- Posted by David on June 30, 2008
cost-cutting move
Teachers Uneasy Over Extra Class
Union and Polk school district continue to disagree over the schedule change that will increase workload.
By John Chambliss
The Ledger
Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 7:40 a.m.
LAKELAND | As if high school and middle school teachers didn't have enough on their plate. Next school year, they face teaching an extra class period per day, a move by the Polk County School District expected to save $16 million by eliminating 276 positions.
It means middle and high school teachers will have, on average, 25 more students than they did this school year. Upset with the change, teachers say they will not be properly paid for teaching the extra period, and they will lose quality time with struggling students.
For months, the district and teachers' union have wrangled over the schedule change. When the district recently called an impasse over the situation, the teachers' union said the district violated fair labor practices and filed a complaint with the Public Employees Relations Commission.
The union said the district walked away from the bargaining table when the two sides failed to agree on how much teachers should be paid for teaching an extra class. It's unclear how much more teachers want to be paid, but officials say they are asking for one-sixth of their current salaries, which would be an additional $9 million to $10 million cost for the district.
If a compromise cannot be reached at mediation July 15, an independent magistrate will hear the salary debate. Jose Farinas, the district's director of employee relations, acknowledges current relations with the union are difficult. "It's a period of difficulty, but we'll get past this," Farinas said.
In addition to saving millions, the district says the schedule change must be made for numerous reasons, including: Adding an extra class to the school day helps meet the requirements of the state class-size amendment passed in 2002, which is intended to improve education by cutting the number of students in classes. More equity. Elementary teachers already are required to spend more time with students than middle and high school teachers. Preventing layoffs. During tough financial times, the district said the move will eliminate teaching positions no longer needed. But the impact of the new schedule goes far beyond money and not only affects teachers but also their students. "This is a student learning issue," said Marianne Capoziello, Polk Education Association's president. "Teachers are concerned about how to maintain a quality education with an ever-shrinking amount of time."
STUDENT, TEACHER CHANGES
As a result of the extra period, students will be shortchanged, some teachers say.
With more students, papers will take longer to grade, teachers will be even more tired, and one-on-one contact time with struggling students will be hard to find, teachers say. Jewett Academy science teacher Polly Burkhart said, "Everyone has become frustrated" with the district's "unrealistic" expectations. "They are saying 'We want you to still hit these standards'; 'We want you to do better each year, but we are pulling out your time,'<0x200A>" she said. In addition to her worries about additional compensation, Burkhart said students will be affected by teachers pulling out of extracurricular activities. "I've heard teachers say, 'I'm not doing anything extra,'<0x200A>" Burkhart said.
Some have said they'll stop running clubs or taking students on field trips, she said. Burkhart said she realizes Superintendent Gail McKinzie controls the schedule. Still, she said, teachers may picket, hold rallies and write letters to the editor to oppose the schedule. Justin Troller, Lakeland High School American government teacher and Lakeland City Commission member, said teachers are being asked "to do more with less."
"We're already overwhelmed," Troller said.
But he said most of the blame lies with the state Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist for cutting the state education budget by $9 million this year.
CHANGES FOR STUDENTS
Currently, schedules vary from school to school, but most high school teachers teach five of seven classes, and middle school teachers teach six of seven classes.
Next year, high school teachers will teach six of seven classes, and middle school teachers seven of eight 45-minute classes.
There will still be block scheduling in both middle and high schools, but no longer four-by-four classes in high schools.
In four-by-four classes, students took four 90-minute classes. They could earn eight credits a year for a total of 32 credits.
With the new seven, 50-minute classes, they will be able to earn only seven credits toward graduation for 28 credits.
Mark Thomas, the former principal at Lakeland High School, supports the four-by-four schedule. "Kids get 32 opportunities instead of 28," said Thomas, who will be the principal at Sleepy Hill Middle School next year. "No one's excited about teaching six out of seven periods, but at the end of the day, when there's no money, it's not a debate," Thomas said. There will be marked changes at Harrison School for the Visual and Performing Arts next year. Previously, students at the Lakeland school took four 90-minute classes to earn 13 credits. Now, Harrison students will be required to earn only 10 credits.
