Trust Issues

As an extension of our study on student trust our learning team developed and distributed a questionnaire to our students. Our goal was to measure the trust of students both in the educational process as well as Denver Academy's approach to education. Students were asked a series of questions and these results were tabulated and measured. The questions and subsequent results were as followed:

1. Why do you come to Denver Academy each day?

30%- Because I feel comfortable learning here

30%- To better prepare for college

18%- Because my parents feel it is the best place for me

7%- To earn a high school diploma

7%- For the vocational and elective programs

5%- Because the teachers "get me"

3%- For the sports programs

2. Do you trust in the process of education?

61%- Yes

15%- No

24%- Not sure

3. Do you trust in your homeroom teacher?

97%- Yes

3%- No

4. What is one thing, if changed, that would alter your level of trust in Denver Academy?

25% - If the students did not have a voice

25%- Longer school days

20%- A universal high school

15%- If the education became less individualized

5%- If we had more homework

5%- If we had no athletics

5% If classes were tougher

While the results of this quiz are anything but scientific, there is one area of concern as it relates to question number four. Twenty percent of Progressive students will feel a level of altered trust as a result of a unified high school. In addition, another fifteen percent of students will feel less trust if the education provided by Denver Academy becomes less individualized. In quick analysis it is important to realize the connectivity of these two sentiments. It is imperative that as we prepare to transition to a unified high school that we continue to value the student voice in the process. We must make it clear to students our objective as an institution. We must continue to stress the importance of differentiated education as our primary agenda. From this survey I take away that students want to trust in the system. They want to believe that DA will help them reach their individual goals. If we are to remain in the students "quality world" hearing their concerns, meeting their needs and delivering on our mission is essential to our long term success and believability as a provider of quality education.- Pressler

Transformers

During our most recent LT meeting we noticed a shift in the direction of our team goal. While we acknowledge the importance of setting a purpose for our students, we have come to realize that purpose only comes as a result of gaining the trust of our students. Getting students to trust not only in us as teachers, but also in the process and experience of learning itself, is imperative in getting them to see their purpose for learning the material. Purpose is not something that can be forced and is determined differently by each individual. As a result, it is nearly impossible to monitor. Rather than focusing our energy on monitoring the connection to the materials purpose, we have decided to monitor the levels of trust we have gained in our students. In order to do so we have created a questionnaire which help to gauge where are students fall on the trust meter. It is our hope that open dialogue about the process of trusting will lead to a more natural understanding of the purpose of the curriculum. Stay tuned....

Strength's, Weaknesses and the American Way!

At our most recent LT meeting we discussed the strength's and weaknesses of the students in our division. Some the strengths that we listed included: resourceful, empathetic, advocating for self and others, passionate, fun and bravery. Some the weaknesses we recognized were: study skills, test taking ability, the "give up" and "I can't" attitude, lack of self-confidence, easily discouraged and the disconnect between advocacy and entitlement.

In our discussion we deduced that students often are not understanding the "purpose" of the work and how it affects their everyday world. The result of feeling a lack of "purpose" in their school work is either incomplete assignments or for some, no product at all. To address this issue we have agreed to provide "the purpose" behind our assignments for them. This means we will be even more direct (collectively) of how this assignment/lesson is relative to their everyday world. Answering questions of how they can use this or why this matters will become imperative in this process. Our hope is to track the results of students whom often fail to see the purpose in doing homework or finishing projects. We feel that if students can garner a better understanding of why the work itself is important, they may be more willing to partake in its completion.

Norms and Update

At our first meeting "The Ratpack" established a list of agreed upon norms. These include:

• We agree to be flexible (mentally and not always physically)
• We agree to listen actively
  
• We will use humor to our advantage
• We will offer constructive feedback
• We will offer creative solutions
• We will be honest in our evaluation

In addition the group has decided to each share a weekly need as they occur. This will be a need/question that we wish to pose or address.

I am looking forward to working with both of you this year on this project. It should be a worthwhile and interesting adventure. We will resume our meetings on the Tuesday following Back To School Night.

Paul

Meeting #1

During our first gathering we established our "year-long" meeting time. We plan to meet every Tuesday (starting Sept. 15th) during our lunch period. -Paul