Anne Barrett Mayfield

Educational Practicum in the

Community
Alamance Citizens of Education

Internship Project Proposal: The Classroom Closet Amelioration

Statement of Need-

The mission of Alamance Citizens of Education (ACE) is to

strengthen community support for quality public education in
Alamance County (Alamance). Unfortunately, Alamance County is
home to many students living in poverty. There are fifteen Title I
schools in the Alamance-Burlington School System, almost half of the
total number of schools in the county (District). As a result of this,
many students cannot afford their own school supplies and that burden
then becomes the teachers responsibility. Without the adequate tools
to learn, students are less engaged at school and have a lower chance
to succeed. Since there is not usually money in the schools budgets
for extra supplies, teachers are forced to use their own money.
Statistics show that teachers spend an average of 500 dollars a year
out of pocket on school supplies for their students (Klein).
The Classroom Closet, ACEs biggest program, is a resource store
that provides teachers in ABSS with unlimited supplies for their
classroom. Teachers pay an annual membership fee of thirty dollars to
shop for as many supplies they need once each nine weeks. The goal
of the Classroom Closet is to take the monetary burden off of teachers
providing their students with school supplies, to help provide a higher
quality learning environment for their students and improve their
morale, and to make teachers and students feel valued by their
community (Alamance).
So far during the 2016-2017 school year, there are about 300
teacher memberships and there have been 157 teacher visits and
$24,000 worth of supplies distributed (Alamance). While these
numbers are notable, ACE wants to go above and beyond to increase
participation in the Classroom Closet and grow the program. There is
also a need to modernize the processes and databases, amplify
marketing and advertising for the program, and fortify community
support and donations. These improvements are the focus of my
project throughout my time at ACE. I will be creating a plan of action
based on the needs of the Classroom Closet and the community, then
present it to the Executive Director of ACE, Stephanie Braxton, and the
Classroom Closet Coordinator, Brett Mock at the end of the semester
(the week of May 1st-5th) for them to decide whether the Classroom
Closet will continue to be a beneficial program for the community and
ACE.
Based on the research I have conducted thus far on the history of
the program and the use of tools and processes in place currently, I

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Educational Practicum in the
Community
Alamance Citizens of Education

have come up with six main areas of reform for the Classroom Closet.
These categories include: (1) spreading awareness of the program
throughout ABSS with an enhanced marketing campaign, (2) increasing
social media presence and the quality and quantity of posts, (3)
updating the website to make it easier to navigate and more
aesthetically pleasing, (4) adjusting the membership and visitation
details, (5) sprucing up the store to boost satisfaction during shopping,
and (6) expanding partnerships and community involvement.
To determine what changes and improvements in these
categories are necessary for the Classroom Closet to grow, I will
continue to research the program by analyzing the database numbers
as well as conducting surveys, focus groups, interviews, and
observations. This will help me understand what current members like
and what they want to see change in the Classroom Closet, in addition
to recognizing what non-members need in order to motivate them to
utilize the program.

Project Description-

My project will include a large amount of research and

implementation and will span three months. The focus, as mentioned
above, is to improve participation in ACEs Classroom Closet and grow
the program. This will require input and support from the Executive
Director of ACE, Stephanie Braxton, and the Classroom Closet
Coordinator, Brett Mock. In addition, I will need the compliance and
involvement of current members, volunteers, and donors. School
Administrators and PTOs throughout the county will also be a target
supporter in this process. These are the people necessary for
implementing this project and reaching our goals.

Deliverables:
A deliverable is a thing in a project (product or service) that is to
be provided. The goal of this particular project is to increase
participation in the Classroom Closet. In order to do this, ACE needs to
show teachers and supporters throughout ABSS that the Classroom
Closet is a program worth being a part of. The hopeful end result of this
project is for most of the county to be more aware of ACE and the
Classroom Closet, to have more motivation to become a member and
utilize our services, and to provide them with easier access and more
satisfaction while they are members. In return, these deliverables will
have an impact on the quality of education in the classrooms of
teachers utilizing the program and improve the morale of their
students.

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 Anne Barrett Mayfield
Educational Practicum in the
Community
Alamance Citizens of Education

Quality:
Quality is the level to which product meets specific expectations
or our goal. Our main goal is to increase participation and awareness of
ACE and the Classroom Closet. In order to make this happen there
must me extensive research and feedback given on the program and
changes made based on the feedback. Depending of the type of goal
set, the deadline will either be by the end of the semester, May 9th,
2017, or by the 2017-18 school year. Some of our measurable goals
based on our research at this point in the process are: (1) increase the
number of members by ten percent, (2) have each member shopping
at least twice a year, (3) increase awareness of the program by thirty
percent, (4) increase overall satisfaction in the program from current
members by ten percent, and (5) increase number of followers on
social media (reach 500 followers on Facebook and 300 on Instagram).

