A familiar sound and a difficult story...

The familiar sound (to me) of the Cal-Train heard in this sad NPR Story caught my ear on the way to work today. I used to live near and regularly cross the rail road intersection at the center of this story about a high school suicide "cluster" in Palo Alto, CA. PA is an upscale suburban community adjacent to Stanford University, and home to one of the best high schools in the SF Bay area.

The story led me to other research on the issue. It seems that the local parents have it right: research indicates that reducing the opportunities for suicide appears to be the most effective approach to reducing rates. Although screening for and treating depression, anxiety and mental illness are important, in most cases it appears suicide is a relatively spontaneous act and can be reduced by eliminating access to ready means. Other research shows that the nature of media coverage and responses to one suicide have an important role in preventing similar actions.

Among the bad news is important information that could provide life-saving guidance to school district plans and responses.

spam be-gone

I've been receiving (and deleting) a lot of "comment spam" on my older posts. Comment spam are unrelated comments that list website url's in an attempt to improve search engine rankings. So I have turned on comment moderation for anything older than 30 days. You are still welcome to comment on older posts, you will just have to wait until I get around to approving the comment before it appears. It is rare for me to receive real comments on old posts, so I don't think it is a problem.

Again the rules for comments here:

1) Keep it civil.
2) Don't speak for anyone else or assign motivations to others.
3) No unsupported accusations.

#2 is the rule most frequently violated. I want to hear what you think, and I believe a free exchange of views in a public forum is important to our communities.

Next Wednesday which is this Tuesday...

There is no school on Wednesday, so this week's board meeting was moved from Wednesday to Tuesday (11/24) evening.

Items of note on the agenda:

IX. New Business
B. PMA Five-Year Budget Forecast Model Presentation (30 min)

-This is probably the most difficult situation we are facing. Most people don't know that for the last several years the PMA budget forecast shows a significant structural budget deficit that starts to increase by nearly a million dollars a year by 2011. The problem has been simple: state revenue caps and the funding formula limit the annual increase in revenue to less than 2%, while the QEO results in average annual increases in personnel costs (80% of the budget) of about 4.5%. The difference between revenue and expenses -more than 2%/year- will quickly start adding up.

Of course the QEO law was recently repealed, but I doubt that will result in reductions in costs that will bridge the gap, nor should it.

There isn't any good news in this, but the vast majority of school districts in the state are facing the same problem. We are fortunate that our facilities are in very good shape compared to other districts, with little defered maintenance or significant pending infrastructure requirements. Couple that with our energy reducing efforts and a healthy budget reserved and MGSD is probably in better shape to weather the coming years than the vast majority of Wisconsin districts.

C. Discussion of Revised Policy #425-Open Enrollment (and Rule #452-Open
Enrollment Procedure) (20 min)

- The concern here relates to establishing criteria for refusing OE students. State law requires us to take OE students provided that there is sufficient space, but how is "space" defined? Are we allowed to turn down students because we won't be able to accommodate them after a few years in the next school?

XI. Future Agenda Items and Meetings
A. December 22 - Report of 4K-8 Grade Configuration in Each Community Study

At the December meeting we will hear the report from the administration regarding the results of the -4k-8 study. This study is primarily focused on the costs required to implement 4k-8 in each community, rather than the environmental or education benefits.

B. Gifted and Talented Policy

- Jill List asked that we review this policy because of parent concerns. One of the general trends under NCLB (no child left behind law) is for districts to focus attention on the lower performing students, often shifting resources from higher performing students. I believe one of the biggest problem with NCLB is that it sets a single status goal, rather than growth or averages. To meet AYP requirements districts need to just get an increasing number of students over a fixed bar, there is no incentive to expend energy on those students who are comfortably over it or who are too far below to have a reasonable chance of making it. I also think that we have an obligation to challenge every student to their fullest potential, regardless of their level of proficiency.

The future lies ahead...

I've long argued that the information revolution is going to fundamentally change education in this country, the way that it has already transformed nearly every information based segment of the economy. For example there is the potential for every teacher in the country to have simultaneous access to the best available content on any topic.

The Wisconsin Academy is sponsoring a lecture tonight on the topic "Digital Media and the Future of Schooling: A Look at the 2050 Classroom" at 7:00pm tonight. Predicting the future 40 years out is always a risky undertaking, but an examination of the potential currently available technology has as a agent change in the classroom is certainly a worthwhile effort.

What do you think...

Context: In order to have a balanced budget we anticipate facing a shortfall of about $1 million in the next fiscal year, or roughly 3% of our current operating budget. This reduction falls on top of significant cuts over the last couple of years - a fact that means we have already cut all or most of the "low hanging fruit", and I don't believe we can make a 3% cut without noticeably reducing services. It is an unfortunate circumstance, however I think it can be done while continuing to make strides toward improved academic achievement.

