Does your student have DIBELS? How would you know? What color are they? Where are they kept?
Last week’s visit with our two school psychologists was revealing, informative and a bit overwhelming.
Surprisingly, schools incur responsibility to provide services to children beginning at age 3 if it is suspected there are special needs. Services can continue through age 21.
Children must be evaluated for suspected significant developmental delays and if needed, services begun. These services may be delivered in a “center-based” facility such as Ewing School or the Ohio Valley Service Center or on an itinerant basis.
Services can take the form of up to 10 hours per week in a pre-school classroom setting to 1 hour per week in the student’s home. Some specialized services can continue through a student’s entire educational career following an Individual Education Plan (IEP) designed to address the student’s special needs.
If a student qualifies for yet other therapies such as speech, occupational or physical, those services may be provided in a center-based setting or at a provider’s facility.
These services continue as needed from age 3 and students may qualify to enter kindergarten if they have reached the age of 5 by August 1. But there are exceptions. Parents may request early admission to kindergarten.
Upon written request to the principal, school psychologists administer IQ tests and if the result is 115 or higher and the student will be 5 by October 1, admission may be granted. If the 5th birthday occurs before January 1 and the IQ is 130 or above they may also qualify for admission. Early admission hinges on a meeting with parents, principal, school psychologists and a kindergarten teacher to determine academic and social-emotional suitability.
Our psychologists find the early admission decision difficult even with testing. Input from pre-school teachers can be helpful, but many students are not enrolled in pre-school and do not have that background to assist the evaluation. Often recommending a pre-school setting is the better choice.
When students experience significant academic, emotional, behavioral or physical problems at school they may be referred for assessment to determine qualification in the following categories: developmental delay, learning disabilities, cognitive disability, deaf-blindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, multiple disabilities, orthopedic disability, other health impairment, speech/language impairment, traumatic brain injury and visual impairment.
Once determined that modifications or accommodations are required to best meet the student’s needs, an IEP is written to direct those services. Follow up testing is done every three years to determine continued or changing needs and student progress.
Reading is a skill basic to all other learning and is the primary focus of the early grades. It is important to know where our students are in their development and mastery of this skill. Hence, DIBELS. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.
This assessment is administered to every kindergarten, first and second grade student in September, January and May by teachers, school psychologists and other staff members. Changes in scores are a good indicator of student progress through the year and from year to year.
My visit with the psychologists was at their request as School Psychology Awareness Week is upcoming November 4th thru 10th. I learned that there are 63,000 school psychologists in the country and 6 in Washington County.
There are a great many other services provided by this department beyond those described here. This letter does not do justice to what I learned about the services we provide, but I was permitted to depart on my own recognizance which I considered a personal success.
This letter written with input and assistance from Karen Binkley and Don Tekavec.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Professional Learning Community
We all have our stories. Things we tell ourselves and others over and over that we have come to believe. Things that by the telling define us.
Ponder your own stories for a moment. What is it you tell people about yourself? What is it you tell your friends when you are relaxed and others are telling their stories even if you and your friends have all heard each other’s stories before?
Now take a step back and reflect on the stories you tell about your job, your community. Your car, your bank, your kids, your barber. Your schools! Yes, your schools. What stories do you tell about your schools? What are your impressions and what do you tell others when the subject comes up?
That teacher who gave you a lousy grade because she didn’t like you? That math class that ruined your grade point average? That teacher who let you sleep in his class if you didn’t bother anyone else? That teacher who hadn’t changed his tests in 30 years and everybody had the answers? What about the one where the book was wrong but the teacher refused to believe it and marked your correct answer wrong because the key said you were wrong?
I’ve heard all of these and more on the negative side. But what of the positives? Who tells great positive stories about how a teacher inspired a student who raised himself out of ordinary circumstances to achieve success? Or the teacher who took a student who just couldn’t get it and found a way to teach the subject that ignited the student as never before? It happens. Thank goodness it happens.
There is a program in your schools by the name of Professional Learning Communities (PLC). It’s been happening for about a year and it involves tested methods to convey excellence and creativity within the system so that successes get multiplied and problems get shared for broader solutions.
