Administration and Community Relations

Masters of Science in Education

EDU 554

Breyer State University
Instructor: Janice DeCicco Fipp, Ed.D

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to EDU 554 Administration and Community Relations. This is a very valuable course. A school administrator who understands public relations and who is sensitive to the needs of the community will make better decisions along the way. Planning for the communication process among the board of education, the school administration and the community as an ongoing process or specifically in a crisis situation will make a school leader much more successful in all efforts. For these reasons and more, this course content will be utilized by you in your career in education.

TIME FRAME: This is a four-semester hour course. You are allotted fifteen weeks to successfully complete all of the requirements for the course. The first day of week one will begin the day you register for the course, or the day you notify me that your textbook has arrived and you are ready to begin. Please be cognizant of the time frame. It is rare that extensions of the time are permitted, unless there is good justification. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded four semester hours of credit.

TEXTBOOK: There is one required textbook for this course.

Book 1: The School & Community Relations, 9th Edition. Don Bagin and Donald Gallagher; Pearson, Allyn and Bacon 2008: ISBN-10:0-205-50906-1.

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EXAMINATIONS: There are two examinations for this course, a mid-term exam and a final exam.

The mid-term exam must be taken at the end of the 8th week of the course.

The final examination must be taken by the end of the 15th week in the course.

Both exams are in the classroom for this course. The examinations are "open book" essay and short answer tests. You will have one day to complete your exam once you access it from the classroom. To access the exam, you must send me an email and request to have access to the exam. Upon registration, you will receive my email address.  I will then program your access. You will receive an email from me telling you that you have been given access.
To access, you go to the online classroom, click on testing and click on the exam you are taking. You will need your USER ID and PASSWORD to access the exam.
Once you access the exam, you have 24 hours to submit your answers. The program provides the instructor the exact date and time you accessed the exam. It will also give me the date and time the exam answers were submitted by you.  Thus, you are timed. 
Your exam will be scored by your instructor and returned to you within 48 hours.

GRADING: The grading scale for this course is as follows:

90-100%    = A
80-89%      = B
70-79%      = C
Below 70% = Fail

COMMUNICATION: Although, the course requires that you complete a good amount of reading on your own, I encourage you to communicate with me. I am available as a teacher, a coach, and a mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course.

Primarily, communication is through email. Our classroom for this course has a "chat" room. I am very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat with you at your request. From time to time, depending on how many students are enrolled at a particular time, we will have some scheduled group chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such sessions are scheduled. If at any time during this course you change your email address, please be sure to notify me right away.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: The written assignments for this course will include reactions to readings or observations, as well as listed assignments in Classroom.

Although this is a Maters Level Education course and mastery of the course content is our focus, as in any English Composition course, I will give you feedback on your writing.  As a future educational leadership, you will be a role model in how you conduct yourself, how you communicate, as well as how well you lead others.  Do not be concerned if you receive feedback with recommendations or corrections on sentence structure, grammar or usage.  Follow my lead, and you will become more confident and successful within your current position and any future career path you choose.

READING ASSIGNMENTS: This textbook, as in most texts concerning the education profession, has a great deal of content in every paragraph, every page, and every chapter.
The best way to be successful in mastering the content in each chapter is to use the study skills methods taught in many high schools and colleges today.
An example of how to read and learn from nonfiction text, such as ours:

 Bring to mind any prior knowledge you may have on this   topic and also begin generating questions identifying what  you would like to learn about this topic.

Read table of contents and read the title of each chapter.

To again bring to mind prior knowledge and generate questions.

        When assigned to read a particular chapter, look for chapter  content objectives first.
         Next look for headings and subheadings.  These will assist you in outlining the chapter if you wish.
         Review and read all questions or activities at the end of the chapter prior to beginning reading.

Take each heading statement, turn it into a question and read to find the answer.  The answer to the question will be the most important information.  This is the beginning of you identifying main ideas from the supporting details.

Note taking and outlining today take the form as graphic organizers.  These could be webs, charts, or any diagram that clearly distinguishes the main idea from supporting details.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1). Bring to students, future school administrators, methods of determining the organization's most effective means of communicating with various publics in the community.
2). Effect the understanding of proper, effective communications techniques and the ability to use them in dealing with the public.
3). Show the changing nature of the relationships between the schools and the community and to bring about an understanding of trends and current thinking in the field.
4). Highlight practical methods of carrying out a public relations program.
5). To understand the connections among policies, goals and strategies for public relations.
6). To become skilled at administering a public relations program.
7). To become skilled at preparations and carrying out crises communications.
8). To become skilled at communication regarding school services and special events.
9). To identify communication tools to be employed.
10). To be knowledgeable and skilled at assessing one’s program of public relations.

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR: I, Janice DeCicco Fipp , Ed.D., currently teach graduate level courses within the Masters of Science Program in Education at Breyer State University . I hold a teaching certificate in elementary education, a masters degree in supervision and curriculum development and a doctorate in educational leadership. I have served as an elementary school teacher, a curriculum coordinator, a director of special services, and a school administrator for 31 years. Currently, I am principal of a 600 student elementary school and I love it. The daily challenges and pleasures regarding students, staff, parents, boards of education, state department mandates and laws keep the profession exciting and worth the effort!

My goal is to share a great deal with you, so you may move forward within your career.

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