Advanced Learning conducts reviews
Find here the pilot program reviews conducted by Guilford County Schools Advanced Learning Department as part of the story that ran today.
Update: What you read on Sunday was just a snippet of what is happening with the district's gifted and talented population. I started reporting on the AL department in February, but found with the school bond, superintendent search, budget, and another project I am working on that it would be best to approach this story in chunks, rather than all together.
I plan to follow up on the districtwide program review as well as do more with the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs. Actually, a sidebar that I wrote about Smith and its IB program did not run on Sunday, although the graphic ran. Basically, that sidebar stated that Smith teachers don't really see the IB scores as a failure when you compare them with Grimsley and High Point Central. Those two schools have had the IB program since the mid-1990s, so it is understandable that they would outperform Smith.
Find the text of that sidebar below:
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Teachers at Smith High School offer no apology for graduating only one of 22 eligible students with an International Baccalaureate diploma since the school started offering the prestigious, college-level curriculum in 2004.
“IB is rigorous,” said Tara Pidgeon, who teaches advanced courses at the school. “If everyone got the diploma, it wouldn’t be special.”
Elaine Fansler, who coordinates the IB and Advanced Placement courses, said she expects several of the nine IB seniors to earn diplomas this year.
Amina Simmons, 18, hopes to be one of those students. Simmons was identified as academically gifted in second grade and hopes years of perseverance through advanced coursework will culminate in passing scores on all six of her exams.
“If not, I look at it as at least I tried,” Simmons said.
Simmons sees Smith as an underdog among its district counterparts; the school has long been criticized for low student performance on state tests. Established IB programs at Grimsley and High Point Central cast another shadow on the school.
Last year, at least 65 percent of the IB exams taken at both Grimsley and High Point Central high schools earned a passing score of 4 or higher. At Smith: 24 percent.
“I don’t think the schools can be compared because the programs are set up differently everywhere,” Simmons said.
But Simmons won’t let Smith completely off the hook. She was disappointed that administrators shoehorned IB students into classes with students on different tracks this past year. One fall chemistry course combined juniors and seniors, and Spanish and psychology courses combined IB and AP students, she said.
“My (chemistry) teacher for the first semester everyday was stuck trying to figure out how to teach two classes in one classroom,” Simmons said. “We wasted a whole semester because: one, we’re trying to teach ourselves; and two, we’re sitting through material that we’ve already learned.”
Fansler said she is trying to address scheduling concerns for the 2008-09 academic year, including pushing to have every AP and IB course meet over the year to better prepare students for the exams. Some courses meet only one semester.
And 10 teachers will receive additional training this summer, Fansler said.
Smith will continue to follow the district’s mission of exposing more students to college-level work. Pidgeon said she pushed three of her AP students to enroll despite their slim chances of earning college credit.
“Even though they won’t pass the exam they are going to be so far more prepared for college than taking college prep,” she said.
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Regarding Bright IDEA, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction hopes to expand that statewide once the five-year grant ends in 2009. I may be able to get more statistics on how the pilot students have done here at the end of the school year. Another thing: Elissa Brown, a consultant with DPI, said there are talks of no longer allowing districts to divert funds from their gifted students to balance the budget in other areas. This came up in the audit of the state's academically gifted program (GCS was not singled out). Brown said she is also developing a set of program standards that would monitor how state funds are being spent. She hopes to take seek approval of the standards from the state Board of Education in the fall.
On the Very Strong Needs program, I asked Jane Fleming about that and she said nothing has more has been done in terms of studying the appropriate time for expanding it beyond the Academy at Lincoln. So I'm assuming the school board won't see any proposals coming from the AL department anytime soon.
Last, I would like to thank the parents, students and educators who were willing to be interviewed for the story (most of them were not included in the end product). Some parents who reached out to me I was unable to call back, but there may be opportunities for that in the future.
Comments (1)
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Just saw today's comment re: Ferndale MS. The pro facilitator there was contacted by several parents as soon as the schedules were mailed home. The Pro Facilitator did a random check and then a detailed check of the schedules for the incoming 6th graders. When the PF discovered how the scheduling had been done and that none of the choices the PF had given that would all have fulfilled both the spirit and the letter of the AL plan had been adopted, the PF asked the principal about it. The principal basically responded that she was NOT going to group students that way. When the PF notified Fleming and Timmons, they basically "sided" with the principal. When I contacted Fleming and Timmons, I got NOWHERE. My sixth grader was one of these students who was improperly scheduled. He basically sat in his reg education class with15 non-AL students and 4 other students who were AL in either reading or math and they just had to keep themselves busy. Between the behavior problems and the learning challenges of the many learning levels in the classroom, my child didn't stand a chance to getting any meaningful instruction. He had a wonderful teacher, whom we love; but challenge? not once; not even once. As the whole issue unfolded, Fleming, Grier and the principal tried to blame the PF for the scheduling fiasco. I don't believe THAT for even one second, and Fleming and Garrison showed their colors quite well. I know all of this because this was the third child I had to go through Ferndale; each child had unique circumstances and I contacted the same PF for each child....in two of the three cases, the situation was rectified almost within the hour. Of course, the PF couldn't rectify my last one who is now at Ferndale, because Garrison was allowed to simply "dismiss" the AL plan because it did not suit her. Dr. Garrison had some strong points; I just sorta forgot what they were through this experience.
Your bloggers are correct in that the program review is all smoke and mirrors. The way the PF explained it to me was that impacting classroom instruction was quite challenging for the AL department, partly because of lmtd. numbers of staff. The MS and HS PF's had to focus on the nuts & bolts of not letting students fall through the cracks and to focus on SCHEDULING as the AL plan directs so that at least these students would have the advantage of peer group intellectual stimulation.
Cheers to all of you. I tell you all again....if you have a middle school AL student, you'd better watch carefully when the schedule is mailed to your house. This is especially true for rising 6th graders. If your child was not AL in years past, but had an 85th percentile or above and "A" or "B" average in Math for '08 EOG...you'll want to inquire regarding his/her schedule. I have four children....with 3 having been through the AL program, I can quote you the guidelines pretty quickly!!!! :)
My last comment.....I promise. The Bright Idea program in GCS was spearheaded by Ann Barr and one of the recently resigned Pro Facilitators. It is an exceptional program; one of our children was part of that in a different NC school system. With the new AL "leadership", however, it basically became a defunct program. The same is true for the Singapore Math Program. The PF's this year had all sorts of tasks assigned, and this program review is an example, but they probably had the least impact on the actual AL program and the AL STUDENT of any year since merger. That's what can happen when people come on board as package deals...principal of a HS, spouse needs a job, a new job title and attractive salary are created just for spouse, regardless of the lack of qualifications, etc ...... and the director? let's just don't even go there.
Posted on July 22, 2008 12:59 AM