I have my own ideas for dealing with the issue, but I would like to hear thoughts and ideas from the community: Comment away!

The Little Match Girl...

Playtime Productions Fall Season is in Full swing. This season's performance features 25 kids, many of them MG students, in a beautiful musical adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's "Little Match Girl".

I've been involved with the Playtime shows for the last couple of years, and I'm always impressed by the talent on display and the results of the hard work and dedication shown by these kids- and you will be too. So don't miss your chance to enjoy the show and support this worthwhile organization - I've posted some of the most convenient dates below, you can find the full schedule here.

And don't worry, this production is appropriate (and entertaining) for even the youngest kids despite the serious subject matter.

Overture Center for the Arts Playhouse
Friday, November 20 at 7:00

Monona Grove High School
Friday, December 4 at 7:00
PTP Gala Benefit Cookie Walk starts at 6:00

Barrymore Theatre
Sunday, December 6 at 6:00

Tomorrow is Veteran's day

so no mail delivery.

Oh yeah, there's a school board meeting too...

Items you might find interesting on the Agenda all revolve around curriculum related issues at the high school:

New Business
B. Discussion and Possible Approval of the High School English Instructional Materials. (Bill Breisch, Janet Blimling and Paul Brost).
- Staff will present a request for approximatly $30,000 for new English Instructional Materials related to curriculum alignement.

C. Discussion and Possible Approval of the Project Lead the Way Principles of Engineering (POE) Course as a Science Elective Beginning the 2010-11 School Year.
(Jake Mihm & Jeff Otto) (20 min.)

D. Board Rule 343.2 – Class Size – Discussion
- Changes to the class size guidelines with increased ranges in the high school will be considered. Increasing class size is probably the easiest way to reduce costs in the district, given the current budget outlook revised guidlines may be necessary to provide the flexibility needed to get through the next year.

More ACT

A new book, Crossing the Finish Line has studied the relationship between standardized test scores and college graduation rates. Among the conclusions:

•Taken separately, high school GPA is a better predictor of college graduation rates than SAT/ACT score. This findings holds true across institution type, and gets stronger the less selective an institution is. High school GPA is three to five times more important in predicting college graduation than SAT/ ACT score.
•SAT and ACT scores are proxies for high school quality. When the authors factored in which high schools students attended (i.e. high school quality), the predictive power of high school GPA went up, and the predictive power of SAT/ ACT scores fell below zero.

This is a subtle statistical point: unnormalized, ACT scores have predictive power, high scores mean higher college success. However when GPA's are normalized by the schools average ACT score that predictive power disappears. That is pretty strong signal that standardized test scores are an independent measure of "High School Quality", while GPA is a measure of the student's individual performance.

I have been a bit concerned about alingment to the ACT's "College Readiness Standards", but this large study really justifies that move.

Obama visits Madison today...

President Obama and Sec. of Education Arne Duncan will be in Madison today to speak at Wright Middle School on education reform in the US. For the first time, the Secretary of Education has significant discretionary funds ($4.35 billion) for spending on education reforms. The Department of Education will be accepting proposals for projects aimed at four reform areas:

-- To reverse the pervasive dumbing-down of academic standards and assessments by states, Race to the Top winners need to work toward adopting common, internationally bench marked K-12 standards that prepare students for success in college and careers.

-- To close the data gap -- which now handcuffs districts from tracking growth in student learning and improving classroom instruction -- states will need to monitor advances in student achievement and identify effective instructional practices.

-- To boost the quality of teachers and principals, especially in high-poverty schools and hard-to-staff subjects, states and districts should be able to identify effective teachers and principals -- and have strategies for rewarding and retaining more top-notch teachers and improving or replacing ones who aren't up to the job.

-- Finally, to turn around the lowest-performing schools, states and districts must be ready to institute far-reaching reforms, from replacing staff and leadership to changing the school culture

There is one issue standing in the way for Wisconsin: a state law that prevents standardized test results from being used to evaluate teachers, which makes WI ineligible for "Race to the Top" funds. A bill in the legislature aims to repeal that law.

I oppose using the current WI mandated state wide test, the WKCE, for evaluating teachers. As I have discussed before that test is too flawed and unwieldy for such a purpose. I could support such a move in the future, provided we have the right assessments that are well designed for the purpose. A good assessment would be focused on measures of individual growth, be well aligned with the curriculum, have specific articulated measures that provides guidance to the teaching staff, be aligned with the school year and provide specific and prompt feedback to allow direct responses. In addition if used to evaluate teachers, assessments need to be carefully designed and normalized to provide a full measure of fairness.

Indeed I think the primary goal of these assessments should be to evaluate the quality of the teaching in a district, not the students. If the teaching is good, the students will progress.