Communication Improvement Plan For Area High School

INTRODUCTION

Effective communication of supervisor’s with their direct reports is essential to the productivity of any organization. In the case of an area school district, principles must communicate with the department heads, who in turn must communicate with their fellow teachers within the department. If the communication chain breaks down at any of these points, the department productivity will suffer, hurting the teachers’ ability to effectively teach his/her students.

Being a communications teacher yourself, you’ll understand the importance of communication within a department. This report evaluates the current communication method of an area school district and includes my recommendations to improve the communications between department heads and their direct reports.

In my report you’ll find general information on the pitfalls of the current communication practices at an area high school, in particularly the science department, as well as my recommendations for improving their overall communications process.

Background History of the School

At the end of the 2006/2007 school year, the science department of an areas high school lost half their teachers and performed interviews to replace the ones they lost as well as recruit for the new positions needed for the growing enrollment rates. The department ended up hiring four new teachers for the 2007/2008 school year.

The area high school had undergone a large amount of change in the last seven years and has continued to revamp their current curriculum to meet the recent changes in the education laws. The previous administration had been in office for several years and had a track record of being well organized and supportive of their staff. Seven years ago, the majority of the administration retired/left along with a bulk of the tenure faculty, causing a number of inexperienced individuals to take over key positions. Therefore, the faculty left to replace the head of the science department lacked the inexperience and may not have been the best person for the position.

The current supervisor of the science department is new to the position. Although the supervisor had taught for a number of years in the school district, she is inexperienced in a leadership role. The supervisor is not well liked by the student body because she does not believe in offering tutoring to help the students or second chances for improvement. The last couple of years, the science department had problems keeping their staff and hired new teachers. This report focuses on one of the new teachers hired for the 2007/2008 school year.