This is the sort of thing which will help voters decide one way or another when they enter the voting booth. In that regard, we had an interesting interview with one of the other candidates, Mark Lodes, which we will publish in the July 11th edition of the Sheridan Express. He is not your typical political candidate; he has an independent voice and has a lot of interesting ideas to revive the dormant economy. Stay tuned.Education of children is best left to the wisdom of parents, teachers and the taxpayers of local communities. The intrusion of the federal government into the education of our children pulls needed funds from our communities to Washington, DC, and yet returns only a fraction of those funds back to our schools. In fact, in retrieving those apportioned funds, local communities must agree to Washington’s terms to get their own money back – those terms are largely unfunded mandates which put further burdens on our schools and teachers, and as those mandates strain budgets, a greater burden is then put on the taxpayer whose money went to Washington in the first place.
We need to return local control to our schools. In 2001, I opposed my own party when I stood in opposition to President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.My party had strayed from its principles in seeking to expand the federal reach into our classrooms. The bill before me lacked needed reforms to provide increased flexibility for local schools, educational choice, and consolidation of existing federal programs. Instead, it was a 1,000 page bill with over 2,000 directives from Washington, D.C. for states, school boards, teachers and parents.
Currently, schools spend countless hours meeting over burdensome federal regulations in order to receive money that is less than ten percent of their overall budget. It is time to end Washington’s trend as “Federal Superintendent of Education” and give control and funding back to the States and local school boards. In short, reducing excessive federal regulations will make more dollars available our local schools, and allow those who actually interact with students to focus spending where it is most needed.
Showing posts with label No Child Left Behind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label No Child Left Behind. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Editorial -- Stop the Mudslinging in MO Senate Race
The mudslinging in the Republican Senate Race is getting out of hand to the point where Todd Akin is devoting a good chunk of his front page to what he says are the lies and distortions of his opposition. But none of this does any good in helping people decide who the best choice should be. The one thing that will help undecided voters make up their minds is where people stand on the issues. For instance, Mr. Akin makes perfect sense when he talks about how No Child Left Behind is a disaster for public education:
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Graves Blasts Deficits, Obama Health Plan, Cap & Trade
During a districtwide tour, Congressman Sam Graves came to Grant City last week and blasted the federal deficit, Obama's health plan, and Cap & Trade. Around 40-50 people attended the meeting at the Fairgrounds Building, in which he talked about his work in Washington and in which he took questions from constituents.
Regarding the deficit, he said that "if you did that, you would go broke." He said that the current deficit, which he said was higher than any in history, was "a legacy that we would have to pay back."
The theme of Graves' tour was "Main Street Matters," and he pointed to specific legislation that he said would be bad for small businesses. Cap and Trade would require all businesses to place caps on emissions or face a carbon tax. Proponents say that this legislation is necessary because they argue that man-made pollution will create long-term global warming that will result in rising ocean levels, leading to the displacement of millions or even billions of people. They envision worst-case scenarios in which low-level cities such as Boston or New Orleans or Florida would be flooded under by rising sea levels. But Graves said that the proposed solution was bad for this area because Missouri was a coal-dependent state that would be hit hard by any such legislation. Senator Claire McCaskill has publicly voiced concerns about Cap and Trade because of Missouri's coal dependence as well. He said that the result would be an estimated 60% increase in electricity rates for the state and that it would become more expensive to move goods across the country. Consequently, he said that it would be bad for the economy since it takes fuel to move goods. And Graves said that there was nothing to protect farms from these new offset requirements because he said that the EPA could overrule any agency who tries to exempt farms from Cap and Trade requirements.
"China and India love bills like this," said Graves. He said that a better alternative was an "all of the above" approach that he and his Republican colleagues were developing. Graves said that contrary to media reports that the Republicans had no ideas, he said that they did have ideas for energy policy but that the Democrats who control the committees would not give them a fair hearing. "We do have alternatives to the President's proposals and we have been trying to push these alternatives," he said.