It is a district wide activity and schedules have been creatively flexed to permit groups to work together within buildings. Teachers in the same grades share what works and what doesn’t. Teachers in the same discipline share best methods to convey material. One of the goals is to remove the “silo” effect of teaching and open the system to cooperation among peers to reach greater heights.
It involves a good deal of study to find out what has worked other places. And it involves sharing what works and doesn’t work within our own system to tighten up our methods.
Not everyone is enthusiastic. All too often programs of one sort or another have been adopted one year only to fall into disuse the next year. That has happened so often there is even a phrase to express the concept. “The bandwagon that we’re going to jump off next year.”
The success of this effort will be dependent upon experiencing some victories that are valued by the system itself. By students, teachers, administrators, the board and the community. A tall order, but the test scores thus far are showing a handsome payoff. A payoff we have probably not celebrated enough.
Professional learning communities will ultimately involve the community as it extends beyond the classroom and the buildings to the community in general. It will affect what kind of community we become, what kinds of jobs are created and what kind of people want to live and learn here. It will affect our story of who we are.
If you’re not excited about our story, maybe you can be part of the change as a new one gets written.
Ponder your own stories for a moment. What is it you tell people about yourself? What is it you tell your friends when you are relaxed and others are telling their stories even if you and your friends have all heard each other’s stories before?
Now take a step back and reflect on the stories you tell about your job, your community. Your car, your bank, your kids, your barber. Your schools! Yes, your schools. What stories do you tell about your schools? What are your impressions and what do you tell others when the subject comes up?
That teacher who gave you a lousy grade because she didn’t like you? That math class that ruined your grade point average? That teacher who let you sleep in his class if you didn’t bother anyone else? That teacher who hadn’t changed his tests in 30 years and everybody had the answers? What about the one where the book was wrong but the teacher refused to believe it and marked your correct answer wrong because the key said you were wrong?
I’ve heard all of these and more on the negative side. But what of the positives? Who tells great positive stories about how a teacher inspired a student who raised himself out of ordinary circumstances to achieve success? Or the teacher who took a student who just couldn’t get it and found a way to teach the subject that ignited the student as never before? It happens. Thank goodness it happens.
There is a program in your schools by the name of Professional Learning Communities (PLC). It’s been happening for about a year and it involves tested methods to convey excellence and creativity within the system so that successes get multiplied and problems get shared for broader solutions.
It is a district wide activity and schedules have been creatively flexed to permit groups to work together within buildings. Teachers in the same grades share what works and what doesn’t. Teachers in the same discipline share best methods to convey material. One of the goals is to remove the “silo” effect of teaching and open the system to cooperation among peers to reach greater heights.
It involves a good deal of study to find out what has worked other places. And it involves sharing what works and doesn’t work within our own system to tighten up our methods.
Not everyone is enthusiastic. All too often programs of one sort or another have been adopted one year only to fall into disuse the next year. That has happened so often there is even a phrase to express the concept. “The bandwagon that we’re going to jump off next year.”
The success of this effort will be dependent upon experiencing some victories that are valued by the system itself. By students, teachers, administrators, the board and the community. A tall order, but the test scores thus far are showing a handsome payoff. A payoff we have probably not celebrated enough.
Professional learning communities will ultimately involve the community as it extends beyond the classroom and the buildings to the community in general. It will affect what kind of community we become, what kinds of jobs are created and what kind of people want to live and learn here. It will affect our story of who we are.
If you’re not excited about our story, maybe you can be part of the change as a new one gets written.
Questions
Questions are the answer. It’s all about asking the right questions. And finding answers of course. Which is why when asked this week about St. Mary’s students riding Marietta City School buses I found myself needing to find an answer.
By law we are required to provide transportation for students who live in our district. And, we are reimbursed for providing the transportation. If you think about it, it makes sense for us to do the transportation as we are going past those houses picking up our own students. It’s efficient.
While we’re on buses, you might recall that your district bought two buses this past school year as per our budget. The cost of these was formerly reimbursed 100% by state funds. No longer. Of the approximately $85,000 per bus cost, the state helped by paying only about $16,000. total for the year. That figure is expected to decline further in future years.
Another question that came up this week has to do with the status of our examination of buildings and the possibility of getting new buildings. While we don’t have any final numbers from the state as yet, we do know a few things.
