Shocking!

OK - so maybe it's not shocking, but it's at least surprising to see a bill going through the legislature that repeals a duty that was handed off to public schools. This may be the first time I can recall a law change that didn't add a new requirement for public schools.

Senate Bill 0010 would repeal the public school requirement to test all students in grades 5, 7 and 9 for scoliosis.

Speaking of Bills - here is the entire list of bills introduced into the Indiana General Assembly.

If you have an opinion on one of them, go to the blue sticker on the sidebar where it says "Write Your Legislator." Put in your zip code and then your address, click "GO" and you will be given the email addresses of your representatives. In 60 seconds you can tell them what you think.

One legislator told me privately, that he puts far more weight behind the personal emails and letters from constituents than he does the form letters from professional lobbying organizations.

One of the first reasons I started blogging was to try to make it easier for patrons to not only know how laws affected their local schools but to make it easier for patrons to let their own personal opinions be known to their representatives.

Wednesday - School Cancelled

Wawasee Schools will be closed on Wednesday, February 14, 2007.

Board Meeting Time Change

The Wawasee Community School Board has moved the 7:00 PM meeting tonight to 4:00 PM. in the central administration office. The executive session has been cancelled.

Tonight's Boy's BB Game Rescheduled

The make up game for the make up game against Northridge will be Wednesday, February 14th. JV game starts at 6:15 PM.

Tuesday - Cancelled

School will be closed on Tuesday the 13th. The snow started around 5:00 AM and the wind is causing some drifting.

"2% circuit breaker" - For some cities, towns and schools it blows a fuse!

Someone emailed me last week and wanted to know how Indiana's new law, coined the "2% circuit breaker" was going to affect the Wawasee school system. Evidently they had seen the TV coverage of the South Bend school system fretting about how this law could hurt them badly.

The "2% circuit breaker," passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2006 is designed to cap property taxes at 2%. That sounds simple enough, right?

Yet, this law could have a devastating impact on some municipalities, towns, cities and schools but little or no impact on others.

Here is how it works. To make the example simple, let's assume you had a home and property that was valued for property tax purposes at $100,000 and your total property tax exceeded $2,000. In this example the "2% circuit breaker" kicks in and then anything over that $2,000 is noncollectable and the taxing entities would not receive their portion of that money.

What if you live in a town that has a library tax? What if your town provides sewer service? Maybe they collect your garbage or plow your streets and pick up your leaves? These services are provided for those that live in the taxing area. But if your total property taxes including school taxes exceeds 2% (or in the $100,000 example - $2,000) then the taxing entities do not receive their portion over the $2,000 amount.

This seems a little weird to me. Just because you live outside these municipal areas doesn't necessarily mean you don't use such services. Maybe you pay for your own garbage pick up. When the private gravel drive to your subdivision is drifted in you may have to pay separately to have it plowed. You probably pay every year to have it scraped and potholes filled. Maybe you pay for septic tanks to be pumped and when the systems go bad you may pay privately to put in a new system. These items are not covered on the property tax rolls but that doesn't mean you don't have to use those services. I suppose the thinking is that at least you have a choice. I suppose so. You could let the garbage pile up at the roadside I guess! :-)

But, here are the real problems with the "2% circuit breaker:"

1. These towns, municipalities and schools already have their budgets set and services developed long before they are informed about how much revenue is not collected.

2. The Indiana General Assembly passed the law without solid information on how and who it would affect.

3. They did not pass any alternative revenue sources.

As far as Wawasee Schools is concerned, it does not appear to have too much of a direct effect. Wawasee Schools tax rate is low enough that even adding all the other property taxes up inside the towns it should not have a major impact on our schools. But time will tell.

To see Wawasee's property tax rate and current ranking (Click here) then scroll down to "Delve deeper into data" and select "top 10 corporations," then select "tax rate (before CAGIT)" and you will see Wawasee ranked 292 of 293 school districts.

Friday's Funny

Today's Friday Funny comes from Syracuse teacher, Dina Coverstone.

Last year when Dina was teaching Kindergarten she had a little fellow come up to her and exclaim, "Miss Coverstone, my mom is having her throat cut and her thyroid taken out."

Another little girl chimed in and added, "Now your mom can't have babies anymore!"

Have a great weekend. Go Warriors! Beat Northwood in the girl's sectional tonight in Angola. We play the early game.

Community Big Read!!

“The Big Read”
North Webster Community Public Library, Milford Public Library, and Syracuse Public Library will host book discussions in March on the book “The Grapes of Wrath,” by John Steinbeck. All of Kosciusko County is being encouraged to read “The Grapes of Wrath,”in March for “The Big Read,” a program that was planned by Kosciusko Literacy Services to encourage our whole community to read one book for pleasure and enlightenment.

The book discussions, open to anyone, are scheduled for March 1 (Thursday) 6:30 PM at Milford Public Library, March 5 (Monday) 5:30 PM at North Webster Comm. Public Library, and March 14 (Wednesday), 7 PM at Downtown Grounds in Syracuse.

Each time a student participates in an event of “The Big Read”, he or she may enter a drawing for an iPOD. Adults participating in an event may enter a drawing for two tickets to a local theater production and dinner for two at an area restaurant.

Other contests include a writing and art contest.

Contact your local library for more information.

FREE BOOKS are available in the Wawasee Administration Office (the small brick building in front of the high school). Stop in and pick one up! The only requirement is that you pass it on to a friend to read when you are done. Join the entire county in The Big Read!!

Provided by NW Librarian Helen Leinbach

Changes coming...

I am still hoping that our community and our students can be a model for the country on how a blog can provide an open avenue for communication. For two years the "comments feature" has been turned on allowing all anonymous comments. It worked very well. During that time I can only recall deleting one or two comments due to profanity. Problems have come with the increased volume of traffic. For the near future we will only turn the comments on for posts that are substantive in nature where a variety of thought and opinion are relevant. Announcements of various kinds such as snow delays and cancellations will have the comments turned off.

Blogging is best done in small doses because we all have work to do! The volume of inflammatory comments has created an editing problem. We do not have the time to monitor the blog all day and spend our time deleting or censoring comments.

Why do I say a "model for the country?" There have been 90,209 different computers access this site in the last 7 days for a total of 229,791 page loads in one week. That means other parts of the country are watching our "experiment" here.

For the near future we will only turn the comments on for posts that are substantive in nature where a variety of thought and opinion are relevant. Announcements of various kinds such as snow delays and announcements will have comments turned off.

We will see how that works. If that doesn't work then we will have to either require all commenters to register which many blogs do (that means you are identifiable) or turn off the interactive features which makes this all dry and boring!

Let's see if we can find the middle ground! Good luck!

Two Hour Delay Wednesday

Wawasee Schools are on a two-hour delay with alternate kindergarten schedule for Wednesday. There will be no early release. Students will remain in school until the regular dismissal time.

Girls' Basketball Sectional Postponed

Due to a water main break at Angola High School, the girls' basketball sectional game at Angola has been postponed to Wednesday. Wawasee will play Angola in the second game which will begin around 7:30 p.m.

Congrats to Warrior Athletes

Wawasee High School had several champions in athletics over the weekend.

Chase Davis won a high school wrestling regional championship at 130 pounds on Saturday. He will compete in the individual semistate on Saturday at Merrillville. Justin Wegener also advanced by placing third at 160 pounds.

Krista Spearman won the 100 yard breaststroke in the Warsaw Girls' Swimming Sectional on Saturday. She will compete in the state finals this weekend. Eleaya Rodes finished third in diving and will compete in the diving regional at South Bend Riley tonight

The varsity girls' basketball team became the champions of the Northern Lakes Conference by defeating Northridge on Friday night. They finished the conference 7-0. They play Angola tonight around 7:30 p.m. in the second game of the sectional at Angola.

If any postponements occur with tonight's events, we will post that information here on the blog.

Tuesday Cancellation - School All Day Wednesday

Wawasee Community Schools are closed today, Tuesday. This day will be made up on March 23rd.

On Wednesday, students will be in session all day. There will be no early release.

Two Hour Delay Tuesday

There is a two-hour delay with alternate kindergarten schedule for Tuesday.

Monday Cancellation

No school Monday.

We tried this morning, but according to Mr. Green, our head mechanic, all the buses in the "bull pen" have trouble staying running. Cold weather is causing the fuel to jell up.

Too many buses will not stay running.

Make up day will be February 19.

Two hour delay Monday

There will be a two-hour delay on Monday due to the extreme wind chill.

This will give the Transportation Department the needed time to make sure the buses will start after an idle weekend.

This will reduce the likelihood of children standing in the cold too long waiting for a late bus.

We are announcing it early to make it easy for parents to make plans.

