The Observation Deck

Once again because of a poorly written and executed program in this country our children are being let down. Because of the way NCLB is set up schools must be punished two years for any failings. The school my children go to which is rated effective and a school that was a Blue Ribbon school is being punished for poor scores. The thing is last year the scores went up but even so the school must be punished two years in a row whether they bring their scores up or not. And that means parents are given the choice to move their students to another school. Parents who chose to send their students to another school aren't told that the school they may choose may have done worse than their original school. Parents aren't told that the schools have to be punished two years in a row regardless of good scores. All parents see is that the school is a "bad" school. So sadly because of this asinine program that continues to punish schools and districts with the highest poverty rates, the highest amount of non-english speaking students and the highest amounts of disabled students we are once again getting screwed as a district. Today I learned that because parents chose to remove their children from Grant Elementary our littlest students will lose their kindergarten teacher and be in a class of 27. 27 kindergartners is crazy. Dr. Estrop has said time and time again that through all of this rebuilding that class sizes will be low, but that doesn't seem to be the case for our school. I understand that NCLB is ridiculous. But to remove a teacher on the 3rd day of school and have a class of 27 5 year olds is just wrong. I do not have a kindergartner, but I love our school's kindergarten teacher. She is a wonderful woman, and my older children just adore her. They love stopping by her room and saying hello to her every morning as they head up to their classes. It's really a shame and when I see her this afternoon I will probably cry as I am doing now. The sad thing for the children is that their new teacher has not been hired yet and will most likely be unexperienced. This really is a no win situation and sadly once again the children will suffer.

I do hope that when we elect a new leader that he sees fit to change this stupid law. I am tired of it affecting our wonderful district, I am tired of it making our schools look like they don't do a good job educating our students because this is a wonderful district, we have fabulous teachers and all students get an amazing education. I know that the number one reason we live in Lakewood is because we feel that this school districts gives our five children the best education, I don't think any other district, even those in the outer ring suburbs could do as good as a job as Lakewood.

It truly is sad.

Speaking of the Cleveland City School district. I believe that this year they are rated in the Academic Watch. I am pretty sure that the graduation rate is hovering around 55%.

My question is how is a 55% graduation rate not Academic Emergency. How is that rate not "Holy Crap We have Failed in a Big Way and Now Need to Radically Revamp School Funding, Among Other Things."

Danielle,

Dr. Estrop reports that the District will keep the teacher "at Grant Elementary School for a Morning Class of Kindergarten and assign her elsewhere in the District in the afternoon as may be needed. As of [Thu 8/28/2008 3:57 PM], the class size is 22 students."

Matt

To what building is this teacher going?

Mike Coleman wrote:To what building is this teacher going?

Mike,

I do not know, but I will ask.

Matt

Mike Coleman wrote:To what building is this teacher going?

Mike,

The Administration reports that the afternoon assignment of this teacher is not known at this time. The Administration also reports that staffing decisions are often made difficult as some parents do not register their children for school until two to three weeks into the school year itself.

Matt

Matthew,

Thank you so much for all that you are doing for people. You are so responsive and professional.

If all our elected officials were as good as you the world would be a much better place.

We could not ask for more.

Keep up the great work, and thanks again.

Matt,

Thanks for the update. From what I've heard changes might be made, but nothing solid. Thanks as always for your prompt responses, it is wonderful to have you on the board and posting here.

Related to NCLB it was upsetting tonight at our curriculum night to hear our principal explain the whole state report cards and state sanctions made to our school. It was sad to hear him justifying how great our school is. No principal of such a wonderful school should ever have to do that. Once again I will say I love the Lakewood City schools and I think it is disappointing how ridiculous NCLB is especially since it is not fully funded and that it is basically set up to punish schools serving at risk populations, especially when the stated purpose is to make schools better.

Mr Markling.

Seems we hear every year about situations like this.
Are Lakewood schools bringing it on themselves by trying to be TOO accomodating with things like open enrollment, fullday vs. halfday, ect?

Would they be better off by dividing 500 kindergarteners by 14 classes or whatever and sending a letter saying, "this is where your child is going in the fall. Have a great year!"? Just wondering and I thank you for any insight.

