Human Performance Improvement Report

Client Morgan County Middle School

Organization:

Team Members: Talia Waller

Naketa Cornegay
Executive Summary
The following Human Performance Report explores the relationship and the effectiveness

of communication amongst teachers and staff at Morgan County Middle School. The middle

school is located in a rural town that consists of approximately 29,000 residents, in Madison, Ga.

Many of the teachers at the middle school felt that the communication amongst the staff

members within grade levels and vertically was not consistent. Recently, the district made

several changes within the administrative team and department chairs. This change and the

miscommunication of expectations and procedures, made it difficult for teachers and staff

members to receive important information from the district and board members.

In order to collect data pertaining to the effectiveness of communication at Morgan

County Middle School, we decided to conduct a series of interviews, surveys, and focus groups.

The interviews were given to members of the administrative team in order to establish the

expectations for communication within the middle school, and we interviewed various teachers

to gain an understanding of their communication skills and habits. The surveys were sent out to

every teacher at the middle school using a Google Form. The survey was used to gather a larger

sample of data from the 58 teachers at Morgan County Middle School, regarding their use of

communication and the effectiveness within their contents and grade levels. The focus group that

we held consisted of 5 educators at the middle school. This focus group enabled us to analyze

and evaluate discussions in regards to communication. After collecting all of our desired data, we

found that 28% of the teachers at Morgan County Middle School felt that communication was

effective amongst their peers. Since our desired performance level was 85%, we were left with a

performance gap of 57% of teachers who would need to feel as though communication was

effective. The potential causes of this performance gap within our data was a lack of clear and
concise guidelines. Many teachers at Morgan County Middle School did not know the

expectations, of the level of communication, that were expected of them as a staff member.

When asked, they could not identify the administration’s hopes. Another potential cause was the

lack of motivation to communicate with their peers. When it came to communication with the

administrative team, they felt that it was pointless because changes and suggestions would not be

considered. In regards to faculty meetings, email replies, polls, and surveys, teachers felt that

other staff members and admin would proceed with things the way that they felt was best

anyway.

The recommendation that we would incorporate to minimize the performance gap would

be to provide coaching to the teachers and staff members at Morgan County Middle School.

Coaching would provide the teachers with on site training and support on how to effectively

communicate with others. Teachers would also be able to receive both positive and negative

feedback of their communicative performance.

Assignment 1: Identified Performance Problem - Module 1
Description of Organization

Mission/Purpose Statement

“Our Mission...In partnership with families and the community, Morgan County Middle

School will provide an exemplary learning environment that is developmentally responsive to the

academic and personal growth of all students.”

Physical Setup/location/contextual factors

Morgan County Middle School is a historical building. The building was first established

in the early 1950s. Due to the historical preservation and age of the building, the overall

appearance is tattered. There are two main buildings that make up the campus, an upper and

lower building. The upper building consists of the main office, gymnasium, and 8th grade

classrooms. The lower building of the campus contains 6th and 7th grade classrooms, office,

library, and the cafeteria.

Morgan County Middle School is located in Madison, Ga. Madison County is a county

located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia.The population is approximately

29,880. The county seat is Danielsville. The county was created on December 5, 1811. The

median income is approximately $47,600.

The current student enrollment at Morgan County Middle School is 744 students, and

there are 58 teachers currently employed at this location. 52 percent of students are male and 48

percent of students are female. The student: teacher ratio is 13:1. 40 percent of students at

Morgan County Middle School are currently receiving free lunch and 3 percent of students are

receiving lunch at a reduced rate.

Employees and clients

This client organization, Morgan County Middle School, is made up of 58 teachers who

have teaching experience ranging from 1 year to 31 years in education. 78% of all employees

that are employed by this organization are certified in at least one or more content subject. 22%

of employees that are employed by this organization are classified employees who serve as

student support and paraprofessionals.

The clients in this organization are made up of 744 students who are in 6th-8th grade

students. 63% of students in this organization are white, 29% of students are black, 6% are

Hispanic, and 2% are mulitracial. 40% of students in this organization were proficient in math on

the Georgia Milestones and 49% of students were proficient in reading.

Description of The Problem

○ What's occurring currently?

