building instructional capacity - book preview, introduction
TRANSCRIPT
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BUILDING INSTRUCTIONAL
CAPACITY
3 Key Strategies for
Successful Student Learning
Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D. Realistic Educator and
Optimistically Determined Leader
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BUILDING INSTRUCTIONAL
CAPACITY
3 Key Strategies for
Successful Student Learning
Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D.
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BUILDING INSTRUCTIONAL
CAPACITY
3 Key Strategies for
Successful Student Learning
Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D. Realistic Educator and
Optimistically Determined Leader
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @Artistwithwords
Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D. 2016
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Copyright © 2016 by Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used
in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.
First Printing: 2016
ISBN 978-1-329-91308-0
Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D.
P.O. Box 726
8700 Stonebrook Pkwy
Frisco, Texas 75034
www.stanleycrawford.com
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To Brenda, Tyrone, and Elizabeth for your patience,
support, and encouragement.
And, thank you, Dad and Mom,
For instilling in me the value of
hard work and persistence.
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Building Instructional Capacity
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Introduction 1
1. Leadership 9 Create and Select Versus Inherit 14 Clone Versus Complement 15 Team Building 16 Achievement and Morale 18 Chapter Summary 24 2. Strategy 1: Increase Applied Personnel
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities 27 Applied Knowledge 30 Applied Skill 44 Applied Ability 48 Chapter Summary 53 3. Strategy 2: Improve the Curriculum
Program and Supporting Aspects 54 Curriculum Program 57 Curriculum Alignment 60 Curriculum Programs
Organizational Structure 66
Supporting Aspect of the Curriculum Program 74
Contents
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Professional Development 75
After-School Programs 83 Chapter Summary 87 4. Strategy 3: Provide the Basic Medical,
Social, and Emotional Support for Students 89
Provide Basic Medical 93 Provide Social-Emotional
Development and Training 101 Chapter Summary 106
Conclusion 107 References 109 Index 112
Contents
Building Instructional Capacity
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Building Instructional Capacity
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Introduction
“The greatest good you can do for another is not
just to share your riches, but to
reveal to him his own.”
~ Benjamin Disraeli ~
This book will teach you how to build your school or
school district’s instructional capacity for the purpose
of increasing student learning. Along with this
increase in student learning; you should see an
increase in student achievement.
I have the honor of leading student learning
and student achievement. I have served in education
for over twenty years for both children and adults. I
have served in the K-12, higher education, business
industry, and military service. Student learning varies
in each of these environments. In addition, student
learning is similar in each of these environments. For
example, K-12 students need the teacher to capture
their attention in the topics they must learn. Often,
Building Instructional Capacity
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we call this engagement which is similar to self-
motivation.
While on the other hand, adult learners in
education, business, or the military readily give their
attention because their livelihood is involved. With
adult students, the self-interest aspect helps to spur
self-motivation; which in turn drives their
engagement. As a result, the teacher or presenter for
adults often doesn’t have to put as much emphasis on
finding extremely creative ways to engage the adult
learner.
As an example, when I served in the United
States Air Force, one of my roles was to train airmen
on the proper way to use Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE). When the airmen arrived for class,
after introductions, I would launch into the material.
I would begin by talking about what nerve agents and
blister agents would do to the body; how fast the
agents would impact you; and how much time you
would have to get your equipment donned. Usually,
this was enough to get the undivided attention of
everyone in the class. In addition, airmen would often
ask questions without being prompted. Keep in mind
Building Instructional Capacity
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in this case the student’s life could one day depend on
what they were learning.
From these experiences, I have learned some
significant lessons about ensuring student learning
and student achievement. One of my primary means
has been to focus on Building Instructional Capacity.
This is my focus in this book.
In every position that I have held, whether as an
assistant general manager of a food service
establishment, a department manager of a retail
specialty store, a service member in the United States
Air Force, an adjunct professor, or a public school
administrator, the ultimate goal was to obtain the
results in support of the institution’s vision, mission,
and goals. Normally, this required facilitating student
learning; whether the students were adults or
children.
For instance, when I worked in food service one of
my goals was to provide training for employees that
would allow them to deliver hot and tasty food from
our menu to our customers. As a retail manager, my
team and I wanted to train adults to properly price
and stock merchandise on the shelves; so that
customers would willingly purchase our retail
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products. Turning to education, the goal is to ensure
student learning; which should lead to student
achievement. Of course, this is the short term goal.
The long term goal is to prepare students to be able to
thrive in a global society.