We know that much of the examination done in 2003 on the high school seems to have missed a number of concerns, it would appear that renovating the high school may still be in the works, but that is the only building considered by the state to not be replaced. Final figures we’re told will not be available until some time in November.
As per the original study, it would appear that replacement of the elementary buildings and the middle school would be recommended and supported by the state sharing in the funding of such a project.
We have actually had our status change from the original study. Whereas we were rated for a 39% state share of funding for such projects; owing to our loss of population we were moved to a 27% share by the state. However, by re-engaging the original renovation process we have been grandfathered in at the 39% rate. That will be a big savings for the community in the long run.
The levy funds approved last spring are being used for books and other long term materials and safety projects only. We are avoiding putting funds in to the buildings until we can get a better handle on how we may proceed. Except to protect short term use, we are certainly not going to spend your hard earned tax dollars on buildings that my not be in use in the long run. The money is instead being put aside pending the outcome of the studies and the decision by the community.
We are already faced with a situation that would be better served with new buildings. Some elementary class sizes are such that it would be helpful to have them all in one building so that the addition of one teacher could reduce the class size numbers. As it stands, in some cases, it would require 4 teachers to ease the situation.
Mr. Young has been visiting PTO meetings and discussing these concepts with teachers and parents. The questions being asked are good ones, forward looking ones. Some of the answers are available, and some will have to await further information from the state.
In the meantime, if you have questions about any aspect of school operations, ask. The answer really is in asking the right questions. Even if they seem difficult they are beneficial. Better facts than rumors.
By law we are required to provide transportation for students who live in our district. And, we are reimbursed for providing the transportation. If you think about it, it makes sense for us to do the transportation as we are going past those houses picking up our own students. It’s efficient.
While we’re on buses, you might recall that your district bought two buses this past school year as per our budget. The cost of these was formerly reimbursed 100% by state funds. No longer. Of the approximately $85,000 per bus cost, the state helped by paying only about $16,000. total for the year. That figure is expected to decline further in future years.
Another question that came up this week has to do with the status of our examination of buildings and the possibility of getting new buildings. While we don’t have any final numbers from the state as yet, we do know a few things.
We know that much of the examination done in 2003 on the high school seems to have missed a number of concerns, it would appear that renovating the high school may still be in the works, but that is the only building considered by the state to not be replaced. Final figures we’re told will not be available until some time in November.
As per the original study, it would appear that replacement of the elementary buildings and the middle school would be recommended and supported by the state sharing in the funding of such a project.
We have actually had our status change from the original study. Whereas we were rated for a 39% state share of funding for such projects; owing to our loss of population we were moved to a 27% share by the state. However, by re-engaging the original renovation process we have been grandfathered in at the 39% rate. That will be a big savings for the community in the long run.
The levy funds approved last spring are being used for books and other long term materials and safety projects only. We are avoiding putting funds in to the buildings until we can get a better handle on how we may proceed. Except to protect short term use, we are certainly not going to spend your hard earned tax dollars on buildings that my not be in use in the long run. The money is instead being put aside pending the outcome of the studies and the decision by the community.
We are already faced with a situation that would be better served with new buildings. Some elementary class sizes are such that it would be helpful to have them all in one building so that the addition of one teacher could reduce the class size numbers. As it stands, in some cases, it would require 4 teachers to ease the situation.
Mr. Young has been visiting PTO meetings and discussing these concepts with teachers and parents. The questions being asked are good ones, forward looking ones. Some of the answers are available, and some will have to await further information from the state.
In the meantime, if you have questions about any aspect of school operations, ask. The answer really is in asking the right questions. Even if they seem difficult they are beneficial. Better facts than rumors.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Head Count Weeks
This coming week is one of two weeks during the year when attendance matters most. Every student will be accounted for every day of the week and the total number will be used in calculating our funding level from the state. The count will be taken again in the spring and the equation adjusted further.
Here’s the way it works. Suppose your student attends every day but has an unexcused absence Friday. That means he was absent 20% of the week. And, that means the state will assume that he will be absent 20% of every week the rest of the year. And, they will enter that figure into the 24 page formula that is used to calculate how much money they send to your district.
It doesn’t have to make sense or be fair. They have your money and they will determine what to do with it. Likely they will continue to mislead you about the actual dollars sent back to your district.