■ The current behavior/performance that needs to improve is the

inconsistency in communication. Employees would like to see clear

guidelines and consequences, sharing of information, and motivation to

communicate for the betterment of the organization at least 90% of the

time.

■ The recent change of department chairs delivering information could have

led us to this point. Important information is now coming from the board

office to principals/assistant principals to academic coaches to department

chairs to employees/staff. It was previously coming from the board office

to principals/assistant principals to everyone else in the building.

 ■ This has been identified as a problem by the teachers and staff. They

know it is a problem, would like to fix it, but do not know how to fix it

effectively. They identified this problem through discussions in faculty

meetings, professional learning, and conferences throughout the school

year.

○ Who all is affected by this problem?

■ The parties impacted currently by the problem are: teachers,

administrators, students, parents, community, and school staff.

■ This problem needs to be addressed in order to improve the achievement

levels in the school. The communication problem being fixed will also

engage the community more. When the problem is addressed this should

cut down on confusion between different parties.

 Assignment 2: Data Collection Plan - Module 2

Data Source Type Method of Rationale for Data Collection Data Collection
of Data Completion
Data Collection Date*

7th Grade Qual Interview Teachers are not consistently communicating 2/27/2020
Teachers (n=5) effectively for instructional purposes to meet
administrators’ expectations. An interview, which is
an appropriate data collection method because it
yields for great quantities of information, will help
our team identify not only how often teachers claim
to be consistently communicating effectively for
instructional purposes but potential reasons for the
lack of effective consistent communication. Sample
questions will include:
● How often do you communicate effectively
for instructional purposes?
○ Can you give an example?
● What aspects do you consider before
communicating in the work environment?
● What is your communication style?

Grade Level Mixed Survey Given the problem described above, teachers and staff 3/3/2020
Teachers and are potentially impacted by the lack of
Staff (n=40) communication among teachers for instructional
purposes. This survey, which is being used as a
method of collecting varied data from a somewhat
large sample, will ask teachers their thoughts on
communication skills within the organization. This
data will be used to help identify the current
performances as well as any potential barriers that are
identified from the “user” level.

7th Grade Mixed Observation Given the problem described above, the work 3/4/2020
Teachers environment is potentially impacted by the lack of
(n=5) consistent communication in the workplace. An
observation, which is an appropriate data collection
method because it yields for great qualitative and
quantitative information about communication, the
workers, and the work environment, will help our
team identify not only how often teachers claim to be
consistently communicating effectively for
instructional purposes but potential reasons for the
lack of effective consistent communication. Some
things that will be observed would be:
● Is the communication method the same for all
 teachers?
● How frequently do teachers communicate?
● What qualities of the behavior are important?
● Do obstacles to consistently communicate
effectively exist in the work environment?
-Can you give an example?
● What differentiate the high communicators
from the low communicators?

Administrative Qual Focus Group A focus group, which is particularly helpful in sorting 3/5/2020
Team out future performance issues that could arise from
(n=5) inconsistent communication, will help our team
identify potential reasons for the lack of effective
consistent communication, but also what they feel
would be some solutions to fix it. The focus group
will allow us to analyze and evaluate discussions
amongst a select group of administrators. Some
sample questions are:
● What type of barriers do you encounter with
communicating effectively?
● Why do you feel like these are barriers?
● What future performance issues do you see
forthcoming from inconsistent
communication?
● What type of solutions have you encountered
for consistent communication?
● What is your ideal performance of teachers
and staff that would communicate
effectively?

Assignment 3: Gap Analysis Report - Module 3

Environmental Analysis
Workplace Analysis

Morgan County Middle School has many technological resources and additional support

for teachers and students to utilize. All classrooms are equipped with electronic Smart Boards,

thin clients, printers, and charging stations for students’ chromebooks. All supplied devices in
the classroom are supported and monitored by the district's instructional technology specialists.

A group of technology specialists are stationed at Morgan County Middle School every

Wednesday and Thursday of each instructional week, so they can support teachers’ needs with

technology. If there are teachers who experience issues with technology in their classroom or

with their devices, the specialists are able to drop in and fix any issues that are present. If needed,

teachers are also able and encouraged to schedule sessions during their planning to receive

instructional training on how to navigate and use some of the provided teacher applications

online or tech tips.

