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Education News
North Carolina
Education News
May 2008
Copyright © 2008 Queue, Inc.
IN
THIS ISSUE:
Building a Vision for ALL children, Sunset Park
Elementary School, North Carolina
Making a Difference?: The Effects of
Teach for America in High School
School Segregation under Color-Blind
Jurisprudence: The Case of North Carolina
Public School Choice and Integration:
Evidence from Durham, North Carolina
Rigsbee Named North CarolinaÕs Teacher of The Year
North Carolina School District Gets Advanced
View of NCLB Performance
Urban School Students Score at Highest Levels Ever On State and Federal Tests
The
amount of money a high school spends on regular classroom instruction is
directly related to the achievement level of its studentsÑthe more money, the
greater the achievement. Of regular classroom spending, higher teacher
compensation expenditures has the largest effect on student performance. The
findings were presented on April 2nd to the North Carolina State Board of
Education by Gary Henry from the Department of Public Policy and FPG Child
Development Institute (FPG) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and Charles Thompson from the College of Education at East Carolina University.
The researchers found that the amount that high schools spend on regular classroom instruction has a sizable impact on student learning outcomes. All other things being equal, an increase of $500 per pupil spent on regular classroom instruction in a school is associated with an increase of nearly half a point on studentsÕ average scores on End of Course examinations. The differences in spending on regular classroom instruction between high schools serving high-poverty populations and those with the fewest low-income students are about $300 per pupil.
ÒOur
findings strongly suggest that more resources targeted to the low performing
schools and more effective use of existing resources will be needed to offset
the effects of lower levels of studentÕs prior performance and, ultimately to
improve performance in chronically low-performing high schools,Ó said the
studyÕs lead researcher and FPG Fellow, Dr. Gary Henry.
It is not
just about how much money you spend, but where you spend it. Schools receive a
certain amount of money per student, known as the total per pupil expenditure.
They then decide how to spend that money on everything from special education
to supplemental programs to regular classroom instruction. It is how the money
was allocated that proved important as the total per pupil expenditures had
little effect. So even though the high schools with the largest percentage of
low-income students spent on average about $1,500 more total per student than
high schools serving the lowest percentage, they allocated only $300 more pupil
to regular instruction.
Expenditures
for regular instruction include teachersÕ salaries, supplementary pay,
benefits, and bonuses; salaries for teachersÕ assistants, tutors, and
substitutes; instructional supplies and textbooks; and library or media
services. More detailed analysis indicates that higher teacher compensation
expenditures had the largest effect on student performance.
ÒThe higher
teacher salaries may allow the schools to hire and retain teachers that have
important but unmeasured strengths, or the additional salary may motivate those
who receive it to perform at higher levels than similarly qualified teachers
who do not receive the extra pay,Ó according to Henry. Expenditures for
supplies and media services do have a positive effect, albeit smaller. The
findings indicate that materials and supplies make a difference when measures
of teacher quality such as experience and education are taken into account.
Perhaps
surprisingly, higher levels of expenditures on supplementary instruction
(outside the normal school day and week) and student services (guidance,
psychological, health, speech, and related services) are actually associated
with lower student test scores.
Charles
Thompson, professor of educational leadership at East Carolina University,
discussed the distinctly different leadership in schools with high
concentrations of poverty who were Òbeating the oddsÓ and those labeled as
chronically low performing. ÒIn the high schools that are Ôbeating the oddsÕ,
we observed principals who instilled a strong sense of commitment to student
performance and educators who held each other responsible for studentsÕ success
on the End-Of-Course exams. In these schools, the educators found creative ways
to offer students multiple opportunities to learn the material within a caring
and orderly environment.Ó
The study was commissioned in 2006 by North Carolina Governor Mike Easley to examine if low-performing schools were using existing resources in the most effective manner.
Full report:
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~handouts/misc/hsra-final-v10.pdf
A
"peaceful revolution" took place at Sunset Park Elementary School in
Wilmington, North Carolina, when Principal Deborah Parker took the helm.
Stunned by low test scores and a "low-performing school" designation
just months after starting as principal, Parker set about invigorating the
school community with a solid vision, plan and goals toward success.