(No - It's not a premature celebration of the Colt's anticipated victory! :-)

Boys' Basketball Games Postponed

The junior varsity and varsity boys' basketball games against Northridge have been postponed due to weather. They will play on Tuesday, February 13th at Wawasee with the junior varsity game starting at 6:15 p.m.

Why I seldom censor comments

A handful of people have suggested that I should delete some of the more inflammatory comments that get posted, especially those that take potshots at teachers or administrators.

Here are some random thoughts on the issue:

1. The wide-open forum of the internet is here to stay. Schools should embrace the technology and use it for good, instead of getting squeamish. The internet has given everyone an equal voice. You just didn't hear that voice before. Not all voices will make sense to you and not all voices will be respectful. That doesn't mean they weren't out there before - it just means they ran in different circles than you and you never heard that voice.

2. When you were in school did you know who the superintendent was? Did you interact with him or her? Having a voice in the past meant you had to have "connections." Today, connections may be technology-based.

3. It will take time for people to adjust to maintaining their dignity when they think no one is physically watching. You see, they just don't realize yet that the whole world is now watching. It's just electronic. Bill Gates calls it, "Living the documented life." Every key stroke you make leaves a digital footprint. Every place you go the security cameras and web cams are likely to be recording you. Every person that posts wild ramblings and embarrassing personal information on their website will have to explain it to a future employer. Many large businesses now employ people specifically to search out every internet reference to a potential employee before they hire them.

4. Twenty years ago you older folks left your imprint on the world by carving your initials in the tree with your rusty pocketknife. "Leroy was here." Today your children and grandchildren blog their views to the world and publish their daily lives to thousands by posting to their personal websites. It's no different in that respect, their imprint is just digital and far reaching - even into the future. It is a permanent record.

5. As far as censoring or deleting comments goes, I have not yet had to censor any comments except for one or two for profanity.

6. Comments, suggestions, criticisms and compliments are appropriate here when they are in reference to policies, practices or school-wide issues. If a criticism is in reference to a specific individual or department it is best made directly to the individual or their "boss." I will delete any inflammatory comments that reference an individual or employee. Except for references to me. Everyone considers the superintendent fair game I guess. (Someone came up to me recently and started pinching my upper arm lightly. They looked up with a grin and said, "I was just checking to see if you had thick skin!")

7. The biggest problem with internet communication is that it lacks the non-verbal cues that accompany face-to-face interaction.

8. And the simplest reason for blunt and sometimes inflammatory posting is actually quite simple. Some people get lazy (perhaps they aren't very good typists) and they don't take the time to soften their words and explain themselves more carefully the way they would face-to-face.

They methed it up

Friday's Funny

Mr. Garner, Principal of Syracuse Elementary, reported he saw the following methed up abbreviation running on a local TV channel during the snow cancellations:

"Milford Meth Church - Activities cancelled"

Have a Super weekend. Go Colts!

Is school work getting harder? You be the judge.

Many of you may not know this, but Indiana was recently ranked first in the nation in its academic standards and its assessment system. (link here) That might start some debate!

Many veteran teachers feel like the curriculum has been shoved down and shoved down. Most parents wouldn't recognize the material from their elementary days!

Here is a 2nd grade writing standard for Indiana:

Write or deliver a research report that has been developed using a systematic research process (defines the topic, gathers information, determines credibility, reports findings) and that: uses a variety of resources (books, technology, pictures, charts, tables of contents, diagrams) and documents sources (titles and authors).organizes information by categorizing it into single categories (such as size or color) or includes information gained through observation.

Whoa Nelly! When I was in second grade I think I was still having 3 recesses a day and maybe even milk and cookies! If middle schoolers could do this with consistency we would be thrilled. Now granted, the subject matter can be scaled down considerably.

Parents, do you want to know what your children are expected to know and be able to do in Indiana at each grade level? Click here and choose a subject from the pull down menu. Then move your cursor over the colored buttons for every grade level and look at the standards. It's all here.

You can also print off sample problems to practice with too.

Netiquette

We evidently have attracted a lot of new readers with the recent snow delay controversies. Evidently it was the "Jerry Springer" atmosphere that attracted so many! There were 11,000 separate computers that accessed the site over 39,000 times yesterday. Given the volume, I thought it might be helpful to provide a few links that review internet etiquette. Why?

In educational terms, it is a "teachable moment!" :-)

Most blog sites or internet forums go through growth stages as new readers grow accustomed to interacting online. It is said that much of human communication is transmitted through non-verbal cues. If this is true than it would be easy to misread the written communication of others in an online format, or to forget basic courtesies when posting anonymously.

Here is a link to Wikipedia (an open, collaborative, online encyclopedia) that discusses some of the pitfalls to online communication.

Here is a link to an excerpt from a book entitled "Netiquette" that summarizes 10 guidelines for online interaction.

Here is a link to a 10 question quiz on "netiquette."

I do not post these because I am offended or upset by the criticism. It comes with the territory and sometimes it is deserved.

I post these because a number of commenters tried to bring civility and politeness back into the picture and found it difficult.

Online access to grades and attendance

Students:
Do you know what your current grade average is in each class?
Do you know if you have missing assignments still to turn in?

Parents:
Have you sat down with a printout of your son or daughter's grades and discussed it with them?
Don't forget those high school age young adults. They need to know you care too.

It's a click and a password away.

Click on the grade portal links on the sidebar, enter your password and take a "look-see."

If you do not have your password handy or you lost it, call the school or e-mail them for the information. (TIP: Post the passwords somewhere handy and teach your children to access and monitor their own grade book!)

SE 457-4484
MLF 658-9444
WMS 457-8839
NE 834-7644
WHS 457-3147

In addition to having online access to grades and attendance, next year we will be able to provide access to your child's lunch account as well.

Wednesday Delay Update

Road reports show that many of the drifted areas we were worried about this morning are plowed out now.

Drive careful. Have a good day.

Wednesday Delay

Two hour delay.

Road conditions are actually pretty decent considering everything. But....there are isloated sections of certain roads where we have drifting.

Ninety-percent of the roads are clear. The remaining 10% are one lane. Some of those would hang up a school bus.

Skies are clear, some roads are even bare.

This will give the county road crews time to knock down the extra drifts.

Our Condolences

We would like to pass along our condolences to the family of Jodi Molle. Jodi was the driver of the vehicle involved in the head-on collision with the Wawasee school bus on Friday morning north of Dewart Lake. Jodi has family that attend the Wawasee Schools.

Jodi passed away Monday afternoon at KCH hospital.

Thank you blog reader D.S. for the private e-mail concerning the details.

Early Dismissal

Wawasee Schools will be dismissing early on Tuesday due to the wind advisory being extended. Blowing and drifting snow is expected until 1:00 AM Wednesday morning.

Dismissal is 1:00 PM for all schools except Wawasee Middle School which will be 1:20 PM.

Afternoon Kindergarten will be cancelled.

I blew it.

As many commenters have pointed out, some politely and some not so politely - there should have been at least a two-hour delay today without any question. Yesterday we could have gone without one and not much would have been said.

I made a bad call no matter how you look at it.

Survey Results

I have re-posted the snow delay survey above by request. In order to see the current results of the survey, click on "view stats."

Due to the results I did not do a follow up survey on TV stations.

Stay warm. Drive carefully.

Monday Delay

Wawasee Schools will be on a two hour delay for Monday morning.

County road crews are already out ( it is 4:53 AM right now) but it will take them awhile to cover the routes.

There are still many slick areas and 1 to 2 inches of fresh snowfall during the night.

This Morning's Bus Accident Update

Some of you know by now that there was bus accident around 7:30 AM this morning. Bus 16 was traveling on the north side of Dewart Lake and was struck head on by a small car.

Everyone appears to be ok but due to the severity of the collision we transported all the students to Kosciusko Hospital just to be sure.

Administrators met the parents at the hospital to explain the situation.

After checking all the students over carefully, KCH released some to their parents and others were transported back to the school.

KCH provided a breakfast and snacks for students after they were officially released.

We wish to thank the EMS workers and volunteers as well as law enforcement officials for their professional and speedy response.

Thanks to the hospital for allowing me to blog this directly from the hospital computers.

Students With Special Needs Across the State

Highest 10 School Corporations
1 Benton Community School Corp 29.6%
2 Kokomo-Center Twp Con Sch Corp 27.2%
3 M S D Mount Vernon 27.1%
4 New Harmony Town & Twp Con Sch 26.7%
5 Richmond Community Schools 26.2%
6 South Henry School Corp 26.1%
7 Southwest School Corp 26.0%
8 Cannelton City Schools 25.8%
9 Muncie Community Schools 25.6%
10 Randolph Central School Corp 25.4%

Lowest 10 School Corporations
285 School Town of Highland 12.0%
286 M S D of New Durham Township 12.0%
287 Greater Jasper Con Schs 11.9%
288 Adams Central Community Schools 11.9%
289 Pioneer Regional School Corp 11.7%
290 Dewey Township Schools 11.3%
291 Westview School Corporation 11.2%
292 Southeast Dubois Co Sch Corp 10.2%
293 Bremen Public Schools 10.1%
294 Northeast Dubois Co Sch Corp 9.8%

State Average 17.9%
Wawasee Average 14.8

OK - now hang with me here. This is a crash course on statistics.

