My Paperwork Got Lost?

My Paperwork Got Lost?




As a master/cooperative teacher I have had the great opportunity to work over 20 student teachers. While these aspiring educators are “gung ho” to practice their content delivery or hands-on activity they have been planning for hours. One of the greatest impacts the takeaways from me that remind of when I see them is on how to treat everyone they work with. During weekly meetings, I would try to impart advice on how to organize themselves and how to deal with site support staff. The support staff is a vital part of student success. They handle the day to day operations that are needed for the school site to function, provide nutrition, health care, transportation, safety, and care for the grounds and facilities. These street-level bureaucrats handle the site level operations that make the school work day in and day out. Lipsky, (2010) uses the term “street-level bureaucrats” to describe teachers, judges, police officers, health workers, social workers, public defenders and more. They provide benefits and sanction directly to citizens, possess common traits such as discretionary decision-making, and have relative autonomy from management.

I would student teachers through the various processes and paperwork needed to request a purchase order for materials and supplies, field trip requests, fundraising requests, transportation, requests, maintenance requests, and special education reports. I would remind them that this was far more than a paperwork process, you didn’t just fill out and turn it in and wait for magical things to happen. I took the time to explain how well they filled out the paperwork in terms of completeness, neatness, and promptness help to make the person on the other end job easier. Lipsky (2010) describes how street-level bureaucrats make policy in two related respects. They exercise wide discretion in decisions about citizens with whom they interact. Then, when taken in concert, their individual actions add up to agency behavior. These two methods will either make your job as a teacher easy or difficult when it comes to getting request fulfilled in a timely manner. I would describe to student teachers how my paperwork could get lost in the transfer from secretary to administration or from the site to the district. This would cause delays in getting a purchase order (PO) from the business office for your supplies. It could mean that your transportation request was not received by the district office within the time specified for these request to be accepted. It also meant that your classroom would be the last one cleaned in the summer, something that was dread to all teachers when it came to getting ready for the first day of school.

The question the student teachers all got around to asking me was “how to avoid this from happening to them? The answer is simple, but the devil is in the details. The answer is to treat everyone works with you, with respect, dignity, and goodwill. Remember that they have to deal with their managers too. Lipsky (2010) states, nonetheless, public managers are pressured to secure or improve workers’ accountability through manipulation of incentives and other aspects of job structure immediately available to them. So the support staff is under constant pressure from their management to get things done they need to be done as well as the individual teachers needs. As a new teacher to the site try and get to know everyone. Ask them about their positions and what they do, what is the hardest part of their jobs, what drives them crazy when paperwork is submitted. Take a genuine interest in them as people, don’t we all want to be cared about? For example, when we had meetings or activities where we would serve food in the evening, I always ordered or prepared extra so that I could invite the night shift custodial crew to join us for dinner. When we got new program logoed hats, shirts, and jackets I would order extras to share with support staff. Nothing makes you feel like part of a team than looking like part of the team. Yes, this cost me extra money to do so, but in the long run, the out of pocket expense ensured goodwill so that when I did miss a deadline or needed a favor last minute it was no big deal. So my final words of wisdom to the student teachers on this topic was to get a stack of thank you cards, $5.00 Starbucks gift cards, birthday cards, etc that can be easily shared on special occasions or for thank yous! This way your paperwork does not get lost and your classroom is cleaned on the first week of the summer break.



Lipsky, Michael (2010). Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services.

30th Anniversary Expanded Edition. The Russell Sage Foundation: New York, NY

Hey P-20, Let’s Hang Out!

Greater percentages of American students are participating in all three sectors of education: early learning, K-12, and higher education (Rippner, 2016). The current educational initiatives driving education such as college and career readiness, and the CSU Graduation Initiative 2025 are addressing the need for our students to be ready to take on the rigors of college-level course work and be prepared to jump headfirst into the industries they are preparing for when they have graduated.






Ag Ambassadors at Parkview 6th grade college & carer day.



