Teachers who care

The difference between Finnish students and the US students is that they have teachers who care. That seems to be the reason they perform well on thier exams at the end of the year.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081123/OPINION01/811230318/-1/NEWS04

Re: Google Alert - "small schools"

Officials say school closures can save millions <http://venturacountystar.com/news/2008/mar/16/no-headline---na1fcclosures16/

Ventura County Star - Camarillo,CA,USA
Small schools are less efficient, and districts say they don't have the money to pay overhead and keep programs going when classrooms sit empty. ...
See all stories on this topic <http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://venturacountystar.com/news/2008/mar/16/no-headline---na1fcclosures16/>

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Inequity: Teacher Salaries in Texas

"The study found that in Austin, for example, teachers working in the city's highest-poverty elementary schools earn an average of $2,668 less per year than those teaching at schools with the fewest low-income students. If the Austin Independent School District spent the same amount per-teacher at these schools, that would amount to an additional $2 million every year in the district's high-poverty schools." From a report by EdTrust based in DC.

The data is based on the teachers experience or where they are on the pay ladder. The less experienced, or in D. McRae's case (in Fort Worth where I first taught) the emergency certified career changers are placed in the schools with the most vacancies. These schools tend to be where teachers don't stay because of the more challenging students, older texts or less support. There were a number of reasons people wouldn't stay at D. McRae, but the kids were great. There was little parent involvement, but I think that was because they had had a new principal every year. Finally when they had a good principal, Maria Sanchez, a few African-American teachers claimed she was racist and she was put on leave for a month. It was nuts! She left the year I did and went on to win principal of the year at a high school in Fort Worth. But I digress.

The moral of the story is, yes there is pay discrepancy. But as Sean pointed out, the report blames the district for not paying enough when it is really not having experienced teachers in the schools who may be at a higher pay scale. That is what the districts need to work on: Maybe give incentives to experienced teachers to work in a poorer performing school or put the emergency certified teachers in a high performing schools.

Small Schools for Football Players Too

Today I got an idea: What if states who cared so much about football (aghem, Texas) came up with a way to have small schools?

In a Kansas.com article it states, "Both reports [from National Association of Secondary School Principals] pointed to research that says the optimal size for a high school is between 600 and 900 students -- big enough to offer advanced and specialty courses, but small enough for the staff to know students by name."

I know it would be very expensive to demolish the huge high schools that spread over many square miles. I know it would cost more money to build and staff those smaller schools. But wouldn't the costs outweigh the benefits?

"Though it's more expensive to build and run smaller high schools -- each with its own principal, football team, computer lab and marching band -- Andover superintendent Mark Evans said residents tell him they think it's worth the expense."

Students would be able to choose, based on their interests or locality, which school they wanted to go to. They would feel more a part of a community member, rather than a number. Students would get the attention they require instead of falling through the cracks. Teachers would have time to be more authentic and develop relationships with a smaller number of
students, instead of just a figurehead to many. Relationships between parents and staff would then become more important as a more democratic process of schooling was established. While the parents felt more inclined to become more involved in the schooling of their student, community members could feel more welcome to volunteer in smaller settings that were less
intimidating.

If Kansas can do it, why can't Texas?

I recently engaged in an email exchange about schools in Austin, Texas with an aquaintance. She wrote, "They are indeed undertaking some redesign and are doing it in a way that holds a lot of promise of lessons for big districts -- getting the district systems in place, etc. This is Texas, however, land of big schools with schedules designed around football (which is offered during the day and gets credits toward graduation!)."

So I did some research and found out that AISD is doing its homework on redesigning its schools. They have articles referenced from such groups as the Gates Foundation, and people like Darling-Hammond, and Ancess.

Education Trust from DC is also listed as a reference for high school reform, recently wrote a report on how there is a huge spending gap in teacher's salaries. I will blog on this in another post.

So there may be promise looming out there for football players, as well as the other very important students who attend those large schools in Texas. As for AISD, the superintendent who started all this change is leaving in 2009. What will happen then?

Smaller Class Size Doesn't Help Reduce Achievement Gap

In a recent Washington Post article Chris Matthews reports on a 4 year study that
smaller class size may help students progress in reading and math, but may
not close the achievement gap between class.

New EL schools in New York City

* The Marsh Avenue Expeditionary Learning School, grades 6-8. Proposed
Principal: Jessica Jenkins-Milona.
* The McCown Expeditionary Learning School, grades 9-12. Proposed
Principal: Donna J. Tait.

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Finnish Schools Score High

Sean sent me an article he found about Finnish Schools. He said, "It makes me want to move there." So they are scoring high on an international test. They don't have a very heterogeneous group like we do here in the states. One of the things he thought was cool was the way they have the gifted, or more advanced kids, help the average kids in the classroom instead of being pulled out or given extra work, which is sometimes done here in the states. This is something we are struggling with at CCPCS: How do we get all students involved in eachother's learning?