Cloaking the true situation in the Charleston County School District, State Superintendent Jim Rex's press release has glossed over the meaning of the reorganization of North Charleston High School and, now, the meaning of the district's signing up the school for a program called "Turnaround Schools." [See School to Receive State Help in Monday's edition.] Or maybe the reporter didn't understand.
We know that NCHS needs all the help it can get. First of all, the majority of incoming freshman read at or below the third-grade level. In the past, many of those students would drop out during or at the end of freshman year. The new NCHS has to figure out how to teach them to read while still maintaining a high school curriculum for the students who read at or above grade level.
Second, since Bill Lewis has not managed to finish renovations of the NCHS building in a timely manner, these high school students will be taught for at least a semester at a notorious middle-school building, namely Brentwood, that is not designed for high school needs. If the new principal manages to get them to settle in there, by mid-year the settling-in process will start all over again. There's no way that precious instructional time and discipline won't be lost through the mid-year move. You begin to feel sorry for Juanita Middleton, although we suspect she simply goes where she's told by Supt. McGinley.
How did NCHS achieve the status of the only district-run high school in the state that will participate in "Turnaround Schools"? CCSD made the decision that it would avoid a state-takeover required under NCLB rules since NCHS did not meet its goals for the required number of years. NCHS then could have gone charter (horrors!) or--CCSD's choice--been completely reorganized. No other school district that qualified for "Turnaround Schools" chose this path. You have to ask yourself why.
"High Schools That Work" and "Turnaround Schools" programs may or may not do the trick. Considering the reading problems at NCHS, they have a hard row to hoe.
Should I point out that both are part of the edublob that makes its living from billing districts for institutes and training, or is that fact already obvious to you? Can there ever be local solutions from local educators and administrators or do those people not charge enough?
Monday, August 03, 2009
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13 comments:
Our prayers go out to everyone involved with this seemingly overwhelming challenge. To the good and decent teachers who stayed, God bless you. And the same to the roughly 60% who will be contributing to the effort as new teachers to the school. Most students who attend North Charleston High School simply want an education. They will accept this challenge, too. They are great kids. I think all of us who really care are rooting for the success of North Charleston High School.
HSTW has helped several CCSD schools Babbie.....perhaps some facts vs conjecture? Ya know, the Courier may hire you, they revel in stories lacking in depth.
And yet you read.
Ouch!
Yes, why not encourage a local solution for our schools in greatest need for reform? Could it be that McGinley and others who are part of the education bureaucracy don't trust the public, least of all the local public? So how do they expect to encourage and sustain genuine public support for these schools at the local level? It's time for a different approach if we are ever to see different results.
Regarding High Schools That Work, it might be interesting to ask teachers how they feel about that steady stream of "experts" parading through their schools/classrooms telling teachers to do this and that while rarely offering to reduce the workload that teachers already have. HSTW has a mixed bag of results.
And then came more ignorance....
What parade? HSTW is no miracle worker, its a system that actually helps schools make better use of what they already have. Of course it won't work without buy-in and committed leadership. You folks bashing this are simply not aware of the positives that can come from this.....your loss, but your negativity helps very little.
As for reading the Courier Babbie...would you actually exist without having it to discuss?
The concepts behind HSTW are a logical progression from common sense adn educational vision...
(1)Shared leadership/decision- making at the school level.
(2)Using best practices as far as instruction (available via a multitude of professional development.
(3) Providing timely and constructive feedback to teachers regarding their classroom instruction, assessments and management.
(4)Creating a culture of academic rigor.
Doesn't this sound like something that could be done/should be logically done without having to pay for the right to have the moniker, "HSTW"?
As far as what NCHS is doing, I am pretty sure that any bonus money will be allocated equitably, right? I am sure that performance in classrooms can be defined to the point where you can give extra money to teachers who perform better than others without bias?(Hey that's the business model the public advocates, right?)
The HSTW model has been at NCHS for 2 years. The issue was the lack of support from the Principal. The teachers spent 07-08 developing policies and procedures within committees to assist with the changing of the school for the 08-09 school year. The useless Principal last year ignored the requirements of HSTW and isolated the faculty by September. When you don't have the support of the teachers, you can't run a school! He did more damage then any other Principal over the past few years. He should have been fired early on and NOT given his $25,000 bonus. Hopefully the new faculty and administration can make some progress. The students deserve it.
Amen to that!
"The HSTW model has been at NCHS for two years..." Really? I worked there and focus teams rarely met, teachers complained about the additional work created by HSTW, etc. While it is true that the Principal was "useless," the school never bought in. That was a big problem. We were ordered to do this. Period.
Maybe there is a good reason you now say, "worked there."
Some teachers did not buy in and perhaps that was one of many issues. Hopefully the faculty that has been selected to stay will buy in.
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