News-Record.com

Guilford SATs down 9 points. There are 55 systems including Charter High Schools that performed better than we did. Guilford likes to compare themselves with Charlotte/Mecklenburg. They went up 5 points to 1000. We are at 985. Down 9. Loosing 9 points is very serious. Look at Smith, down 41 points. Dudley up and on th right track. Is this on the agenda for Thursday night? No. These scores are devastating for attracting industry. Changes are needed. Is the BOE up to the taxk?

Just curious if anyone knows -

Is Dr. Zhang paid by the number of charts he produces?

Well said Joe.

I cant believe that its not on the agenda.

Well said Joe.

I cant believe that its not on the agenda.

The coverage in the N&R could not have been worse. No listing of individual schools performance. The BOE with N&R help are trying to hide these scores. They will not face the problem.

*** CONGRATULATIONS TO ABC OF GUILFORD COUNTY ***

Fox8 ran a story yesterday about the success of Mission Possible. There were a lot of great ideas presented to our school board/superintendent before the original High Point Choice Plan was implemented and I'm sure all of them were good but this one has gained national attention!! You guys are awesome. (I hope Grier is giving credit where credit is due!)

This is from the Fox8 website:
Guilford County Schools has gained national attention by offering up to $10,000 in recruiting bonuses for teaching Algebra I.

“We needed an incentive because we couldn’t convince teachers to go to these schools without one,” said Dr. Terry Grier in a New York Times story published online Monday. As of Wednesday, the article remains one of the most e-mailed stories on nytimes.com.

Money for the bonuses comes from federal grants and business partnerships through the GCS Mission: Possible program. The Times reports the incentive package is among the highest in the nation.

Grier told FOX8's Neill McNeill when he arrived in May 2000 that Guilford County Schools' teachers salaries ranked 13th in the state. "They rank number one in the state right now," said Grier.

Look at what Randolph County & Asheboro City School's did on the SAT and it was published in their local newspaper:
http://www.courier-tribune.com/articles/2007/08/30/news/dn1.txt

The problem with the sinking SAT scores is due to the fact that "teaching to a test" takes away from a fundamental education. Stop that nonsense and get back on track with educating and I would bet the farm that in 5 years a rise in SAT scores would be the norm!

Shalom

Darryl,

You are so right. My children never took a SAT prep course. They did just fine.

Right on ABC Wannabe! This idea was presented in February 2004 and other numerous times to Dr. Grier, the school board both verbally and in writing. The county commissioners had a copy. So we know who really started this great idea of paying incentives to teachers to go into low performing schools (that and smaller classrooms - ref: Andrews)

Ironically even when one of us asked the school board about doing this for Andrews, this person was told there wouldn't be enough money to pay someone to go to Andrews. Now with Mission Possible working, we know this isn't true.

Why did it take so long for someone to listen??

My child never took a SAT prep test either and scored much higher than her friends who took the SAT prep.

How did Andrews do on their SATs this year?

Mission Possible is not working at Smith. SATs at 804, one of the lowest High Schools in the state. Will it work next year? What do we do if it doesn't work at a particular school? Do we keep the MP teacher in place for as long as she/he wants to be there?

Joe,

That is a good question and one that the superintendent should address...(once he gets the answers from the ABC-ers).

They now have this medical program (or something) at the Smith academy. Which kids go to the academy? The smart ones right? SO they take the smart kids out of the school and put them in the academy and do nothing for the other kids. In the GCS way of thinking arent they isolating these kids?
It seems ok to me but backwards to the way they normally think.

Morgan, If I compare the previous years AP results to this years there has been a tremendous increase in the number of kids that got 3 or above. The latest results show 45% but the previous year had been only about 25%. It seems that almost the same number of kids took almost the same number of tests.
Too good to be true?
What do you think? Have you compared the latest data to the spread sheet that you produced before?

Anonymous 9:50 a.m.:
I'm not sure if the Smith Academy includes all the former "smart kids" from Smith High, particularly since it addresses a specific demographic interested in medical careers (the name of the other focus escapes me). In any case, pulling certain groups out of their traditional high school happens all over the district, including with the early colleges and High Point Central Academy.

