Vinal Tech

The grant was presented to the entire faculty in May 1998. When a vote was taken to accept or reject the grant, the faculty chose to accept the grant. An entire faculty workshop was devoted to School to Career awareness in June 1998, and the faculty was asked to volunteer to join an Action Team. The Summer Institute, July 1998, gave team members the first opportunity to meet with other schools working on STC reform. The action team did brainstorming activities, and an informal gap analysis was performed so that the existing grant goals could be redefined to better reflect bringing Vinal in line with STC philosophy.

During 1998 sub teams were formed in order to implement STC goals and objectives. Coordinators for school-based learning, work-based learning, and connecting activities were sought. Teams had been organized at the Summer Institute when the goals were redesigned. It was decided that those who were responsible for creating and writing the goals would be the logical coordinators, because they were most familiar with the goals and activities. These were volunteer positions. Since each coordinator concentrated on one set of goals, they were better able to fully understand the scope of the goals. They reported to the STC Coordinator. Lists of desired sub-committees were established, and the faculty selected areas of interest. This allowed a wider engagement by the faculty as 98% of the staff elected to participate.

In order to meet our benchmarks for 1999, professional development was provided as stated in the grant. The Action Team and its management system now took the form of the STC coordinator meeting with the three sub-coordinators. Where as the meetings were previously large and difficult to manage effectively, smaller meetings proved more effective. This was a relief to many members working with a very tight time management schedule. The down side to smaller meetings was some loss of momentum. Most of year one was used to plan, provide professional development, and design systems for implementation during year two.

Initial inventory or survey that gathered information on activities already in existence prior to the grant.

The first phase of system analysis and design is to gather information about the present structure. This first phase took place informally at the Summer Institute, where goals and activities were designed to bring Vinal into line with STC philosophy. The stated time lines and grants requirement determined our actions and direction.

Pockets of curriculum integration existed prior to the grant, and occasionally, integrated project-based learning also happened prior to the grant. In vocational education, work-based learning is a major component throughout the technologies. We were aware of these sporadic events, having done a gap analysis at the Summer Institute. We needed to address across the board reform as written into the goals and objectives of the demonstration-site grant. The professional development that was needed to fulfill the grant was also written into the grant and thus was driven by the grant.

A work-based inventory form is available. It was also determined that this form could be redesigned to obtain additional information.

Work Based Activity	In Place Before Grant
Industry Tours	Yes, Used by all Technologies
Job Shadowing	No
Service Learning	No
CWE	Yes, Used by all Technologies
Internships	No
Pre-Apprentice	Yes, Used by the Constructions Cluster HVAC and Electrical
Practicum	Yes, Used by all Technologies
Mentoring	No
Guest Speaker	Yes, Used by all Technologies

State the problems that you encountered in developing your Action Team and the methods or solutions your team used to solve them.

b. Further development of teams with the system wide School Improvement programs. SIP teams were engaged to carry out STC goals and objectives.

4. Problem: Site-Based Initiative was occasionally in conflict with existing Central Office Policies and Procedures.

Progress reports were given at monthly faculty meetings; and flyers and posters began to appear around the school. Most effective were the . one on one,. . face to face. conversations. Acknowledging and validating concerns and encouraging participation proved most effective. We ended the year discouraged by the lessening of faculty involvement, and yet we were encouraged by positive feedback from the faculty praising the Action Team for all the work that they could see had been accomplished. The ease of conversation about STC was becoming apparent.

There is a natural flow to progress. It takes time to learn management skills, to develop an action team, to manage people, and to effect change. Respect for one another is essential. We felt that although at times our forces appeared to be scattered, in reality a greater force of trust and appreciation was growing within the Action Team.

School Improvement is a costly matter. Monetary cost is tangible and visible. The intangible costs to the school system are the heaviest. Time, energy, motivation, internal and external relationships and sustainability are the real issues when promoting change. These issues are on going and will always tend to hamper any system that seeks to improve it self.