"They will still be able to get required credits through Harrison with a general education component," said Principal Craig Collins. For their other credits, Harrison students take classes at Lakeland High. At Harrison, some classes must be longer. It takes dancers about 30 minutes to warm up before they are ready to begin the class. "You have to have time to warm up the body," Collins said. For dance, classes such as technique and choreography will be combined to give students more time. But Collins acknowledges there will be additional after-school commitments for students. "I can't say we will be able to do that (combine classes) with every class," Collins said.
[ John Chambliss can be reached at john.chambliss@theledger.com or 863-802-7588. ]
- Posted by David on June 24, 2008
OSBA, working in conjunction with the National School Boards Association (NSBA), is asking school board members to contact members of Congress to urge them to become a cosponsor of H.R. 6239, a bill to freeze sanctions imposed on schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) until Congress has fully reauthorized NCLB.
You may send an e-mail or view talking points to make a phone call on NSBA's Legislative Action Center.
Link:http://vocusgr.vocus.com/grspace2/webpub/NSBA/Home.asp?XSL=Home&PublishType=Federal+Center
- Posted by David on June 23, 2008
By BETSY HAMMOND and LISA GRACE LEDNICER
Newhouse News Service
PORTLAND — Oregon's highly touted small high schools this month graduated their first class of students who spent all four years in intimate academies intended to revolutionize the big American high school.
Armed with $25 million from billionaire Bill Gates and other education reformers, backers of small schools heralded the academies as the best way to curb high dropout rates, forge connections to keep teenagers on track and prepare every graduate for college. Four years into that effort, however, the small schools have yet to deliver on those promises.
Instead, their statistics look a lot like results from the lumbering, impersonal high schools they are supposed to replace. Lots of students quit, and most of the graduates aren't ready for the rigors of college.
At Marshall and Roosevelt high schools in Portland, which each house three academies, about half of the students didn't make it to graduation. That's the same low graduation rate as when they were two big schools instead of six small academies.
"At first, I loved going to school," says Victoria Sargent, 17, who attended Pauling Academy, a science- and math-focused school on the Marshall campus. "After a while, it was boring to me. Nothing was a challenge. I never had a connection with teachers."
Sargent said she was frustrated that she couldn't get classroom help with math and that teachers weren't clear about their expectations. This spring, she switched to night school at Marshall.
In Hillsboro, Ore., Liberty High broke into small schools four years ago, but its dropout rate remains the highest in a district with three other traditional high schools. Despite progress in getting more students to take college-prep courses, three in five Liberty graduates fall short of entry standards for the University of Oregon — the district's definition of college-ready.
Twyla Baggarley, who graduated from Liberty this month, passed Advanced Placement calculus as a junior but worries that she might not be primed for college after a lackluster senior year. Tired of teachers who taught straight from the textbook, she chose to take just one full-year core course, AP English, and padded her schedule with photography and two periods of PE.
A sobering lesson
She and other students say administrators seemed so caught up in tinkering with the small schools' structure that they didn't pay enough attention to the quality of teaching.
"I saw no point in taking another class where I have to just teach myself," Baggarley says.
The lessons for other high schools are sobering. Even with millions of dollars for teacher training, an army of experts to coach schools and the backing of top philanthropies, fixing high schools so they work for all students remains a formidable and elusive task.
Oregon's small-schools initiative was launched in 2004 with grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust. Nationally, the Gates Foundation has donated more than $1 billion to create and support small academies.
Eleven big high schools got grants of about $1 million each to break into academies of fewer than 400 students each. Two schools have since backed out.
Marshall, Roosevelt and Liberty jumped in first and are graduating the first class of seniors who spent all four years in academies.
Educators at the Portland schools made the switch four years ago after mounting pressure to improve. At Marshall, former Principal John Wilhelmi had to cut band, auto shop and other popular programs because so many students left to attend other schools.
"We felt our graduation rates could be better, our school climate could be better," he recalls. "We felt we could stop the loss of kids with this vehicle of personalization."
