Safe School Plan

Week 2 (Apr 04 - Apr 10)
Overview

Note: The online classroom is designed to time students out after 90 minutes of inactivity. Because of this, we strongly suggest that you compose your work in a word processing program and copy and paste it into the discussion post when you are ready to submit it.

Learning Outcomes
This week students will:

1. Select strategies to prepare leaders to create safe schools and functional school culture.

2. Develop strategies to prepare leaders to create safe schools and functional school culture.

Introduction

Week Two continues to focus on the first enduring understanding - school culture and school safety. When the school culture has dysfunctional characteristics, changing these unhealthy aspects of the school culture must involve collaborative decision making between the members of the school community. Figure 2 provides a list of potential stakeholders that you will find in the article, Essential Leadership in the School Change Process (Cushman, 1997). 

Figure 2. Stakeholders

An excellent way to prepare you for the content of this week is to view the video, Changing Education Paradigms (11 minutes, 59 seconds), in which Sir Ken Robinson discusses how we need to prepare for the education required in the 21st century by making a paradigm shift. According to Robinson, changing the education paradigm involves the collaboration of stakeholders. As you watch this video, ask yourself , “What problems do we face with education today and what can we learn from Robinson that points the way to improving our schools?” Last week, you discussed the state of the school culture and the means to change that culture so that all its components are functional. This week’s focus will be on the parts of the school culture that deal with school safety, and it will culminate with a presentation on how to make the school safer. 
While school safety focuses on stopping violence and bullying, issues related to sexual, physical, alcohol, and drug abuse are also concerns that schools need to address. Creating a positive school environment is a great way for schools to approach the school safety issue. In the video, Change It Up - Creating a Positive School Environment (3 minutes, 59 seconds), one high school illustrates how creating a positive environment can be the key to school safety. How can the positive environment shared in this video lead to improving both the school culture and school climate so that all students can be successful learners? Finally, please be sure to take some time to review this week’s Instructor Guidance. This section offers useful information that will guide you as you progress through the week’s resources and assignments. If you ever need additional guidance, please ask in the Ask Your Instructor discussion.

Required Resources
Articles

1. Heathfield, S. M. (2010). How to understand your current culture: Artifacts and interactions display your existing culture. Retrieved from http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/culture_create.htm

   • In this article, Heathfield helps educators look at the culture that exists in their organization, including artifacts and interactions that display the existing culture

2. Hurwitz, E. (1996). Critical issues: Developing and maintaining safe schools. Retrieved from 
   http://web.archive.org/web/20150901181309/http:/www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/drugfree/sa200.htm

   • The author of this article investigates critical issues related to developing and maintaining safe schools.

Website

1. U.S. Department of Education (n.d.). Working to keep schools and communities safe. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/school-safety

   • This website provides information from the US DOE about safe schools.

Recommended Resources
Articles

1. Intlsafeschools.com. (n.d.). Safe schools programs and school violence. Retrieved from http://www.intlsafeschools.com/

   • This article provides information on various tough issues related to school safety and provides information as to how to start a school safety program. 

2. Minnesota Department of Education. (2013). Safe schools. Retrieved from http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/StuSuc/SafeSch/index.html

   • This source provides resources to use in managing school crises and other school safety issues. 

3. Presentation Magic. (n.d.). PowerPoint tips for professional quality slide shows by presentation magic. Retrieved from http://www.presentation-magic.com/powerpoint-tips.html

   • This helpful website provides tips on a variety of digital tools. For this course and assignment, emphasis is on effectively constructing presentations with regard to background, text, animation, video, sound, and other factors that impact a professional presentation. 

4. Schein, E. H. (1993). Organizational culture & leadership. Retrieved from http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/schein.html

   • This article defines organizational culture, discusses the dimensions of culture and how to manage internal integration of culture, and how leaders embed and transmit culture.

Multimedia

1. The RSA. (2010, October 14). RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=youtu.be

2. The YES Champ. (2013, February 26). Change It Up - Creating a Positive School Environment [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1DoVNq7pI&feature=youtu.be

Website

1. Safe Schools for All. (http://safeschoolsforall.com/index.html)

   • This website provides information on how to work with schools and communities to reduce bullying and peer aggression in children and adolescents through the implementation of restorative practices.

Discussions
To participate in the following discussions, go to this week's Discussion link in the left navigation.

1. Leadership for School Change
   In the Overview section of Hurwitz (1996) you are introduced to various school leaders who have developed strategies to create safe schools and functional school cultures. Consider this quote from Hurwitz (1996):

Administrators work with all school personnel to create a climate of school ownership and pride. Students, parents, staff members, and members of cooperating community agencies are made to feel that they are important parts of the school community. This feeling of inclusion is accomplished by their involvement in the development and implementation of the safe-school plan (p.1).

For this discussion, review the strategies in Hurwitz (1996) to determine which ones you would use if you were a leader at a school needing to make changes.
Initial Post - Listen to at least three administrators’ audio tracks from Hurwitz (1996) before you respond to the following questions. 

• How do leaders manage school change and improvement?

• What are the goals of school leaders? 

