School Policies

Assignment: (Case Study 7-“Believer’s vs. Fundamentalists: A look at Professional Learning Communities and the impact on school policy”)

Overview

Mark Wahlberg is a principal in a larger suburban school district. Mr. Wahlberg is a very progressive minded administrator. He constantly studies new and innovative ways to improve instructional practices and student performance in his school.
Mr. Wahlberg and a group of teachers, recently attended a conference on Professional Learning Communities (PLC). The group spend 3 days attending trainings and workshops on the implementation of PLCs. When they returned to school, the group was excited, reenergized, and motivated to begin planning for the upcoming school year and implementing PLCs.
Mr. Wahlberg attended a workshop presented by Anthony Muhammad. Anthony Muhammad wrote a book entitled “Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division” (2018).
In his book, Mr. Muhammad discussed 4 groups that are present in every school culture. Of those 4 groups, two were of particular interest to Mr. Wahlberg. Those two groups were the “Believers and the Fundamentalists” (Muhammad, 2018). These two groups presented the most influence in the staff (Muhammad, 2018). Believers are the teachers who feel that change, if implemented properly, can lead to improved student performance. “Change was not foreign or threatening to them; in fact, they embraced any change they felt would improve student performance: (Muhammad, 2018). They were not ones to settle for the status quo.
Fundamentalists, however, were just the opposite. The felt very strongly that the status quo was exactly what they needed to protect. “A fundamentalist is an experienced educator who believes that there is one pure and undisputable way to practice: the traditional model of schooling” (Muhammad, 2018). They resist change to the point of aggressively verbalising their points of view to everyone. Fundamentalists are the teachers who believe that rules are rules, and deadlines must be kept no matter what. Mr. Wahlberg and the group of teachers knew this would be a challenge for them when implementing PLCs.
As the group prepared for the new school year, they learned that not only had the School Board adopted PLCs as a district wide strategy for improving student performance, the state department of education had mandated implementation of PLCs state-wide. Thus, PLCs have become a part of state law and school policy. Now, Mr. Wahlberg is faced with not only implementing PLCs, but ensuring the strategy is successful.
Knowing what he will be facing with “Believers vs. Fundamentalists”, respond to the following questions.

Reference;
Muhammad, A. (2018). Transforming school culture: How to overcome staff division. Solution Tree Press.

ELAD – School Law

Instructions

Read the case study. Consider the legal issues surrounding the case. Based upon the research, readings, lecture and video’s write a one page double-spaced essay that includes your responses to the following questions.
(ELCC 3.3, 5.4, 5.5, 6.1)
(NELP: 2.1a, 2.2c, 2.2d, 2.3a,2.3d, 2.3e, 3.1a, 3.1c, 3.1d, 3.1g, 3.1h, 3.3c, 3.3d, 6.3a, 6.3b, 6.3c, 6.3d, 6.3e, 6.3f, 6.3g, 7.1a, 7.1e)
(LEADS: D2a, D2b, D4a, D4b, D4d)

There are several issues in the scenario to consider:

1. How will Mr. Wahlberg introduce a plan for change? (What would you do? You do not have to go into great detail. Just an idea will be fine.)
2. How will he address the “Fundamentalists” in the staff?
3. Since this is a matter of following state law and school policy, how will he deal with those not in compliance?
4. Do you feel this could become an issue of insubordination? Why or why not?
5. What policies does your district have in place to deal with reluctant or non-compliant teachers? Give a brief explanation of the policies if you have them.
6. Do you think this could be an issue of student performance differences between “Believers” and “Fundamentalists”?
7. Does your district or state use student performance as part of teacher evaluations and/or teacher dismissal policies?