According to the recently released scores on the high school End of Course Exams ( an embarrassment still being "vetted" by Wendy until after the election) only 20 % of the students at my Alma mater, SSHS, now a "LEAD" school , passed the state test over the Algebra I course they had just taken. At Canterbury school the passing rate was 100%. There is one Canterbury student, however, who has not been able to receive credit for passing the ECA because he didn't take a course called "Algebra I" and the bureaucrats at the IDE don't know how to deal with that. Oh, yeah, the student was a fourth grader.
Forty years ago there was no Canterbury. There was no need for a Canterbury because parents with talented children wouldn't have been concerned about sending them to FWCS. But even though incumbent FWCS board President Mark GiaQuinta, wasn't intimately familiar with the situation at South Side, he knew enough to send his kids to Canterbury High School instead.
Can our high schools ever regain their former excellence? Not with a board whose purpose is celebrating the satus quo. Not with a board that wouldn't address reality without the threat of state intervention. Not with a board that isnt' willing to start with K-3 and insure the gains there eventually pay off in the high schools. Not with this board.
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22 comments:
Again I agree with you. I hope all voters will elect new school board members. The present board does not listen to anyone besides Wendy Robinson and her band of merry followers. Do the right thing on election day Fort Wayne.
Where did you find ECA scores for private schools? The only scores I could find on the DOE site were for public schools, which I found curious?
My neighbor 2 doors down works at Canterbury. That number is unofficial, however, and still subject to "vetting".
Ah ha, inside information. I thought you would be posting another challenge to the JG...print the scores!!
FWCS should find out how Cantebury teaches all the refugee ESL kids, kids with fetal alcohol syndrome, and my favorite, the kids whose moms drop them off at school still wearing the same clothes they wore last week.
My big beef with FWCS is that Canterbury caliber kids don't get the opportunities they should because of the intellectual shortcomings of their classmates.
"We are your schools?" How about "We were your schools until we lowered our expectations."
Nice piece of writing! Good luck to you Evert!
Anon- not to mention those with parents in jail. There were four in the kindergarten class I tutored but the kids were great.
I know the demographics are difficult to deal with. If we can't figure out a way, we'll lose all the smarter kids and we need to keep them and their parents in the system to keep it viable.
Good luck, I do hope you will win a seat on the school board today! Without a doubt, major changes need to happen at FWCS. Here’s just one briefly described tragedy begging for change…
My student transferred to North Side High School (from Fishers High School @ HSE schools) at about 4 weeks into the beginning of the current school year. Despite being a learning disabled student, she arrived at NSHS with a GPA of 2.9 and 15 earned credits after her freshman year. That accomplishment was in large part a direct result of an IEP that was written at the start of her freshman year at FHS and likewise written to continue on at her new school, NSHS. It contained only 1 (one) critical accommodation: Online access to weekly course agendas/outlines and there corresponding homework assignments. With that one tool, both she and her at-home mentors were able to keep her on-track, organized and accountable. Despite her LD status her graduation prospect was looking good.
That expectation drastically changed shortly after she began classes at North Side. It took the administration weeks to begin to piecemeal together a set of textbooks for her (she still hasn’t received the English 10 textbook… ECA, ECA, ECA!) And they have yet to “persuade” her teachers to upload weekly outlines/homework to her Edline account per her IEP. Needless to say, she is currently FAILING nearly every one of her classes this semester.
Notwithstanding the school board elections: It would seem that it is way past time for the IDoE to follow through with the takeover of Indiana’s FAILING schools.
With a wholesale change in administration and 50% change in teachers it's not suprising that any LEAD high school is having a bad time. So bad that Wendy told the teachers at NSHS not to talk about it publicly on penalty of losing their jobs.
What's really sad is that you can't turn kids around after they get to high school. These changes will have only a minimal effect at that level.
“With a wholesale change in administration and 50% change in teachers it's not suprising that any LEAD high school is having a bad time."
Obliviously, NSHS was failing its students years before it was designated a LEAD school or experienced a 50% change in administration or teaching staff. In short, there are NO acceptable excuses for not providing a set of textbooks or adhering to an agreed upon IEP! NONE.
“So bad that Wendy told the teachers at NSHS not to talk about it publicly on penalty of losing their jobs."
The teachers/staff are grown adults well aware of their guaranteed constitutional right to free speech. If they are being bullied and threatened in this manner, it is incumbent upon them to speak-up. If for no other reason than to set the example for their student body experiencing bullying.
"What's really sad is that you can't turn kids around after they get to high school. These changes will have only a minimal effect at that level."
I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree with your assessment. Although measurably more difficult, no student comes with an expiration date on their ability to learn! Perhaps you can cite supporting evidence that will enlighten me? (This, however, is not to say that I don’t agree that the system needs to be fixed from the bottom up, only that it’s hugely offensive to read such a defeatist position... Perhaps, I misunderstood your point.)
Anon - statistically if a child doesn't pass the 3rd grade ISTEP there's an 80 % chance they will never pass it at a higher grade level. And as they go up, the chance of passing decreases even further. The higher up they get the more remediation they need and the high schools are not set up for remediation. What I've seen in high school algebra classes over the last five years is teachers cutting back on the curriculum because they have way too many kids who have to be re(taught) what they did not master in earlier grades.