Statman:
The data I have shows that 3,897 tests scored a 3 or above this year, compared to 3,443 last year. That would represent a 13.2 percent increase. The percentage of total exams that scored a 3 or above increased 3.9 percentage points, as I mentioned in the post above.

There is no High School in NC that had 71 or more test takers that scored lower than Smith.

I was pleased to see Smith's new basketball coach, Gene Banks, at the board meeting pleading for the board to fund air conditioning for Smith's gym. It is terrible that these children have to endure very high and potentially unhealthy temperatures while exercising.

Deena does a poor job of advocating for Smith.

Deena represents Smith?

In theory and on paper, Deena Hayes is the School Board representative for Smith High School and the Academy at Smith.

In practice, she ignores Smith and instead spends her time advocating for increased minority participation in construction bids.

At least the BOE talked about the hot gym. That is more than I can say about the awful SAT scores. Dudley is over 60 points ahead of Smith. When is somebody going to act?

Joe,
do you have some ideas how to help? Is this a cause and effect issue? In other words, can years of lower standards be changed with a SAT prep? Take the AP exams as another example. The percentage passing at Smith and Dudley are way behind the rest of the school, but I think those kids are passing the class. How is that? Are the standards not the same?
I think we have to start much earlier than HS to demand increased rigor. The middle school cirriculum is a joke! Look at our middle school scores.

Kids are not being challenged at middle school. The AL kids get a little challenged but if a child does not test well he/she is stuck in a class being taught to the lowest level. I would say that that is about 70% of our kids. The thing is that in this situation the struggling kids do not improve much either.

Debora,

I agree, we need to start early. However, the level of achievement in Middle School is so poor that concentrating of Elementary achievement sends the wrong message. The low scores in HS is partially due to poor preparation in Middle School, but not all. Why did Dudley go up the last few years while Smith was heading south? It was the level of teaching and learning at the HS level not the Middle school level. Smith can be turned around, if it is a priority of the School Board and the Supt. They cannot do it by not facing up to the challenge. If nothing else, the BOE could have the Principal at Smith in and ask him "what can we do to help?". Turning a school around requires a lot of help. Don't expect one man/woman to do it.

Quest,

That's an excellent point about Deena. Please see this past week's Rhino about the contract for Union Hill Elementary. It refers to what you mentioned about inside knowledge.

Meant to say "and about inside knowledge of jobs". Garth is also mentioned in the article, asking what about Hispanics and women minorities.

Do you have a follow-up story (or a story for that matter) about the school bus that crossed a double yellow line last week and ran a car of the road while going to Eastern? This Guilford County story made national news on Fox last week (my spouse heard it in SC) but I didn't read anything in the N & R??? Apparently a passer-by taped the incident and according to the Fox news report, people had been complaining about the bus crossing the double yellow line other times before this car was run of the road.

This is a very dangerous (not to mention illegal) practice. Do you know if the bus driver has been fired?

Buses were running cars off of this road two years ago. I called and reported one running me off then and the driver is still employed. I wonder if it was the same one.

Today I was trying to do 40 in the 35 mph school zone and I had a bus trying to drive right through me.

Do buses still have limitations for speed built in? If so what is that limitation? Many of our county schools are on small roads and when parents pick up and the line is long, then the HS drivers are released and then the buses it is a recipe for disaster.

The bus speed limit is the posted limit or 45 MPH, whichever is lower. About 15 years ago, they increased the school bus limit from 35 to 45. All the buses have governors on them that limit the speed to 45. (This does not apply to activity buses.) The above limits are not automatic. Each driver has to consider road and traffic conditions that are currently present. No bus driver is allowed to drive at an unsafe speed.

To answer questions about the bus story, I was aware of the story but I did not do one of my own. Because I'm the only dedicated K-12 reporter now, I do not have as much time to follow up on every story (I believe a story on the power going out in some schools also ran last week but I didn't write about it.) However, I may have done something if the parent had notified me directly (I believe in this case, the parent notified Fox 8 and that is why they broke the story).

The incident happened at Easter Middle School and was reported on Fox news. It made national news.

Do you know what action, if any, was taken against the bus driver.

www.gcsnc.net/leadership/about.htm

Go to this site and read this.

We pay for Grier to write this about Grier.

Oh, my, David, please - you should have provided ample warning to have a barf bag nearby before reading that.........

Excuse me - I have to go be sick again.......