“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the
moment a single man contemplates it, bearing
within him the image of a cathedral.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~
This book represents a combination of things that
1) I did to be successful, 2) I observed as part of my
service to successful institutions, and 3) my
observations of what can lead to success in student
learning and thereby student achievement. Now let us
begin the journey of “Building Instructional Capacity.”
What is Instructional Capacity? Instructional
Capacity consists of all the personnel resources,
material resources, programs, and leadership abilities
that can be effectively utilized by a learning institution
in order to improve student achievement. A learning
institution can be a public school, public school
district, charter school, private school, college,
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university, military training institution, or corporate
training entity.
Each of the above mentioned institutions requires
some type of education and training. To illustrate,
when I began military service, I went to Basic Military
Training. This training occurred on Lackland Air
Force Base, Texas. There were many things to learn.
Some of these things were at a knowledge level; such
as, learning to recognize the various rank insignia of
the United States Air Force and of the sister services.
On the other hand, learning to march was a bit more
challenging. It required the ability to demonstrate
what you learned about marching, by marching. You
had to start, stop, adjust to distances, and other
activities that required you to evaluate and use
judgment.
There are many factors that go into building the
instructional capacity of a learning institution. A few
of the factors that must be considered are: the size of
the learning institution, financial constraints, training
priorities, time allotted for training, curriculum and
organizational structure, to name but a few. Some of
the factors have more of an impact than others,
particularly when a given learning institution’s vision,
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mission and goals are taken into consideration. In this
book I describe a model that can be used to build
instructional capacity. The model consists of three
key strategies:
1. Increase applied knowledge, skills, and ability
of personnel.
2. Improve the Curriculum Program and
supporting aspects.
3. Provide the basic medical, social, and
emotional support for students.
We will take a closer look at each strategy as we
journey through each chapter.
In order to successfully apply these three strategies
of the BIC model it is assumed that the learning
institution has a vision, mission, and goals that are
established and desired. If not, then I strongly advise
the learning institution to clearly establish or revamp
the vision, mission, and goals to desired ones; prior to
using these strategies. Otherwise the learning
institution risks becoming very good at what it doesn’t
want to do; or something that doesn’t effectively and
efficiently meet the desired outcome of successful
student learning and achievement.
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Several benefits are gained in building
instructional capacity:
Effective use of instructional resources in
order to achieve the highest outcomes from
student learning.
Clear awareness of how each piece of the
Building Instructional Capacity (BIC) model is
utilized in pursuing the achievement of student
learning outcomes.
Establishment of baselines for the various parts
of instructional capacity, in order to monitor
and adjust; both in the current learning cycle,
and for future learning cycles.
In order to build instructional capacity and sustain
student achievement, it is essential to have in place a
strong instructional minded team, effective
curriculum, and services that meet the needs of all
students. This model, when successfully
implemented, will lead to the achievement of these
objectives.
The book will start off by discussing the area of
leadership in chapter one. In chapter two, the first
strategy will be introduced, Increase Applied
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Personnel Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. We will
look at knowledge, skills, and ability as they relate to
increasing student learning. In chapter 3, the second
strategy, Improve the Curriculum Program and
Supporting Aspects will be discussed. We will look at
key aspects of the curriculum that must be addressed.
Also, we will discuss how after-school programs
should support the curriculum. Next chapter 4
introduces the third strategy; which will explain the
role basic medical, social and emotional support
should play in building instructional capacity.
How can you use this book? You should
initially read it through once in its entirety; so you can
clearly understand the BIC model, and the way the
various pieces fit together. Next, you should decide
what you want to achieve. Or, if you choose, you can
select the chapter or sections that will be most
beneficial to your situation. Finally, I welcome your
feedback. Feel free to send me an email at
Purchase your copy, today at, http://bit.ly/1RtG58c
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About the Author
Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D. has been an educator for over 20 years. He has served in education leadership positions at the district and building levels. In addition, he has taught in public education at PK-12 and College settings. Prior to public education, he worked as a manager in the service industry. Stanley, also served in the United States Air Force. Dr. Crawford is a graduate of the University of North Texas (Ed.D.), Webster University (MA), Southern Illinois University of Carbondale (BS), and the Community College of the Air Force (AAS). Dr. Crawford is the author of the book, Cinquains: Volume I. He is the co-author of a chapter in Research in Finance titled, “Managing Real Options in Not-for-Profit Organizations: The Case of Shell Space.” Also, he wrote the article, “Strategically Increase Your Network Using LinkedIn” which appeared in the September/October 2014 issue of OnSite. Stanley can be reached through the following venues:
Website: www.stanleycrawford.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/artistwithwords
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drstanleycrawford
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stanley.T.Crawford
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