Dee Martinez wrote:Mr Markling.

Seems we hear every year about situations like this.
Are Lakewood schools bringing it on themselves by trying to be TOO accomodating with things like open enrollment, fullday vs. halfday, ect?

Would they be better off by dividing 500 kindergarteners by 14 classes or whatever and sending a letter saying, "this is where your child is going in the fall. Have a great year!"? Just wondering and I thank you for any insight.

Dee,

This is an issue that the Board will be discussing in the very, near-future. It is my opinion that the Board must continue to maintain its focus on making educationally sound, prudent, and fiscally responsible decisions in providing an excellent education to our children even if those decisions are unpopular. However, we can and must always do a better job at both working and communicating with all parents and citizens.

Matt

Danielle,
Amen to the ridiculousness of NCLB and all its victims. 27 is absurd for Kindergarten and especially considering what we pay in taxes! I echo your thoughts on our schools and find myself constantly defending them (in much the same words as you used here) to people who don't live in Lakewood. They need educators revamping the laws pertaining to our schools and our children. While we are promising a billion dollars to Georgia, how about getting some better books in the Cleveland schools (and other areas) and start rebuilding our own country?

Matt,
I hope if the school district is considering any changes in the near future to enrollment, the students would be grandfathered in so they didn't have to change schools midway!

Hi Danielle,

It has recently come to my attention that health education will no longer be taught in 5th grade because it is not part of the state standards. I guess it doesn't matter that the body changes that occur at this age are a universally predictable human event. If it isn't on the test, we don't have to teach about it. What a shame!!!
Toni

Mr. Markling

I believe Ohio is a self rule state, and this would allow for Lakewood to do many things.

What would happen if we just said no to NCLB?

Outside of gaining national attention for a school district that understand the farce that it is, and attracting new residents because of the stance.

What would/could happen?


.

For many years the federal government was not involved in education, and the states were free to as they wished. Some did well, some didn't, but those states that did well prospered, while those that did poorly languished. In any , we eventually elected politicians who promised to get federal money for education. Apparently those who pushed this idea thought they would get free money, with no oversight. That is a foolish belief. So we now have heavy federal involvement it education, in return for the federal money. NCLB is what we bought, so live with it.

I don't have a problem with students being tested to see if they have mastered the material they have been taught. And I think having the same teacher that did the teaching write the test. I know the true believers deny that there are any poor teachers, but there are. Classroom supervision is rare, so it seems to me the only way to find a problem is to give an objective test to the students and see if they, and we, have got our money's worth. I know the true believers complain that there are too many tests, but that is because they keep their own tests, and add the standardized tests, while at the same time clinging to a work schedule that would make a Frenchman jealous. If the industry would work on being more efficient, and working for a full year (bulletin: the kids in Lakewood don't need summers off to help care for the crops), we could better educate our children, and be less embarrased by studies showing how poorly, on an international basis, our schools do.

Now, I am a bit intrigued by how a "wonderful" school could achieve less than stellar results on the tests of student performance. I know that schools who have other than mainline students (such as students who are not yet fluent in English, or students who have certain handicaps) face a special burden with standardized tests, but I think most parents would be capable of discounting low scores in such areas. But at the same time, I think it only fair that the parents have this information in selecting a school. I, for one, would rather not send my child to a school that had consistently underperformed in math, or science, or communications, and without the published results of the standardized tests, getting that information would be almost impossible, and even if I dug it out, I would have to wrestle with a bureaucracy of educators who would want my child in the underperforming school so they wouldn't have to deal the the problem of the underperforming staff.

The under performance in the school that Danielle has been talking about fell in the area of under performance or more exactly not enough improvement in economically disadvantaged children. With the value added piece of the equation added in, the school is no longer an under performing school. There has been some recent changes to address a little bit of the fact that the playing field is unequal. The rules that have to be followed once a school has been labeled under performing lasts two years by federal regulation. It doesn't matter if the matter is corrected or not. You have to make improvements for two years and that means parents can move else where in the district in the eleventh hour until the school gets out of needing to improve.
Toni