From the PG:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11228/1167646-53.stm
- The article notes that at U Prep, two thirds of students are below proficient in reading and math. No word on what exactly will be done to make U Prep a "flagship school."
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50 comments:
Information disclosed is very selective- for example, the chart the PPG article refers to as "Readng Gains for All Students" actually gives results for only students at the 10 schools making the most progress in reading- not "all students." And for 6-12 schools the results of the middle school are combined w/ the results for 11th grade, making the comparison to the previous year (when there was no 11th grade at 3 of the 4 schools) almost meaningless. Please, just put out the information. How preliminary can it be after 2 months?
U-Prep declined in both Reading and Math in 2011. It was less than 1% decline; but, no scores were reported for the last three years after the name was changed from Milliones to U-Prep. Reading Proficiency is at 36.4 % and Math is at 37.6%
AYP does not count for three years U-Prep did not make AYP last year so it is not likely that they made AYP this year since there was no improvement. I wonder what the University of Pittsburgh has been doing there for the last four years? ( At 2.5 million in accumulated grants ???)
As we speak, principal Hardy is preparing his annual, "it's all the teachers' faults" speech. This year, he may implore students to do a but more than boo to push the point across, and he'll be supplying eggs and rotten tomatoes to students as they enter.
Who is Lane fooling?
Courage, Dr.Lane. Show some courage.
AYP results for every school are out there and have been given to principals. Instead of spending days in determining how your PR department can spin it all in a positive light, why not have some gumption?
Your canned curriculum is a huge failure.
Your administrative approach is a disaster.
Could it be more delay to a general release prevents parents from being able to transfer their kids under school choice? Or, if not, prevent, at least distracts them from taking the opportunity.
How about we put the blame exactly where it needs to be. It's not the teachers, the students, or the administrations fault. It's the guardians fault. If there is no one to come home to that says you could do better, let me help you, or, you really screwed up you're in trouble, etc... then why would any child care about grades, they don't care because no one at home cares!!!!
This is part of being an inner-city school. The schools in more affluent areas do better than the schools in poor areas, this is the way it has always been. There is no need to sugar-coat it or be politically correct, as long as there are ghettos in this city, and they keep growing, the school district will continue to do worse and worse. It is the sad but honest truth.
No matter how smart the kids, it's hard to overcome lack of interest and participation on the part of parents and guardians. Kids are influenced by the attitudes and beliefs of those around them, and they spend more time with family than at school. While some heroic teachers can compensate it is often at the expense of their own family lives (see "Super Teachers" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903918104576500531066414112.html ). Why not attack the problem on every front, working with parents and families as well as training teachers?
I remember about 6 years ago I was talking to a teacher at Westinghouse. He said that they had an open house and three parents showed up.
Working with parents and families could help, if the parents and families would accept the help and put in the time and effort needed to make it work.
To contradict myself, the role of a parent is to do the most you can for your child, so why should you need outside help to do what should come naturally?
Some studies have shown that parents who themselves had a difficult time in school may hesitate to get involved with their children's school and education. Maybe they feel they would have little to offer. Schools can work to welcome them and assure them that their support is very important.
Truth, I've been at a number of schools and can say that parents generally stop showing up when kids reach high school. It seems they stop getting involved, too.
What happens with kids IN SCHOOLS depends on the people IN SCHOOLS.
It is worth repeating until someone gets it!
Schools and the good people in them have the POWER to change young lives!
Believe it or not!
(And this coming from a teacher, not an administrator.)
Is this coming from a current regular PPS teacher?
No one doubts that what happens in schools depends on people in schools- but many/most also believe that the extent of students' learning does not depend only on people in schools.
I have been a teacher in one PPS school where 32 teachers were at the PTA meeting and four parents. The school had a student population of 324. A free dinner was offered to the parents that evening. People were called and asked to come. Flyers were sent home. None of this worked. Is this part of the problem?
There is no doubt that parental involvement (or lack of it) has a big impact on student achievement.
But I suggest that we get off that issue. Why? Because it's something we can do very little about.
Here's three things that we can do:
1. As it stands now, one disruptive student can turn a smooth-running classroom into a fitful mess. And he/she can do that every day, day after day.
We need a mechanism where disruptive students are simply removed from the classroom.
And I'm not talking about three-day suspensions, which solve nothing. I'm talking about mandatory quarter-year placements in an alternative setting.
