Case Study: School for the Gifted
The School was established in 1990 to serve the special education needs of gifted children
and their families. The School has earned an international reputation for providing
innovative and effective gifted education that recognizes the complexity of the gifted
child.
Industry: Project Type:
Education Organizational Assessment
Challenge
There were many new teachers at the school, and the Director had a concern with the
teamwork and happiness of the new staff. The Director also had an issue with
accountability and its effect on job satisfaction. The teachers have a great deal of
autonomy in how they run their classrooms, but there was a possible concern about the
level of accountability to the curriculum requirements. A third concern was the teacher’s
understanding of and commitment to the school’s mission. This “goal alignment” was
important given the large proportion of new staff members.
Solution
We helped the school assess the items the Director wanted to test by designing and
administering a questionnaire, analyzing the questionnaire data, conducting personal
interviews with the entire staff, engaging in a feedback meeting with the Director, and
finally, an action planning meeting with the entire staff. The entire process took place
over a 6-week time frame.
Results
Implications of our findings were significant and the action planning meeting effected
measurable changes in the organization. In the action planning meeting, areas of
confusion that were uncovered during the data gathering were talked about in an open
forum and brought to resolution. There was clarification on items that the Director had
assumed were known to the staff but were points of disconnect. During the meeting a
number of outcomes occurred that allowed for the teachers to be more productive and
better able to teach the kids:
The School was established in 1990 to serve the special education needs of gifted children
and their families. The School has earned an international reputation for providing
innovative and effective gifted education that recognizes the complexity of the gifted
child.
Industry: Project Type:
Education Organizational Assessment
Challenge
There were many new teachers at the school, and the Director had a concern with the
teamwork and happiness of the new staff. The Director also had an issue with
accountability and its effect on job satisfaction. The teachers have a great deal of
autonomy in how they run their classrooms, but there was a possible concern about the
level of accountability to the curriculum requirements. A third concern was the teacher’s
understanding of and commitment to the school’s mission. This “goal alignment” was
important given the large proportion of new staff members.
Solution
We helped the school assess the items the Director wanted to test by designing and
administering a questionnaire, analyzing the questionnaire data, conducting personal
interviews with the entire staff, engaging in a feedback meeting with the Director, and
finally, an action planning meeting with the entire staff. The entire process took place
over a 6-week time frame.
Results
Implications of our findings were significant and the action planning meeting effected
measurable changes in the organization. In the action planning meeting, areas of
confusion that were uncovered during the data gathering were talked about in an open
forum and brought to resolution. There was clarification on items that the Director had
assumed were known to the staff but were points of disconnect. During the meeting a
number of outcomes occurred that allowed for the teachers to be more productive and
better able to teach the kids:
- An improved system for keeping track of materials
- The development of a new formal case study meeting to talk about student
issues - The improvement of the staff meeting process with more opportunity for the
teachers to speak up, a formal agenda, and less administrative information in
staff meetings
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