There is also a calculation for transportation reimbursement and that count is taken next week also. It would be good if every student who might ride at any time throughout the year would ride every day next week to maximize the formula for reimbursement.
Members of the administration point out that the formula penalizes districts even more than might be apparent on the surface. It has to do with those students who likely to have an unexcused absence.
Think for a moment about your own experience and perhaps that of your children. If you were not in the habit of skipping school for an unexcused reason it is likely you attended and studied and worked on the task at hand.
On the other hand, if you were a student who did not particularly enjoy school, it is more likely you required teacher time and attention beyond regular classroom time. It is further likely you were a behavior challenge and more administrative time was invested in helping you get with the program. If, in fact, that ever happened. But they tried.
Along comes the state funding formula and its 24 pages of calculations and determines that if you skip school without a valid excuse during the head count week they are going to fund your district at a lower level. The net effect being that the student who costs more to serve causes the district to receive fewer dollars.
The bottom line is that schools are not a stand alone service. Friends, families and others who are interested in a student’s success in life are an essential part of the equation. Some students need more help than others but all benefit from any outside help.
There is a generally accepted concept about young people that has proven true far too often to be a mistake. If a young person has an adult in their life with whom they have a meaningful relationship, the young person has a greater chance of succeeding in life.
The relationship need not be formal or time consuming. All that is required is that the young person desires not to disappoint the adult who cares for him. It could be as simple as asking a student how school is going and taking a sincere interest in the answer.
Give us a hand this week by making sure every student you influence gets to school. Preferably by bus. Give us a continuing hand by taking an interest in a student. You may learn something. And they may help you with your phone or computer at a bargain rate.
Here’s the way it works. Suppose your student attends every day but has an unexcused absence Friday. That means he was absent 20% of the week. And, that means the state will assume that he will be absent 20% of every week the rest of the year. And, they will enter that figure into the 24 page formula that is used to calculate how much money they send to your district.
It doesn’t have to make sense or be fair. They have your money and they will determine what to do with it. Likely they will continue to mislead you about the actual dollars sent back to your district.
There is also a calculation for transportation reimbursement and that count is taken next week also. It would be good if every student who might ride at any time throughout the year would ride every day next week to maximize the formula for reimbursement.
Members of the administration point out that the formula penalizes districts even more than might be apparent on the surface. It has to do with those students who likely to have an unexcused absence.
Think for a moment about your own experience and perhaps that of your children. If you were not in the habit of skipping school for an unexcused reason it is likely you attended and studied and worked on the task at hand.
On the other hand, if you were a student who did not particularly enjoy school, it is more likely you required teacher time and attention beyond regular classroom time. It is further likely you were a behavior challenge and more administrative time was invested in helping you get with the program. If, in fact, that ever happened. But they tried.
Along comes the state funding formula and its 24 pages of calculations and determines that if you skip school without a valid excuse during the head count week they are going to fund your district at a lower level. The net effect being that the student who costs more to serve causes the district to receive fewer dollars.
The bottom line is that schools are not a stand alone service. Friends, families and others who are interested in a student’s success in life are an essential part of the equation. Some students need more help than others but all benefit from any outside help.
There is a generally accepted concept about young people that has proven true far too often to be a mistake. If a young person has an adult in their life with whom they have a meaningful relationship, the young person has a greater chance of succeeding in life.
The relationship need not be formal or time consuming. All that is required is that the young person desires not to disappoint the adult who cares for him. It could be as simple as asking a student how school is going and taking a sincere interest in the answer.
Give us a hand this week by making sure every student you influence gets to school. Preferably by bus. Give us a continuing hand by taking an interest in a student. You may learn something. And they may help you with your phone or computer at a bargain rate.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Staying Away
People are staying away from the ballpark in droves—and we can’t stop ‘em. Spoken by a sportscaster about Pittsburgh Pirates fans long ago, but true of school board meetings as well.
You can find the full meeting agenda on the school web site about Friday of the week before the meeting should you wish a preview. Last week’s meeting saw the usual details approving various people to perform a number of duties necessary to the operations and being paid varying rates for the service.
From $7 per hour for ticket takers at athletic events to $20 per hour for teachers who oversee Friday School operations to $857 for a class advisor. It takes a lot of folks to operate the system.