But that would take courage, courage our central administrators don't have.
So the good students, those who come to school to learn, are condemned to sit in classes where disruption is the norm.
And please don't blame the teacher. No one can teach a first-rate lesson while at the same time being a police officer.
2. Provide meaningful study halls during the school day.
A student should have one period a day where he/she can go to get help with course difficulties. There should be math study halls, English study halls, etc.
PPS has scheduled study halls in the past, but very often they have were disrupted by students who don't care enough to behave. That's why my suggestion #1 above is so important.
3. If you trust your teachers at all, let them modify the lesson to suit the class. No two classes are exactly the same, so no two lessons should be presented exactly the same.
The current one-size-must-fit-all curriculum is not only dispiriting to teacher, it does not serve the student.
Yes. and
"but many/most also believe that the extent of students' learning does not depend only on people in schools."
You use the word "learning" which certainly takes place every minute of every day with whomever students come in contact with including parents and community.
We are speaking here, however, of PSSA. Are we not?
That means academics, arts, foreign language, phys ed, etc. should "depend" on people in schools.
Parents and community are not necessarily in a position to provide these. That's why we have schools, right?
Perhaps, what "many/most believe" is the greatest part of the problem and needs to change.
Still not sure there is nothing we can do about parental involvement- how about a mentoring program, matching up involved parents of graduates or upper level students with new parents?
"Learning" was meant to include reading skills (by reading to children, taking them to the library, encouraging them to ask about the meaning of unfamiliar words, etc.), math skills (ie, "If today is Grandpa's 90th birthday, in what year was he born?"), science skills, etc.
Wondering why Veteran Teacher has never been tapped to enter admin...oh...wait...HE MAKES TOO MUCH SENSE!
Veteran Teacher's lone flaw is the idea that administrators may trust teachers to modify curriculum.
Never.
PELA and new school administrators are micro managers. They know nothing about teaching and have little in the way of people skills. By and large, they were failures in the classroom. So they buy into the idea of vanilla curriculum.
Why not just have distance learning and let students watch televised classes from afar?
You'll save so much by hiring all of the district's useless teaching force. Heck, you can hire even more administrators.
Veteran teacher- you've said it all. And the saddest thing is-- students would be the first ones to want disruptive students removed. Parents would be second ( they have to hear about things through students) Next would be teachers--because they really believe they can somehow help the disruptive student- at least for a while. Who doesnt want the student removed- that would be administration who may have to do paperwork. And the worst part of this is everyone realizes that these constrantly disruptive disturbed students are crying out for help. And administration refuses to get them the help they need and deserve.
Remember when CEP was supposed to solve all those problems? Incredibly, PPS thought it was fine that CEP would not take adjudicated students, or special ed students, or students whose parents did not fill out the paperwork and agree to send them to CEP.
Anon @ 10:27 –
I will have to respectfully disagree with your post.
You can repeat it all you want and 15+ years of teaching in PPS (inner city education) tells me you are wrong. Getting exceptional ratings by my administrators and then my students failing tests and/or going out on the streets and getting killed tells me you are wrong. Taking my students in, finding shelters so they have a place to sleep when they are homeless, helping them find jobs, buying their school supplies because no one else will or can tells me you are wrong.
I have learned over the years just how little influence I actually do have over my students. I can control and influence the time they are with me – and that is about it. I teach my heart out. I am good at what I do. I don’t complain about my job (just about central admin) and I am excited to start each and every school year. I never wake up and think that I don’t want to do this anymore. I take great pride in what I do and I genuinely enjoy the majority of the kids I teach. I take the abuse from the public and most of the time keep my mouth closed or simply vent to others who actually understand the plight of the urban educator.
I don’t have 3 months off. I have 8 weeks. This is the same amount any other person has in the corporate world with my level of education would get. I need that time to recover from the beating that my health takes during the 10 months I am teaching. I need that time to make up with my kids for the time I choose to not spend with them and spend doing things with and for my students. (As questioner hinted to – I know so many great teachers who work over 10 hours a day and the sacrifice they make are their own families.)