Turning to healthcare, Graves turned to one of his favorite props, a huge copy of HR 3200, the Health Care Bill thousands of pages long, which he dropped on the table to demonstrate what he said was the ridiculous size of government. He said that the Democrats tried and failed to get that bill passed without letting people read it or knowing what it was about before the August recess. But he said that the August recess was bad for the bill's chances because people could read it and see for themselves what a bad bill it was. "We've read it and we don't like what we see," he said. For instance, on page 16, he said it states that after five years, no new individual plans could be written. In another section, according to Graves, it allows the government to set health insurance prices. Graves said that problem with a government-run healthcare system was that it would drive hospitals away and make healthcare even more inaccessible. "More and more hospitals are not taking Medicare or Medicaid anymore," he said. "And I don't want some bureaucrat deciding for me what healthcare choices I can make."
Graves accused the current Democratic leadership in the House of not listening to Republican ideas. "I've had a bill on associated healthcare plans that would drive down the cost of health insurance for three years, and it has never even gotten a hearing," he said. "We do have alternatives to what the Democrats are proposing. We are going around the county holding hearings on healthcare solutions, and the Democrats are calling us 'unamerican' because we get the word out that the way they are going to pay for all this is to cut Medicare by $500 billion to pay for all this."
Turning to the current budget deficit, Graves aid it was "absolutely unsustainable" and that the government was trying to balance it "on the backs of small businesses" with such things as surtaxes. He said that increased taxes were the "wrong approach" during a recession and that the current healthcare plan would add one to two trillion dollars to the deficit. "It doesn't mean we don't need changes," said Graves. For instance, he said allowing businesses to pool together to purchase insurance would drive rates down because he said that an insurance pool of 8,000 employees was more manageable from a risk standpoint than 10 employees. Graves said that would allow small businesses to offer health insurance to their employees. Graves said that another solution was tort reform, saying that people in states that have it have to pay for those who don't.
Talking about possible changes down the road for local jurisdictions, local authorities have worried about changes coming down the road that they would not be able to meet financially. Graves said that what was being considered was a revision to the Clean Water Act that would give the EPA jurisdiction over all waterways; currently, they only have jurisdiction over navigable waterways. Graves feared that this change would mean that the EPA could regulate runoff from farms. "That would be a huge infringement on property rights," he said.
Addressing rumors that the BRO Program, which has funded 15 new bridges in the county, would be dropped, Graves said that it was part of the Transportation Bill; he explained that transportation bills are authorized every six years and that it would not be up for renewal for another 18 months. The administration can ask for an extension, which they have in this case. In other words, he said that nothing was written in stone regarding the BRO Program.
Asked for his thoughts on the Fairness Doctrine, which required radio stations to give equal time to differing points of view, Graves said that it was "basic business sense" for outlets to put what people wanted on the air.
Talking about Social Security, Graves said that it was in "a lot of trouble" and that the administration had already announced that there would be no cost of living increase for next year despite the fact that prices were still going up.
Graves said that in order for the administration's agenda to pass, it would have to be done this year. "Bills like this have to get done this year, because they would never pass in an election year," he said. He said that the problem was that "we are always told that we have to support this or that bailout or it will be the end of the world." By contrast, Graves said that the economy comes and goes in cycles and that it would have recovered without all of the government bailouts that he said added to an already massive deficit. "I voted against President Bush's bailout last year, the GM bailout, the stimulus bill, and the spending bill," he said. "The economy will recover regardless of what the government does, but the goverment can prolong a recession by passing more taxes." By contrast, Graves said that the proper way to stimulate an economy was to cut taxes "or at least don't increase taxes." He said that as opposed to passing "Speaker Pelosi's baby" of stimulus bills, "Let's give the people more money thru tax cuts so that they can stimulate the economy themselves."
The problem according to Graves was that "bad legislation is easy to pass but hard to get rid of." For instance, he said that the Healthcare Bill was written by Chairman Henry Waxman's staff and HHS staff and consisted of what he called "regurgitated ideas" from the failed health care reform efforts of 1993. And he said that the Stimulus Bill was originally considered to be an infrastructure bill but that only 3% or so of the funds were actually devoted to that.
