Barriers


 * October 6 2010**
 * Crowne Plaza**
 * TIMS Meeting**

**What barriers are keeping this from happening at your school?**
 * Competing Initiatives/Priorities
 * Limited resources to accomplish these
 * Staff preparedness, are they ready for this change?
 * The way PD is being presented - Admin understanding of PD and initiatives/support of
 * Administrator lack of awareness/knowledge of 21sc TLT - Admins focus on data, passion is removed
 * Gaps, IU level gaps in knowledge/awareness/skill set (functional knowledge)
 * Asking for ideas during school improvement planning...best practices are being discussed not put inot action
 * Inconsistency in knowledge and lack of ability to make change...common plan? Looking at our own schools we have such different priorities. (Haves v have nots)
 * Barriers is status and geography...knowledge of other roles
 * Teacher contracts are issues in some areas...teacher unions and school board infighting putting up huge barrier in PD and progress
 * Admin buy in and admin modeling….they may buy in but do not go back and model. Need to take that next step
 * Is this the next "thing" . Where are we going as a state?
 * Initiative is an ugly word, thought of as individual pieces. Still seeing tech and something separate. "no time for something else" We need someone to overlap these. - isolated pockets why? Funding streams, things are seen in pots of money.
 * We are 20th century folks pushing 21st century thinking. Barrier to helping change minds. Tech use is not learning
 * Barriers and constraints are inconsistencies in IU structure. IU priorities are different across the board
 * Time, stress on time to get to everything, time for PD, admin stress for time to do what they need. Everyone is fighting for one piece of time. Fixing depends on cooperation of parties. Not letting go of certain pieces
 * Strong implementation teams not always present. Teams need to understand role of the coach. Librarians need to have a role in the team and work with the coach. They are media specialists. Barrier is lack of communication. (Why hasn’t it been understood) Priorities, admins have many responsibilities. Role of the coach is not fully understood. Willingness for the admin to accept the role
 * Coach is a coach. There is a disconnect because coaches and the like are separated. There is a line drawn. He is a literacy coach, she is a tech...we need to pull that together
 * PSSA - we are meeting AYP, why mess. We are not so we need to pound away at the problem. Time- I cant do this because I must focus on PSSA/AYP...A structure problem, fear? Lack of buy in? - Culture problem, this is the direction we must go in because that is the way we have always done it
 * Information barriers...we don’t have a systemic understanding...we need to have a shared vision but we do not. DO we even know what the current beliefs are? What is the vision?
 * Money is a big barrier...where is my budget going due to PSERS? Rapid changes, merit pay, tech, technique all changing. Way are changing. No one knows where we are going. Fear. They don’t know where we are going or how we will do it. Uncertainty is the barrier
 * Anytime you have systemic change, we are looking at that change...you have a tremendous number of barriers. Leadership commitment, why change what is working for them. Commitment. It takes commitment to make changes in how you teach and learn. Where is the reward? Time, maybe in 30 years when we have repopulated the teacher ranks
 * 2 different perspectives: Global, change is a personal thing. We you ask them to change professionally before they have changed personally. Especially if there is a bad track record - Student achievement is a barrier. Why do something different if we are successful. This to shall pass will be the call. Who will go to the parents if there is a dip?


 * 1) “Time and Money”
 * 2) “Hard to break away from traditions, because people are set in their ways and they will not stretch themselves to learn something new or to embrace a 21st century change. this has to do with time and this is how they traditionally do things. the barrier is resist change and fear, combined or separate.”
 * 3) “Agree with above comment. teacher are very comfy where they are, they may want to change but they do not know how or have the time.’
 * 4) “no access to collaborative tools”
 * 5) “ditto all of the above comments. PSSAs ... teach to the test. once that is done they have no time to try a new tool. the schedule is a set of 42 minutes, and they are trying to figure out how to teach a new strategy for PSSA writing they only have 42 minutes to do that. no time to set up computers. scheduling could be the issue.”
 * 6) “we all have our comfort zone and doing something we haven't done in 20 years is difficult and challenging”
 * 7) “comes down to fear. a lot of people in the trade like to have things right and correct. saying the wrong things in a collaborative situation makes them hesitant to try new things. build on collaboration in your own realm before moving on to students.”
 * 8) “school districts - helping them establish a place where experimentation is supported.”
 * 9) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Support from colleagues and administration”
 * 10) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“i find that our position at IUs... we talk out of both sides of our mouths. we talk about alignment between education goals from the state and what we need to get through. but i am forced by the state that the standards is what is judging. The barrier right now is that we don’t know we can do both push a method from the state and a teaching style.”
 * 11) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“before you can make a change you need to change the metaphor - teachers are assembly line workers... we need to redesign that role and expectation.”
 * 12) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“i see one of our problems is the attitudes of some of our students, students want to know exactly what they have to do to get a high score, they don't want to share their grade with others... I've seen students who give opinions to their teachers that this (inquire based learning) is not how they achieve”
 * 13) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“many people see the PSSA as something this is neutrally exclusive. this is because it has never been modeled (inquiry based) . we don’t even model it in our professional development. the barrier is lack of pre-teacher education. we need good models of lessons that involve this. we never go to PD about a tool, but rather a PD on collaborative learning and then show for example google docs. did we cover this content, did we assess these standards, did we model these abilities”
 * 14) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“as odd as it sounds - success can be a hindrance. the success on current PSSA scores... ‘we are going to change of my dead body - we are performing very very well!’ extreme failure can be a hindrance to this too.”
 * 15) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“a barrier is vision. a barrier of leadership - they lack a vision. the do not put in the proper implementation team and PD. they do not set up a scheme to get their teachers. the teachers have to believe and see a good model. if the leadership has vision, they would take their teachers to a SD that has a good vision. then the administration has to support, train, and encourage to change the culture of the school... they have to remove the fear of the PSSA. if you are teaching the material they will do well on the PSSA. the barrier is the lack of vision from that administration. this may be because some leaders do not have vision, they do not know how to follow through and they are not growing. we need PD for the administration.”
 * 16) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“i think one of the barriers for me is competing priorities. I have a lot of teachers that tell me i want to do these things... but i have to do other things. teachers have people competing for their time and energy. no common set for successful teaching. we have a lot of leaders who think filing up a room with posters and stuff is better - so teachers don't do things online. teachers don’t do risky stuff because it reflects back on their evaluations. the modeling aspect is very important - we don't have the leaders modeling what we expect teachers to do”
 * 17) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“everyone has hit a lot of great things. we have been talking about teachers and administrators - the biggest barrier for me is access. people who are not in the educational reaml have been dictating what we can do, what we can see, what we have access to. those people really should not have a vote.”
 * 18) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“difficulties around using equipment or software and you can’t get access or depend on the equipment or network to work. this scares teachers away. they all have a horror story about how they have a nice lesson planned and then the technology fails. the barrier is trust and communication.”
 * 19) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“the barrier is developing a common understanding. we just went through curriculum mapping training and we spent an hour agreeing on what curriculum meant. to stand in front of teachers and say these buzz words - the teachers don’t really understand what those words mean. we don’t have time to come up with common language with these terms. sometimes we are too busy working on what has to be done instead of what needs to be done.”
 * 20) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“access to building principals. they are to be the leaders but we never get to see them. also the calendar year of the school - june, july, and august -- why are they staying home? teachers and students?? there needs to be continuous learning.”