While this will require a tremendous amount of collaboration between state and local agencies I believe that we are overlooking the role of faculty and collaboration between all levels that can help facilitate the connection between classroom education and real-world possibilities that can help students make college and career choices that will lead to gainful employment in a career they have trained for. Rippner (2016) identifies key pipeline transition points from high school graduation to college entry. These can be addressed through intentional collaboration between high school and college faculty. Developing a culture that sets the expectation that students will attend postsecondary education can be achieved through several means. First, the implementation of college and career days at a single high school or district is important for students to interact with outreach staff from technical schools, community colleges, apprenticeship program, military services, and the university systems. I currently teach our Ag Ambassador course, one of the major components of the course is outreach for the Agriculture and Natural Resources Program. We attend many college and career days throughout the state to share information with students, parents, teachers, and counselors about career opportunities associated with our programs. The Fresno County Office of Education hosts two huge events designed for both college and career awareness. The first event is College night that focuses on community colleges, and universities both in and out of the state. The second event CTE night is focused on career development and has a spotlight on industry representatives, community colleges, and apprenticeship programs that can provide technical training for high paying in-demand careers. A smaller event is the Minarets HighSchool career day, once again focused on college and career. But the difference is that they have banners hanging across the top of the gym banners showcasing the community colleges and universities that their graduates have attended. At the Woodlake High School college and career day, I have noticed that every classroom has college information from school pennants to posters sharing information with students on a daily basis. We also do classroom visitation with our Ag Ambassadors at different high schools across the state. This allows high school students to see students just like themselves who are attending college and being successful. This shows them that it is possible for them too.






Minarets High School Career Day. Notice the College banners Hanging from the rafters.



All of this helps with the second connection question Rippner (2016) asks. Do students have the information needed to make decisions about post-secondary education such as where to go, how to pay, and how to enroll? This can be achieved partially through the college and career days and classroom visitation as discussed above. It can also be done through dual enrollment courses offered at the high school sites and taught either by college faculty or by a qualified high school teacher. Students are taking a college course and working at the college level rigor. Through this process, information can be shared with students on where to go, how to pay, and how to enroll. This can be done directly by a college counselor who helps with the enrollment process or by the faculty themselves. As a college faculty member, I find this an awesome opportunity to promote my program at the community college to high school students that are enrolled. I also bring in information that details who talk to about enrollment, along with a map of the college and which building and room they need to go to. I also give students a list of several counselors that they contact via email or phone call. I share my office hours and contact information so that they can search me out once they are campus so that I can direct them to the correct help they need. Dual enrollment can also address questions about academic preparedness. Taking college-level class, meeting the deadlines for assignments, standards for assessments, and completing college-level projects or writing while in high school can show the student where they are they need help. Dual enrollment can also help high school teachers by sharing with them the college-level curriculum that their students will need to be able to work with. In our Ag Business program, we share the assignments, activities, projects, and assessments with our Dual enrollment adjuncts. This not only prepares them to teach it, but it also allows them to transfer the concepts and rigor to their other classes in order to prepare their high school students for the expectations of college-level work.


This collaboration needs to extend all the way down to the preschool level. The Ag Ambassadors attended several college and career days that were focused on students from grades 5-8 as well. These grade levels are looking to highschool as the next big step, but in order to create a college-going culture, highschool should not be seen as the end as it is in so many students and parents minds. College and advanced technical training should be the end goal. Kirst &Venezia ( 2003) share that there is evidence that the wide chasm between K-12 and higher education is… a major contributor to poor student preparation for college…[and] is particularly disastrous for students of color and students from low-income families. How better to close that chasm by exposing students and parents to college and career opportunities as soon as possible. In my last blog, I discussed college and career readiness and how that helps students decide what they want to be when they grow up. Developing a college-going culture from preschool forward helps to this.


I had the opportunity to participate in my daughter's preschool career day series. Yes, a series! The pre-school teachers asked parents to come in and share their careers with the students and show them what they did, not just tell them what they did but show them what the career entails. Wow, their facebook page shared pics of police officers and K-9 dogs doing searches, firemen using their tools and firehoses, nurses using their stethoscope and blood pressure cuff, heavy equipment operators and the equipment they operate, farmers and the crops and livestock they raise, I was not sure how I could show them what I did? So I did a recruitment activity and chopped down my recruitment powerpoint and added the pics I could find of the other parents from the facebook page and showed them all of those careers needed someone to teach them how to do that and that is what I did as a college instructor, specifically in Ag. Then they played our recruitment games and won hats, pencils, clipboards, pennants with our college logo and information that will be shared at home with parents planting that college-going culture seed in their garden of knowledge.