Asked a question about the Guantanamo detainees, he said that that "they can rot in Guantanamo as far as I'm concerned." He explained that he had read the intelligence reports on them for three hours after getting the necessary clearances and "it takes a whole week to get over what these folks were capable of." Graves said that terrorists only needed to be right one time and we needed to be right all the time in combatting terrorism. "We weren't thinking ahead before 9/11," he said. Graves said he wasn't buying the argument that America's interrogation policies had hurt our standing in the world. "People gripe about us, but we're the first country they turn to when they need help," he said. "And I do not want the UN coming in and telling us what we have to do with ourselves."
Graves said that he was more excited by the "tax revolts" than he had been by anything in a long time. He said that part of the reason that people were fed up was because the government was "overreaching on simple little stuff" and coming up with "goofy ideas." For instance, he said that the Cap and Trade bill included a tax per head on cattle, which he said that Chairman Henry Waxman was preparing to slip in at some point.
Regarding ethanol, Graves said that he was continuing to fight for more ethanol standards, which he said that Big Oil was trying to block. "A blend of 50% soy/diesel is 50% out of their market share," he said. He called arguments that ethanol was not clean "ridiculous" and that pushing to end our dependence on foreign oil through ethanol was a "win-win." He said that the CBO has debunked one of the main arguments against ethanol, that it would raise the price of food. Graves said that as an example of the kind of ridiculous arguments he heard against ethanol, the Kansas City Star did an article about how ethanol was going to raise the price of popcorn at movies.
Addressing No Child Left Behind, Graves said that it was currently in limbo because "nobody wants to act on it." It was supposed to be reauthorized last year; however, it never was. He said he would like to see three things changed. The first was that it should differentiate between schools that miss one or two criteria and schools that miss all 13. Currently, a school that misses one criteria narrowly is treated as failing, just like schools that miss all 13. The second idea that Graves said he wanted to see was for children on IEP's to be removed from No Child Left Behind standards; he said that the goals of the IEP program and No Child Left Behind were in conflict with each other. The third thing that Graves said needed to be changed was that No Child Left Behind should measure students as they progress through school, not measure last year's fourth grade against this year's fourth grade. He said that "there is a big difference between one fourth grade class and the next" and that the law of averages might work in bigger schools, but that it doesn't in smaller schools.
On the flip side, Graves said that vouchers were not a solution for failing schools because he said that would take away what made private schools unique. He said that once the government started funding private schools like they do public schools, they would start making regulations for them like they currently do public schools. "A lot of public schools are just as good as private schools," he said.
Regarding the deficit, he said that "if you did that, you would go broke." He said that the current deficit, which he said was higher than any in history, was "a legacy that we would have to pay back."
The theme of Graves' tour was "Main Street Matters," and he pointed to specific legislation that he said would be bad for small businesses. Cap and Trade would require all businesses to place caps on emissions or face a carbon tax. Proponents say that this legislation is necessary because they argue that man-made pollution will create long-term global warming that will result in rising ocean levels, leading to the displacement of millions or even billions of people. They envision worst-case scenarios in which low-level cities such as Boston or New Orleans or Florida would be flooded under by rising sea levels. But Graves said that the proposed solution was bad for this area because Missouri was a coal-dependent state that would be hit hard by any such legislation. Senator Claire McCaskill has publicly voiced concerns about Cap and Trade because of Missouri's coal dependence as well. He said that the result would be an estimated 60% increase in electricity rates for the state and that it would become more expensive to move goods across the country. Consequently, he said that it would be bad for the economy since it takes fuel to move goods. And Graves said that there was nothing to protect farms from these new offset requirements because he said that the EPA could overrule any agency who tries to exempt farms from Cap and Trade requirements.
"China and India love bills like this," said Graves. He said that a better alternative was an "all of the above" approach that he and his Republican colleagues were developing. Graves said that contrary to media reports that the Republicans had no ideas, he said that they did have ideas for energy policy but that the Democrats who control the committees would not give them a fair hearing. "We do have alternatives to the President's proposals and we have been trying to push these alternatives," he said.
