Terrilyn Ladd

Activity: Critique of School Website (B. z.)

June 9, 2013
As a part of the requirements for the School Management class, we were to critique a
school website. I picked the school where I was serving as the speech-language pathologist and I
renamed it Ann Example Elementary School. The school closed in May 2013. The details of the
critique are contained in this reflection.
The school website is a very important marketing tool. The school website can serve as a
way to introduce the school to the public. The school can showcase the school programs that are
implemented at the school, any awards the school has received, and even present ways that
parents may contact the teachers. A school website is the way much of the news is spread to
the technology-literate public. Therefore, the school website should be dynamic, something
that can go into different areas with just a click of the mouse.
Dr. Christie (2007) designed a rubric to evaluate websites and this was the tool that I used
to assess the website.
What went well?
The schools mission statement is clearly stated and consistent with state standards. There
are many resources for parents to use that will provide their child with practice on core subjects.
Even if the Dr. Christies rubric (2007) does not indicate that Ann Examples school website is
excellent, I would say that it is. It is excellent because it works for the school community. It is
easy to use, it high-lights school information, pertinent school programs, and it appeals to the
community that comes into contact with the website. In other words, the website works for the
people for whom it was designed to address, which includes the people in the Ann Example
School community.
There are some other good things about the website. I see a clear policy about admission,
the makeup of a school day and even early dismissals but there is not a clear listing about a
grading policy or discipline. The grading scale and discipline procedures are included in student
handbooks that students/parents receive during registration.
What did not go well?
There are some things that I did not see was a clear acceptable use policy. The schools
website is linked to the school districts website and I know that each staff member and parent
had to sign an acceptable use form. However, it is not listed on the website. There is limited
information listed about the details of the curriculum special programs and a mention of some of
the extracurricular programs offered in the school.
At Ann Example School, there is always conversation about community concerns and
what activities would appeal to the community members. However, the schools website does
not consistently list activities that appeal to the community. The only time that I have noted
activities that involve the community as a whole were those times when the area/community
held annual celebrations, such as Crane Day or other celebrations.
There is little mention of cultural diversity, language needs, or special needs. These
things are not mentioned, not because the school or community are opposed to it, but because the
community in which Ann Example School is located is not very diverse. It is made of people that
are from the rural community where the school is located and people that live in that community
are almost exclusively Caucasian, English speaking people that reside on large plats of land or
farms.
There are limited websites for parents listed on the schools websites. The parents have to
connect to the countys website in order to locate some helpful parental resources and links.
Teachers of Ann Example School are able to locate any teacher links or websites that would be
helpful as there are none listed on the schools site.
What could be done differently?
It looks like I have more things to say about what I judged as things that didnt go well
than the positive things about the website. Actually, though, I would judge Ann Examples
website to be quite good. According to the rubric, it consists of mostly areas that were judged to
be developing. Two areas that were emerging were sensitivity and links. If there was a
possibility of a do-over, I would try to move those emerging areas up to at least developing
and add in some easily accessible parent resource links However, I believe that even the
emerging areas work for Ann Example School as they are relevant for the community in which
the school is located.
Extraextra: The AT Department is working on their website in response to a directive from the
school superintendent and the Director of the Exceptional Education Department. Every school,
every department and every discipline has been given the directive to develop an active website.
Our AT Department website is a work in progress and changes weekly, sometimes on a daily
basis. Here is the link to the AT Department website:
http://www.hcde.org/?DivisionID=14315&DepartmentID=14915&SubDepartmentID=6719&To
ggleSideNav=ShowAll

Reference:
Christie, A. (2007). Dr. Alice Christie's Web Site Evaluation Rubric. Retrieved from Web Site
Evaluation Rubric: http://www.west.asu.edu/achristie/webrubric/rubric2d.html