Archive for the ‘K-12 Education’ Category
Ohio Schools Closing the Gap for Students with Disabilities
January 29th, 2012 | 
Author: The Ohio Schools are redefining their Special Education program and closing the gap in the achievement of students with disabilities. The Ohio schools believe that achievement gaps are not the same as ability gaps, and the education system is responsible for ensuring that high achievement is an attainable goal for all students. Furthermore, the Ohio schools has put forth that meaningful participation of students with disabilities in state assessment is absolutely essential if every child is to be assured access to challenging curriculum and appropriate instruction.
In 2001, the Ohio schools made a major shift in approaching students with disabilities by revising school policy to require students with disabilities to participate in state assessment. Now, content standards are the focus of instruction for all students in every classroom, and a variety of research-based instructional strategies are aligned with the content standards. A coherent array of interventions, supports and services are used to ensure the success of students with disabilities. The policy now is that assessment is a reflection of instruction and instruction is a reflection of assessment, creating a shared responsibility for the education of students with disabilities.
The Ohio schools’ goals for teaching students with disabilities are standards, capacity, and accountability. They will improve access to, participation in, and progress in the general curriculum, based on the Ohio academic standards, for students with disabilities. Encouraging others to consider students with disabilities as general education children first is the capacity goal — assuming they will achieve, rather than assuming they may not achieve. The goal of accountability is to increase the performance of children with disabilities on state and district assessments from which they previously have been exempt.
The Ohio schools developed the following strategies for improvement:
• Redefine special education at the state level to shift focus away from compliance and paperwork to standards-based instruction for all children.
• Implement a statewide monitoring system designed to assess district/educational compliance with federal and state law applicable to students with disabilities.
• Align the work of the Special Education Regional Resource Center (SERRC) network with the priorities of the Ohio schools, including No Child Left Behind, differentiating instruction, positive behavior support, reading/literacy, and progress monitoring.
• Maximize use of federal and state funds earmarked for children with disabilities. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 
Tags: 
New York City Schools and Teachers’ Union Join Forces to Attract New Teaching Talent through Innovative Housing Support Program
Like many other school districts in large, metropolitan cities, New York City Schools currently have a shortage of qualified teachers, especially in the most challenging schools. Though state law requires teachers in the targeted critical subject areas of mathematics, science and special education to be certified, there are 600 positions now held by teachers without the proper credentials. This shortage, which covers all grades in the middle and high schools, demanded an innovative solution to the problem.
New York City schools and the United Federation of Teachers developed a creative method to fill the need for experienced, certified teachers — a new housing support program. It is considered one of the most concerted and generous programs aimed at recruiting teachers in subject areas with the worse shortages. The joint effort is a rare example of cooperation between the two parties.
The housing support program gives incentives worth up to $15,000 to certified teachers in the shortage areas. The initial payment incentive is up to $5,000 for housing-related expenses. These expenses include relocation costs, down payment on a mortgage, and rental fees and deposits. This initial payment is followed by a monthly housing stipend of $400 for a two-year period.
Read the rest of this entry »
New Monitoring and Appraisal Systems for Higher Scholastic Achievement in Houston Schools
Two new achievement systems have been developed and implemented for the Houston Schools — a school board monitoring system and a new appraisal system for the superintendent. The district is committed to improving student achievement, as well as earning the confidence and support of the community. The two systems set new standards for the administrative structure and systematic improvement process for higher scholastic achievement in the Houston schools.
In 2001, Houston schools instituted a Declaration of Beliefs and Visions, which defined for school employees and the community what the district stands for and where it is going. The five goals put forth in the declaration are to:
• Increase student achievement,
• Increase management efficiency,
• Bring all school facilities up to standard,
• Improve public support and confidence in the Houston schools, and
• Create a positive district culture.
The declaration determined to accomplish these goals through:
• An educational structure built upon the relationship between teacher and student,
• Decentralization and shared decision making,
• A common core of academic subjects for all students, and
• Focus upon performance, not compliance.
The two new systems for the Houston schools provide a roadmap to achieve and measure the progress of these goals. Both are detailed and objective, providing a systematic means for meaningful and quantifiable organizational improvement.
Board Monitoring System
The monitoring system is comprehensive and demanding with data-driven accountability. It requires the superintendent to submit regular reports to the trustees on key education issues. These issues are student academic progress and readiness for college, quality of teachers, and how effectively funds are used in support of student instruction.
The reports must be in a specific, standardized format for future comparison. This includes what exactly is to be reported, how it is to be reported (using easy-to-understand data and bar charts), and how often the reports are to be submitted. The board wants nothing to be left to interpretation or guesswork, believing this too often is the cause of misperceptions formed of large, urban school districts. The information is to be used by the board for monitoring purposes, as well as provided to students, parents, teachers, the community, and the news media.
Superintendent’s Performance Appraisal System
The complement to the Board Monitoring System is the new performance appraisal system for the superintendent, which is expected to drive the focus for the Houston schools from the superintendent down to the classroom teacher. The system is objective and quantifiable, allowing the board to focus their attention on the performance levels the Houston schools need to reach. It requires more in-depth reporting and analysis of educational issues than the state of Texas currently requires. Specific goals of the appraisal system are to improve academic performance, management efficiency, and public and employee confidence and satisfaction. Read the rest of this entry »
NCLB Program Should Take Its Cue from Dallas Schools
Failure to educate our country’s most disadvantaged students is the most glaring and abiding social and moral problem of the United States. For nearly 20 years, our nation has worked to improve our schools and student achievement levels. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was to be the answer to this dilemma by holding all schools accountable for student performance using high-stakes testing.
The error in thinking is the belief that the NCLB test ratings are fair and accurate. The system does not factor out the disadvantages and/or advantages of wealth and demographics, creating an inequity in the rating of schools. Low-income schools must provide programs, such as preschool, tutoring, remedial classes, and bilingual services, to their students, as well as the cost of more administration required by the state and federal grants that make up the largest percentage of their budget. Wealthier schools that primarily depend upon local funding (generally from property taxes) for their budget have few government constraints, few low-income students requiring special programs, and flexibility in how their budget is used. This means wealthier schools can provide more educational opportunities and enhancements (i.e. access to technology, fine arts and music, extracurricular activities, teacher professional training and improvements, and teacher administrative support) that impoverished schools cannot afford.
The Dallas Schools have developed their own rating system that factors out these disadvantages/advantages, putting all Dallas schools on an even playing field. Available funding, government requirements, the educational level of students entering kindergarten, and the demographics of the community are all factored out of the Dallas schools test rating metric.
Under NCLB, all schools across the nation must test children in reading and mathematics annually between third and eighth grades. The state, using NCLB mandated measures for school performance, calculates the percentage of various student populations that annually meet or exceed the state’s academic standards. Otherwise, they must measure the progress of student “groups” towards a universal fixed point.
Dallas schools use a “value added” school rating system that provides more accurate information, measuring individual student progress from a relative starting point. They then compare the scores with the same student’s scores from the previous year. Dallas schools score higher if students on average score higher than predicted by the previous year’s test scores and if the schools’ overall performance is better than that of other Dallas schools within the same demographics. If Dallas schools perform lower than predicted, they earn a low rating.
Herbert Marcus Elementary, part of the Dallas schools system, is the ideal candidate for the NCLB program. It is located in the inner city of Dallas, the building and grounds are run down, classes are overcrowded, and it is positioned on the edge of a grimy industrial zone. With 1,140 students, almost all are from low-income families and two-thirds speak English as a second language. Even the parents average a seventh-grade education.
Read the rest of this entry »