Pearson Correlations

The Pearson R Correlations listed below compare the student special education counts with other statistics and tries to see if they are related to one another. A very high number for a Pearson R (such as .90) means that the two items are highly "co-related." If you "square" .90 (meaning multiply it times itself [.90 x .90] ) you will get .81. This means that 81% of the variation in the numbers on the one statistic are in some way explained by the other statistic. In other words they are highly "correlated."

Pearson Correlations (For All Corporations)
Special Ed Students, Pct 2005-06,

Dec 1 Count with Pearson R Pct of Variation Explained

Free Lunch, Pct Pupils Elig 2006-07 0.3069 9.4%
ISTEP Pct Pass Both Engl and Math 2006-07 -0.3029 9.2%
ISTEP Pct Pass Math 2006-07 -0.3087 9.5%

What does this mean? It means that only 9 % of the variation in percentages of students in special education across the state of Indiana can be explained by poverty or ISTEP scores. And...these were the highest correlations reported. Now - you will notice that the ISTEP Pearson R numbers were negative. This means that as the special education numbers increased, ISTEP pass rates slightly decreased, but still the relationship was not a very strong one across the state.



All data has been taken from the Indiana Department of Education website.

The day I became convinced that special needs students aren't the only ones benefiting from being included.

The Setting

It was the fall of 1984. I had just moved to Indiana from Ohio to take a 6th grade teaching position. One of the differences I noticed at Washington Elementary in Warsaw, was the number of special needs students in the school due to the centralized special education cooperative. There were students from Whitko, Wawasee, and Tippecanoe Valley all attending our school. The school I came from in Ohio did not have any special needs students with the exception of Learning Disabled (LD) students.

The Story

The sun was shining brightly, reflecting off the dark asphalt of the outdoor basketball courts outside Washington Elementary. Several hundred students stood silently in straight lines, hands at their sides, squinting into the sun and watching their teachers for a silent signal to re-enter the school after a fire drill practice.

Suddenly a strange noise came from the playground. The students silently turned to look. A little handicapped boy with Down's Syndrome came skipping and prancing off the playground, dancing and singing loudly to a tune only he could hear. A fire drill wasn't going to interfere with his day!

I immediately whipped around and gave everyone the "evil teacher eye." You know, that stern piercing look that all teachers learn fast or they don't survive long. I expected rude laughter and some version of poking fun at him. Young teenagers can be cruel and unmerciful at times when it comes to picking on others and I expected this to be ugly.

The incident I witnessed following this exchange, has forever convinced me that general education students learn a lot from going to school with students with diverse needs.

My class watched the little boy with understanding expressions and quiet, patient smiles. Several whispered his name, "Hi Jon!" Others covertly snuck their hands out and gave him a quiet "high five" as he danced by. No snide remarks. No secret whispers. No knowing grins.

I glanced at every student and studied their expressions carefully. I could see only signs of friendliness. I studied them carefully again, this time looking for pity in their eyes. Still - only friendliness.

It was awhile later before I truly understood how this could be. You see, Washington Elementary 6th grade students were friends with Jon. They routinely gave up their recesses and went to the special needs classrooms to help tutor and befriend the students. They didn't poke fun at Jon because they knew him. They didn't pity him because they knew he could do a lot of things. They were Jon's friends.

While there are certainly challenges when we include special needs students in regular education, let's not forget that special education students aren't the only ones who benefit.

Texting shows up in student writing

r u surprized?

LOL

Link here

l8tr dude

The challenges we face in educating ALL children

I think one of the most endearing (and yes - challenging) things about America's public schooling philosophy is our desire to educate every child.

A person recently told me that her grandchildren are attending a rural school in China. There are certain tests they take and if the students do poorly, they are not allowed to come back. How is that for "high stakes testing?"

In the American system, right or wrong (it's ok to debate it!) schools are expected to take most of the responsibility for adjusting to the students needs. Americans will never tolerate a system that is designed to shut doors for students - and then lock them out.

Wawasee's teachers for some time have been discussing the trend of seeing more and more children with greater educational needs coming through the schoolhouse doors. The numbers back them up.

The graph below shows a 36% increase in students with special education needs since 2002/2003. The breakdown in numbers shows that the increases are in special education areas where the needs are the most serious.

Special Education Preschool: 17 students to 46 students (170% increase)
Developmental Delays: 8 students to 17 students (112% increase)
Learning Disabilities: 163 students to 159 students (2 % decrease)
Emotional Disabilities: 34 students to 86 students (153% increase)
Communication Disabilities: 115 students to 181 students (57% increase)
Autism: 11 students to 25 students (127% increase)

TOTAL Number of Students with special needs: 489 students

The state average for identified students with special needs is 17.9%. Wawasee's overall average is still under the average at 14.8%

Board Meeting Highlights

At Tuesday night's meeting the WCSC Board of School Trustees:

...gave the oath of office to new board members Rebecca Linnemeier and Michael Wilson

...accepted donations of two vehicles from Subaru Of Indiana to the Automotive program; $7,000 to Summer Swim from Red Cross, Vineyard Community Church, Rinker Family Foundation; $500 from KCH and Dr. Van Ness; and $500 from the Wawasee Kiwanis Club to the Academic Super Bowl

...approved minutes, claims, personnel, year-end transfers, renewal of Dave Van Lue as Syracuse Parks Board representative and an overnight band tour

...approved Board Officers, Dallas Winchester - president, Mary Lou Dixon - Vice President, George Gilbert - Secretary, Mike Wilson - vocational representative, David Cates - attorney

...approved Dr. Stock, Mr. Evans, Mr Lahrman and Ms Swartzentruber as the only Board representatives to open sealed bids and receive quotes for school business

...approved the financial report

...approved Mr. Evans - Treasurer and Mrs. Hollar - Deputy Treasurer

...heard a report on Special Education in Wawasee from Director Mrs. Hite (these statistics will be reported on the blog site later this week)

...heard a report from Dr. Stock about forming a Reading committee to make recommendations on literacy issues in Wawasee, report on graduation statistics, and an update on the Wawasee Education Fund

...heard a report from Ms Swartzentruber on the Annual Performance Report, 2007-2008 calendar update, WHS Course Description Guide

How does it feel to be a new English speaker taking a graduation exam?

Here is an inside look at two ENL (English as a New Language) students taking a high stakes GQE (Graduation Qualifying Exam) graduation test. This is written by Phil Lederach, Assistant Principal at Goshen High School, and is published in the Goshen News as a letter to the editor. Mr. Lederach shares a teacher's narrative as she watched the students take the test.

I found it interesting from the human interest side of how high stakes testing can affect individuals.

Click here for Goshen News Letter to the Editor.

2006 Published Graduation Rates

Indiana has a new formula for counting high school graduation rates.

Here are the state definitions for these categories:

OTHERS: students who move to a lower grade, were enrolled for less than 1 year or were early graduates

UNKNOWN: students who left and no transcripts were requested by any other school

COURSE COMPLETION: students who successfully completed the required courses but did not pass the graduation exam (10th grade ISTEP test)

SP. ED. CERTIFICATES: students who completed their education within the special education program, were foreign exchange students, or were home-schooled

DROPOUTS: students who left school early and participated in an exit interview


How is this formula different than past years? GED students are no longer counted as graduates. Special Education Students not on "diploma-track" who complete their IEP(Individual Education Program) successfully are no longer counted as graduates. If any students are missing the correct documentation for their category (such as a foreign exchange student) they may count as a "non-graduate." Students who are behind in their credits and graduate a year or more late are non-graduates until the year they receive their diploma.



Graphics supplied by Dr. Robert Cockburn

Do you know how well your child is reading?

Here is a link to a "Red Flag Screening Test for Reading" that you can use to determine what grade level your child is reading at.

Parents can follow the directions given and print copies of various grade level reading assessments, including a state (not Indiana) reading assessment. Directions for scoring are provided.

If the results do not seem to be in line with what you know about your child, or if the results do not seem in line with information you received from your school about your child's reading abilities, then it would be a good idea to schedule an appointment with your child's teacher to discuss it.

A conservative voice ponders NCLB renewal

Here is an interesting article from someone who helped the Bush administration promote NCLB. I don't agree with everything he says, but there are quite a few interesting points.

This article is probably best suited for people with at least a little background on what the No Child Left Behind law was about.