Manner:
Manner is the way things are done to accomplish the goal. The
manner in which I plan on accomplishing the goals in this project
includes a variety of different research methods. I will be looking at the
history of ACE and the Classroom Closet- what has been successful and
what has not. I will also be reviewing the previous surveys and
marketing plans that have been conducted in previous years. In
addition, I plan on creating new surveys, interviewing members and
non-members, hosting focus groups, and collecting observations. I will
also be collecting a lot of data and performing heavy data analysis to
determine the changes that need to be made in order to accomplish
our goal.

Scope:
The scope is the work and resources that are put into the
creation or solution of the product or service. For this project regarding
the amelioration of the Classroom Closet, I hope to make changes in
the six categories mentioned above to reach our overall goal of
increasing awareness and participation in the program. These changes
will be based on my findings from the research noted in the manner
section of this proposal.
From me research thus far, I have many ideas of changes or
improvements to make in each category. Under the first goal,
spreading awareness of the Classroom Closet throughout ABSS with an
enhanced marketing campaign, I plan on going into as many schools as
possible in the county to meet in person with teachers and spread
awareness of the program. I also want to have a school liaison or

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 Anne Barrett Mayfield
Educational Practicum in the
Community
Alamance Citizens of Education

representative for each school to provide the teachers with updates

and important information regarding the Classroom Closet. Overall, I
want to have more advertising for the program as well. Some changes I
have in mind regarding the second goal, increasing social media
presence and the quality and quantity of posts, include gaining more
followers through incentives such as a raffle, making posts more
engaging and relevant to the organization, and providing reminders of
shopping times.
The third goal is to update the website to make it easier to
navigate and more aesthetically pleasing. To accomplish this goal I will
be edited the layout of the website and removing and adding
information to make it more engaging. I also want to make it easier for
visitors to make online donations. The fourth goal, adjusting the
visitation and membership details, will be heavily determined by the
research and feedback I bring in later. However, some aspects that
have been debated in the past are the hours and availability to shop,
the eligibility to become a member, the membership fee, the
restrictions on number of visits, and the quality and quantity of items.
These are details that I will be considering throughout the process.
Sprucing up the store to boost satisfaction during shopping is the
fifth goal and this is another goal that will be heavily determined
through feedback. Some ideas I have so far for this goal include
brightening the store to improve the mood when you walk in and
making it more engaging with pictures, music, and work that shows the
affect the Classroom Closet has had on students and classrooms across
the county. The last goal is expanding partnerships and community
involvement, which will require a lot of help from the staff and board of
directors at ACE. To accomplish this goal, I want to get the community
members such as schools and teachers, churches, businesses, and
other nonprofits more involved with ACE and the Classroom Closet.
This can be just by attending our events or helping to spread
awareness of our organization, or by donating or volunteering.

Define Parameters-

Budget:
While there is no real monetary budget set aside for this project,
it is crucial that I budget my time and my resources.

Timeline:
My internship began January 30th, 2017. The first few weeks are
for familiarizing myself with the organization, its history, what it is
today, and its daily operations as well as looking into organizations

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 Anne Barrett Mayfield
Educational Practicum in the
Community
Alamance Citizens of Education

similar to ACE. The next step is to create a plan and draft a project
proposal to share with the people involved. From there, I will begin the
research process to gain valuable information and data to guide my
project. Afterwards is when the actual changes can start being made
and the implementations can be put in place. As the end of the
semester approaches, I can start measuring the applicable goals to see
the progress of the project. Sometime during the last week of my
internship, May 1st-5th, I will be presenting my project and the proposed
changes to Stephanie Braxton, the Executive Director of ACE, and the
Board of Directors where they can then make the decision to
implement or ignore the changes.

Information Needed:
Most of the information I will need throughout my project will be
collected through my research. However, I will need access to the
databases to look at the history of the Classroom Closet, as well as the
tools and processes in place currently and in the past. I will also be
looking at previous surveys and reviews of the program. ACEs Logic
Model is also necessary information needed to complete my project, as
these are the main goals of the entire organization and any changes
made need to coincide with that.

Citations

Alamance Citizens for Education. N.p., 2013. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.

<http://www.aceed.org/home.html>.

"District Information." Alamance-Burlington School System /

Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.
<http://www.abss.k12.nc.us/>.

Klein, Rebecca. "Teachers Spend Way Too Much Of Their Own Money On
School Supplies, And Heres Proof." The Huffington Post. N.p., 3
Sept. 2015. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.