Turning to healthcare, Graves turned to one of his favorite props, a huge copy of HR 3200, the Health Care Bill thousands of pages long, which he dropped on the table to demonstrate what he said was the ridiculous size of government. He said that the Democrats tried and failed to get that bill passed without letting people read it or knowing what it was about before the August recess. But he said that the August recess was bad for the bill's chances because people could read it and see for themselves what a bad bill it was. "We've read it and we don't like what we see," he said. For instance, on page 16, he said it states that after five years, no new individual plans could be written. In another section, according to Graves, it allows the government to set health insurance prices. Graves said that problem with a government-run healthcare system was that it would drive hospitals away and make healthcare even more inaccessible. "More and more hospitals are not taking Medicare or Medicaid anymore," he said. "And I don't want some bureaucrat deciding for me what healthcare choices I can make."
Graves accused the current Democratic leadership in the House of not listening to Republican ideas. "I've had a bill on associated healthcare plans that would drive down the cost of health insurance for three years, and it has never even gotten a hearing," he said. "We do have alternatives to what the Democrats are proposing. We are going around the county holding hearings on healthcare solutions, and the Democrats are calling us 'unamerican' because we get the word out that the way they are going to pay for all this is to cut Medicare by $500 billion to pay for all this."
Turning to the current budget deficit, Graves aid it was "absolutely unsustainable" and that the government was trying to balance it "on the backs of small businesses" with such things as surtaxes. He said that increased taxes were the "wrong approach" during a recession and that the current healthcare plan would add one to two trillion dollars to the deficit. "It doesn't mean we don't need changes," said Graves. For instance, he said allowing businesses to pool together to purchase insurance would drive rates down because he said that an insurance pool of 8,000 employees was more manageable from a risk standpoint than 10 employees. Graves said that would allow small businesses to offer health insurance to their employees. Graves said that another solution was tort reform, saying that people in states that have it have to pay for those who don't.
Talking about possible changes down the road for local jurisdictions, local authorities have worried about changes coming down the road that they would not be able to meet financially. Graves said that what was being considered was a revision to the Clean Water Act that would give the EPA jurisdiction over all waterways; currently, they only have jurisdiction over navigable waterways. Graves feared that this change would mean that the EPA could regulate runoff from farms. "That would be a huge infringement on property rights," he said.
Addressing rumors that the BRO Program, which has funded 15 new bridges in the county, would be dropped, Graves said that it was part of the Transportation Bill; he explained that transportation bills are authorized every six years and that it would not be up for renewal for another 18 months. The administration can ask for an extension, which they have in this case. In other words, he said that nothing was written in stone regarding the BRO Program.
Asked for his thoughts on the Fairness Doctrine, which required radio stations to give equal time to differing points of view, Graves said that it was "basic business sense" for outlets to put what people wanted on the air.
Talking about Social Security, Graves said that it was in "a lot of trouble" and that the administration had already announced that there would be no cost of living increase for next year despite the fact that prices were still going up.
Graves said that in order for the administration's agenda to pass, it would have to be done this year. "Bills like this have to get done this year, because they would never pass in an election year," he said. He said that the problem was that "we are always told that we have to support this or that bailout or it will be the end of the world." By contrast, Graves said that the economy comes and goes in cycles and that it would have recovered without all of the government bailouts that he said added to an already massive deficit. "I voted against President Bush's bailout last year, the GM bailout, the stimulus bill, and the spending bill," he said. "The economy will recover regardless of what the government does, but the goverment can prolong a recession by passing more taxes." By contrast, Graves said that the proper way to stimulate an economy was to cut taxes "or at least don't increase taxes." He said that as opposed to passing "Speaker Pelosi's baby" of stimulus bills, "Let's give the people more money thru tax cuts so that they can stimulate the economy themselves."
The problem according to Graves was that "bad legislation is easy to pass but hard to get rid of." For instance, he said that the Healthcare Bill was written by Chairman Henry Waxman's staff and HHS staff and consisted of what he called "regurgitated ideas" from the failed health care reform efforts of 1993. And he said that the Stimulus Bill was originally considered to be an infrastructure bill but that only 3% or so of the funds were actually devoted to that.