A teacher's New Year's Resolution

Click here to read a teacher's New Year's resolution published in a letter to the Indianapolis Star.

Here is an excerpt:

The students felt they were not being heard or understood. A student who does not trust a teacher may not ask for help. Teachers have become so concerned about testing and standards, we have forgotten about the connection we need to establish with students. How many students do not like a teacher because they believe the teacher does not like them? Teachers should take time to understand the students, not just the curriculum....

Friday's Funnies

Found at TeachersFirst:

Here's a collection of wisdom from an anonymous mother. If you'd like to add something you've learned, send an e-mail to editorial@teachersfirst.com.

A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. foot house 4 inches deep.

If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

A 3-year-old's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20 by 20 foot room.

You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. However, when using the ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit.

A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

The glass in windows (even double pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

When you hear the toilet flush and the words "Uh-oh," it's already too late.

A six-year-old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36 year old man says they can only do it in the movies.

A magnifying glass can start a fire even on an overcast day.

Certain LEGOs will pass through the digestive tract of a four-year-old.

The words "Play Dough" and "Microwave" should never be used in the same sentence.

Super glue is forever.

No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

VCRs do not eject PB&J sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.

Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

You probably do not want to know what that odor is.

Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not like ovens.

The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5 minute response time.

The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earth worms dizzy. It will however make cats dizzy.

Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

My opinion? Kids are natural born researchers!!

Have a good weekend!!

Education Commission is off-the-mark...again

Jay Matthews gets it right.

Washington Post article here.

Reporter follows 9th grader around school for a year

"What I learned in 9th grade this year!"

A reporter followed several ninth graders through school for a year and reflects on what he has learned about life and schools today.

It is a remarkable story. There is little to argue about here.

Click here for the link to the St Petersburg Times.

Rich schools vs poor schools: Indiana

A recent study ( here is the Star's editorial on it) seems to show that the gap in school funding between rich schools and poor schools is smaller in Indiana than in other states. In fact, through the General Fund funding formula, Indiana actually pays additional funds to schools with more non-English speaking students, and students on free and reduced lunches.

I wonder whether there is a gap or even if it is inverted in some cases when you factor in federal dollars as well? I did this study for our district once with spreadsheet data provided by the state department and found that despite Wawasee's high property wealth per student (go here, type in "Wawasee", go down the page and click on "top 10 corporations," choose "assessed value per A.D.M." and you will see we are number 2 in the state) , yet, we were still under state averages in per pupil revenue. When I factored in federal grant dollars it drove us even lower.

In other words, most of these studies usually involve state funding only, not additional federal grant revenue which is almost always distributed based on poverty and other at-risk factors.

Indiana has pretty much "uncoupled" property wealth from state General Fund expenditures. In other words, just because a school has high property values doesn't mean they get a lot more money to spend on instruction. Overall, this isn't a bad thing, at least from the standpoint of equity around the state. When you review this country's history of inequities - you can see why school funding formulas had to change.

However, the study shows that inequities do exist in facilities and projects. Why? Because those are more often local decisions, not state decisions. The local community may want to purchase "artifical turf" for the football stadium or some other perceived "luxury." In districts with high property wealth, even a very small rise in taxes can generate a lot of revenue for such things.

On a broader scale this is a perfect, textbook example of the liberty VS. equity tug-of-war. The more equity the less freedom. The more freedom - the less equity.

Superintendent calls for abolishment of NCLB

Here is an online news article from a superintendent that decries NCLB is a fraud and needs to be abolished.

The public comments are interesting too.

I would at least like to see NCLB based on a growth model instead of the current proficiency model.

Here is an example using the track event of high jumping.

If you count the percentage of students who can high jump over 5 feet in your school you have used a proficiency model. In a proficiency model the bean counters don't care how many athletes already jump well over 6 feet or how many students are handicapped or can't jump at all. We hold you accountability for the standard - which is 5 feet.

In a growth model you are looking at how many improved their jumping ability and how much.
In this model accountability is based on individual improvement of each student as opposed to only a pre-set standard. If a student is jumping 3 feet and they improve to 4 feet they have made more normative progress than a 6 foot high jumper who is only jumping 5 foot now.

There are other side effects of NCLB but at least this would help make the model more "fair" in the minds of some.

The Classroom Blog - Pinellas County, FLA

This link (click here) will take you to the Pinellas County, Florida blog of School Superintendent Dr. Clayton Wilcox.

The Classroom Blog is usually a monthly/weekly question posed to the greater education community with comment threads from registered readers. It is a different style and I thought you might be interested to see so many of the same issues and concerns, even in a different state and a different blog format.

Dr. Wilcox and I have been invited to speak to the nation's superintendents and school board members at the 2007 AASA (American Association of School Administrator's) National Conference. The topic of course, is blogging and how to handle the rough-and-tumble interaction of the public forum.

I will not be posting for a few days. Enjoy your holidays!

K student suspended for sexual harassment

Here is a short news blurb reporting on a Kindergarten student disciplined for sexual harassment.

Interestingly enough it seems like most people are beginning to see that "zero-tolerance" has an evil twin called "zero-common sense."

Having said that, my caution to everyone who reads this type of an article is to remember that there may be a lot more to the story that the school is unable to comment on or reveal to the public for privacy reasons.

Same old song and dance...

If you get a chance, Click on this link and read this magazine article I have posted. (Note: It will take you 5-10 minutes to read it all. If you are short on time (who isn't LOL) read about half and skip to the bottom.)

Hint. As you read it, try to guess who wrote it and when.

Teaching children about giving

Here is a very quick read that provides some ideas about how to teach your children about giving during the holiday period.

However, I suppose the best lessons learned come from everyday life as opposed to holidays and special occasions.

A personal example comes to mind.

My wife, Sandy, used to volunteer several hours every week at the North Webster Library. During the summer she used to take my elementary school age son along to help. After several weeks of helping and watching, my son announced that he wanted to donate $40.00 of his allowance money to the library as a gift. We thought it was a great idea and encouraged him.

He learned that many great things that make up our communities are volunteer efforts and funded by gifts. He wanted to do his part too.

May all our children learn the best about giving this holiday season and avoid the excessive materialism and "me-first" philosophy that permeates what passes for popular culture these days.

More calls for change

A high-profile commission warned Thursday that U.S. workers will lose more jobs overseas and will see their standard of living drop unless dramatic steps are taken to improve how kids are educated.

In a report, the panel called U.S. schools outdated and said they were failing to prepare students to compete in a global economy.

Article here!

Board Meeting Overview

At last night's board meeting, the WCSC board...

1. was presented an American flag from Mrs. Hazzard that was flown over Baghdad on September 11, 2006. It was given to us from Mr. Charles Hazzard who is supporting the military on behalf of the Joint Area Support Group (JASG)
2. approved minutes, claims, personnel, and the North Webster Library Board Reappointment
3. heard ISTEP reports from Dr. Stock and Ms. Swartzentruber
4. approved the financial report
5. approved a summer tour of France chaperoned by Ms. Harrison
6. set the mileage reimbursement rate at 44.5 cents per mile
7. approved tax anticipation warrants - due to property tax reassessment issues the amount borrowed for cash flow purposes could be higher this year
8. approved a three year renewal of property and casualty insurance
9. heard reports from the Superintendent and Curriculum Director
10. recognized outgoing board members Marion Acton and Brian Dawes for their service

So how did we do?

Highlights:
In Math there were 1,566 students tested in grades 3-10. Seventy-five percent (75%) were above the proficient cut score. Our only year higher than this was 04-05 when 76% were above. In 5 of the 8 grade levels tested, Wawasee posted the highest percentage pass rates since the new test was given.

Writing skills have shown major improvement in some grade levels.

Lowlights:
In the total Language Arts scores it is a different story. There were 1,450 students tested in grades 3-10. Sixty-nine percent were above the proficient score. However, in 4 of the 8 grade levels tested, Wawasee posted the lowest percentage pass rates since the new test was given.

Organized abandonment

A recent workshop presenter made the statement, "If we don't get a child up to speed in reading by the time they are 9 years old, it will be very difficult to close the gaps."

He then described a protocol for the lower grades (K-3) that requires 90 minutes per day of language arts instruction. If the child is still behind then they are assigned three 30 minute one-on-one tutoring sessions a week and if that doesn't close the reading gap sufficiently then they are assigned two 30 minute one-on-one tutoring sessions per DAY....all of this is in addition to the 90 minutes of language arts instruction provided by the regular classroom teacher.

So....from the stunned looks of the audience it was easy to see what they were thinking. What do schools have to give up in order to be able to provide that level of support?

One expert calls this "organized abandonment." In other words, in some organized fashion, schools must come to consensus and STOP doing some things in order to do others.

