Education Services  

It takes years of practical, "in-the-trenches" experience to be effective within the educational community. This is where the MWH Group shines. Some of our key counselors have been employed in the educational field as teachers and administrators and have successfully dealt with all the significant issues facing this group. We can show you how to bring the disparate parties together, how to improve morale, and how to create innovative programs that will highlight your school to the community. Student - Staff Relationships A large, urban middle school in a major metropolitan area first administered the Staff Perception of School Program and Student Perception of School Program survey during the 1998-99 school year. There were a number of issues that demonstrated a need for attention. Realizing that it would be difficult to take on all of the issues at once, the School Leadership Team decided to address one area in the coming year. This area was relationships between students and staff. The student version of the survey revealed that students did not respect the staff. The staff version of the survey indicated that staff did not feel respected. The School Leadership Team decided that concerns about respect could be addressed through a common definition of respect. The school's conflict resolution program facilitator recalled a situation in which a staff member reprimanded a student in the presence of others. Feeling embarrassed and disrespected, the student walked away. Immediately, the student was sent to the office for disciplinary action. When asked about this action during conflict resolution, the student stated that rather than disrespecting an adult his parents had counseled him to walk away. So, in fact, the behavior perceived by the staff member as disrespectful was intended to be a form of respect. After further discussion, staff members expressed that many of their behavioral referrals revolved around the respect issue. Students also recognized that many of the student conflicts were the result of one or more parties feeling disrespected. Most often, it was simply a matter of the difference in the "meanings" carried by each party. This prompted the School Leadership Team to initiate a program on "Respect" designed to increase awareness of the importance of respect and to have the school create a shared meaning of respect. This program lasted throughout the school year with events ranging from assemblies to small focus groups. When the surveys were administered again the following year, there was a significant change in the perceptions of all groups in the school about respect. Staff felt less disrespected, and students felt more respected and respectful. This is just one example of how surveys can serve as a powerful tool to renew and align commitment from everyone to make change happen. The decisions cannot be made in a vacuum. The School Leadership Team structure allows school improvement to take place through collaboration and dialogue. Client Testimonials Elementary School Leadership Team "You came to our school, and found it in turmoil and despair. Through hard and often painful work, you guided us away from the dark and back into the light. You saved our school in so many ways, professionally and spiritually. As a result, we have begun to come together as a team, and look forward to the challenges ahead. Thank you for your caring, counseling, wisdom and courage in leading us to become planners and leaders who will continue "the work."" United Federation of Teachers, Chapter Chair - January 2000 Middle School Leadership Team Thanks for your patience. Hope to see you again. You were really great. Excellent working sessions! Quite productive, informative and helpful! Thank you for giving us a chance to speak out about all of our concerns, and for accommodating all of our changes. We established a format with which to work effectively. I learned a lot about organizing committee work. Thank you for a job well done! The results of the staff, parents, and teachers' surveys were most effective. You really pinpointed our strengths and weaknesses this was extremely helpful. We covered an enormous amount of information that was extremely helpful. You were both excellent facilitators. You were most effective in helping our team to structure itself. Both of you were engaging and work well together, and keep things moving in a non-threatening manner. Some of the most effective moments were when we made decisions in the smallest amount of time. I learned a lot and feel we have grown as a group. Your modeling as facilitators, bringing us through a meeting process was most effective. We saw our strengths and weaknesses. I loved how we learned to organize ourselves and define our purposes. Great use of charts. I liked the parking lot idea. You came in prepared with written charts already done for us and knew where we needed to go! Both of you helped us to keep from cutting each other of from speaking. I liked the interactiveness of the meeting. Role modeling was good. June 2000 High School Leadership Team Thank you for bringing many issues "to light" for most members, helping some of us better understand each other and the roles we play. The ease of presentation demonstrated good meeting styles and reinforced the need for facilitators. Our open discussions enlightened me on some new issues. All segments were very effective. The presenters were excellent. This work session gave me an opportunity to think and express myself. This session really helped the group to see where we really are. I thought you were most effective by providing the opportunity for all members to participate by giving fast, candid opinions. I knew that the "Lost at Sea" exercise would go from individual to group, but I didn't realize how it would open up the group's feelings. I am enjoying learning more about myself and my teammates. Thanks for the insight. You were most effective in handling our group discussion about very "vulnerable and touchy" items that have been hard for us to approach. I really liked the way you guided the team to remain on task when we discussed the effective collaboration and ineffective collaboration component of the agenda. I've enjoyed working with you. You two have been great. I have raised my sense of awareness in planning our meetings. The work on use of dialogue for team members was very effective. Thank you both for helping us/me to learn how to relate to each other. May 2000 PTA President "I want to tell you that we had a really great, productive meeting yesterday. It was even more challenging than usual because our Principal couldn't make it. Everyone usually looks to her to be the first person to speak. We started off quiet in the beginning, but once we got started in talking, I mean, we just went off and you know, we created items that we are going to be discussing at our teachers' staff meeting and our PTA meeting. It was really, really good and we remembered a lot of things that we were taught. We are putting them together into our meetings . . . and it was really, really nice, and I just felt I wanted to tell you that." Parent Teacher Association President - April 2001 Click here to download our brochure. Download Recently Published Article