Asked a question about the Guantanamo detainees, he said that that "they can rot in Guantanamo as far as I'm concerned." He explained that he had read the intelligence reports on them for three hours after getting the necessary clearances and "it takes a whole week to get over what these folks were capable of." Graves said that terrorists only needed to be right one time and we needed to be right all the time in combatting terrorism. "We weren't thinking ahead before 9/11," he said. Graves said he wasn't buying the argument that America's interrogation policies had hurt our standing in the world. "People gripe about us, but we're the first country they turn to when they need help," he said. "And I do not want the UN coming in and telling us what we have to do with ourselves."
Graves said that he was more excited by the "tax revolts" than he had been by anything in a long time. He said that part of the reason that people were fed up was because the government was "overreaching on simple little stuff" and coming up with "goofy ideas." For instance, he said that the Cap and Trade bill included a tax per head on cattle, which he said that Chairman Henry Waxman was preparing to slip in at some point.
Regarding ethanol, Graves said that he was continuing to fight for more ethanol standards, which he said that Big Oil was trying to block. "A blend of 50% soy/diesel is 50% out of their market share," he said. He called arguments that ethanol was not clean "ridiculous" and that pushing to end our dependence on foreign oil through ethanol was a "win-win." He said that the CBO has debunked one of the main arguments against ethanol, that it would raise the price of food. Graves said that as an example of the kind of ridiculous arguments he heard against ethanol, the Kansas City Star did an article about how ethanol was going to raise the price of popcorn at movies.
Addressing No Child Left Behind, Graves said that it was currently in limbo because "nobody wants to act on it." It was supposed to be reauthorized last year; however, it never was. He said he would like to see three things changed. The first was that it should differentiate between schools that miss one or two criteria and schools that miss all 13. Currently, a school that misses one criteria narrowly is treated as failing, just like schools that miss all 13. The second idea that Graves said he wanted to see was for children on IEP's to be removed from No Child Left Behind standards; he said that the goals of the IEP program and No Child Left Behind were in conflict with each other. The third thing that Graves said needed to be changed was that No Child Left Behind should measure students as they progress through school, not measure last year's fourth grade against this year's fourth grade. He said that "there is a big difference between one fourth grade class and the next" and that the law of averages might work in bigger schools, but that it doesn't in smaller schools.
On the flip side, Graves said that vouchers were not a solution for failing schools because he said that would take away what made private schools unique. He said that once the government started funding private schools like they do public schools, they would start making regulations for them like they currently do public schools. "A lot of public schools are just as good as private schools," he said.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
School has Mixed Results on No Child Left Behind testing
The annual testing report for the Worth County school brought bad news and good news. The bad news is that the school did not meet the Annual Progress requirements for Communication Arts. The good news is that the school is in the same boat as the rest of the state; the state as a whole did not meet its Annual Progress requirements under federally mandated No Child Left Behind testing. And the school’s students tested either at or better than the state averages on the annual testing for both math and communication arts; in addition, the school’s students tested well above the state averages on science and met the AYP for math.
Superintendent Matt Robinson said that the state was going to switch to a growth model for evaluating schools; he said that with the growth model, the school would have come closer to passing the Communication Arts component of the No Child Left Behind testing. He said that the 2014 goals of the No Child Left Behind legislation were never going to be met and that "it was going to start hurting schools." Previously, the state had switched from a 5-tiered system to a 4-tiered system.
Robinson noted in his written discussion of the results that the AYP was only a single indicator of the school’s academic performance, as measured by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Other factors, such as graduation rates and attendance rates, were considered, and the school met all of these standards.
Robinson said that the previous model had "compared apples to oranges" because it was comparing different kids; the new model would measure how well a particular student did compared to the year before. And he said that the results, in many cases, were close enough that one or two kids could take the school from red (in need of improvement) to green.
In addition, Robinson said that the school was switching from the MAP testing to end of course tests. He said that would ensure that the students were tested on subject matter taught in the schools rather than force teachers to teach to the test. Students from third to eighth grade will still take the MAP tests.
He said that it would get harder every year to meet the Annual Progress Requirements of No Child Left Behind, but he said that it could be done in this area; for instance, he said that Stanberry and Jefferson were gold star schools for their ability to meet the progress requirements.