A few years ago we had a public initiative titled, "What do you want the public schools to do?" The overwhelming consensus was that our main mission was to send all students to 10th grade, reading, writing and doing math well.

What wasn't discussed was, "What should schools STOP doing in order to provide resources for those that aren't reading, writing and doing math well. I sense it may be time for a public discussion on what will prove to be a rousing debate.

If you have opinions on this...please be kind to each other.

Property Tax Assessment Delays

The Journal Gazette discusses the implications of property tax assessment delays. Most individuals are aware that the state is trying to adjust property tax rates more frequently using "trending" data. As more and more homes sell on the market, the idea is that the property tax assessments will keep more current with the market.

However, getting that done is harder than it looks.

FAQ's here.

Wawasee student is a published author!

A Wawasee High School student has her first book contract with a publisher. Her delightful children's book, "When You Don't Clean Your Room" was such an inspiration to the publishers that they started an international competition for high school students to write children's books.

Read more about Jami McDaniel on Ruth Ayres blog today. http://www.inspiringreaderswriters.blogspot.com/

PS: Twenty-two students in the 8th grade at WMS had the highest possible scores on their ISTEP writing sample. This is a new record for us! Jami is not the only one learning to write - but she is the first one PAID to write!

Guv proposes full day K

Governor Mitch Daniels proposes a 3 year phase in for full day K beginning with students on free and reduced lunches. The second year he proposes all students in schools above the state median for free and reduced lunches and the third year he proposes all students in the state receive the option of full day K.

Article here.

Mark's Mini Poll

Trying hard to be a good public servant and not a lazy slacker... :-) .... I have created a mini-poll of several popular radio stations that we can add to the call list if there is a demand for it. We can also poll on TV stations next week.

I will leave the poll up for about a week.

(Note: I have set it up so you can only vote once in case you were wondering why you couldn't vote 1,000 times :-)

Now..no whining if yours isn't picked!!! :-)

Friday's Funny

Regina Barreca writes a funny article on the - I Want (and Expect) It NOW Generation.

It takes a comical look at today's kids who have all the techno gadgets and have learned all about instant gratification.

Underneath the humor lies a serious question....

Could it be possible that school is now the main place where people have to learn a whole set of social skills like.....wait your turn, work with others, be reasonably polite, delay gratification, don't eat the crayons, don't trip your neighbor, say "please", be patient with those that don't learn like you, etc. etc.......

An example of unwanted side effects of NCLB

The NCLB law is a federal prescription for supposedly "what ails" American schools. But this medicine has unintended side effects. (We will assume for the time being anyway, that they are unintended.)

Here is one principal's account of the side effects of NCLB on his school.

I am a principal at a small alternative school in Alaska. We have not met AYP (adequate yearly progress - which means increasing the percentage of students passing the tests until they reach 100%) for three years. Our students come to us after failing in the regular school system. They have low skills, most are low socio-economic status, and have a history of failure in school. Last year we would have made AYP if I had kicked out of school two low performing Alaska Native Students. The extra dropouts would not have made us miss AYP and two fewer "Not Proficient" subgroup members would have resulted in our making AYP.This year our Education Department is offering financial incentives to schools making progress as measured by NCLB. I think if I expel 3 low performing Native students and 2 low performing Caucasian students I will qualify my staff for bonuses. This is certainly not the intent of NCLB but it has become a statistics game. If we fail to meet AYP again I run the risk of losing my job and having my staff transferred. This year I had two openings in my building. I had two applicants, both were retired teachers that had worked in this building, and they were rehired. The State of Alaska has petitioned the U.S. Commissioner of Education to allow the state to use a "growth model" for determining if schools make AYP. This would allow schools to focus on improving the scores of all students rather than focusing on a predetermined level of proficiency. It has been denied...twice. For a school like mine, a "growth model" makes tremendous sense. My primary goal is to keep these students IN school. They have already proven that they have low skills and we need more time to have any hope of improving those skills. Even if we cannot get them to a level of "proficiency" or graduation we may be able to improve their skills and they should be better citizens giving a benefit to society.

Doug

Let us hope for everyone's sake, that no one, including Doug fall prey to the "statistics game" and start counting numbers instead of students. A growth model makes sense. At least in a growth model schools are held accountable for how far students have come and not where they start!!

We have students entering kindergarten who can read "Little House on the Prairie" and some who can't talk yet.

The one child could probably be ignored completely and still pass the state tests later, the other child might require tremendous resources and never be able to pass the test. The current accountability piece of the law does not distinguish between the two. A growth model could.

School delay announcements

Most of you know that this year we reduced the number of media outlets we contact about school delays and closings.

We currently contact WAWC 103.5 fm, WRSW 107.3 fm, Channel 15, Channel 22 and post the information first on The Wawascene. Other stations will carry it but they are gathering their information from other sources. Because one station may be owned by other stations or companies, they will sometimes spread the information to others. However, the ones listed are those we have been contacting personally.

Some of you have asked what will happen now that Bill Dixon sold WAWC and it is no longer locally owned.

The answer is...hopefully nothing will change. They will still carry the information on school closings although I won't be able hassle Bill at 5:50 AM just before he goes on the news anymore. Rats.

I guess we will have to have a few of them before we know how that goes.

I hear the warm weather is leaving us and snowfall may be in the forecast this week.

Grades VS Test Scores

Susie comes home with her report card and is so excited. She was on the honor roll again! Three report cards in a row! Her family pats her on the back and gives her praise. A day later her ISTEP scores come in the mail. She failed to pass the test again. Mom and Dad raise one eyebrow and look at each other.

What is wrong here? This is a common phenomenon across the country.

The Washington Post discusses it here.

Why the graduation rate is not the inverse of the dropout rate

The Indy Star leads its editorial page today with the misleading headline "These steps can lead to fewer dropouts."

It then proceeds to link the new graduation rate formula that schools are using to the implication that this new graduation rate also reveals the dropout rate.

Here is what I mean. Wawasee Schools is anticipating a public release showing their graduation rate under the new formula to be 70% or so.

Does that make the dropout rate 30%? No - but everyone will think so.

This 30% includes GED students, students who took longer than 4 years, students who moved without a forwarding address, special education students who completed 4 years of school but had handicapping conditions that prevented them getting a diploma, and even foreign exchange students without a proper document from their exchange service.

The true "dropout" rate is really around 7% - not 30%.

Wednesday Wonderings

Did you ever wonder why?

1. Did you ever wonder why so many WCSC buses run around half empty half the time?
This might come as a surprise to the mathematically challenged :-) ... but 100% of Wawasee's buses run at 50% capacity half the time. We had a plan to create 100% efficiency 100% of the time but the parents didn't want to drive their kids to the bus driver's house!

2. Did you ever wonder why Wawasee has the second highest property values per student in the state but has always ranked in the bottom quarter in revenue per student?
Due to high property wealth here, a low tax rate generates a lot of money so the state withholds state revenue and sends it to schools with higher "needs." While our "needy" students are increasing, they must not be increasing as fast as other school districts.

3. Did you ever wonder why property taxes are unpopular but school superintendents are reluctant to support getting rid of it in favor of other taxes?
The property tax is a stable, if unpopular tax. Students are always with us and always need education no matter what the economy is doing. If we switch to sales taxes and income taxes to fund schools, then revenue streams are erratic and float up and down with the economy. While a business can layoff employees during a downtime, schools always have students whether their parents have jobs or not. It's hard to "layoff" students to make ends meet and outsourcing students to third world countries doesn't appear popular either!

4. Did you ever wonder why the school can afford athletic programs but it scrimps and saves in other areas?
Athletic programs are entirely self - supporting except for the coaches stipends and some large facility expenditures. Cutting athletics will not help the instructional program in any way.

5. Did you ever wonder why a school district can build a new building but it can't increase personnel to staff it?
Facilities are paid for from a different fund and the school cannot transfer building project money over to the General Fund where personnel costs come from. SO..it is true, your school system could conceivably build a "Taj Mahal" but not raise taxes to hire more teachers. The school boards have a lot of control over Debt Service Funds to pay for buildings but almost no control over the General Fund to pay for staffing.

Have you ever "wondered" about a school issue? E-mail it to me (link is on the sidebar) and I will make a list and try to answer some frequently asked questions about schools.


Have a great Thanksgiving Break!!!!!

NCLB Critics

Susan Ohanian is a writer and outspoken critic of No Child Left Behind. The Tennessean recently posted an article describing a few of her views and then posted forum responses. The actual newspaper post is linked by clicking on the title.

I found the diversity in views on NCLB to be fascinating.