The administrative team, that consists of the principal, two assistant principals, and

academic support specialists, at Morgan County Middle school is very hands-on and supportive

of student engagement in the classroom. Teachers are provided TKES evaluations throughout the

academic year with both positive and constructive feedback. In addition to the routine

evaluations, the academic support specialist completes reflective evaluations and provides

teachers with immediate feedback regarding their lessons and planning. The teachers are then

able to use the evaluation feedback to address and make corrections.

Work Analysis

Educators at Morgan County Middle School are expected to carry out several tasks and

responsibilities throughout the instructional week/day. Teachers are expected to complete and

submit lesson plans for the week each Monday before 8:00 a.m. Lesson plans must be thorough,

detailed and have a clear beginning middle and end (opener, instructional period, and closing).

Teachers are also required to follow a weekly meeting schedule during their planning. Mondays

are grade level meetings with administration, Tuesdays are team meeting days, Wednesday are

content meeting days, and Thursdays are Response Tier Intervention days.
 During administrative meetings, the principal and assistant principals provide all teachers

in each grade level important information and updates regarding procedures, policies, and data.

Teachers are also given the opportunity to ask questions and clarify any misconceptions that they

have during this time. After the administrative team has met with each grade level, the principal

emails the entire staff a review of the content that was presented in the grade level meeting.

When it comes to content meetings, teachers should be discussing/ creating plans for lessons,

standards that will be covered, and assessments for students. However, many teachers fail to use

this time correctly. Teachers often complain that they do not have enough time to grade papers,

meet with parents concerning students, etc. With that being said, several teachers use their

content planning days and Fridays to complete these tasks. This behavior creates an

inconsistency between content teachers. Teachers who were able to meet, if there was actually a

meeting held, may have all established a plan for content for the following week, and teachers

who were not able to attend the meeting may have missed important information regarding

planned instruction. This could ultimately lead to an issue because the school requires all

contents to quiz and test students at the same time or during the same week. Each content is also

required to have the same number of grades for essential areas in the grade book. These essential

areas consist of test grades and performance task grades.

Workforce Analysis

There are several skills and knowledge that educators must possess while working at

Morgan County Middle School. It’s very important that teachers are knowledgeable regarding

their content area and the standards that are expected for students to know. These plans are

outlined in our lesson plans, but we also have to have them displayed in our classroom on the

board. Our instruction board, in our classroom, contains our standards that we are teaching for
the day, student learning targets, openers, and closers for the period. Because our district recently

made each school and student in the district 1:1 with technology, teachers are required to utilize

their devices heavily in their daily instruction. One of the main issues with the expectation is that

the district did not provide teachers with training and knowledge on how to use the new devices

and technology to promote effective learning in their classrooms. Instead the instructional

technology specialists would send out tech tips that will show you how to use something on your

device, once or twice a week. They will also allow teachers to schedule sessions during their

planning to help.

When it comes to grading, all educators at the middle school are expected/ encouraged to

record a select number of grades each week. It is also an expectation that each content has the

same amount of quiz, test and performance tasks grade. Consistency with grades across teams

are very important. Class work grades and daily grades are allowed to vary by teacher. This is

often a problem because many teachers are not on one accord with grading and assigned tasks in

class. Since all teachers do not effectively communicate during their planning effectively, as they

should, several teachers often go about procedures in their classroom differently.

Gap Analysis

Actual Desired Performance Performance Gap Data and Rationale

Performance

28% of the faculty 85% of the faculty 57% more of the ● The teacher survey that was
and staff at and staff at Morgan faculty and staff at used to collect this data was
Morgan County County Middle Morgan County in the form of a Google
Middle School School feel that they Middle School Form. The survey
feel that they communicate need to feel as specifically asked teachers
communicate effectively with other though effective and staff members to rate
effectively with teachers and staff in communication is how effective their
other teachers and the school. being performed communication was, the
staff in the school. amongst teachers communication of other
and staff in the staff members,
school. communication with
administrators, and the
importance of
communication as a whole
in education. There were
also spots for a short answer
response.