In addition, Robinson reported that the school’s ACT scores went up as well, continuing a recent trend. He said that was good because more students than usual had signed up to take the ACT. He said that the ability of students to take upper level classes was predictive of how well they would do on the ACT, which meant that the school’s recent move to eight-hour days was a good move; he said that would allow students to take band and FFA and other such activities and still take upper level courses and stay on track to graduate; he said that in a lot of school districts, it was a struggle to make sure that students were prepared for college and that they met new state requirements for graduation.
Robinson said that improving the school’s test scores in Communication Arts, which covers literacy and reading, would involve the whole school and not just the English class. "It has to happen in all classes across the board," he said. Since this is the first year that the school has not met the Annual Progress requirements of No Child Left Behind, there are no penalties that the school faces; if the school fails to meet the Annual Progress Requirements, they would have to come up with a three-year improvement plan. However, Robinson said that he was not waiting for the school to miss the AYP goals next year and that he was already in the process of drawing up an improvement plan for Communication Arts and working with the administration and staff.
Christina Charles, a visitor, requested that the bus stop between 8th street and Lover’s Lane, citing safety concerns and the high number of kids who lived there. There is a bus that already drives by there, but it is full. The board adopted last year’s plan; however, Robinson said that he would continue to look into ways of busing more town students. He reported that he had done some checking and that if there was no extra cost to bus the students, the state would allow them to bus more town students, but that if there was extra cost, such as an extra trip, then there would be a penalty. He said that most of the busses were full right now and that was another problem that had to be addressed; he said that he would be riding busses to see the situation for himself and to evaluate the bus drivers.
On a related note, the school received a spot inspection from the Missouri Highway Patrol, which found that there was only one defect, an upper fender light, which was immediately replaced. Board member Kevin Austin reported that he had heard many positive comments from the inspectors afterwards; they told him that there were normally a lot more problems with busses that they found during random inspections at area schools.
Debbie From of ACES gave her annual presentation to the school board. ACES is a 21-member educational cooperative designed to meet the needs of students who are special education or who are at-risk. They include an alternative school and assist districts with behavioral intervention services.
From reported on the goals and challenges of the program. She reported that the number of suspensions reported by the schools was reduced by 12%, which is over the state goal of 10%. The graduation rate for the member school districts was 95.84%; that exceeds their goal of 95%. The attendance rate last year for students was 86.48%; however, From said that it was closer to 90% this year. She said that the group that skewed the numbers were the 17-18 year olds, who are not required by state law to attend school under the Compulsory Education Act. The goal was 93%.
The number of discipline/incident referral reductions for students enrolled in the program was 38.7%. The goal for the program was 50%; there were 30 students reviewed, and 17 decreased their number of referrals by 50% or greater. From said that they were on the right track, but that it could be better; she said that there were strict protocols for when teachers were to refer students for action.
One of the areas that was in most need of improvement for the program was the number of students who transitioned successfully back to their home school or who received an alternative diploma. For Fiscal Year 2008, only 50% of students met this outcome, down from 71.91% the year before. She said that the reason was that they were heavy on older students; she said that there would be better outcomes with earlier interventions with students. She broke down the data into age groups; the group most likely not to have successful outcomes was the Missouri Options Program students.
The Missouri Options Program is a last chance program for students who are in danger of not getting all the credits they need to get a high school graduation. This is not a GED program, because students still get a High School Diploma through the program; if a student successfully completes the program, schools do not have to count them as a dropout. The program had a 42% success rate because the students enrolled are at high risk for dropping out; by contrast, the 7th to 12th grade intervention program had an 82% success rate and the elementary intervention program had a 100% success rate.
Students at the program met 84.3% of their academic plans, that was an improvement from 2007; the state goal was 80%.
ACES also offers a prevention program for schools; it has served 108 students in their home districts; 82.4% of the students in the prevention program maintained placement in their home districts.
The estimated value of services provided by ACES was $86,469 for each school district. The Worth County School paid dues and tuition for students totaling slightly over $22,000, meaning that the school saves over $60,000 by participating in the program. And board members noted that there were even more savings given the fact that it creates a better environment for students not in need of intervention.
From said that the biggest challenge was getting funding from the state to continue the program. Safe Schools funding will decrease from the current level of $400,000 this year to a maximum of $300,000 next year, depending on the ability of ACES to get funding; they can renew their Safe Schools grant, but it will be a competitive process with similar programs around the state. They will also lose $60,000 in cooperative expansion grants.