Here is one forum response from a teacher:

I am a 5th grade reading teacher at a Title 1 school. 78% of our student body is on free/reduced lunch. Our students come from public housing and two low income trailer parks. It is not unusual for our students to have one or both parents in jail or on drugs. In addition, in my class are a number of hispanic students who speak NO English.(they will be required to take the same exam as the other students in the spring-and their scores will count against our school) Also, we employ a family resource person at our school whose primary job is to proved clothing and school supplies for our students. Yes, school supplies- our students are sent to school at the beginning of the year without notebooks, paper, pencils, etc. The school through donations provides them. After my "school day" ends, I stay(along with 4 other teachers) until 4:45 helping students do the homework I have assigned-after we have provided a snack. This is a free service. I feel certain that a majority of adults in this state including those who have posted on this site could not test proficient on the reading portion of the 5th grade TCAP. Could you correctly identify the implied theme of a passage? Could you identify a metaphor, hyperbole, personification... or author's implied reason for writing or intended audience? When is the last time you had to approach a poem analytically? How are your sentence combining skills? Could you correctly place the semi-colon or subordinate conjugation in two independent clauses? How is your writing? In Feb. our students take an expository writing exam. They are given a "prompt"..."imagine you are a rain drop..describe your day"..and are to write 45 mins..demonstrating correct mechanics, expressive and vivid vocabulary along with great imagination... People who are so quick to criticize schools and educators have NO IDEA what goes on inside those buildings or what a standardized test expects of our students. In closing, the problem is not in our schools. The problem is at home. There are too many parents who do not parent (did I mention that we provide parenting classes). They can barely meet the basic needs of their children. They are sent to school with too many adult and worldly things on their young minds ( the police got my daddy/mama last night, older sibling providing the caretaking for the younger, we don't have any lights..our electricity is off),etc..... Interestingly enough, there is NO PARENTAL accountability in NCLB...NONE . The schools are not failing..the family has failed...and until that is addressed all the legislation, testing , and finger pointing in the world is not going to fix the real problem.

New graduation rate formulas

The old graduation rate formulas allowed schools too much leeway in defining what a dropout or a graduate really was. Therefore the statistics were meaningless in a statewide context. The new graduation rate formulas may clean up the definitions - but do they really provide a true picture of what most community people think of when they hear the word "dropout?"

Wawasee had two foreign exchange students last year that did not have a certain document from the foreign exchange placement service. Under the new graduation rate formula, Wawasee has to count them as a "dropout."

Karen Franciso, writing for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette in Sunday's paper, provides some local and statewide context for the graduation rate formulas being used by Indiana.

Lowell Rose, a respected researcher, consultant and admitted public school defender, points out in Karen's article that if there are ANY dropouts - it's too many - but the Indiana numbers do not rise to the level of crisis.

Friday Funny #2

A guy is in a bar with his dog watching the Ohio State-Michigan game on Saturday. After being down two touchdowns to Ohio State, Michigan finally kicks a field goal for their first score. The dog starts barking and wagging his tail.

The bartender says "That's funny, your dog must be a Michigan fan."

Michigan happens to score a touchdown on it's next possession and the dog starts barking and doing back flips.

The bartender says "That's amazing! What will he do if Michigan wins?!" The guy says, "I don't know, I've only had him for 3 years."

GO BUCKS!!!! BEAT MICHIGAN!!!!!!!!!

supplied by Denny Duncan who also happens to be a Cleveland Browns fan but he doesn't admit it much in public any more.

Friday's Funny

I had been an elementary principal for four years when the school district I was working in lost their Assistant Superintendent. I replaced her and moved my office over the central administration building.

The next school year I was up walking the halls of my "old" elementary school. I passed two first graders standing by their lockers.

One little boy looked up and said, "Hi, Mr. Stock!" The other little boy who was new to the school, looked at his new friend and asked, "Who is that?"

The little guy says, "That is Mr. Stock. He was our principal last year. Now he is a secretary or something!"

Aren't kids great. He knew exactly who runs the schools!

Have a great weekend.

So what would a dropout free school look like?

The last blog post has a couple of interesting comments about dropouts and dropout programs such as our Wawasee Academy. Let's think outside the box.

So, here are a few questions.

What would a dropout free school look like? What would they do different? How would a dropout free school be organized? What would teachers do differently? What alternatives should we provide to our current alternatives?

A recent workshop I held with teachers uncovered a torrent of frustrations building over the increase in percentages of students who are more apathetic, unmotivated and unwilling to put in the work the state is now requiring.

SO...How do we connect emotionally and psychologically with students who do not see the value in what schools provide?

Here are the rules for commenting:

1. Be kind.
2. No names or accusations.
3. Describe your ideas positively as opposed to describing what we AREN'T doing.

Schools are open to new ways of doing things..but the limits on funding, staffing and current state requirements and accountability rules have mentally gridlocked us.

Comments?

Indy Star on Dropouts

The Indy Star today ran an editorial (again) on the issue of high school dropouts.

Now, I will be the first to agree that there are far too many students that drop out of high school. But read the editorial carefully and notice the use of the words "graduating on time."

In the Star's world, if a student doesn't graduate with their age group they are a "dropout." The official dropout formulas that will be used in the future will allow schools to adjust for those that come around and get it together and earn a diploma.

I wonder what the dropout rates will be when passing the Core 40 Algebra I test becomes the "gatekeeper" course for high school education?

Currently 23.7% of Indiana students can pass that test.

It will depend on what the state does when it sets the "cut score" for passing.

Wawaseetv.com

Some of you have heard the news that Bill Dixon has sold WAWC and have wondered what Wild Bill is up to now. He is running a new web site called Wawaseetv.com. Bill is streaming video over the internet at http://wawaseetv.com/sectionschools.htm

His first upload contains taped interview segments with the student athletes who won awards at the Wawasee Fall Athletic Award Program.

He also provides athletic information about events and will also provide community information as well.

This site is not connected with Wawasee Schools in any way.

Some of you are now wondering..."Isn't it a violation of privacy for Bill to post pictures, interviews and even game video clips of students without parent permission?"

No. The courts have determined that when student athletes go out for a sport they are knowingly giving up any rights to privacy by competing.

So...Bill can video tape to his heart's content...as long as he doesn't show up in Discrete Mathematics class to tape a lecture!!!!

Political musings....

Election surprises everywhere. It seems like Americans and Hoosiers in general are pretty much fed up with a lot of things.

List of choices:

aggressive partisanship that often negates thoughtful voting by individual party members
war
gas prices
stagnant wages
rising health care costs
the disappearing middle class
massive poverty in the richest nation in the world
negative campaigning
political corruption
no coherent immigration policy
immoral behavior on the part of some elected officials
arrogant, elitist governance that ignores the people
BMV closings
DST
selling of America to foreign entities
lack of decent paying - low skill jobs

But...here is what Democrats are going to soon learn. It is a lot harder to govern than it is to complain about those in charge.

My personal opinion is that is better for America when one party is NOT in charge of every branch of government. When there is balance of power they have to work together, compromise and share the credit and the blame. When one party controls they flaunt their power in an arrogant fashion and get things done by enforcing one party discipline on their members. The other party sits back and takes pot shots and blames the other guy.

Well, we'll see what the next several years brings in America.

I believe one of the greatest things America should be proud of is the organized and civilized way these transitions in power come - each party ultimately accepting the will of the American people. This is not so in much of the world.

Wawasee School Board Election Results

I have been asked to post the election results so here goes...

District 1 Votes %
Lydia Stech Clark 1829 43.19
Mike D. Wilson 2406 56.81

District 2
Mary Lou Dixon 3731 100.00

District 3
Marion Acton 1795 38.8
Becky Linnemeier 2825 61.15


New board members take the oath of office in January of 2007 and serve 4 year terms.

Voting

Did you vote today?

You know that is the only way to stop those vicious ad campaigns - vote and put an end to this nonsense.

More Charters

The Star reports today that there have been 10 more charter schools approved.

It's interesting that the two main reasons charters and school choice are promoted publicly are that they are "better" than the public schools and they are"cheaper."

Well, the last two major studies have shown that charters are no better than public schools academically when demographics and social economic status are taken into account. In other words - compare apples to apples.

And, the September 2006 Indiana Department of Education report titled, "General Fund Summary of Expenditures" shows that 8 of the 10 most expensive Indiana schools on a per/pupil expenditure basis are all Charter Schools.

The highest is the KIPP Indianapolis College Preparatory School at $14,370 per pupil.

In 2005 Wawasee Schools was $5,819 per/pupil.

However, one good thing about how Indiana has implemented charter schools is that they have to abide by the same accountability rules, they just get more freedom in hiring and curriculum areas.

Given that, Let's just give public schools the same freedom as charters.

Nah - that doesn't fit the real agenda that undergirds the conservative movement that fuels the public school choice and charter agenda - limiting the political clout of the NEA.

