3 Tampa Principals Present Research Projects At U.S. Conference

Tampa FL

12 October, 2021

12:37 PM

Description

TAMPA, FL — The Cahn Fellows Programs, an industry-leading national training and leadership skills program designed to elevate and inspire urban school leaders, will hold its Annual Leadership Conference offering more than 40 distinguished principals from some of the largest school districts from across the country, including three Hillsborough County principals, a platform to share the findings of the year-long research projects they completed as part of the program. Participating Tampa principals and brief descriptions of their research projects are included below for your convenience: Principal Melanie Hill-Anderson, Bing Elementary School - Increasing Student Reading Proficiency with a Shift ChangeThe project reviews strategies to increase reading proficiency for a targeted group of students at Bing Elementary. For at least three years at Bing Elementary, only about 20-25 percent of students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade have left the school year reading on grade level. Due to reading being the basis for all subjects, the low number of proficient students is concerning. As a result of this data, Anderson is working to increase reading proficiency rates in grades K-5 with a primary focus on fourth-grade students. Anderson will give her presentation Oct. 17 at 11:30 a.m. Principal Catherine Missy Lennard, Stowers Elementary School - Managing the Adjustment from Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade to Ensure a Successful Transition -- What Students and Teachers Want to Know This study explored the perspectives of fifth- and sixth-grade students, teachers and school administrators on the transition from elementary to middle school. The Cahn Project focused on leveraging the unique opportunity of being the only conjoined school in the Hillsborough County School District with separate faculty, staff and administrative teams on a shared campus. Although there are no physical barriers between the schools, the district School Climate and Perception Survey and qualitative data surrounding student and teacher perceptions suggests that sixth-graders struggle with acclimating to their new learning environment. Lennard's presentation will take place on Oct. 17 at 1:05 p.m. Amber Cronin, Pizzo K-8, Hillsborough County - Climate and Culture: The Adaptive Challenge of Improving Mutual Respect, Trust and Communication in a K-8 Setting with Fluid Staff MovementThis project set out to uncover school based leadership moves and traits that would result in an improvement of the teacher's perception of a school's climate and culture, with an intentional focus in the areas of mutual respect, trust and comfort of raising issues to school leadership. The initial data captured from an anonymous survey taken by teachers in spring 2020 provided data that alerted leadership that immediate reflection, probing, and insight into intrinsic traits and interactions were necessary to improve the perception of the instructional staff. Cronin's presentation will take place on Oct. 17 at 1:05 p.m. The full schedule for the Annual Leadership Conference is available at the links below: Day 1 scheduleDay 2 schedule Those interested in attending can register here.