major strategic objectives and activities that it performs daily. Therefore, This vision has been created through collective leadership, which entails ensuring that anybody involved in the institution has ownership of the vision: the staff, parents of the students, and the community.

The beliefs of equity, academics, and students’ welfare can be observed in the network focus on instruction regarding achievement gaps. Leaders always assess the goals and make relevant changes concerning new trends within the society, such as gentrification affecting enrollment. Due to the articulate mission and vision of the network, schools embrace the vision and the mission and work towards making students successful.

Ethics and Professional Norms (Standard 2)

The principles of ethical behavior are observed at Explore, as the company’s leadership is based on ethical values. There is honesty, openness, and equity from the leaders, and any decision made should always keep the student in mind (National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2015). For instance, employment selects employee diversity for accepting the idea that the employee should mirror the culture and language of learners. The network also heavily prioritizes the ethical investing and management of funds and employees towards the most important programs.

Accountability is exemplified by leaders who integrate quantitative information into practice and share timely information about school rules and students’ performance with families. These ethical principles enhance staff-student-family relations, promoting appropriate student relations and boosting staff morale for a quality teaching and learning environment.

Equity and Cultural Responsiveness (Standard 3)

Explore Schools embodies an equity and culturally sensitive approach so that each student from Explore Schools will be given equal and quality education opportunities regardless of background. Systemic challenges include Multilingual Learners (MLL) performing poorly and leaders responding via interventions and resource advocacy (National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2015). The network uses teaching practices and approaches that are culturally sustainable in accepting and valuing students’ diversity.

For instance, the textbooks and lesson plans acknowledge the minority experience to keep the students interested in what they learn. The leaders also participate in professional learning centered on equity so that the staff can effectively deal with discrimination and bring about diverse classrooms. Hiring bias ensures that all students are treated fairly and respectfully, improving their academic and social prospects at Explore.

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (Standard 4)

Explore Schools focuses on a well-articulated system of curriculum instruction, and that assessment is based on state standards and the network’s mission statement. Instructing is about meeting needs for a mental challenge, illustration, concrete example, analogy, metaphor, or simple language! Academic leaders help teachers deliver differentiated instructions that address achievement, student modality, and style. The data from the assessments in the form of a quiz, which you can obtain in just a week or in any other shorter time, will help educators change their practices in the learning process.

Such assessments are used in conjunction with professional development to prepare teachers with the capabilities to analyze assessment data and integrate improvements into classroom practice (Kotter, 2024). Also, Explore applies technology to its teaching and learning model so students and faculties can use new technologies while learning. Thus, all learners are ready to meet the challenges of college and other advanced studies through adequate alignment between the curriculum, instruction and assessment.

Community of Care and Support for Students (Standard 5)

Explore’s leaders ensure that students have a safe and caring school environment that caters to their academic, social, and emotional needs as students. Measures are implemented to ensure that students are safe, wanted and appreciated. For instance, fulfilling culturally responsive educational practices adopted by the network and its capacity to address issues affecting MLL students show that the network educates students according to their strengths and potential.

Student-teacher-family communication occurs constantly and fosters solid stakeholder relationships. Personalized approach: leaders provide examples and support, ensuring the students act responsibly for their learning process and activities within the school environment. It further supports the network’s mission and values through the appreciable interface of interventionism, which seeks to see every student succeed.

Professional Capacity of School Personnel (Standard 6)

The Explore Charter Network acknowledges that teacher performance is a decisive influence on students’ outcomes. Indeed, leaders commit a lot of resources to their staff’s development and professional capacity. The recruitment policies focus on attracting competent and enthusiastic teachers who can contribute to the network’s work. Another important element in Explore’s strategic planning is the continuity of staff professional training.

A leader like Ms. Eun Mee Wilms, Senior Director of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, is also responsible for promoting improvement. In the present study, teachers engage in coaching meetings, faculty working in teams, and professional development sessions to improve the teaching practice. It also prioritizes leadership practice through promotions, enabling teachers to become instructional coaches or grade-level leaders. Through creating a workplace characterized by a professional community of practice that supports learning, Explore ensures that its staff is ready to address the multiple needs of their learners while continuously developing their professional practice.

Professional Community for Teachers and Staff (Standard 7)

It fosters a business landscape to support relevant cooperation that emphasizes professional responsibility. As instructional specialists, teachers collaborate at various levels to improve the processes and products of teaching and learning and encourage their members’ professional growth. Leadership also encourages the staff members to participate in collective decision-making by implementing the aims and objectives of the network.

Meaningful Engagement of Families and Community (Standard 8)

Explore actively seeks family and community involvement to earn the support to help students. Real, valuable partnerships are forged through daily interactions, family meetings, discussions and workshops, common community activities, and presentations. Leaders also work with other organizations to offer learners extra support and learning opportunities.