"All
children, 100 percent, will achieve on or above grade level," declared
Parker as she urged the school to adopt a new focus on literacy and character
development. The plan to meet that vision included new programs, approaches and
teaching strategies for this Title I school where 80 percent of the students
qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch.
Sunset
Park established a 90-minute period of protected instructional time focused on
reading. Staff is empowered to plan their own professional development and
coach each other in their work. The school day was lengthened by 15 minutes for
teachers to have time to develop and implement new strategies. And, to ensure
the appropriateness of the curriculum, students are frequently assessed,
retaught and regrouped where needed.
Constantly
preaching high expectations with the slogan, "up the ante" was
Parker's mantra in establishing a vision. Again and again her students heard that
they were the "best and the brightest." Parker also spread the vision
in the community, issuing more than 140 press releases explaining how Sunset
Park was a model of school improvement. And, parents were brought into the
school regularly for workshops, parenting classes and open time in the media
center on Saturdays for families to research on the Internet and read together.
Her monthly newsletter, Sunrise, sent the message that every student will meet
the school's goals.
"By
setting high expectations for the entire learning community," notes
Parker, "and sharing a core set of values and beliefs, we have increased
our overall proficiency from 40 percent to 85 percent in just four years."
The school moved out of a low-performing status and met expected growth in
academic success each year since 1997. Visibility and accessibility of the
principal are keys to Parker's success as she visits every classroom each day.
She is clear on her purpose: "Being a principal requires a tenacious
leader who is a keeper of the vision."
Complete
report: http://www.naesp.org/client_files/LLC-Exec-Sum.pdf
Teach for
America (TFA) selects and places graduates from the most competitive colleges
as teachers in the lowest-performing schools in the country. This paper is the
first study that examines TFA effects in high school. The authors use rich
longitudinal data from North Carolina and estimate TFA effects through
cross-subject student and school fixed effects models. The authors find that
TFA teachers tend to have a positive effect on high school student test scores
relative to non-TFA teachers, including those who are certified infield. Such
effects exceed the impact of additional years of experience and are
particularly strong in math and science.
Full
paper: http://www.caldercenter.org/PDF/411642_Teach_America.pdf
This
paper uses administrative data for the public K-12 schools of North Carolina to
measure racial segregation in the public schools of North Carolina. Using data
for the 2005/06 school year, the authors update previous calculations that
measure segregation in terms of unevenness in racial enrollment patterns both
between schools and within schools. They find that classroom segregation
generally increased between 2000/01 and 2005/06, continuing, albeit at a
slightly slower rate, the trend observed over the preceding six years.
Segregation increased sharply in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, which introduced a new
choice plan in 2002. Over the same period, racial and economic disparities in
teacher quality widened in that district.
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001152_school_segregation.pdf
This
paper uses evidence from Durham, North Carolina to examine the impact of school
choice on racial and class-based segregation across schools. The findings
suggest that school choice increases segregation. Furthermore, the effects of
choice on segregation by class are larger than the effects on segregation by
race. These results are consistent with the theoretical argumentÑdeveloped in
sociology and economics literatureÑthat the segregating choices of students
from advantaged backgrounds are likely to outweigh any integrating choices by
disadvantaged students.
Full
paper:
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001151_school_choice.pdf
Cindi Rigsbee, a sixth/seventh grades
reading resource teacher at Gravelly Hill Middle School, Orange County Public
Schools, was named the 2008-09 AT&T North Carolina Teacher of the Year.
Rigsbee succeeds James Bell from Chowan Middle School, Edenton-Chowan Public
Schools.
In accepting the award, Rigsbee said her
selection as North Carolina's Teacher of the Year was all about chances.
"My father, who quit school in the seventh grade to work, didn't have the
chance to go to high school. My mother, who graduated second in her class at
age 15, didn't have the chance to go to college. But both my parents, who
didn't have educational opportunities, worked hard to give me the chance to get
an education. That is the reason why I've had the pleasure of teaching over a
thousand North Carolina children in my career, " Rigsbee said. "I'm
so excited that this little girl who grew up across the street from the
Bluefield Housing Project has been given this amazing opportunity. I thank you
from the bottom of my heart for this chance."
Rigsbee has been a North Carolina public
school teacher since the 1979-80 school year and has taught in five different
North Carolina public school systems: Guilford County Schools, Vance County
Schools, Wake County Schools, Durham Public Schools and Orange County Schools.