So, as I prepare to start this school year, I have a positive attitude. I am excited to see my students again (and my colleagues). I have high hopes that I am going to teach the kids something & they are going to learn it. I have high hopes that, because the kids know I care about them, I may help some of the kids with problems they have & may have no one else to confide in. However, I am a realist. This is about the PSSA - I know that they are going to score poorly on standardized tests; but I will teach them to the very best of my ability anyway. I know that I am going to have to visit a funeral home a few times this school year; but I will treat them with respect and try to help them understand good decision making everyday anyway. I know that the school is better because I teach in it. However, I also know that so very little of what happens to the kids in my school depends on the many great teachers and administrators I work with. Because at the end of the day, their families, their friends, and their background has a much greater influence on the decisions they make and the values they do or do not have than I do – not matter how much I wish that was not the case.
Thank you Anonymous for taking the time to tell us about your experiences, and for sticking with it despite everything.
Yes, Anonymous (and Questioner), there are many who do what you do and feel what you feel. They are the heart and soul of a good school experience for students. It is just sad that in the end you express so little hope about the influence you have had on the children. I hope they do not detect that lack of hope (that we must have for each and every one) because, while you may not realize today or tomorrow how you have influenced your students, it will become apparent, as it does so so often for those of us who believe in what we do, that you have left an indelible mark upon your students that will never be forgotten.
Belief, trust, hope are traits that shape the FUTURE if not the here and now. Believe and trust that your good influences have a lasting impact whether your realize or know it now or not. (from 10:27)
P.S. And with the right PD, you would see the PSSA differently, while making it a part of the situational (not textual) and successful teaching and learning process.
Being realistic based on past experience does not indicate a lack of hope.
Who offers the right PD?
I've said this before in other posts...come do what we do as educators in this Titanic-esque district for a week. I truly wish there was a way to offer that to the community. Perhaps then everyone would see what little effect we have after the time the students are in our class.
Anonymous at 2:36 - I admire that you can begin a new year with such hope that you can make a difference, even when at the end of every year, you need to recover from the "beating." And it is just that. Hope is only lost if it was there to begin with. Kudos on finding it again year after year.
As for PSSA results, I'll give everyone a hint as to why they suck in the 11th grade...Kids flat out refuse to complete it. Maybe everyone could come watch their kid actually take the test. Maybe that would encourage them to complete it. Not just complete it, but actually try. In my building, teachers proctoring the test never take a seat, unless it is by a student, to silently show support. Other times, teachers announce things like, "Keep going! You can all do this. Make sure you're checking your work!" All too often, kids put their heads down and ignore the prompts, even the physical ones, like a hand on the shoulder. After it's all over, there are a number of students who complain of being over-tested, and worse, just not caring. Many know that they can do it and still refuse or bubble in anything.
Come check that out this testing year, and then tell me who you blame.
Have heard the same thing about PSSA testing- schools trying special snacks, encouragement, etc. but kids putting their heads on their desks or refusing to come in.
There are so many comments within this thread that I both agree and disagree with that I am not sure where to begin.
I'm at the tail end of my career and still enjoy working with students immensely. I see promise in each of my kids and always hope that a combination of time, maturity and inspiration/motivation will propel my students to a lifetime of great achievement.
I see things differently than many here, I guess, and perhaps my own personal background taught me how to teach and coach, in reverse.
My four years of high school were the worst years of my life, lost in a giant school system surrounded by teachers who did not care in the least and by cliques and bullies of all types that made day to day academic and social life a living train wreck.
To this day, I don't remember one teacher or one class, and that's sad.
I had no great motivator or inspiration who saw something in me. I had no instructor who intervened in trying to motivate me to use my potential. It's amazing that as an under-achiever, I made it to college and have had a career in teaching.
I've taught in gangland and have been to more grotesque layouts for slain children than I care to remember. I've taught in schools where the apathy of students and staff alike could only be called sickening. I've told myself that in every situation, my job is to work through the hopelessness and despair, through the apathy, and to motivate and inspire while I teach the prescribed curriculum.
Beyond it being my job, it's my own obligation to be a positive part of each child's life, in some way, shape or form.
I actually do believe that countless students have done something with their lives over my 30 years, and that the influence that positive teachers had on them led them down that road, whether they actually know it or not.
It's easy to get bogged down in the hopelessness. It's easy to read the paper, see deaths in some part of town and remember that kid being one of your students. Really, it's easy to have your perceptions painted in a negative way, but I try to be wary of darkness and remember that kids who achieve generally don't make the headlines, don't come and hang out and certainly don't send thank you notes.