Few results from changes
Despite the smaller classes, key indicators of student success at Marshall and Roosevelt — test scores and attendance, for instance — haven't changed much since the campuses split into small schools.
At Marshall, students missed on average more than five weeks of school last year. At Roosevelt, the average was six weeks.
Students in two academies at Roosevelt and two at Marshall have shown improvement in reading since the change, but math performance declined. At Roosevelt, math performance remained flat.
Administrators say students at both schools pose special challenges to educate. Officials say many of these students enter high school less prepared than their counterparts at other high schools, and many work part time to help support their families.
Nevertheless, some students and parents say the small-school transformation overpromised and underdelivered for the class of 2008.
"The idea and the potential are great, but the actual execution has been less than great," said Cindy Adams, whose youngest son, Brandon, graduated this month from BizTech.
Gates Foundation leaders also have grown impatient at the uneven results when big schools break into small ones. This fall, Gates probably will switch the focus of its grants for fixing high schools to target teaching and raise teacher quality, says Vicki Phillips, who directs Gates' education initiatives.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
- Posted by David on June 17, 2008
Cyberbullying: What To Do If It Happens To Your Kid
Source: California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
June 2008
Cyberbullying, using the Internet, cell phones, or another type of communication technology to hurt or embarrass others, is an increasingly common problem among today's youth. In a recent study conducted by the National Crime Prevention Council and Harris Interactive Inc., more than 43% of teens ages 13-17 have experienced cyberbullying within the past year.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, about 93% of teens use social media Web sites, and 55% of online teens have created a profile through social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. These sites allow teens to express their feelings online for the cyber world to view. Often motivated by anger, frustration or boredom, cyberbullies harass individuals by posting negative comments and pictures.
Victims of cyberbullying usually feel a wide range of emotions, including indifference, anger and embarrassment. According to a study conducted by Fight Crime, only 35% of teens have told a parent about being cyberbullied; 16% have told no one.
Parents need to be aware of cyberbullying by monitoring their teen's online activity. If a cyberbully harasses your teen, the California Association Marriage and Family Therapists offers the following tips for parents:
* Encourage your teen not to respond to the bullying.
* Save pictures and messages as evidence.
* Contact your teen's school to report the cyberbullying.
* Closely monitor your teen's computer use.
* Try to identify the individual doing the bullying.
* If possible, block the cyberbully from future contact.
* Try to contact the cyberbully's parents, if possible.
* Contact the police or an attorney if cyberbullying becomes violent.
Cyberbullying should not be taken lightly. If your child is seriously troubled by a cyberbully and it affects his or her emotional or mental behavior, consider seeking professional help.
Source: California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
- Posted by David on June 13, 2008
Several States Find 'No Child' Provision Does Little to Improve Test Results
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 13, 2008; B01
Free tutoring that federal law prescribes to help students at struggling schools has yielded little or no positive effect on student test scores in Virginia, Maryland and several other states, according to early evaluations.
Under the six-year-old No Child Left Behind law, certain schools in which too many students fail math or reading exams must use federal funds to offer after-school or weekend tutoring to students from low-income families. In the 2006-07 school year, $595 million went to the fast-growing industry of for-profit and nonprofit tutoring providers. But it remains unclear whether or how much those extra lessons are boosting student performance, even though the law envisions them as a key way to narrow achievement gaps.
In Virginia, researchers compared the performance last year of students with identical or very similar math scores in 2006 and found that those who were tutored did no better than their peers, according to an analysis the state Department of Education released in April. In a similar comparison of reading scores, students who were tutored lagged behind those who weren't.
Studies in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan and Kentucky also showed that the mandated tutoring, known as "supplemental educational services," didn't bump up test scores.
"This isn't helping poor kids," said Jack Jennings, president and chief executive of the Center on Education Policy in the District, which monitors implementation of the federal law. "All it's doing is taking money out of classrooms and putting it into the hands of private companies."
Jennings said that states don't have the capacity to monitor tutors effectively and that too many lessons aren't designed to build on the skills students learn in school.