Professionally, she is a member of the National Education Association, the
North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE), the Orange County Association
of Educators, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the
International Reading Association, and the North Carolina Reading Association.
She has presented or spoken at numerous
workshops, conferences and other events, including literacy workshops for
elective teachers, new teacher orientation, the Orange County Schools'
convocation, and at an NCAE National Board Candidate Support workshop. Rigsbee
has received a number of awards and other types of recognition, including
Orange County Schools' Teacher of the Year 2007-08, Gravelly Hill Middle School
Teacher of the Year 2007-08, and a 2005 finalist for the Terry Sanford Award
for Creativity and Innovation in Teaching.
Rigsbee completed her undergraduate studies
at North Carolina State University, and received a Bachelor of Arts in English
Education and a Master of Education/K-12 Literacy from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2004, she achieved National Board Certification.
The AT&T North Carolina Teacher of the
Year will spend the school year traveling the state as an ambassador for the
teaching profession. In addition, Rigsbee will receive a personal automobile,
an engraved plaque, a one-time cash award of $7,500, a trip to the National
Teacher of the Year conference, the opportunity to travel abroad through an
endowment at the North Carolina Center for International Understanding, and a
technology package valued at over $14,000 from the SmarterKids Foundation. She
also will serve as an advisor to the State Board of Education for two years.
The other regional finalists are:
|
REGION |
FINALIST |
SCHOOL |
COUNTY |
|
North Central |
Paige Elliott |
Fuquay-Varina High |
Wake County Schools |
|
Northeast |
Sonya Rinehart |
John A. Holmes High |
Edenton-Chowan Public Schools |
|
Northwest |
Janice Raper |
Hurley Elementary |
Rowan-Salisbury Schools |
|
Southeast |
Ruth Ann Parker |
Clinton High |
Clinton City Schools |
|
Southwest |
Bernard Waugh |
Kannapolis Intermediate |
Kannapolis City Schools |
|
Sandhills/South Central |
Trisha Muse |
Page Street Elementary |
Montgomery County Schools |
|
West |
Renee Peoples |
West Elementary |
Swain County Schools |
|
Charter Schools |
Freida Baker |
East Wake Academy |
Wake County |
Iredell-Statesville Schools, based in Statesville, N.C., recently
began using TetraData DASH, which helps rapidly communicate vital information
regarding school performance to principals and staff throughout the district.
DASH serves as an easy-to-use, front-end vision alignment tool for the
districtÕs TetraData Warehouse, which it implemented last year.
"Every school superintendent, school principal and classroom
teacher realizes the importance of data-driven decision making,Ó said Dr. Terry
Holliday, superintendent for the district, ÒThe problem is having the data when
you need the data and having the data in a format that is understandable. With
DASH, our decision makers have the data when they need the data.Ó
"Decision makers in our school system get right to the work
of deciding what is working or not working to help more children be
successful,Ó Holliday added.
According to Pam Henderson-Schiffman, Chief Accountability and
Technology Officer for Iredell-Statesville Schools, DASH is helping to
transform all the districtÕs data sources into usable information.
ÒWe have a myriad of data that we need to rapidly communicate to
our teachers and principals,Ó Schiffman said, adding that the districtÕs
warehouse combines student demographic information, state test scores, district
quarterly assessments, staff demographics and certification levels, and more.
Using DASH, district staff can now see custom-designed reports interrelating
any or all of that data simply with one quick click.
Report Includes City-by-City Profiles of Big-City School
District Trends
On Math and Reading Assessments
http://www.cgcs.org/BTO8/Charlotte.pdf
Guilford County Schools
http://www.cgcs.org/BTO8/Guilford.pdf
Students in the nationÕs major city public
school districts continue to advance in reading and math on state tests and on
the more rigorous federal testÐ the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP).
A new report analyzing academic progress in 66
urban school systems in 37 states and the District of Columbia shows
substantially higher test scores in 2007 than in 2003 in fourthand eighth-grade
mathematics and reading on state assessments. It indicates that the state and
national test scores are at their highest levels since academic proficiency
data have been collected for urban schools.