New ISTEP tests are coming (but it will be awhile)

Developing new ISTEP tests was the discussion topic at the State Board of Education Meeting Wednesday, November 1, 2006. This duty was handed to the State Board by the 2006 Indiana General Assembly.

Of special interest to parents and educators were the following points:

The test would be moved to as late a date as possible during the second half of the school year.

The high school graduation exam (GQE) will be a different test. The new GQE would consist of end-of-course assessments in Algebra I and English 10.

End-of-course assessments for CORE 40 would be given in English10, Algebra I, Biology I, and US History.

Wow - It looks like a future student who can't pass an end-of-course Algebra I test, can't graduate.

Currently only 23.7 % of the state's 10th graders are passing the Core 40 end-of-course Algebra Assessment. It's all about the cut score. They will set the passing score based on how many they want to fail and how many they want to pass. There is no stone tablet from Moses that tells us how much Algebra someone needs to know in order to be successful in life.

But I do know one thing, it is harder to be successful without a high school diploma.

Here is Friday's Funny, contributed by Wawasee teacher Sara Harrison.

My sister and I were driving in the car with my 9 year old niece. We were discussing the State Board's passing of ISTEP legislation. Being adult talk, we were unaware that she was listening.

She piped up with "Give it in the fall or no test at all."

My sister and I were laughing so hard. Her explanation was that students who needed help would be unable to get the help they need.

Something tells me we should listen more to the children.

Help Your Daughter Think Realistically About the Future $$$!

The Executive Director of the Indiana Commission for Women, Sharon Langlotz, joined us on October 31 for our N.E.W (Nontraditional Employment Workshop for Women) annual workshop.

Ms. Langlotz shared some interesting facts with me about working women:

Plan on working. Over 71% of all moms with kids under 18 are working (26 million moms nationwide)

National leaders take credit for boosting the economy since the 1970s, but increases can be attributed directly to women joining the workforce and adding to the GDP

One of the concerns of the Commission for Women is the wage gap in Indiana between men and women’s pay. Comparing the wages of all Indiana women against all Indiana men, women make 72¢ for every $1.00 a man makes (that’s up from 68¢ in 2004). Nationally, the average is a little better at 77¢ on the dollar.

One explanation for the gap is that women tend to be over-represented in lower paying jobs.

The only way to close this gap is to ensure that our daughters gain the education and skills and training they need to compete and move into higher paying jobs in industries across the board.

We had 21 non-traditional occupations represented at the N.E.W conference. All represented well-paying jobs and most did not require a four year college degree – but all required some post-secondary training or apprenticeship.

Just FYI - the current female workforce in Indiana – 25-65 years olds – looks like this:

*23% have a degree beyond high school
*82% have a high school diploma
*18% (362,000) have no diploma or degree

A high school counselor once wisely said “look for a job where you will be happy”. I would like to add an addendum to that; “happy” is sweeter at $22.00 an hour than it is at $8.00!

So……. talk with your daughters about different occupations and check out what those jobs might pay. The doors have been opened for our young women – we just need to make sure they understand where they are, and are prepared to walk through them.

Contributed by Sharon Langlotz, Executive Director of the Indiana Commission on Women

WMD's discovered!!

In an amazing turn of events, WMD's have apparently been discovered right here in America.

These Weapons of Mass Delusion (WMD's) are actually negative political campaign ads that result in American's believing the worst about every possible candidate running for office.

These smear campaigns ultimately help the candidate doing the best smear job get elected but the side effect is that Americans continually lose respect for politicians and ultimately the democratic process.

It's a shame that when WMD's (Weapons of Mass Delusion) were finally discovered they were actually tools of American political advisors whose main role is to get their candidate elected by any means possible, even if it means America loses.

Or... am I the only one tired of negative political ads about how the other guy is a jerk and a moron?

How about a simple ad that says this is what I believe and this is what I will do if elected. Then we can throw out the ones that say one thing and do another.

Unfortunately, negative ads work - but only for the candidate elected, not for the rest of America.

WCEA sponsors "Meet the Candidate's Night"

The Wawasee Community Educator’s Association is sponsoring a “Meet the Candidate’s Night” on Thursday, November 2, 2006.

This forum is designed to introduce patrons to candidates that are running for school board seats in the Wawasee School District.

It will be held in the lecture room at Wawasee Middle School starting at 7:00 P.M.

Please stop by to meet the Candidates for School Board.

"Getting through a rough week with good people"

This post is dedicated to every teacher who has the "occasional" rough week on the job.

I'll let you define "occasional" however you want, it probably depends on the year!

This brief article highlights the importance and the seriousness of our work. The author says that the secret of getting through a rough week is leaning on the support of other seasoned professionals who also respect and appreciate the important work we do.

Click here.

Friday's Funny - True Story

My first year of teaching was a doozy (that might qualify as educational jargon so here is a self made definition - "doo'zee": adj., superior, extraordinary, highly unusual...)

What was extraordinary about it? The day before school started the school psychologist sat down with me and said, "I want to talk to you about a child that you will have in your room this year. Her name is Pam."

I swallowed hard and said, "OK." She continued, "Pam seems to have a number of unusual social and emotional issues."

"How do these issues manifest themselves?" I asked. (In non-educational jargon I probably said, "What does she do?")

"Well," hesitated the school psychologist, "Last week she shredded the living room curtains with a razor blade and set them on fire."

I swallowed again and looked at my windows to see if there were curtains in the room.

As the year began I got to know Pam better and to appreciate a few of her idiosyncrasies (that's jargon for odd behaviors.)

One of her quirks was a penchant for hypochondria (jargon for complaining about mystery illnesses.)

One day on the way to recess she stopped me, "Mr. Stock, I can't take recess today because I have a hole in the bottom of my heart." This was a new one I thought to myself.

I patted her on the head and said, "Well go ahead outside and take it easy at recess."

The next day on the way to recess she reached over, put her arm around my waist and said, "Mr. Stock, I love you from the bottom of my heart."

I smiled, gave her a squeeze and said, "That's flattering Pam, but how is that possible with that big hole in the bottom of your heart?"

Have a great weekend. Go Warriors beat the Rockies. Good luck at state to the XC team.

Better parent/school relationships

Here is a short article describing 10 things that parents and schools can do to have better parent/school relationships.

They give examples in the article, but here is the really short version:

1. School People - Stop Using Educational Jargon
2. Visit Parents on Their Turf
3. Ask Parents to Teach What They Know
4. Welcome Complainers
5. Hire Parent-Friendly Principals
6. Seek Parent Volunteers
7. Offer Educational Activities For Parents and Kids
8. Get Parents to Observe Classes
9. Provide Courses for Parents
10.Create a Great School

The need to think deeply...

One of the most important school functions is to teach children to think deeply. In the big rush to memorize information and learn the "basics" it is possible to overlook the importance of helping students look in depth at important issues.

Here is a brief glimpse into an activity currently taking place in Mr. Gause's 5th grade classroom at North Webster Elementary. We offer this example, not to call undue attention to Mr. Gause, but to share it as a sample of many writing activities teachers are learning through Writer's Workshop.

Click here and you will visit Mrs. Ayers blog, called Inspiring Readers and Writers where she shares Mr. Gauses's classroom writing lesson using Veteran's Day as the topic.

Wawasee Success!

Wawasee Cross Country will run in the IHSAA State Championships this next weekend in Terre Haute. For the third time in Wawasee's history, a boys' Cross Country Team will be running for a State Championship. The team is shown in this photo taken following their Regional Runner-up finish a week ago. Get after it, guys!

Congratulations to the IHSAA Regional Soccer Champions! The Warriors finished their season this past weekend in the opening match of the Valparaiso Semi-State and were defeated by Mishawaka Marian. This season, the program had first time ever Sectional and Regional Championships! Congratulations!

The Football Warriors travel to Plymouth this Friday to fight for the right to play in the Championship game the following weekend! Good luck guys. Beat the Rockies!

What tests can't measure!

Many of those personal qualities that we hold dear—resilience and courage in the face of stress, a sense of craft in our work, a commitment to justice and caring in our social relationships, a dedication to advancing the public good in communal life—are exceedingly difficult to assess. And so, unfortunately, we are apt to measure what we can, and eventually come to value what is measured over what is left unmeasured. The shift is subtle and occurs gradually.

Robert Glaser and the National Academy of Education.
In Lamar Alexander and H. Thomas James The Nation’s Report Card: Improving the Assessment of Student Achievement, 1987.

PERSONAL QUALITIES NOT MEASURED BY TESTS

CREATIVITY
CRITICAL THINKING
RESILIENCE
MOTIVATION
PERSISTENCE
CURIOSITY
QUESTION ASKING
ENDURANCE
RELIABILITY
ENTHUSIASM
CIVIC-MINDEDNESS
SELF AWARENESS
SELF DISCIPLINE
EMPATHY
LEADERSHIP
COMPASSION
COURAGE
SENSE OF BEAUTY
SENSE OF WONDER
SENSE OF HUMOR
RESOURCEFULNESS
SPONTANEITY
HUMILITY

This list taken from information provided by Dr. Gerald Bracey.

