Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for July 17, 2006 NUCLEAR OPTION IN COLUMBUS...

...fails to mushroom.

Well, in accordance with NCLB, Livingston Elementary replaced the principal...replaced most of the teachers with handpicked choices...implemented "best practices"...forged relationships with parents...and got the same results.

Now they are praising one another for all their hard work...sheading tears...and saying "wait 'til next year".

Wonder if anyone considered offering an apology to the principal and teachers who were replaced...the defamation of their characters and abilities that took place in the years leading up to their replacement.

That was one of those rhetorical questions...we all know the answer.

From The Columbus Dispatch...

School, staff get ‘A’ for effort, but test scores fail to climb

Jennifer Smith Richards
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The new principal said she wanted test scores to shoot up so much that folks would think the school had cheated.

No one will think that.

The mostly new staff at Livingston Elementary, recruited to help redeem a school mired in academic failure, didn’t turn things around in its first year. At least not on paper.

"It’s not about a test score, at this point. It’s about doing the most you can for every single kid socially, emotionally, academically — everything," said Principal Melinda Dixon, who came to Livingston last fall after federal rules forced the South Side school to start anew after years of struggling.

The 23 handpicked teachers, all but four of whom were new to the school, did everything they could.

They went home with kids to talk with their parents, to share praise or concerns, to forge relationships that would change things. They raised expectations. They believed in the students. They made school a safe, happy place, even when students’ lives outside of Livingston were deeply troubled.

But love wasn’t enough to turn around the test scores.

In fact, scores declined in most areas. The school didn’t meet the state proficiency standard on any of the seven tests.

"You do the best you can do all year," Dixon said. "Then you say, ‘Here is our baseline.’ "

And this is it: Just over a quarter of third-graders passed the reading exam in March. About 17 percent passed math.

Fourth-graders did a little better: About 42 percent passed the reading and math tests. Fourth-grade writing was the highlight: Almost 70 percent passed.

Forty-one percent of fifthgraders passed the reading test; 39 percent passed math.

"There were a lot of tears" among the teachers, said second-grade teacher Debbie Thomas, who has taught at Livingston for 27 years. "But I can’t say that anybody felt they failed."

But Livingston must change because of the No Child Left Behind law’s ultimatum: If you’ve failed to meet math and reading goals for six consecutive years, you’ve got to start over. And after starting over, you’ve got to get better. Federal laws don’t say how long schools have to improve, though.

"These are kids’ lives at stake," said Jack Jennings, president and CEO of the Washington-based Center on Education Policy, which has studied school overhaul. "You’d hope you’d see a gain in at least a couple of years. If you don’t, then school people should rethink what they’re doing."

The teachers still believe, and so does Dixon. They believe that all the work they did this year mattered. All the home visits, all the walks down neighborhood streets, all the hugs mattered.

Livingston’s staff is focusing on the gains.

"A lot of it was the relationship with each other, the relationships with families. We looked upon the year as being a success, even though our test scores weren’t there," Thomas said.

There’s a lot to be done in the coming school year.

Just as Livingston’s staff and focus were reborn this year, the school will be reborn physically, too, as part of the district’s rebuilding campaign. The school will merge with Beck Urban Academy to temporarily form Livingston @ Beck.

The old Livingston will be razed, and then rebuilt. The new Livingston will press on.