Operations and Management (Standard 9)

The network manages operations to fit this system by exploring technology in data management and decision-making, simplifying repetitive work, and channeling resources for instructional improvement. Leaders also ensure that there is an open budget that will help fund student-oriented services.​

School Improvement (Standard 10)

Explore showcases the organizational learning approach embraced by incorporating evidence-based processes. Data gathered from students’ assessments correlate with modifications of instruction and curricula to meet the academic objectives of the child. Many authors suggest leaders promote change, adopt best practices to tackle new challenges, and maintain advancement.

Integration of PSEL Standards

The Explore Charter Network’s adherence to the PSEL standards is evident in its strategic initiatives and daily operations. The network’s engagement guarantees a smooth strategic approach to leadership and school improvement as its mission, values, and practice correlate with these standards. This alignment helps improve scholarship and promote equity and inclusion in the socio-contextual environment to support organizational growth in becoming a model school, Explore Schools.

District Strengths

They include the following main areas of strength, making the Explore Charter Network an effective organization that provides students with achievement, equity, and well-being. These strengths have been established in the organization/ network, focusing on the mission and vision, leadership, and data utilization.

Commitment to College Readiness

One of the most significant strengths of the Explore Charter Network is its unwavering commitment to preparing students for college-preparatory high schools. This focus defines the network’s strategic direction. It aligns with the network’s mission of providing students with academic skills and critical thinking skills required to succeed in academically challenging academic contexts (Childress et al., 2011). This strength is explained in shaping a curriculum that advocates for hard academic content, thinking, and problem-solving skills.

The educators are supplied with the material and orientation sessions to ensure enhanced instruction procedures, allowing the student to memorize a certain passage or several facts and foster the material’s comprehension (Childress et al., 2006). Furthermore, the network enforces initiatives that include academic advising and involvement with other college-like events to prepare students for the next level in their college experience.

Strong Leadership and Staff Dedication

Explore Charter Network benefits from experienced and highly committed leadership. Leaders like Ms. Eun Mee Wilms, Senior Director of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, bring decades of expertise to the network, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation. Leadership in Explore Schools pays much attention to staff development to support learners’ multiple and plural needs. The network shows great commitment regarding the recruitment process, staff turnover, and talent management concerned with producing competent educators.

Professional development is carried out continuously for teachers through coaching and mentoring faculties (Childress et al., 2011). For instance, planning meetings enable practitioners to discuss goals and objectives, review lessons, and find workable solutions to pupils’ difficulties in one cohort. Leadership also promotes high standards’ vision and mission, focusing on equity and staff inclusion, which is instrumental in fostering high student expectations (Cheatham et al., 2022). This dedication creates a positive work environment that motivates teachers and staff to strive for excellence.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Another notable strength of the Explore Charter Network is its commitment to using data to inform decisions and drive continuous improvement. The network monitors student progress and provides intervention alternatives as necessary using checks, such as biweekly quizzes. The result of data analysis enables educators and instructional leaders to make sound decisions regarding the instructional methods to be implemented, resources, and programs to be used or initiated. Using data dashboards and periodic evaluation empowers leaders with a clear picture of learners’ performances across various institutional settings, enabling the targeting of resources towards the schools that require such boosters the most.

For example, the most recent performance data showed a struggle with performance data among Multilingual Learners (MLL). Therefore, the leaders have called for more hiring of MLL teachers and investing in their professional learning. The skills of timely and accurate response to data make Explore ready to work on new or missing elements of learning or changes in needs (Nitta et al., 2009).

Furthermore, such orientation toward data is also observed in assessing the efficiency of programs and actions (Johnson et al., 2014). Explorers work to assess the effectiveness of their intervention by playing tutoring or differentiated instruction frequently. This, plus an elaborate culture of accountability and healthcare research to share serious data and information, is among the major assets in the network.

Integration of Strengths

Each of the strengths found in the Explore Charter Network contributes to its work of promoting student achievement and equity. Leadership, college readiness, data analysis, and cultural and professional development are key areas of strength that make for a strong educational institution, giving students the best chances of success. They also put the network in a position to counteract these challenges to develop and succeed further.

Areas of Concern

Despite the various demonstrated strengths in the Explore Charter Network, several areas of concern pose challenges to achieving its vision and mission of delivering equal quality education for students. Therefore, it is crucial to acknowledge and address all these concerns to continue with the progress realized.

Support for Multilingual Learners (MLL)

The underperformance of Multilingual Learners (MLL) is a significant concern for the Explore Charter Network. Prospective information from assessments taken every two weeks showed that 3 of 7 students in third grade, 3 of 7 students in fourth grade, and 5 of 11 students in fifth grade MLL passed a quiz on mathematics. These statistics suggest a requirement for more resources and specific great study for these students. One of the underlying issues is the lack of adequate teacher capacity to meet the needs of MLL students.

Teachers, in general, may not have adequate experience, which may be needed to effectively adopt strategies aimed at language acquisition and mastery of content corridors. Besides, there is a possibility of instructional materials not meeting these students’ linguistic and cultural requirements or even / being completely incapable of facilitating learning processes.

