Running Head: CURRENT REALITY AND GAPSS 1

Current Reality and GAPSS for Shallowford Falls Elementary

Amy Alfonso

Professional Learning & Technology Innovation

Kennesaw State University

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Vision

Shallowford Falls Elementary School is located in Marietta, GA and is part of the Cobb

County School District. The vision of Shallowford Falls is to develop relationships through rigor

and relevance that is related to all students. Through the past three years, Shallowford Falls has

had a STEM focus with hopes of gaining STEM certification through Cobb County and the state

of Georgia. To align this push for STEM certification, Shallowford Falls’ students experience

increased curriculum rigor through problem based learning in order to develop critical thinking

and problem solving skills. The community, parents, students, and staff believe fully that this

initiative will allow Shallowford Falls’ students to become capable problem solving members of

society. The expectation of the Cobb County School District is for all of its students to have

opportunities for success, therefore Shallowford Falls mirrors this concept for its students as

well.

In speaking with Jill Spiva, who is Shallowford Falls’ Assistant Principal, there seems to

be a growing need for more global technology vision throughout the school. There is many

available technologies to the students, but the staff does not have a requirement of what

technology is used other than required data collection methods. Since the focus for Shallowford

Falls had been its STEM certification in recent years, the focus on building a repertoire of

available technology as well as a toolbox for troubleshooting is a concern with the increasing

growth of technology in schools, according to Ms. Spiva. With this being said, Ms. Spiva goes

on to say that she would like to have an opportunity to develop a school-wide accountability for

the technology in the building. In other words, she feels that there is not a clear picture of what

is available and how to use it. In thinking about this concept as the STEM initiative comes to a

close, the administration team developed a Technology Team as a school design team this school
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year. It is the hope that this Technology Team will be able to provide some accountability to

Shallowford Falls and its staff.

Needs Assessment

In reviewing the School Improvement Plan during my interview with Ms. Spiva, it was

noted that many of the decisions made were based on school-wide data, such as standardized test

scores and teacher evaluations. The administration team reviews the data from theses sources to

develop the School Improvement Plan, which then becomes the focus for professional learning

for the staff in the upcoming year. After reviewing the current SIP, the focus this school year is

effectively implementing Reader’s Workshop. This idea also coincides with the district’s plan to

support the current newly adopted language arts program for K-2 and provide pre-support for the

3-5 teacher who will be receiving a newly adopted program in the upcoming school year.

Training for the staff this school year consists of half day grade level collaboration days, district

trainings during and after school hours, and visits to schools that are successfully integrating the

newly adopted programs and reader’s workshops.

Professional Learning

There are currently three types of professional learning occurring at Shallowford

Elementary. They include school-wide staff development sessions, grade level collaborations

and administration established school design teams. School-wide staff development session

typically involve professional learning that is mandated by the district. This learning can be

from the newly adopted Language Arts program to how to effectively utilize the Cobb Teaching

and Learning portal. Throughout much of this school year, school-wide staff development

focuses on the language arts program already in practice for grades K-2 and upcoming for grades

3-5, which also entails Writer’s Workshop trainings.

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Since Shallowford Falls’ major focus in their SIP is a writing workshop model, many

grade level trainings are based around literacy. Once a quarter the grade levels meet for about an

hour with a district representative who guides the staff through Writer’s Workshop suggestions.

Grade levels also are allotted about two to three hours of collaborative planning time in addition

to already occurring weekly team meetings. Obtaining STEM certification is another major

focus for Shallowford Falls, therefore grade level trainings and collaborations often surround this

concept. Just recently grade levels met to formalize their plans for an upcoming STEM

committee visit. During this time, teams planned lessons related to current standards as well as

the best way to incorporate a strong technological presence.

Administration appointed design teams are also utilized at Shallowford Falls. Currently

there are teams; Curriculum and Instruction, School Culture, Data, and Technology. The

Technology team’s main focus has been to support the staff with any programs or devices we

currently have in the form of face-to-face meetings or video reviews. Since this is the first year

for the Technology Team, they are just finding what their purpose needs to be to best promote

appropriate use of technology in instruction and classrooms. A few weeks ago the team created

a student technology team that filmed a podcast on what STEM means to them. This project was

then posted for the staff to access using a QR code.

Even with the newly appointed Technology Team, Shallowford Falls seems to fall short

with utilizing technology comfortably and effectively according to Ms. Spiva. She states that

many times teachers seem bored during trainings or would rather be working on something else.