Beating the Odds: An Analysis of Student
Performance and Achievement Gaps on State Assessments by the Council of the
Great City Schools compares this past school yearÕs state test scores with
those reported a year after the federal No Child Left Behind law was implemented in
2002, requiring school districts to report performance levels based on state
tests and show the percentage of students who score at the ÒproficientÓ level.
The Beating the Odds findings for the 2006-
2007 school year show that 63 percent of urban school students scored at or
above the proficient level in fourth-grade math on their respective state
assessments, a whopping 14 percentage point gain from 49 percent in 2003. For
eighth-graders, the percentage climbed to 55 percent, compared with 42 percent
in 2003, a 13 percentage point rise.
In reading, urban schoolchildren also posted
gains over the past four years. From 2003 to 2007, the percentage of
fourth-graders scoring at or above the proficient level in reading on state
tests rose to 60 percent from 51 percent Ð a 9 percentage point hike. For
eighth-graders, the percentage increased to 51 percent from 43 percent in 2003,
an 8 percentage point gain.
National Test Assessments
The report also reveals that the state-test
trends coincide with NAEP gains by urban students, but with lower percentages
of students scoring at or above the proficient level on what is generally
considered a more rigorous exam than most state tests.
Students in big-city public schools have made
faster math and reading gains than the nation on the NAEP over the past few
years, according to The NationÕs Report Card for 2007 released by
the U.S. Department of Education. The report last November marked the first
time that the nation could see four- or five-year trends on NAEP for the
countryÕs major urban public school systems since the Trial Urban District
Assessment (TUDA) was launched in reading in 2002 and math in 2003.
Some 28 percent of urban fourth-graders scored
at or above the proficient level in math in 2007 on NAEP, an 8 percentage point
hike from 20 percent in 2003. In reading, 22 percent of urban schoolchildren in
fourth grade reached or went beyond the proficient level in 2007, a 5
percentage point increase from 17 percent in 2002.
Beating the Odds also includes how
student test scores in 11 big-city school districts that volunteered for the
trial urban NAEP compare with scores on their respective state tests. Among the
11 cities are New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the nationÕs three largest
school systems.
Although urban schools show gains in math and
reading performance, the districts still generally lag behind state and national
averages in fourth and eighth grades, and acknowledge that they still have a
long way to go to reach proficiency levels. But there are exceptions.
State Math Achievement
In the reportÕs eighth annual analysis, data
show that 22 percent of urban school districts now score as high as or higher
than their respective states in fourth-grade math, and 16 percent score as high
or higher at the eighth-grade level in 2007.
The school districts with both fourth- and
eighth-grade math scores equal to or greater than their respective states are
Anchorage, Broward County (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)., Charleston, New Orleans,
Palm Beach and Portland, Ore.
State Reading Progress
In 2007, 16 percent of urban school districts
scored at or above their respective states in fourth-grade reading, and 14
percent at the eighth-grade level. The school districts with both fourth- and
eighth-grade reading scores equal to or greater than their respective states
are Anchorage, Broward County (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Charleston, New Orleans,
Portland, Ore., San Diego and San Francisco.
Achievement Gaps
Beating the Odds VIII also indicates that
racial achievement gaps in urban schools narrowed in math between 2003 and
2007, although they remain wide. Some 66 percent of bigcity school districts
narrowed the gap between their fourth-grade African-American students and white
counterparts statewide in math proficiency Ð 63 percent in eighth-grade math.
Among Hispanic students, 63 percent of the
urban school districts narrowed the gap with white fourth-graders statewide Ð
58 percent in eighth-grade.
In reading, between 2003 and 2007, 64 percent
of major city school systems narrowed the achievement gap between fourth-grade
African-American students and white counterparts statewide in reading
proficiency Ð 67 percent at the eighth-grade level. Among Hispanic students, 57
percent of urban school districts narrowed the gap with white fourth-graders
statewide Ð 63 percent in eighth grade.
Urban Environment AmericaÕs big-city
school systems enroll about one-quarter, or 26 percent, of all students of
color in the nation, and a disproportionately high number of English language
learners and poor students.
The report attributes the standards movement
as the catalyst that triggered change in urban schools. It gave urban school
administrators direction on what they were being held responsible for
delivering.
Beating the Odds analyzed two
assessments Ð state and national Ð because the nation does not have a single
system to measure progress relative to the same standard across school
districts in all states.