Maddy the excavator operator 

Rocking Reedly AGNR Shades







Corn Hole for prizes







































Kirst, M & Venezia, A. (2003, Spring). Undermining students aspirations. National Crosstalk.


Retrieved from


www.highereducation.org/crosstalk/ct0203/voices0203-undermining.shtml


Rippner, J.A. (2016). The American Education Policy Landscape. Rutledge Publication: New






York, New York.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What do you want to be when you grow up?


What do you want to be when you grow up? We have been asked this question since kindergarten. I wanted to be a scientist, politician, doctor, and an explorer, so I became an Ag Teacher. I figured it out, but how many of our high school graduates know what they want to be when they grow up? Career exploration and career development is a giant missing piece of the “college and career readiness” discussion at the state and federal levels (DeWitt, 2012). As we look at how California high schools prepare students to be college and career ready upon graduation we need to really examine what that means and how it is measured. The implementation of the common core standards has shifted the way content will be taught. The Common Core Technical Core Standards released in 2012 identify Career-Ready Standards of Practice for each of the 15 California industry sectors (Walker, 2013).The goal is to contextualize the content and topics being taught. This project-based learning format is at the core of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs at the high school level in California.










Gewertz, (2016)






There is a move in California Agriculture Education to work with our industry partners, and community colleges to develop certifications to measure a student’s college and career readiness. These are impart based on technical skills developed in courses such as Agriculture Mechanics. CTE courses use projects to develop skills using technical tools that are used in the industry. Working on a project in CTE courses involves critical thinking, and using multiple solutions and designs to complete the project. These projects also develop collaboration and team building skills by students having to work with each other as they figure out how a project is completed. Walker (2013) believes that the common core creates an awesome opportunity for rich, cross-curricular projects involving high-level reading, writing, and technical application of math, science, and CTE themes, creating deeper, more relevant, and intentional connections across the disciplines.


When I was a high school Ag teacher my students would discuss their struggles in they were having in their math, English, and science courses and the common statement they shared with me is “when am I actually going to use this “ in real life. “Will I need to know this to get a job?” Is there a job for that? What is the purpose of understanding how to use Pythagorean Theorem? I would make it a point to incorporate these points in my Ag Mechanics lessons. The Pythagorean Theorem could be used when trying to find the angle for the tongue of a trailer or for identifying the angle needed when bending pipe.


Rippner (2016) shares that the development of common standards has also generated the discussion on what “college and career-ready” really means. Should students who want to go to college and students who want to follow a certain career path have to take the same requirements to graduate from high school? Policymakers argue that they should. Achieve, Inc. (2012) provides a definition for College and Career Readiness that is shared amongst American policymakers. College readiness means:


Being prepared for any postsecondary experience, including study at a two-and four-year institution leading to a postsecondary credential ( i.e. a certificate, license, Associates’ or Bachelor’s degree). Being ready for college means that high school graduates have the English and math knowledge and skill to qualify for the entry-level, credit-bearing college coursework with the need for remediation.


Career -ready students “have the English and math knowledge and skills needed to qualify and succeed in the postsecondary job training and or education needed for their chosen career (i.e. technical training, community college, apprenticeship, of significant on-the-job training)


The interesting thing is that both of the definitions shared by Achieve, Inc. infer that high graduates will need some postsecondary training. With the college for all emphasis being so prevalent, it has led to the closing of CTE programs and lessened the emphasis on career counseling.


I believe now is the time that we advocate for more career counseling and incorporate a CTE requirement for high school graduation in order for students to identify and understand the path needed to be what they want to be when they grow up. Walker ( 2013) suggests that high schools may be ensuring students are career-ready without ensuring students know for what career.












References:




Achieve, Inc. (2012). What does college -and career -ready really mean? Retrieved from


www.achieve.org/what-college-and-career-ready






DeWitt, S. (2012). Career Readiness Needs Your Voice. Techniques: Connecting Education &


Careers, 87(3), 12. Retrieved from


http://search.ebscohost.com.hmlproxy.lib.csufresno.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=72880963&site=ehost-live






Gewertz, C. (2016). Only 8 percent of students complete college-and career-ready curriculum.