Getting more of the veteran staff on board also seems to be difficult according to Spiva. “Many

times the younger staff jumps on board while the veteran staff often does what is necessary

instead of what is effectively using learning tools. In other words our veteran staff seems
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unmotivated to attempt new and upcoming technology” (A. Alfonso, personal communication,

January 2017).

Alignment

Shallowford Falls Elementary strives to support student achievement often with

remarkable results. According to Ms. Spiva, the concern lies with showing student growth.

Here is where the administration team looked into the core areas of instruction; reading, writing,

and math, in order to develop a strong school improvement plan that aligns with not only the

district goals, but also Shallowford Falls’ goals for its population. Through analyzing this data,

the administration team found specifically where they could focus on improving student growth

through stronger Writer’s Workshop integration as well as a deeper focus on STEM-based

learning. It is the hope of administration that utilizing professional development in these two

areas will increase student growth.

Although Shallowford Falls has a strong STEM-based focus, a parapro level teacher

currently runs their Technology Lab. Ms. Spiva reveals that funding for a full time district level

employee in this area would take away from allotted teacher staff given from the district causing

Shallowford Falls to fund the Technology Lab teacher in other ways. She also states that if a

teacher allotment was used for these two positions, another grade-level classroom may become

overcrowded. Since there is a lack of funding, Shallowford Falls has been fortunate to have their

Foundations to supply the teacher a salary. Although this is a creative way to fund technology in

their school, Spiva would like the district to provide a teacher allotment for the Technology and

STEM Lab positions.

Funding and Incentives

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Shallowford Falls Elementary is in an affluent area of Cobb County, therefore they do not

receive outside funding other than local school funds or district paid programs. There is a strong

Foundations and Parent Teacher Association at Shallowford Falls, which often supplies need

funding for professional development, needed technology in the classroom, and a newly

upgraded Learning Commons with green screen technology for news broadcasts. Currently staff

has been trained on several iPad apps for classroom use (there are at least five iPads per

homeroom), beebot coding instruments, Recordex document cameras, Office 365, Apple Tv and

eBeam interactive technology.

According to Ms. Spiva, there currently is not an incentive program regarding technology

use at Shallowford Falls. She goes on to state that the possibility of using a staff-wide incentive

program may be what this school needs to increase motivation for veteran staff. Unfortunately,

she is unsure of what would be the best fit incentive program for Shallowford Falls’ staff

population. Using the required technology that is mandated from the district is an incentive for

all staff, who want to be compliant with administration, but other than this idea there is currently

not an incentive program as of yet.

Diversity

Shallowford Falls Elementary has a slightly diverse student population with regards to

socioeconomic status. There are a very small amount of students who qualify for the free or

reduced lunch program, which the district uses to determine breakdown of funding. The

majority of the students are middle class or from affluent areas surrounding the school. Due to

the small amount of diversity in the student population, Spiva states that, “...applying for grants

to get extra funding in very difficult causing us to really rely on our Foundations and PTA

groups” (A.Alfonso, personal communication, January 2017).

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Collaboration

The staff at Shallowford Falls are provided with several opportunities to collaborate

often. As previously discussed, grade level team teachers meet weekly and are constantly

sharing ideas and best practices. Ms. Spiva comments how she was initially impressed with how

strong the grade level teams collaborate when she first joined Shallowford Falls in 2013. She

also comments on how well the teams share outside of their grade level with others in the

building in extremely supportive ways.

Grade level team collaboration meetings often include lesson-planning, event planning,

data conversations, support for new team members and remediation, strategies for struggling

students. Grade level teams also spend time collaborating on the grade level RTI (Response to

Intervention) students with the school counselor and administration. During these meeting,

teams provide strategies and open discussion on best practices for the struggling students in their

grade level.

Evaluation

The Teacher Keys Effectiveness System is what the administration at Shallowford Falls

uses to evaluate its teacher progress. Ms. Spiva stated that the end of the previous school year is

utilized by administration as a way to evaluate the deficits seen across the staff. This then allows

for discussion among administrators to develop strategies to address those staff-wide deficits.

The next school year is then devoted to providing needed trainings and support to allow for

teachers to improve in needed areas. Throughout the school year the administration follows up

with the teachers through grade level and individual meeting to discuss progress and best ways

support can be provided.

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References

Shallowford Falls School Improvement Plan, 2016

Alfonso, personal communication, January 2017