• What are their action options?

• What are the likely implementation pitfalls?

• What are some ways to mitigate the pitfalls?

In addition, do one of the following:

• Choose the audio track  that resonated with you the most and discuss why you chose this track.

• Compile the findings of all three administrators to into a single response to all of the questions. Please include which administrators you listened to and are discussing.

Guided Response - Respond to at least two peers. In your replies, consider asking questions of your peers about their responses to the questions that encourage further conversation. Explore the similarities and/or differences in what they posted. Select those strategies that appeal to you in terms of ensuring safe schools and positive learning environments. Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning, you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you (including the instructor) before the last day of the learning week. This will further the conversation and provide you with opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real world experiences with this topic.

1. Safe Schools and Functional School Culture
   Many surveys confirm the following quote by Hurwitz (1996): 

Crime, violence, and disorder in schools have become major national issues, as reported in various national surveys of school order and safety. These problems not only endanger students and teachers, but they also prevent teachers from concentrating on teaching and students from concentrating on learning. (p.1)

School crime, violence, and disorder are on the rise and school leaders are faced with developing school safety plans. As a result, it is necessary for school leaders to assess whether their schools are safe and functional. Learning is less successful if students and teachers are feeling unsafe. The US Department of Education notes that, “…too many students experience or are exposed to violence,” (USDOE, n.d.). Taking on the role of building administrator, consider the contributing factors of school safety as you prepare your response to the discussion. 
Initial Post - Select a context below for your response and address the prompts as directed. If you are not currently in a school setting, select a school that you have access to information dealing with the state of its safety. Access the school district’s website or call their school’s public relations department for information. Schools generally share their safety guidelines through community communications. Support your initial post with information presented in Hurwitz (1996) article and on the USDOE website. 
If you are currently in a safe school and functional school setting, 

• Explain what characterizes a safe school. 

• Explain the factors contributing to a safe school. 

• Describe the history of safety at this school.

• Explain what characterizes a functional school culture.

• Describe the strategies you would select to prepare leaders in this setting to sustain their safe school and functional school culture.

If you are currently in an unsafe school and dysfunctional school setting, 

• Explain what characterizes an unsafe school.

• Explain the factors contributing to an unsafe school. 

• Describe the history of this school being unsafe.

• Explain what characterizes a dysfunctional school culture.

• Describe the strategies you would select to prepare leaders in this setting to create a safe school and functional school culture.

Guided Response - Respond to at least two peers. In your replies, consider asking questions of your peers about their safe or unsafe school to encourage further conversation. Explore the similarities and/or differences in what they posted. Discuss changes you would make to improve school safety. Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning, you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you (including the instructor) before the last day of the discussion. This will further the conversation and provide you with opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real world experiences with this topic.

Assignment
To complete the following assignment, go to this week's Assignment link in the left navigation. 

Safe School Plan Presentation
This week you discussed how leaders manage school change and improvement and what determines school safety. For this assignment, you will demonstrate how you can develop strategies to prepare leaders to create safe schools and functional school cultures. Utilizing Healthfield (2010) and Schein (1993), imagine you will present this to the school board or an organization to confer approval. This assignment puts your technical skills and organizational leadership and creativity to good use by having you create a presentation for the school board or organization. Have fun with the presentation! Get creative and make it informative, persuasive, and engaging.
Using the technology of your choice, construct your assignment to meet the content and written communication expectations below.
Content Expectations

• Presentation Design / Speaker Notes: Designs an eight to ten slide presentation that includes the following:

  • a title slide,

  • a references slide,

  • speaker notes,

  • in-text citations for media, quotes, paraphrases, and summaries,

  • appropriate use of media, such as images or sound, and

  • high contrast colors for readability.

If you use a program other than PowerPoint that does not include visible speaker notes, submit those in a separate document. You might find it helpful to view the Tips for Developing Professional Quality PowerPoint Slide Shows for assistance in creating your presentation. 

• Audience: Design your presentation so that it is appropriate for a school board or managerial staff audience.

• School Safety Goals: Explain what your strategies for school safety are.

• Teachers, Parents, Student Goals: Explain how the school safety goals include the needs of teachers, parents, and students.

• Action Options: Justify the action options that are used to support the school safety goals. 

• Implementation Pitfalls: Analyze the pitfalls that may occur with the implementation of the school safety goals and ideas for how to mitigate each.

Written Communication Expectations

• APA Formatting: Use APA formatting consistently throughout. It is recommended you use the content area labels as headings for each section of your content for the presentation. For information regarding APA, including samples and tutorials, visit The Ashford Writing Center.

• Syntax and Mechanics: Display meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling and grammar. Your written work should contain no errors and be very easy to understand.

• Source Requirement: Use compelling evidence from at least three scholarly sources in addition to the course textbook to support ideas. All sources on the reference page need to be used and cited according to APA formatting guidelines within the body of the assignment.

Next Steps: Review and Submit the Assignment
Review your assignment with the Grading Rubric to be sure you have achieved the distinguished levels of performance for each criterion. Next, submit the assignment for evaluation no later than Day 7.