In Maryland, students served by most of the state's tutoring providers in 2006 did not outperform students with similar academic profiles who weren't tutored. But students in three of the 29 state-approved programs did make bigger gains.
Steven M. Ross, executive director of the Center for Research in Educational Policy at the University of Memphis, which is conducting evaluations in Virginia, Maryland and several other states, said parents and educators generally give tutors good ratings. But, he said, "we're not seeing a big blip on the radar screen of raising standardized test" scores.
Ross cautioned that the assessments involve a relatively small sample of students. He said that tutoring might be helping them learn but that the help might not immediately translate into higher test scores. Some students who have fallen far behind, he said, could make progress but still fail grade-level tests. Or students might need more time with tutors.
"If I pour one gallon of gasoline in my car . . . I don't say it doesn't work if I don't go 100 miles," Ross said.
Turning to private tutors when public schools fall short is a key provision of the 2002 No Child Left Behind law. Under the law, schools that don't meet test performance goals for two consecutive years must allow students to transfer to higher-performing schools. Schools that fail to make progress for three years must offer private tutoring to children from low-income families. Those that continue to fall short face further sanctions.
As Congress considers revamping the law, the evaluations will fuel debate over whether tutoring is a wise investment.
Doug Mesecar, an assistant deputy secretary of education, said that officials remain confident of the value of the tutoring program but that more needs to be done to ensure quality.
"I think some providers are very effective as they work with students every day," he said. "The challenge we have is to figure out which ones they are."
Education Department officials point to a Rand Corp. study last year that found tutoring programs improved reading and math performance significantly in several large urban school systems.
In April, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced that she will use her administrative authority to promote participation in tutoring. Schools will have to improve outreach to parents about tutoring, and states will have more responsibility for ensuring that lessons meet students' needs.
Spellings also wants to require schools to prove that they've made an effort to recruit students into the tutoring before spending those funds elsewhere.
Nationwide, nearly 530,000 students -- 14 percent of those eligible -- participate, officials said. About 16,000 are in Maryland, Virginia and the District.
As schools work toward a goal of having every student proficient in reading and math by 2014, the number of children in tutoring is expected to rise. The number of providers has tripled, to more than 3,000, since 2003. Kaplan Inc., a subsidiary of The Washington Post Co., operates such tutoring programs in Maryland, Virginia and other states.
States have been slow to develop systems to gauge the effectiveness of companies and nonprofit organizations that work with students. Many schools report poor student attendance at tutoring sessions.
Some school officials say that even with those challenges, tutoring is making a difference. Chicago public schools found that students who were tutored outperformed peers in reading and math. Tutoring in Hawaii and Colorado has been linked to gains in math.
The District has not formally evaluated its tutoring programs, according to the office of State Superintendent of Education Deborah A. Gist. Evaluations are planned or underway in California, Texas, Florida and several other states.
In Maryland, where about 11,000 students were enrolled in tutoring programs in 2006-07, school officials say they support the effort even if it isn't producing big swings in test scores. The state spent more than $10 million in federal funding on tutoring last year.
"We see this is an opportunity for students to get ahead," said Maria Lamb, director of the Maryland State Department of Education's program improvement and family support branch. Lamb stressed that early evidence shows some students made gains.
Mrs. Dowd's Teaching Service was one of two Maryland tutoring providers linked to higher 2006 reading scores. (Another was linked to higher math scores.) Eileen Dowd, a former Cleveland schoolteacher, said her tutors work with, at most, three students at a time. Children who struggle, she said, get one-on-one attention.
Dowd's tutors work on campuses in Prince George's and Baltimore counties, enabling them to have close contact with teachers, she said. "It's collaborative," she said. "They will come and say: 'Tim is having a hard time focusing. What do you think?' "
Dianne M. Piché, executive director of the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights, which supports No Child Left Behind, said the law gives low-income families access to a service that middle-class and wealthy families often use to give their children an edge.
Piché said that schools and tutors should work together more closely and that after-school help should be offered in places accessible to children.
"We need to push the schools and the providers to get it right," she said.
Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.