But they're out there.
C.S.Lewis had a great quote about 'Success' and if you aren't familiar with it, you might want to look it up and print it. Most teachers in PPS today are the picture of success, again, whether they know it or not.
Incidentally, the generalization about 11th graders is erroneous. When a student gets to grade 11, they generally want to graduate and the constant motivation is generally more appreciated. Hard to imagine an 11th grader putting his head down when he'll have to do it again the next year.
And where does this lack of even attempting or caring enough to take the PSSA's seriously come from? The lack of discipline and structure and care and support at home. It all starts and ends at home. I applaud all of the teachers that do it everyday whether they are trying to engage the students or just go through the motions. I also agree with everything Veteran Teacher has said. My job gives me the chance to go to every school in different classrooms, I see what happens, I have no interaction with the students at all, I wish the world could see how it really is.
Heads down happens- per those who were there. Too many kids don't graduate. Those who drop out don't have to come back and do it again.
Point is, Questioner, those who drop out usually do so long before PSSA tests in grade 11, and certainly won't show up to take them.
There has been a big push in recent years to increase participation so it could be that students are showing up who would not have done so in the past.
"Truth", if you have been in so many classrooms, then continue to "tell the truth" and weigh in about the ridiculous curriculum, the heavy handed RISE process, the lack of discipline.
Yeah, you're in classrooms...and I can guess in what role...but you are only telling part of the story.
Scripted curriculum itself has destroyed the landscape of classroom instruction. That this district has the utter audacity to call it "rigorous" is a true outrage.
The truth hurts, but the lies will kill you.
In my school, some students went in and out of testing rooms like a revolving door to the bathroom- to avoid testing. If the proctors told them no, they walked out anyway. One student was told no and he left and sat in the hallway – on the floor. Yes, I am describing 11th graders. Many students were done in 10 minutes despite prompting and encouragement. Don’t get me wrong, many students worked hard. However, many did not. It is a constant battle. So, Old Timer, while I agree with your posts over 90% of the time, this one I don’t agree with. As Questioner said, my disagreement is based on what I see (experience), not on what I hear or what I am told.
There is a lot of good, accurate information coming from truth hurts, veteran teacher, and anon 5:24.
Questioner, you are 100% correct. Participation counts and huge efforts are made to get every student to test. So, many students (in 11th grade) show up to test that normally have very poor attendance.
Speaking of C.S. Lewis...
To think that the spectre you see is an illusion does not rob him of his terrors: it simply adds the further terror of madness itself -- and then on top of that the horrible surmise that those whom the rest call mad have, all along, been the only people who see the world as it really is.
C.S. LEWIS, Perelandra
What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.
C.S. LEWIS, The Magician's Nephew
And more pertinent to Old Timer...
A man who has been in another world does not come back unchanged. One can't put the difference into words. When the man is a friend it may become painful: the old footing is not easy to recover.
C.S. LEWIS, Perelandra
Thank you for the Lewis quotes. Tremendously applicable.
Perhaps it was the late hour or perhaps I am getting older and more forgetful, but I meant Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote:
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
Anonymous 10:35,
I would love to talk about "the ridiculous curriculum, the heavy handed RISE process, the lack of discipline" but I don't deal with that, I am a technology employee. I go in, do my job, and move on to the next. But I see how the students act and I blame it on a lack of parents/guardians being involved with their kids.
Hi tech employee..
You are very right...but.. sadly no one here can affect parenting. PPS is charged with educating to the best of our ability, the students as they appear. Admin can affect discipline-protecting the kids who do come to learn. Prinicpals used to have an attitude "You will not disrupt the learning at ________ school." Parents were held accountable for their children's behavior. If they have mental health issues being acted out in aberrant behavior. no amount of rewarding them and raising their self esteem helps their issues. Obviously, Broad,PELA and all the other programs skipped some classes- child psychology, abnormal psychology-- all those classes that teaching candidates took in college. That is WHY we have teacher education- so that teacher and administrators (who used to come from teaching ranks) could make decisions to HELP all students to achieve their potential- not put on a show of buzzwords and accountable talk.
Of course people without education degrees "can teach today"-- brainwashing is takes very different credentials.
