In 2008-2009, my school district at that time was in the process of adopting a new mathematics curriculum for the middle grades. The math content specialist of elementary, middle, and high school selected three programs that they conduct literature reviews, analyzed, and would align with the elementary and high school curriculums from past adoptions. The process that was communicated to math teachers of the middle schools was, teachers would pilot a variety of lessons from each of the three curriculums to gather information that would be communicated at delegated in-services to help gather information that would later be develop into a proposal for the school board at the end of the school year.
General Questions from the Project "Post-mortem" Review Questions
What was the single most frustrating part of our project?
As a three year teacher, the most frustrating part of the project of piloting the three curriculums to determining the best fit for the school district with the district, state and NCTM mathematics standards was the negative feelings and thoughts with the adoption process and having to pilot the three. I believe that this could have been simplified if the content specialists would have chosen three different standards where we could compare and contrast the three curriculums. Whereas it was a free for all and no structure which created frustration because most of the veteran teachers did not want change and refused to pilot the curriculums to participate in the adoption process effectively and efficiently.
Phase-Specific Questions
Phase I: How could we have improved our need-feasibility or analysis?
Prior to piloting the three curriculums, the math teachers were told on the first day of in-service at the beginning of the school year that they are to pilot lessons of the curriculums where we would collaborate about our experiences during certain in-service days throughout the school year. The timeline of the project could and would have been smoother and more effective if there was a plan, a timeline, and what needs and analysis did the content specialists, superintendent, and school board need to see and know to ensure that they would make the best choice of curriculum for the students, teachers, and district. Without having a plan or structure in place for the project creates much disorganized and negativity.
Overall, the adoption of the new curriculum could have been very successful and much more effective during the pilot process is a ID plan. The content specialists should have created an objective, what need to be analyzed and done by the teachers to provide the best information with a compare and contrast of the three curriculums. In addition, this would allow them to have a strong presentation for the school board and superintend with the literature review, teacher interaction, and feedback.
HI Courtney,
ReplyDeleteDid the content specialists ever come forward with a vision or list of objectives for the adoption of this program? It sounds like there should have been a proper needs analysis performed instead of simply trying to "align with past adoptions". Was there a PM on this project? If There was an ID involved in the project, then they should have informed the teachers, and perhaps the content specialists, of the objectives. As Dr. Stolovith states in the video Defining the Scope of a Project, the PM performs a "work breakdown" which defines the scope and all of the tasks and subtasks of a project. Perhaps the content specialist should have been involved in the work breakdown to specify project tasks to know that the veterean teachers would be resistive to change.
What do you think contribuited to the resistance of the veteran teachers? Would they have to learn new technologies, or did they just not like the 3 curriculums?
Thanks,
Dean
References:
Stolovich, H. (n.d.). Defining the scope of an id project. Retrieved July 9, 2011 from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5364556&Survey=1&47=6941347&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Hi Courtney
ReplyDeleteIt seems that communication was definitely lacking in this process. The higher-ups unilaterally decided upon how this project was going to work without any input from a very invested stakeholder - the teachers that would be affected. In the define phase, the success of the project is highly affected by how clear and realistic the plan is and whether people believe the project can be achieved (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008, 79). It does not sound as if all the stakeholders believed the project would succeed; many actively fought against the project. Stakeholders should have been more involved in the process.
In the start phase, a team is created with specific roles and responsibilities (Portny et. al., 2008, 79). Once again, with your project, this phase was not accomplished. No one was specifically told what to do, and no one was held accountable for getting tasks done.
This is a great example of how poor planning and communication can adversely affect a project. It also highlights the importance of forming a cohesive team from the beginning.
Sue
Reference:
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Courtney:
ReplyDeleteBased on the information provided, it seems as though this very important pilot program was not treated as a project, it was simply designed and implement, which was the first mistake.
In order to deliver a successful instructional program such as adopting a "new math curriculum", it should be treated with great importance, enough to have identified a project manager, and to have developed a project plan. In addition to the project plan, a pilot team should have been selected and a well developed timeline in order to ensure that the project can be analyzed correctly.
As Project Manager for any type of training, we must always remember that instructional design is "a systematic process whereby instruction is planned and evaluated" (Allen & Hardin).
"Research results indicate that instructional designers, in your case it would be the math content specialist, should support and lead the project team through the development and evaluative processes by developing and managing a project plan" (Kirschner, Carr, & van Merrienboer, 2002), which are often referred to as project management activities.
References:
Allen, S. & Hardin, P.C., Developiong Instructional Technology Products Using Effective Project Management. Journal of computing in Higher Education. Spring 2008, Vol. 19(2), 72-97.
Good evening Dean,
ReplyDeleteYou have addressed some many questions that we all had during the adoption process. In addition, I still wonder about those questions as I have recalled the experience. To answer some of your questions, there was no third party in whom there was an ID or PM involved. The math specialists took the role of the PM. In regards to the veterans’ not supporting the adoption had a lot to do with the fact that our curriculum was integrating “integrated mathematics” rather than having a blend of traditional approaches and integrated techniques.
Great questions! Thank you for commenting on my blog.
Courtney
Good evening Sue,
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct! To follow up from the selection and next year of the adoption, it was a struggle for many of my teammates. I actually move to the northeast that following year due to his occupation. However, I did stay in contact with many of them. Once the selection was made, the mathematics teachers of the middle grades would receive formal training for three days at the beginning of the school year. With that being said, after the training was done it was a matter of sink or swim with integrating and implementing the new curriculum into the pedagogies and methodologies of the teachers. Overall, this was a huge struggle. Lastly, the lack of communication still occurred in the preliminary years (2009-2010 and 2010-2011).
Looking back on this experiences as well as reading analysis from Dean, Elia.lora, and you who have not experienced it in person proves the importance of an ID and or ID/PM with any project. Without these essential leaders the success rate begins to decrease dramatically.
Thank you for your insight, Miss Sue.
Courtney