An interesting number is 382. That is the total of the nearly 12 single spaced pages of names that were approved as volunteers to work in the system. Each volunteer fills out an application that includes character references and those references are confirmed in writing before the board approves the volunteer. In total over 700 volunteers will likely be on the list by the end of the year.
We approved paying the Auditor of State $19,500 for the annual audit of our finances to assure accuracy and integrity. I’m told ours is an audit that the auditors enjoy doing because of our accuracy; willing and friendly cooperation and our accommodations are quite workable.
Also approved was a solicitation for bids for additional video cameras to be installed at the Middle School and the High School. This project has been in the works for some time and is needed for security and safety purposes. There are some cameras in place already and this constitutes an upgrade and expansion of the current systems
Here’s a place where your help would be appreciated. During the first full week of October we must take a head count every day. We then receive state funding per student based on the actual head count each day during that week and the count during one other week later in the year. If a student is in attendance only 4 of the 5 days and has an unexcused absence that fifth day, he is considered to be absent 20% of the time. The formula then considers that the student will also be absent all the other weeks of the year 20% of the time and adjusts our reimbursement downward accordingly. It’s not fair nor accurate, but then fairness was never an issue in this rigged game.
Our transportation reimbursement works similarly, so if you would kindly have your students attend school and ride the bus every day that week it could be very helpful. Not fair of us to encourage attendance and bus riding if that’s not their regular habit, but then turn about should be expected.
Next we come to Special Education transportation reimbursement. Long ago we were reimbursed 100% for actual transportation costs as many of our specials students had to be picked up individually at their door. That worked well until the state decided to reduce the total dollars available for the entire state and no longer fund total costs.
Now we receive 100% of our share of the total allocation across the state which is far less than 100% of costs. Notice the cleverness of the language. Sounds like a good deal until you listen closer.
The Pirates were having a losing season when fans were absent at the ballpark. We’re having a string of losing seasons in the game of state funding. Perhaps that accounts for low board meeting attendance.
You can find the full meeting agenda on the school web site about Friday of the week before the meeting should you wish a preview. Last week’s meeting saw the usual details approving various people to perform a number of duties necessary to the operations and being paid varying rates for the service.
From $7 per hour for ticket takers at athletic events to $20 per hour for teachers who oversee Friday School operations to $857 for a class advisor. It takes a lot of folks to operate the system.
An interesting number is 382. That is the total of the nearly 12 single spaced pages of names that were approved as volunteers to work in the system. Each volunteer fills out an application that includes character references and those references are confirmed in writing before the board approves the volunteer. In total over 700 volunteers will likely be on the list by the end of the year.
We approved paying the Auditor of State $19,500 for the annual audit of our finances to assure accuracy and integrity. I’m told ours is an audit that the auditors enjoy doing because of our accuracy; willing and friendly cooperation and our accommodations are quite workable.
Also approved was a solicitation for bids for additional video cameras to be installed at the Middle School and the High School. This project has been in the works for some time and is needed for security and safety purposes. There are some cameras in place already and this constitutes an upgrade and expansion of the current systems
Here’s a place where your help would be appreciated. During the first full week of October we must take a head count every day. We then receive state funding per student based on the actual head count each day during that week and the count during one other week later in the year. If a student is in attendance only 4 of the 5 days and has an unexcused absence that fifth day, he is considered to be absent 20% of the time. The formula then considers that the student will also be absent all the other weeks of the year 20% of the time and adjusts our reimbursement downward accordingly. It’s not fair nor accurate, but then fairness was never an issue in this rigged game.
Our transportation reimbursement works similarly, so if you would kindly have your students attend school and ride the bus every day that week it could be very helpful. Not fair of us to encourage attendance and bus riding if that’s not their regular habit, but then turn about should be expected.
Next we come to Special Education transportation reimbursement. Long ago we were reimbursed 100% for actual transportation costs as many of our specials students had to be picked up individually at their door. That worked well until the state decided to reduce the total dollars available for the entire state and no longer fund total costs.
Now we receive 100% of our share of the total allocation across the state which is far less than 100% of costs. Notice the cleverness of the language. Sounds like a good deal until you listen closer.
The Pirates were having a losing season when fans were absent at the ballpark. We’re having a string of losing seasons in the game of state funding. Perhaps that accounts for low board meeting attendance.
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