Fifth grade teacher Ginny Quick reported on her classroom’s studies. In science, they were studying weather and weather lore, including tornadoes and other extreme weather; they were making brochures about weather emergencies. In English, they were working on writing sentences and writing short autobiographies about themselves; in math, they were working on place values and decimals. Julia Moore talked briefly about her English work at the junior high and high school levels.
Elementary Principal Nancy Lewis reported in her written report to the board that 88% of families attended the Open House on August 18th; school pictures were taken on the 25th and progress reports were sent home on September 5th. The current enrollment of the elementary was 191.
In his written report to the board. Robinson said that the school had gotten a Dollar General Grant for literacy for the Junior High Enhancement class. The grant is for $4,990 and will be used to target reading, including comprehension skills, vocabulary, and fluency, and will target individual deficits as measured on the Stanford Reading Test and the MAP Test. It will be used to purchase books for classrooms, supplies, and professional development.
Robinson said that there was no more state funding for the A+ program and that the school would need to incur the costs from its own budget if they wished to pursue that designation. The renovation of the softball field was progressing; the dugouts are being put in and the fence will soon be up. Starting in October, a new 5-year Comprehensive School Improvement Plan will be developed; a new committee will be formed for that purpose.
Superintendent Matt Robinson said that the state was going to switch to a growth model for evaluating schools; he said that with the growth model, the school would have come closer to passing the Communication Arts component of the No Child Left Behind testing. He said that the 2014 goals of the No Child Left Behind legislation were never going to be met and that "it was going to start hurting schools." Previously, the state had switched from a 5-tiered system to a 4-tiered system.
Robinson noted in his written discussion of the results that the AYP was only a single indicator of the school’s academic performance, as measured by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Other factors, such as graduation rates and attendance rates, were considered, and the school met all of these standards.
Robinson said that the previous model had "compared apples to oranges" because it was comparing different kids; the new model would measure how well a particular student did compared to the year before. And he said that the results, in many cases, were close enough that one or two kids could take the school from red (in need of improvement) to green.
In addition, Robinson said that the school was switching from the MAP testing to end of course tests. He said that would ensure that the students were tested on subject matter taught in the schools rather than force teachers to teach to the test. Students from third to eighth grade will still take the MAP tests.
He said that it would get harder every year to meet the Annual Progress Requirements of No Child Left Behind, but he said that it could be done in this area; for instance, he said that Stanberry and Jefferson were gold star schools for their ability to meet the progress requirements.
In addition, Robinson reported that the school’s ACT scores went up as well, continuing a recent trend. He said that was good because more students than usual had signed up to take the ACT. He said that the ability of students to take upper level classes was predictive of how well they would do on the ACT, which meant that the school’s recent move to eight-hour days was a good move; he said that would allow students to take band and FFA and other such activities and still take upper level courses and stay on track to graduate; he said that in a lot of school districts, it was a struggle to make sure that students were prepared for college and that they met new state requirements for graduation.
Robinson said that improving the school’s test scores in Communication Arts, which covers literacy and reading, would involve the whole school and not just the English class. "It has to happen in all classes across the board," he said. Since this is the first year that the school has not met the Annual Progress requirements of No Child Left Behind, there are no penalties that the school faces; if the school fails to meet the Annual Progress Requirements, they would have to come up with a three-year improvement plan. However, Robinson said that he was not waiting for the school to miss the AYP goals next year and that he was already in the process of drawing up an improvement plan for Communication Arts and working with the administration and staff.
Christina Charles, a visitor, requested that the bus stop between 8th street and Lover’s Lane, citing safety concerns and the high number of kids who lived there. There is a bus that already drives by there, but it is full. The board adopted last year’s plan; however, Robinson said that he would continue to look into ways of busing more town students. He reported that he had done some checking and that if there was no extra cost to bus the students, the state would allow them to bus more town students, but that if there was extra cost, such as an extra trip, then there would be a penalty. He said that most of the busses were full right now and that was another problem that had to be addressed; he said that he would be riding busses to see the situation for himself and to evaluate the bus drivers.