● We interviewed the
administrative staff to
determine the desired
performance level per their
expectations. We used this
information to identify the
expected performance
levels.
Cause Analysis
57% more of the faculty and staff at Morgan County Middle school need to feel as

though effective communication is being performed amongst teachers, administrators, and staff

in the school in order to reach the desired performance.

Potential Causes

We identified two potential causes for the low percentage: lack of clear guidelines to

performance and lack of individual motivation. Lack of clear guidelines to performance is an

environmental cause and lack of individual motivation is an individual cause.

Potential Cause 1: Lack of Clear Guidelines to Performance (Environment = Information-

Data).

We conducted a survey from teachers and staff members. The teacher survey that was

used to collect this data was in the form of a Google Form. The survey specifically asked

teachers and staff members to rate how effective their communication was, the communication

of other staff members, communication with administrators, and the importance of

communication as a whole in education. There were also spots for a short answer response. It led

us to this cause from the comments and responses that we received from certain questions that

were asked. Some individuals feel as though they do not know what colleagues (team members)

and the administration team would like from them in the area of communication. Some

individuals feel as though the guidelines are inconsistent. It was also stated that if guidelines are

in place but not followed that there are no consequences in place to correct the problem.

Potential Cause 2: Lack of Individual Motivation (Individual = Motivation-Motives).

 We conducted a survey from teachers and staff members. The teacher survey that was

used to collect this data was in the form of a Google Form. The survey specifically asked

teachers and staff members to rate how effective their communication was, the communication

of other staff members, communication with administrators, and the importance of

communication as a whole in education. There were also spots for a short answer response. It led

us to this cause from the comments and responses that we received from certain questions that

were asked. Individuals expressed that they lack motivation in certain situations that require

communication. For example, participating in professional learning discussions, faculty

meetings, surveys, polls, replying back to emails, etc. They stated that “People are going to do

what they want to do anyway.”, “Administrative team will still have the final say so, what’s the

point.”, and “I just do my job and keep to myself,” were some of the responses. The individuals

stated that they would feel more motivated if they felt more appreciated in the building, not only

from the administration team but colleagues as well.

Barriers to Success

One barrier to success that we are likely to encounter based on our data is the resistance

to change. We found out that the administration team does not see a huge threat with

communication. From the survey, staff members do see an issue with effective communication.

It would take both the administration team being willing to change and the staff willing to accept

the change. Differences in perception and viewpoint would be another barrier towards the

desired performance of effective communication. Individuals often see things differently

depending on culture, background knowledge, emotions, etc. Everyone would have to be on the

same page in order to get over that hump. Individuals will have to use facts and not personal

opinions.
Assignment 4: Human Performance Improvement Report
- Module 4
Recommendation 1: Coaching

Description

Coaching provides help to the employees by guiding on-the-job performance and training. A

coach is someone who teaches, supports, motivates, provides positive and negative feedback,

encourages, etc. The coach(es) would be the middleman that provides solid communication and

listening skills amongst the staff. The coaching intervention would provide praise on a job well

done, corrective feedback as needed, a consistent idea of clear guidelines coming from the same

person, practice on things that need to be corrected, a support system. The coach (es) would also

provide consistency and a safe environment for employees to express concerns. Coaching falls

under the personal development category in the HPI Model.

Addressed Gaps or Barriers

The coaching intervention would address the gap of 57% more of the faculty and staff at Morgan

County Middle School needing to feel as though effective communication is being performed

amongst teachers, administrators, and staff in the school in order to reach the desired

performance. The intervention would also address the possible barrier of the resistance of change

amongst the staff.

Rationale
We identified that 57% more of the faculty and staff at Morgan County Middle school need to

feel as though effective communication is being performed amongst teachers, administrators, and

staff in the school in order to reach the desired performance. This was over half of the faculty
and staff. Individuals expressed that they lack motivation in certain situations that require

communication. For example, participating in professional learning discussions, faculty

meetings, surveys, polls, replying back to emails, etc. They stated that “People are going to do

what they want to do anyway.”, “Administrative team will still have the final say so, what’s the

point.”, and “I just do my job and keep to myself,” were some of the responses. The individuals

stated that they would feel more motivated if they felt more appreciated in the building, not only

from the administration team but colleagues as well. It was also identified that there is a lack of