Is the American infatuation with high stakes testing fading?

The Washington Post indicates that in some corners of the country, high stakes testing is becoming a major political issue.

The educational pendulum never stays in the middle. It swings from side-to-side in a never ending sweep.

Maybe we should have high stakes testing for all policy-makers?

Have Fun Reading

For many people reading is an enjoyable activity and is one that that is used every day for work or relaxation. Reading is an essential skill that students must have in order to be successful in school and in life. For many students, however, reading does not come easily. There are a number of resources that are free and accessible on the web that can help parents as they work with their children to develop and encourage good reading habits.

Click on the U.S. Department of Education website to find a variety of links. "Reading Tips For Parents" and "Put Reading First: Helping Your Child Learn To Read, A Parent Guide" are great sites to access. Most importantly, take time to read to and with your children every day!!

Submitted by Wendy Hite, Director of Special Services

Support Our Warriors

You have many opportunities over fall break to support our varsity teams from Wawasee in state tournament action.

Tonight at 7 p.m. our varsity girls' soccer team is in action at Goshen High School against Goshen in regional play. When we win the regional, plan on supporting them on Saturday for semi-state at Valparaiso! Our first match will be played at 10:30 a.m. our time with the championship match at 7:30 p.m. our time

Friday at 7 p.m. our varsity football team takes on East Noble here at Wawasee in sectional action.

Saturday at 11:30 a.m. our varsity boys' cross country team is in semi-state action at The Plex in Fort Wayne.

Saturday at around 12:30 p.m. at Northridge High School, our volleyball team competes against Northwood in sectional play. The sectional championship match will be at 7:00 p.m. that night.

Get out and cheer on our Warriors!

Raising Children With a Wild Streak

Mark Pruett, an Assistant Professor in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University talks about his experience interviewing high school seniors seeking scholarships to attend Appalachian State University. His suggestions might surprise you. You can read the article here.

Teaching history to gamers!

A group of teenagers click a mouse and begin "bombing" England. Across the room, the English prime minister -- a teenager looking grimly at another screen -- attempts to figure out a counterattack in the midst of World War II.These teenagers aren't at home playing shooter games on the Xbox. They're in a high-school classroom learning the dynamics of World War II in a game called Making History. Their video-game-savvy world history teacher, David McDivitt, incorporates video games in his history and sociology courses at Converse, Ind.'s Oak Hill High School.

Rest of article here.

Wawasee Spirit Award

Click here ...vote Wawasee for the area Spirit Award Poll.

Now I know there are a lot of non-Wawasee readers of this blog - so I guess it will be ok if you vote for your high school if it is listed...but of course then I will have to add a "Wawasee Surcharge" to your internet bill! :-)

Look in the top right corner where it says "Poll"

Another unintended side effect to NCLB

Here is a story of a teacher with a doctorate in classics studies whose students evidently have done extremely well in their Latin studies, yet must leave the profession because he doesn't meet the definition of "highly qualified" under the No Child Left Behind Law.

The next time you read a newspaper article talking about how numerous states are having trouble meeting the "highly qualified" standards of NCLB, just remember that those standards may have nothing to do with how good the teacher actually is in the classroom.

My opinion? They should expand the teacher licensing rules to allow a much wider group of degreed individuals into the profession under an "Apprentice" label of some kind and allow them to be licensed teachers based on proving themselves.

Current laws have loosened the rules somewhat but a person with a bachelor's degree is still looking at a minimum of another year of college under the " transition to teaching" programs.

Friday's Funny

Here is a link to an article from educational comedy writer Regina Barreca.

Excerpt...

If competition for supplies and niceties in the classroom is tough, then competition in the teacher's lounge turns us feral. Teachers' lounges everywhere have only one thing in unlimited supply: napkins from Dunkin' Donuts which, although they look new are nevertheless suspiciously crumpled, thereby carrying a faint threat of infection from some unknown, possibly infectious, previous user. In addition, there are sometimes coffee mugs reading, "I 'heart' Teachers" which fester on windowsills unclaimed. In the refrigerator you'll find yogurt dating back to 1987 and fat free half and half, which since it is made from petrochemicals, has no expiration date.

Board Election FAQ's

Here are some frequently asked questions about school board election procedures at Wawasee.

1. How many board members are there and how are they elected?
There are five school board members. Three are elected as "regional" or district seats and two are elected as "at-large" seats. Wawasee school board elections are held every two years during the general elections in November. Some school districts hold theirs during the primary elections in the spring.

2. How long are the terms and how are they seated?
All terms are four years. Three members are seated this year in the election and the two at-large seats will be up two years after that. The terms begin in January.

3. How many board members can be seated from one district?
No more than two board members can be from one district. This year the top vote getter from each district will be seated. Meaning someone from the Milford area, Syracuse area and North Webster will all be seated.

4. What happens in the at-large election in 2008 if the top two vote getters are from the same district?
Then the number one person from that region would get seated and then we would skip to the next highest vote getter from a different district. The school board policy does not allow for three board members from one area.

5. Do I only get to vote for a board member in the area where I live or can I vote for people running from the Milford, Syracuse or North Webster areas also?
All registered voters in the Wawasee school district can vote for one (1) person in each district AND no more than three (3) total in this year's general election. In the at-large election in 2008 you can vote for no more than two (2) candidates.

6. What happens to the votes when people do not follow the ballot instructions and they vote this year for two people in one district?
Their votes are invalidated (thrown out).

7. Wasn't there some ballot controversy here a few years ago?
Yes. It was before I came here so it was at least 11 years ago. There were a lot of votes invalidated due to confusion with the ballot. Every year now the school board attorney and I review the ballot construction to make sure the directions are as clear as possible.

8. When are the elections this year?
November 7, 2006.

Top 10 things you didn't know about Wawasee

...but won't hear on David Lettermen either!

Back by wildly popular demand...top ten things you didn't know about Wawasee...

1. Property wealth per student…
Wawasee ranks #2 among 292 school corporations in the state in assessed valuation per ADM (student enrollment)
State average $275,542
Wawasee $561,810

2. Tax Rate
Wawasee is ranked LAST (lowest) among public school corporations in the state of Indiana in school tax rate
State average 1.4457
Wawasee .8605

3. State financial support
Wawasee ranks #279th out of 295 school districts in the amount of state financial support per student
State average $3,844
Wawasee $2,619

4. Student Enrollment
Wawasee ranks #90 out of 300 school districts listed on the IDOE website
State average 3,182
Wawasee 3,434

5. SAT scores
Wawasee ranks #81 out of 293 school corporations in average SAT scores
State average 1012
Wawasee 1016

6. Suspensions and Expulsions
Wawasee is ranked # 123 out of 294 school districts in the number of suspensions and expulsions per 100 students
State average 14.7
Wawasee 8.9

7. Percent of Special Needs students
Wawasee is ranked #263 out of 294 school districts in the percentage of students with special needs
State average 17.9
Wawasee 13.5

8. Minority students
Wawasee is ranked 79th in the state out of 300 school districts in the percentage of minority students
State average 22.3
Wawasee 11.0

9. Students Eligible for Free Lunch
Wawasee is ranked 166th out of 300 school districts in the percentage of students eligible for free lunches
State average 26.6
Wawasee 19.1

10. Limited English Students
Wawasee is ranked 42nd out of 300 school districts in the percentage of students with limited English speaking skills
State average 2.98%
Wawasee 3.89%

Question: Why do the total number of school districts in the state listed above vary by item?
Answer: I have no clue. It is how the IDOE website lists them. Generally speaking there are 294 "public" school districts listed in the majority of state reports.

School Board Meeting Highlights

At tonight's board meeting, the WCSC Board of School Trustees:

Heard from Lisa Glon, spokesperson for the Northern Lakes Area Concerned Citizens Association, a local group that has been publicly opposing the proposed ethanol plant near the town of Milford. The group asked the school board to consider writing a letter to the county commissioners expressing their concerns about the proposed location. Three members voted to send a letter opposing the plant and one member abstained stating that he didn't have enough information since the board only heard from those opposed.

Accepted donations from the Pamida Foundation, Shoop Foundation and Women of Today

Approved the minutes, claims and personnel items

Heard a report from the Dr. Stock titled, "The Top Ten Things You Might Not Know About Wawasee.... but won't hear on David Lettermen either."

Approved the financial report

Approved wage increases for certified and classified employees and the WCEA master agreement.

Heard a report from the superintendent on the months activities
Announced that the January meeting has been moved from the 9th to the 17th.