Sounds like a lot of baloney, 'Truth'. In fact, it sounds like you see what you want to see and hear what you want to hear. There are a lot of reasons for failure to attain AYP and to be sure, lack of parental concern is one of them. But being ignorant to the fact that our respective curricula just don't address the needs of our kids and their academic abilities is ridiculous. You do work for PPS, right?
". . . administrators (who used to come from the teaching ranks) . . . captures one very huge flaw in PPS Central Office. These folks, not all, but most) are not coming from academic classroom teaching (and pardon the colloquialism), they do not appear to have a clue about how to educate children, most particularly African American children.
It is clearly evident in the refusal to deviate from the "managed curriculum;" the lack of culturally relevant pedagogy and content; the lack of true alignment to PSSA "thinking skills;" the critical importance of students seeing themselves and their race as models of high-levels of substantive contribution to Pittsburgh and the World. (All of this can be provided simultaneously in the teaching and learning process; but, teachers need the "right" PD.
Right now the deck is stacked against Black kids in PPS and the "one-size fits all" curricula MUST be jettisoned! NOW!
Anon, I would have quickly agreed with you 10 or 15 years ago. Now, there is no doubt in my mind that this district--through its outrageously deficient curriculum in all subject areas--has created a have and have not situation in our schools.
Your comments are right on target and it shows in the disparity between black and white students. If it wasn't so tragic, it'd be laughable to think that there are people who actually believe the tripe they spew--that this curriculum set-up is rigorous and aiding in achievement.
PSP, CAS and AP-types of students are propelling schools right now, through no help of PPS curriculum. Kids at risk are remaining that way thanks to incredible shortsightedness and above all, the wish to cling to ideology by PPS administration.
Black students are not being brought up to speed, but we are losing white kids now, too.
This love affair between PPS and Pitt's IFL should be investigated and as you say, jettisoned in short order.
Let real teachers whose livelihoods depend on PSSA scores devise the curriculum. They forgot more than those in charge will ever learn.
Anonymous 1:47.
I said I work for TECHNOLOGY!!! I have no idea about the "curricula" you speak of, I am NOT A TEACHER. I don't care what is being taught, I simply see what happens for the 10-30 minutes I'm in a classroom doing the job I do, which is completely un-related to teaching or "curricula". What I see is bad kids being disrespectful and unwilling to attempt to learn and I blame the parents, or lack there of. So, take a pill and don't be so defensive. I'm done with this.
Relax, Truth. I think that your posts were misread or skimmed over. That seems to be pretty common among students and adults, alike.
Truth, don't be done. Unless what you say gets repeated enough those that have no contact with real kids in real classrooms will never believe there are students disputive enough to interrupt learning.
What "truth" sees is what he/she sees; however, there are classrooms where the same kinds of kids do NOT act out in this way. It seems difficult for many to accept that fact but it ALL depends on communication, caring, the delivery of teaching, learning and assessment strategies that respect the community, the culture, the class of students and demonstrates commitment to the SUCCESS of all students. All students want to be successful and can be reached if they see that is the PURPOSE of the "lesson."
All students don't want to be successful, they are there because they have to be. I applaud the teachers that try to make it interesting, and some students actually get it. But from my view there are many more that just don't care and have no one at home that cares either.
I wish all students that come to school "wish to be successful." The reality is, that there are some very disturbed children whose behavior disrupts any THOUGHT toward school success. You can feel sad about this, you can attempt to help them; sometimes you can really connect. Love and attention from teachers certainly helps- until something jumps off in their lives again-- but, to expect these very needy children to do the "accountable talk" and parrot the script day after day in every class is almost like say, expecting 100% to read on grade level by 2014.
Hey, but as long as we inflate their grades, they'll all be "promise ready", even if there are psychological issues, right?
I think we could affect parenting...but it would never happen. If we told students/parents they would receive 1K if their child was proficient on the PSSA -- how fast do you think scores would rise? If we told parents that if their child continues to act out in class they would win the title 'homeschooling parent' how fast do you think their child might be brought under control? Obviously this can't be done, but if it could be, our schools would change over night. And I'm not a teacher/administrator. I'm just a parent stuck in a lousy district doing whatever I can to make sure my kid gets a decent education despite the constant distractions.
And what happens when there are no schools left for 'school choice' to be applicable? I'm guessing that is where the district will be a year from now and if it is that other districts have to open their doors to our children, I will be first in line!
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