clear guidelines to what is expected. Some individuals feel as though they do not know what

colleagues (team members) and the administration team would like from them in the area of

communication. Some individuals feel as though the guidelines are inconsistent. It was also

stated that if guidelines are in place but not followed that there are no consequences in place to

correct the problem. From this information, we then decided that “coaching” would be a

wonderful intervention to possibly fix the lack of clear guidelines to performance, lack of

individual motivation, and possible resistance to change. We decided on coaching because we

feel as though it covers several of the personal development intervention areas such as: feedback,

mentoring, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and communities of practice. Feedback

will be given whether positive or negative. The mentoring stage will provide the emotional

support, guidance, trust, and support that is needed to help with being resistant to change.

Eventually from the coaching sessions, individuals' emotional and social intelligence will

increase. Individuals will start to identify and understand others as well as their own emotional

reactions and start to get along well with others socially. The greatest part is that the school will

hopefully join together and begin to share ideas, collaborate, respect each others’ similarities and

differences, and learn from each other.

----
Checklists/Assessment Criteria
Assignment 1: Identified Performance Problem
● Professionalism (15 points)
○ Completed the cover page (5 points)
○ Submitted a document in narrative form with no grammatical or formatting issues (5
points)
○ Met the required page limit (5 points)
● Organization Description (15 points)
○ Described the organization’s purpose and mission (5 points)
○ Described the organization’s physical setup/location/contextual factors (5 points)
○ Described the organization’s employees and clients (5 points)
● Problem Description (20 points)
○ Described what’s currently occurring, including an actual performance (10 points)
○ Described who identified this as a problem and how (5 points)
○ Described all parties who are currently impacted by this problem (5 points)
Assignment 2: Data Collection Plan

● Professionalism (10 points)

○ Completed the cover page (5 points)
○ Submitted a document in narrative form with no grammatical or formatting issues (5
points)
● Data Collection Plan (40 points)
○ Identified the following components for at least 4 sources
■ Data source and sample size (5 points)
■ Type of data (5 points)
■ Method of data collection (5 points)
■ Rationale for data collection that connects the type of data collected to the
performance problem and the facet of the problem (i.e., does the data address the
performance gap[s] or the causes of the gap[s]) (20 points)
■ Data collection completion date is provided for each source and is projected to be
complete by the end of Module 3 (5 points)
Assignment 3: Gap Analysis Report

● Professionalism (20 points)

○ Completed the cover page (5 points)
○ Submitted a document with no grammatical or formatting issues (15 points)
● Environmental Analysis (40 points)
○ Described the following components of your selected environment (40 points)
■ Workplace (e.g., resources, tools, information, feedback and
consequences/rewards/incentives for performance or nonperformance)
■ Work (e.g., job tasks and processes, job policies, employee responsibilities)
■ Workforce (e.g., knowledge, skills, motivation, expectations, capacity)
● Gap Analysis (60 points)
○ Quantified the actual performance (what’s actually happening) (15 points)
○ Quantified the desired performance (what the ideal scenario is) (15 points)
○ Compared the actual and desired performances and stated the performance gap (15
points)
○ Described the data, data collection, and data analysis (15 points)
● Cause Analysis (80 points)
○ Identified the potential causes of the performance gap (20 points)
○ Identified the category from Gilbert's Behavioral Engineering Model that relates to the
cause (10 points)
○ Explained a rationalization from the data collected and the connection to the identified
causes (30 points)
○ Identified potential barriers that may impact positive results (20 points)
Assignment 4: Human Performance Improvement Report (Executive
Summary and Recommendations)
● Professionalism (20 points)
○ Completed the cover page (5 points)
○ Submitted a document with no grammatical or formatting issues (15 points)
● Incorporation of Feedback (20 points)
○ Addressed comments raised by the instructors in Assignments 1-3 (20 points)
● Executive Summary (80 points)
○ Summarized the purpose of doing this project (20 points)
○ Summarized the findings related to this project (20 points)
○ Summarized the recommendations (20 points)
○ Used concise and client-friendly language (20 points)
● Recommendation for Closing Performance Gaps (80 points)
○ Identified interventions that match with the type of cause (40 points)
○ Explained the rationale for choosing the specific intervention (40 points)