Proposed Solutions

• Increase Staffing: Hire additional MLL teachers to reduce class sizes and provide individualized support.
• Targeted Professional Development: Offer workshops and coaching sessions to train teachers in evidence-based practices for supporting MLL students, such as scaffolding and integrating language development into content areas.
• Curriculum Adaptation: Develop and integrate instructional materials that are linguistically and culturally responsive, ensuring they reflect the backgrounds and experiences of MLL students.

Insufficient IEP Services

Another concern is the scarcity of speech providers and other professionals required to meet the needs of students with disabilities’ IEPs. Currently, the network’s three schools – Excel, Explore, and Empower schools – struggle to provide those services, and plenty of children receiving the education in them end up not receiving the service they were supposed to get.

This affects students’ learning and threatens the entire network’s special education compliance with federal and state provisions and standards. There could be many reasons for schools not having specialized service providers, such as poor recruiting, poor funding, and administrative problems in coordinating services among many schools. These gaps directly affect students’ capacity to gain effective teaching and learning and realize their potential.

Proposed Solutions

• Recruitment and Retention Initiatives: The following strategies can be implemented: Provide reasonable remuneration packages and staff emoluments, pro-appropriate staff benefits, and affordable staff training and development to attract and retain qualified speech providers and specialists.
• Partnerships with Service Agencies: Assuming additional service providers from outside agencies or contractors in a given academic year to boost the existing in-house service providers in implementing services provided in IEP.
• Streamlined Processes: Increase efficiency in the delivery of services through better IEP time-tracking by merging technology tools.

Declining Enrollment Due to Gentrification

The changing demographics of Brooklyn neighborhoods, driven by gentrification and rising housing costs, have led to a decline in student enrollment for the Explore Charter Network. As residents have been pushed out over the years, the pool of students eligible for a school in the network’s service area has shrunk. This decline poses a risk to the network’s capacity to achieve enrollment numbers and attract the necessary funds to fulfill the goals and principles of diversity at the heart of its mission. Besides, gentrification will likely increase socioeconomic inequalities, complicating how people access education. For families that stay in the area, monetary constraints become exacerbated again, rendering a family unable to engage in schooling fully.

Proposed Solutions

• Expand Enrollment Eligibility: Expand the lotteries to families in neighboring districts or boroughs so that many students can join the network.
• Community Outreach: Sustainably enhances customer relations by interesting specialized initiatives such as meetings, lectures, presentations, and cooperation with community institutions to increase the number of families enrolled in the school.
• Advocacy for Affordable Housing: Cooperate with local authorities and advocacy organizations to back projects that slow the loss of affordable housing and stabilize the communities in the network’s locations.

Addressing Areas of Concern

Addressing these challenges will involve a coherent and systematic approach that builds upon the existing network infrastructure and the constraints in human and other assets. Therefore, with a focus on MLL students, non-IEP compliance, and a focus on changing demographics, Explore Charter Network can offer quality education to all students it serves. These concerns promote equity and may improve the network’s capacity to fulfill its mission to prepare each student for college and life success.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Explore Charter Network has demonstrated a strong alignment of resources, systems, stakeholders, and culture with its mission of preparing students for college-preparatory success. By addressing areas of concern, such as support for MLL students and IEP services, the network can further enhance its ability to provide equitable education. Using frameworks like the PELP Coherence Framework will be instrumental in refining Explore’s strategies and ensuring sustainable progress. As Explore adapts to changing demographics and educational demands, its commitment to equity, excellence, and innovation will remain at the forefront of its work.

References

Cheatham, J. P., Thomas, R., & Parrott-Sheffer, A. (2022). Entry planning for equity-focused leaders: Empowering schools and communities. Harvard Education Press.

Childress, S., Elmore, R., & Grossman, A. (2006). How to manage urban school districts. Harvard Business Review, 84(11), 55.

Childress, S., Elmore, R., Grossman, A. S., & King, C. (2011). Note on the PELP coherence framework. https://pelp.fas.harvard.edu/files/hbs-test/files/pel010p2.pdf

Johnson, S. M., Marietta, G., Higgins, M. C., Mapp, K. L., & Grossman, A. S. (2014). Achieving coherence in district improvement: Managing the relationship between the central office and schools. Harvard Education Press.

Kotter. (2024). The 8 steps for leading change. https://www.kotterinc.com/methodology/8-steps/

National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2015). Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL). https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/professional-standards-for-educational-leaders_2015.pdf

New York State Education Department. (n.d.). Explore Charter School Data. https://data.nysed.gov/profile.php?instid=800000048424

Nitta, K. A., Wrobel, S. L., Howard, J. Y., & Jimmerson-Eddings, E. (2009). Leading change of a school district reorganization. Public Performance & Management Review, 32(3), 463-488.

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