Having been shown the light by the P&C's expose of the district's dirty little secret, McGinley now signs on wholeheartedly to going with the flow: "'We're not doing them any favors (by promoting [those who can't read])," she said. Oh, what a difference a little transparency can make!
The Superintendent was Chief Academic Officer for three years before she became Superintendent without realizing "we're not doing them any favors." She will head in the direction that seems most likely to preserve her job. That said, at least under certain conditions she proposes to eliminate social promotion.
"Charleston County students who can't read at grade level would be required to participate in intervention programs, and their refusal to do so would mean they wouldn't be promoted to the next grade." Excuse me, but it would not be the students who would refuse to participate but their parents. What is the rationale for not holding their parents accountable? Too much effort?
And now the costly components:
Students who made enough improvement in the summer program would be allowed to move on to the next grade without extra help, and those who still aren't reading at grade level would be promoted but separated into two groups -- those needing intensive, one-on-one help and those in need of small-group assistance.
Students who are behind in reading would be in special classes in which teachers would focus solely on math and literacy; teachers would not have to teach the curriculum standards in science or social studies, McGinley said. Students would be assessed the following spring to determine whether they still needed serious literacy help or whether they are at grade level.
The intervention program would expand by one grade each year, she said.
First, the cost of summer programs. CCSD had summer literacy programs last summer, but, believe it or not, it has never published the results of those programs showing whether students made real gains or not! So, are we now going forward without knowing if they work?
Second, the cost of special classes. Attending the summer program brings the reward of being promoted whether the child made any progress or not. Some students would receive "one-on-one help" and some "small-group assistance" if still lagging at the beginning of the next school year. Additional reading specialists will be needed, in larger numbers every year, if the district continues its program.
Third, the cost of edublob reading programs, experts, and technology. Think not? Then you aren't familiar with Superintendent McGinley and her methods.
Fourth, the cost of not addressing the needs of older students. The Superintendent (and School Board, especially Gregg Meyers) must take responsibility for students now in grades seven through twelve who cannot read above the fourth-grade level who were promoted in a system they fully supported. Where are the proposed solutions for them?
"For older students, McGinley would like to use the Sixth Grade Academy in North Charleston as a model and replicate it in two other areas." Do we know that the Sixth Grade Academy has made any difference? It has been in existence for barely three months, hardly enough time to tell if the approach works! It's nice to hope that it will, but touting it as a major component of change is premature.
Most of all, where are the millions coming from? They can't be taken from the capital budget.
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I understand the Education Department revealed recently that statewide passing rates for the high school exit exam have declined. This is after several annual reports showed small advances over previous years.
The reports indicate Charleston's public school system has mirrored the state's advances and declines. So tell me, if Nancy McGinley is "making progress", and deserves a bonus and a contract extension, what did I miss? Looks like CCSD is on auto pilot to do more of the same. Being tied to the state average doesn't sound like progress to me. Our schools and students are left to be minimally average at best, and that's on a good day.
Dr. McGinley and her core group of supporters are giving us sawdust and calling gold. Charleston deserves a far better public educational system than the one we're settling for.
So why do we keep paying more for less? After nearly six years in a senior executive position here, you'd think Dr. McGinley could answer that question.
McGinley deferred her bonus until April. Gee, thanks for the sensitivity in these tough economic times. She still gets her bonus, even if she announces she taking another position elsewhere. She ought to know since that's exactly what several principals she let go have done.
Her gesture to defer what amounts to a hefty raise is no consolation to those who have taken cuts. Just ask the classroom teachers who didn't have the option August to defer their oversized classes and additional work load.
I doubt if there will ever be accurate measurement or assessment of individual student progress as long as there is a disconnect between how we measure the superintendent's progress and how we tract the progress of a significant number of the students she continues to leave behind. If they can't read, it matters little what grade CCSD assigns them. I still looks like the superintendent cares more about her press image than what actually happens to individual students or making significant corrections to the system that warehouses them.
Did anyone see Sandi Engleman's letter to the editor the other day? She stated it well. Gregg Meyers and Ann Oplinger continue to rubber-stamp ineffective policies. It's not working. We need board members willing to take the time to educate themselves and then think for themselves. Until that, CCSD will stay the same.
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