During the first year of the grant, the Action Team meetings have evolved as we progressed with our mission. We began with large number of Action Team members. The meetings went on too long, with every one having something to say. As we developed school-based, work-based, and connecting activities, committees headed by sub-coordinators, meeting became smaller and more efficient. Sub-coordinators were meeting with their committees. The STC coordinator would attend these meetings according to need. We met on a weekly basis, after school from 2:30 to 4:00 or 5:00.

We had an agenda that was distributed prior to the meeting, and a recorder took minutes. If a recorder was not present, notes on the agenda became the minutes. Meeting began with a recap to familiarize members with important items. Members were encouraged to add agenda items. Towards the last marking cycle, we asked the project-based learning committee to attend the weekly meetings as they were working diligently to integrate curriculum using project-based activities before the end of the school year.

The STC coordinator and the sub-coordinators met informally during the week to plan, exchange ideas or implement activities. The Action Team determined the number of times to meet per week. This was based on need and what was happening at the time.

Matt Mervis, Independent School Reform Consultant, joined the Team monthly to advise and counsel. Larry Eiden, Central Office STC Consultant, attended as needed to advise and counsel.

2. Responsibilities of the Action Team including the scope of their decision-making and relationship to administration and the local Board of Education.

During the first year the Action Team was asked to meet and make most of the decisions that concerned the grant. There were other people who were also very helpful in the decision making process. These people helped run interference for the team when it was necessary. We had an Assistant Director, and a Central Office Consultant that met with us on a regular basis.

Central Office assigned an Assistant Superintendent to the team as well. Matt Mervis, Independent School Reform Consultant, also advised on the decision making during the first and second years of the grant.

During the second year some changes took place in the system that made us revamp the way things were done. The Action Team personnel were assigned to work on the School Improvement Teams and these teams were given the responsibility for all the STC goals and objectives. This slowed the process down in the beginning, but has proved to be the way that sustainability will be achieved as the STC begins to fade. The School Improvement Plan is a five-year plan. With the new technology that is being introduced into the VT system, many of the STC goal and objectives are becoming standard practices with all the staff.

3. List the standing and special committees of the Action Team and the goals and procedures for each.

During the first year of the grant we held to the traditional committee formation that had the School-Based, Work-Based and Connecting Activities committees. In the beginning of the second year of the grant, the VT system began a complete system wide School Improvement Program. The teams that were developed from this program will be hereafter referred to as the SIP teams. Knowing that staffing would be impossible for STC and SIP teams, it was decided to incorporate the STC goals into the SIP team goals and objectives. Following is a list of the teams and how the STC goals were distributed. The SIP steering committee is made up from the SIP team chairpersons and they are responsible for the over site of the STC goals and objectives.

4. Submit your Action Team fiscal decision-making policies and practices for the demonstration site grant. Please submit copies of any forms that are used to evaluate fiscal requests and expenditures.

Monies were used as dictated in the grant. Site based spending followed our internal requisition procedure. From our internal system the requests were sent through the state purchasing process. RESC based spending followed the plan that the RESC had in place at the time. See Appendix for copies of forms used.

5. Relationship between the Action Team and the following groups and their specific roles or responsibilities in the process of your STC demonstration site.

· Parent organization: A presentation was made at the beginning of the year to the newly forming PFO. They expressed interest in supporting STC at Vinal by joining an evaluation committee or sponsoring events. They were way too little in numbers to be effective this year.

· Community service organizations: Vinal students have contacts with local community service organizations in many different capacities. The STC Vinal Web Works Enterprise will solicit support from these organizations, and relationships will develop as the Web Works project is developed and as the demonstration-site initiatives enter the implementation phase.

· Trade, professional, and business organizations: Most technology departments are members of a trade and/or a professional organization. Plus, a Craft Committee that is trade specific supports each technology department. The Craft members have been introduced to STC and their possible new roles.

· Other: We have a strong working relationship with the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce and the working committees that have spawned from that relationship. A (School/business conference) is being planned for April of 2000.