Yes, a few of them catch up enough to squeeze by at the expense of others who are not challenged. So extra effort in the high schools will benefit a few, but I think on a large scale the effect will be small.
If I didn't think we could help some of them, I would not have been at South Side and Elmhurst for the last six years as an in class tutor two days a week. But I think I could have had way more impact volunteering in an elementary school.
Anon,
I agree completely that no child, even one in high school, is without hope for achieving success in the classroom but the teacher is just one of many factors in any turnaround. And unfortunately, in the FWCS LEAD school process, teachers have almost no voice.
Code Blue is right about the LEAD process. A teacher may have found out late in July where whey were teaching, so who knows when they found out what they were teaching! The change to a seven period day means now that hs teachers are teaching at a completely new pace...they must make new plans for each course for the year. If I were a teacher with three courses to plan I would be lucky to keep a week ahead. But there is no excuse for a student with an IPE to receive this kind of inaction. Edline can be cumbersome for the type of information this student needs. If I can make a suggestion, maybe the student could ask for a hard copy of each week's agenda (if it were me I would just copy my plan book each Monday.)
LEAD principals and asst principals are so focused on student engagement, taking class "snapshots", and tracking "essential questions" and "daily agendas" for each class I doubt they concern themselves with an IEP!! Lost is the focus on each student.
FWCS seems incapable of seeing the forest because they are gazing at the trees.
Good Comments all, but one thing we are overlooking is that sending our children to any of the LEAD schools amounts to some form of child abuse. We can do better. FWCS should do better
If I get on the board, call me and we'll talk some more.
I can honestly say a year ago I didn't think much of you. I thought you were against the bond issue because it would raise your taxes. This blog has given me a better perspective on you as a candidate. I definitely will be pulling the lever for you after work. Good luck and if you're not successful this round, please continue to be a thorn in the side of those who practice educational doublespeak as their mother tongue.
This is exactly why FWCS should have jettisoned their policy of social promotion decades ago AND developed remediation programs at all grade levels. Given the alternatives, tomorrow will not be too late to embrace the change.
Presupposing that teachers are not/would not be cutting back on curriculum to the degree that they were failing to teach State educational standards, I would think the acceptable curriculum cut backs reflect their buy-in; the necessary buy-in that has kept the social promotion policy in place. Besides, a good teacher simply does not need to cut back on curriculum at the expense of ‘others not challenged’... as that is exactly what a well written IEP functions to prevent. But only when a good teacher follows what is written in the IEP.
Without a doubt, your volunteer efforts have made a difference in the lives of many. Thank you; my hat is off to you, sir!
Siestagirl,
“… the teacher is just one of many factors in any turnaround.”
Teachers can be awesome. I know this because I saw what a difference a few good teachers made to my students’ success in the classroom.
“And unfortunately, in the FWCS LEAD school process, teachers have almost no voice.”
Teachers have chosen to allow their Unions to speak for them; a very legitimate choice to make. In addition, teachers are citizens first; they, like the rest of us can/do contact their elected representatives to voice their opinions.
“Edline can be cumbersome for the type of information this student needs.”
Edline has been in place for years @ FWCS; it is a system totally comparable to the system in place @ HSE. The information delineated on her IEP is remarkably basic; information that would greatly benefit any student who has misplaced an assignment book, missed a class, or woke-up on a Friday and decided to care, or parent wanting to keep their student accountable. The problem is not that she requires a super-duper type of information; rather, that none care enough to simply utilize the program available to help her.
“If I can make a suggestion, maybe the student could ask for a hard copy of each week's agenda (if it were me I would just copy my plan book each Monday.)”
Hard copies are expensive and hard to keep track of; Edline is bought, paid for, and good to go…
“LEAD principals and asst principals are so focused on student engagement … I doubt they concern themselves with an IEP!!”
Sad commentary… but thank you for responding.
Anon-
“Teachers can be awesome. I know this because I saw what a difference a few good teachers made to my students’ success in the classroom.”
I completely agree…I had terrific elementary teachers and that may be why I enjoyed school so much. I was a secondary teacher. I had many incredible experiences but for many students I also felt I was a distraction or irrelevant in their lives. I doubt many elementary students feel that way about a teacher.
“Teachers have chosen to allow their Unions to speak for them; a very legitimate choice to make. In addition, teachers are citizens first; they, like the rest of us can/do contact their elected representatives to voice their opinions.”
I am not talking about unions and elected representatives. I am talking about school administrators who have constructed the LEAD school changes with little or no input from teachers in the classroom.
“Edline has been in place for years @ FWCS; it is a system totally comparable to the system in place @ HSE….The problem is not that she requires a super-duper type of information; rather, that none care enough to simply utilize the program available to help her.”
I used Edline for several years so I guess I am just speaking of my ineptitude with computers. I might not have my week’s agenda and assignments in a computerized document so I could not post it. I guess I am just old!
I enjoy your comments, they are thought provoking...I hope some within FWCS are reading them!
Two thoughts:
1. Canterbury is the known school for students with learning disabilities, if you have the money to pay for the one-on-one attention, and extra tutoring outside.
2. Concordia High School has scholarship funds set aside for learning disabled students.
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