Retrieved from:


https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/high_school_and_beyond/2016/04/only_8_percent_of_students_complete_college_or_career_ready_curriculum.html?r=91096468






Rippner, J.A. (2016). The American Education Policy Landscape. Rutledge Publication: New


York, New York.






Walker, D. L. (2013). CTE and the COMMON CORE partners in education design. Leadership,



43(2), 18–20. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.hmlproxy.lib.csufresno.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=99951027&site=ehost-live

It all about the parking!

The ideal format of developing policy is a linear process of agenda setting by identifying policy or problem. Defining possible solutions for the problem. Implementing the solutions and addressing other issues that may develop through the solution implementation and finally evaluating its success or failure and making adjustments in the policy as needed (Rippner, 2016).  This linear thought process makes sense until you get into the steps of making or managing policy itself.  

            As a member of a county fair board, I am constantly examining policies and how they affect either the experiences of fair exhibitors, attendees, vendors, customers, and community organizations.  A policy change made by the fair board recently about our facility rental parking policy was scrutinized by many groups after it was implemented and after the reading, I can understand the pitfalls that could have been avoided if the policy change would have been handled differently.  

            The former policy allowed building renters to park in the areas on the fairgrounds next to the buildings that they rented for their events.  The fair’s insurance carrier had concerns with this policy and suggested that it be changed in order to keep moving vehicles off of the grounds themselves and parked in the main parking lots.  There had been a few fender benders and close calls with pedestrians during events that made the change in policy needed.  This policy had been adopted by several fairs within our region.  The diffusion of this policy followed the regional diffusion model (Berry & Berry, 2007) where we studied what fairs in our geographic area and similar size had done with their parking policy. After a couple of board meetings and information from the insurance company and the fair’s executive director, the board voted to change the policy citing the increased need for safety and the concerns of the insurance company.

            The push back was immediate from fair patrons who rented buildings for events.  There were community groups who hosted large events and rented our biggest facilities that decided to move venues because of the parking policy.  After completing the readings on the theory of the policy process I see that we did not include as many of the stakeholders as we could have to examine the policy change before it was implemented.   Understanding how community organizations felt about the current parking policy and how they perceived it would affect their events could have helped us shape the policy to try and meet the needs of the different groups.  

            During the implementation process of the policy change, we realized we did not have enough handicapped parking spots designated and had to adjust the budget in order to paint spots in front of the main entrance to meet the required number of handicapped parking spaces needed for our largest facility.  We then realized that the walk from the handicapped parking spots to the closest of the building was a problem for the elderly, and those with mobility problems.  This problem was brought to our attention by a community group whose average member’s age is 70 years old.  

            As we evaluated the policy after the first year of its implementation we realized that the change created a direct blow to our operating budget as it decreased the number of facility rentals between fairs.  This income is vital to the day to day operation of the fairgrounds.  It also affected fair sponsored events such as the Lamb buyers appreciation dinner which is held in the building furthest from the entrance and is also a drive through pick up dinner. 

 The policy was readdressed by the board with input from community members, vendors, patrons, and other organizations that use the fairgrounds to help shape a more accommodating policy that still meets the safety needs that board and fair’s insurance were still satisfied with.  Moving forward I hope to develop surveys for the facility renters to complete for us to better serve the community and to provide a venue for all to enjoy.  

  

Berry, F., & Berry, W. (2007).  Innovation and diffusion models in policy research. In P. Sabtier

 (Ed.), Theories of the policy process (2nd ed.,pp.223-260). Boulder CO: Westview Press.

Rippner, J.A. (2016). The American Education Policy Landscape. Rutledge Publication: New

 York, New York.

Digital Presence and Leadership

Access to digital work and immediate access to information have changed the way administrators share information.  Digital platforms such as social media (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, etc) and web pages allow administrators to push out and collect information in a timely manner that allows the rapid collection of data being sought.  This includes, but not limited to demographics, stakeholder opinions, stakeholder suggestions, potential policy changes, and evaluation of policy changes and how unforeseen problems are addressed while updating policies