Section 3 #'s 1,2, & 3

Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method is a more specialized model. It delves into the specifics of finding out if a certain program worked. There are 5 steps in this model: 1) plan a case study, 2) build an impact model, 3) conduct a survey, 4) schedule in-depth interviews, 5) Write up and communicate findings. I have actually used this model before, and although, time consuming, it really gave me an idea as to what impact I was having communicating with my students’ parents. Basically, I followed this model in order to find out if certain ways of communicating to my parents was successful. I used three classes in my research, and overall, I figured out what was working and what was not working. Furthermore, just by using this model, I found myself more focused on the needs of my students. Since there was such a detailed process, I stayed focused on communicating with my parents – more so than if I were to have conducted no evaluation whatsoever.

Evaluation is important for both the student and the teacher. The text talks about all the reasons education is important for the learner. It allows the teacher to design better quality lessons, learn where the competency levels of his or her students, and allows the teacher to assess what it is he or she needs to reteach. But I think it is important to point out that evaluation has really great benefits for the students as well. It teachers students a sense of accomplishment, how to manage their time and study effectively (various study skills, etc.), and also gives them motivation. 

During an economic downtime, I would make sure to recruit a team in order to prepare for this task. I would make the primary theme of the staff development team be something to the tune of…”we have people and time but no money”, and go from there. I do feel that in education we are fortunate in that we are usually prepared for dips in the economy and can plan ahead – I know that in my school district we know the summer before the school year is to begin, how our financial situation will be during the upcoming school year. I do believe that as a leader, it is important to assess “the current situation and plan what can be done to solve the problem.” As a leader of this team, I will need to create a few goals that we want to achieve. One of these goals would be to create an online source through our school online document system (called eduphoria), which allows all the teachers in the school to upload a technological lesson plan that does not require a lot of resources. For example, in years past, I have created a blog assignment much like this class is designed, and the students were to blog about a specific topic a few days a weeks. They could do this from home or even at their local or school library. The only resource needed for this assignment was access to a computer. I did not come up with this lesson plan on my own, I enlisted the help of a college who depends heavily on technology in her classroom. I feel as though there are many teachers out there that have great ideas and we need to learn that sharing our lesson plans and ideas can only benefit our students.