Domain II Reflection:
Never have I ever been in a more highly collaborative, research-based, data-driven organisation than when I was working at the American School of Bombay. The school has an entire Research and Development Team that includes full time employees dedicated to researching, sharing and implementing the latest in educational research but also a majority of the teachers in every division through task forces, prototypes and visioning teams. Clearly, when research and data are used to drive the direction of instruction and student learning, success will follow. By working on task forces and helping prototype new ideas, I was exposed to a wealth of educational research that helped me learn and grow as a professional as well. Data and research can be used at every level of a school's leadership: from developing the strategic plan and laying out curriculum maps to the day to day instructional practices teacher employ.
Artifacts:
Data Driven Decision Making at ASBI worked with Shannon Gallagher and Erica Barclay to carry out a case study on the use of data-driven decision making in the Elementary division at ASB. Knowing the importance of collecting, reflecting on and using data in decisions made about our students in our classrooms, we examined the progress ASB had made in attaining this goal. ASB identified data-informed decisions as a top priority in their strategic plan for 2016 and had already begun implementing coaching roles and protocols in the ES to support teachers in implementing this successfully. While there is still room for growth and coaching in specialist areas, overall we noticed very positive trends. Attached are the formal presentation and paper written and submitted to share our findings in this area.
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Member of the Research & Development TeamWorking within the R&D team in several roles provided me with ample opportunities to collaborative on research driven initiatives. One of the more prominent roles I had was a member of the Day 9 planning team. Day 9 was created (as a "special" day outside of our 8 day cycle) to implement mixed age learning environments and passion based learning. Based on research on the benefits of students interacting in a focused environment for learning, teachers established day long workshops exploring a variety of topics and passions relevant to both teachers and students. Within R&D I also participated in prototyping BYOD, mobile devices, maker spaces and more during my three years at ASB. The school is also focused on research driving best practices through their partnership with Damian Bebell, educational researcher primarily working in 1:1 technology settings and educational technology. They (and consequently all the faculty there) are a leading member of the International Research Collaborative which provides teachers opportunities for reflection on their use of technology and collects and examines the resulting data from participating schools to continue to influence and inform current beliefs in educational technology.
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