| A Line in the Sand or A White Flag of Surrender? The District’s latest PR effort has revealed a profound shift in attitudes toward Chapter 4’s Academic Standards and the accompanying PSSA tests. The Feb. 6th Butler Eagle reported on the curriculum changes underway in the District, changes that are primarily based on student performance on PSSA scores (the state mandated tests given to students in grades 5, 8, and 11). While change may be good, one has to wonder about the District’s sudden infatuation with PSSA scores. Anyone who has followed the doings of the Slippery Rock School Board knows of their long and vocal history of opposing Chapter 4 (Academic Standards) and everything that goes with it including the PSSA. Chapter 4 has been in effect since January 1999. Over the past three years, however, there has been lots of opposition and leading the charge in Western Pennsylvania has been the district’s Solicitor- Tom King. Mr. King has been instrumental in showing board members (for a fee) how to fight against the evils of Chapter 4. Slippery Rock’s big move came when the Board unanimously approved a resolution against Chapter 4. Board members bemoaned the loss of local control. They had a fundamental problem with the state and the state tests controlling the District’s curriculum. How times have changed. In the past, the Board has opposed everything in Chapter 4. They axed the first proposal for the Culminating Project, not because of the project but because it was part of Chapter 4’s graduation requirements. They refused to pass any policies related to Chapter 4, including a policy for a Vo-Tech advisory committee mandated by Chapter 4; a strategic plan policy (gee, and that one came up again last meeting. Mr. Smith worked hard to get that one tabled); a policy for assessment of the educational program and a policy for assessment of student progress. But that’s not all. There’s been a resolution against diploma seals (will be on diplomas starting next year). Board member Smith threatened to veto the Act 48 plan if the word “PSSA” was not removed. And what about the Strategic Plan? It’s due in September and public participation is mandated by Chapter 4 - but has that been a priority? No. The committee hasn’t even been formed. It sure seems like the Board has been pretty consistent in rejecting Chapter 4 and all of its mandates. So imagine my surprise when I read about Dr. Nogay’s 21 page analysis of trends in the District’s PSSA scores since 1995 (lots of information about a test which our Board used to say was invalid. Must be important to someone in the District). There is apparently a downward trend in the elementary schools’ scores. Not to worry, though, the new, more challenging math curriculum which was adopted for all grades (now when was that? I know new textbooks were adopted, but the new curriculum wasn’t. Maybe the administration is just being honest and admitting what every Ed.D. believes - the textbook really IS the curriculum…) will bring the PSSA scores up. And the reading scores? A new curriculum (or is that textbook?) is being tested/piloted at the elementary schools. I’m glad that they are testing new textbooks. One of them even has a script for the teachers to follow. Talk about standardization! Is a new curriculum being written for reading? Or will the textbook be the curriculum? You know, the standards and PSSA tests for reading and writing have been around for three years. Maybe if a curriculum had been written to go with those standards when they were first mandated, then 5th grade scores wouldn’t reflect a “downward trend”. But three years ago, the Board would have had the head of anyone who tried to get approval for a curriculum based on Chapter 4 Standards. I’m so confused. But there was good news in the Butler Eagle article. According to Dr. Nogay, Slippery Rock has the best 11th grade writing scores in Butler county. Well, not all of Butler county since the writing test last year was voluntary. What wasn’t mentioned was that the districts that chose not to test their students were our board's compatriots in opposition to the PSSA- Mars, Karns City, and Seneca Valley (I thought the Board was opposed to PSSA tests. The writing section is so subjective Mr. King has even testified before the State legislature about it. But I guess our District volunteered to have students take the test anyway). It was convenient to only compare our scores with Butler County, because if you took an objective look at the scores in IU4, you’d see that our scores were the same as the scores for Hickory High School. You’d also notice that 9 other districts had scores that were higher than Slippery Rock, including Grove City, New Castle and Farrell. What’s that? New Castle and Farrell? Do they really compare with SR? With poverty rates over 80% and large minority populations, I don’t think so. But their writing scores are higher than ours. Now why wouldn’t our administrators mention that? Most surprising of all, it turns out that the PSSA scores are what will be used to plan the new curriculum (work which apparently started last year with Dr. Beaton’s arrival). As part of this grand plan, teachers have been given common planning time (well, not all teachers - just those in the elementary schools. And not every early dismissal day has been used for common planning time - even though that’s what the Board approved. But the administration has a plan. But wait, common planning time. Haven’t I heard that somewhere before? Seems like Connie Jones said something about that being a necessary part of curriculum change….). But the teachers seem to be excited about it. And it is good for the teachers to be able to plan together (too bad sixth grade has been left out). That way they can find out if there are gaps and overlaps (after all, our administration is looking for a specific and sequenced curriculum). But is it really necessary for children to lose three days of instruction? Especially when test scores have been declining? This defies common sense. According to next years calendar, your child will also be missing 3 days of instruction for these planning days. Has the Board erased their line in the sand? Have they changed their views on Chapter 4? Have they surrendered to the inevitable? After all, if test scores matter to everyone else, why shouldn’t our Board follow the crowd? Have our elected officials had a change of heart? Could it be that the Board has put too much faith in Tom King and the State School Board Association when they told them not to worry- Chapter 4 and the PSSA will go away- just like OBE? Or could it be a not so subtle message about who is really in charge? |
| Issues with Chapter 4 2000 |
| Unofficial Slippery Rock School District HomePage School Board Chronicles Copyright 2000 by Robert W. Pratt |
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