On a related note, the school received a spot inspection from the Missouri Highway Patrol, which found that there was only one defect, an upper fender light, which was immediately replaced. Board member Kevin Austin reported that he had heard many positive comments from the inspectors afterwards; they told him that there were normally a lot more problems with busses that they found during random inspections at area schools.
Debbie From of ACES gave her annual presentation to the school board. ACES is a 21-member educational cooperative designed to meet the needs of students who are special education or who are at-risk. They include an alternative school and assist districts with behavioral intervention services.
From reported on the goals and challenges of the program. She reported that the number of suspensions reported by the schools was reduced by 12%, which is over the state goal of 10%. The graduation rate for the member school districts was 95.84%; that exceeds their goal of 95%. The attendance rate last year for students was 86.48%; however, From said that it was closer to 90% this year. She said that the group that skewed the numbers were the 17-18 year olds, who are not required by state law to attend school under the Compulsory Education Act. The goal was 93%.
The number of discipline/incident referral reductions for students enrolled in the program was 38.7%. The goal for the program was 50%; there were 30 students reviewed, and 17 decreased their number of referrals by 50% or greater. From said that they were on the right track, but that it could be better; she said that there were strict protocols for when teachers were to refer students for action.
One of the areas that was in most need of improvement for the program was the number of students who transitioned successfully back to their home school or who received an alternative diploma. For Fiscal Year 2008, only 50% of students met this outcome, down from 71.91% the year before. She said that the reason was that they were heavy on older students; she said that there would be better outcomes with earlier interventions with students. She broke down the data into age groups; the group most likely not to have successful outcomes was the Missouri Options Program students.
The Missouri Options Program is a last chance program for students who are in danger of not getting all the credits they need to get a high school graduation. This is not a GED program, because students still get a High School Diploma through the program; if a student successfully completes the program, schools do not have to count them as a dropout. The program had a 42% success rate because the students enrolled are at high risk for dropping out; by contrast, the 7th to 12th grade intervention program had an 82% success rate and the elementary intervention program had a 100% success rate.
Students at the program met 84.3% of their academic plans, that was an improvement from 2007; the state goal was 80%.
ACES also offers a prevention program for schools; it has served 108 students in their home districts; 82.4% of the students in the prevention program maintained placement in their home districts.
The estimated value of services provided by ACES was $86,469 for each school district. The Worth County School paid dues and tuition for students totaling slightly over $22,000, meaning that the school saves over $60,000 by participating in the program. And board members noted that there were even more savings given the fact that it creates a better environment for students not in need of intervention.
From said that the biggest challenge was getting funding from the state to continue the program. Safe Schools funding will decrease from the current level of $400,000 this year to a maximum of $300,000 next year, depending on the ability of ACES to get funding; they can renew their Safe Schools grant, but it will be a competitive process with similar programs around the state. They will also lose $60,000 in cooperative expansion grants.
Fifth grade teacher Ginny Quick reported on her classroom’s studies. In science, they were studying weather and weather lore, including tornadoes and other extreme weather; they were making brochures about weather emergencies. In English, they were working on writing sentences and writing short autobiographies about themselves; in math, they were working on place values and decimals. Julia Moore talked briefly about her English work at the junior high and high school levels.
Elementary Principal Nancy Lewis reported in her written report to the board that 88% of families attended the Open House on August 18th; school pictures were taken on the 25th and progress reports were sent home on September 5th. The current enrollment of the elementary was 191.
In his written report to the board. Robinson said that the school had gotten a Dollar General Grant for literacy for the Junior High Enhancement class. The grant is for $4,990 and will be used to target reading, including comprehension skills, vocabulary, and fluency, and will target individual deficits as measured on the Stanford Reading Test and the MAP Test. It will be used to purchase books for classrooms, supplies, and professional development.
Robinson said that there was no more state funding for the A+ program and that the school would need to incur the costs from its own budget if they wished to pursue that designation. The renovation of the softball field was progressing; the dugouts are being put in and the fence will soon be up. Starting in October, a new 5-year Comprehensive School Improvement Plan will be developed; a new committee will be formed for that purpose.
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