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Comment by Shea Onofrey on October 20, 2009 at 10:33am

School board discusses creating literacy policy
By Diette Courrégé
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, October 20, 2009


Charleston County School Board members took another step Monday toward making literacy the district's top priority and creating a policy to back that up.

The school board doesn't have a policy outlining its expectations for students' reading ability but decided to create one after a series of newspaper articles revealed the severe reading problems facing local students. Nearly 20 percent of the county's ninth-graders read on a fourth-grade level or worse.
Special report

Failing our Children: An occasional series on literacy in Charleston County schools, from The Post and Courier

The board's policy committee has been toiling on a proposed literacy policy since June. The latest draft makes literacy the district's "highest imperative, ranking above every other educational goal" and requires students to be reading at or above a ninth-grade level. It mandates that the superintendent ensures that children are reading proficiently by the end of third grade, that intervention be given each year to students who aren't reading on grade level and that the district's budget be aligned with accomplishing these goals before any other.

The committee sent the proposed policy to the district's leadership for feedback, and district Chief Academic Officer Doug Gepford as well as Assessment and Accountability Executive Director Janet Rose came to the board committee meeting Tuesday to update board members on their progress. They've vetted the policy with teachers, principals and administrators, and everyone supports having this type of policy, Gepford said. They've also surveyed seven other in- and out-of-state school districts about their reading policies, and only one, Greenville County, had a policy specifically on reading.

The issue that's troubling district officials is how to define what reading on specific grade levels means, Gepford said. The district didn't look at students' grade-level reading abilities before prompted by the newspaper, although it did know how many students weren't reading on grade level, Rose said. There's not a consensus on what it means to read at each grade level, and Rose said she could use dozens of measures to correlate students' scores with grade-level reading ability.

Tests are designed to show the skills in which students are deficient, rather than define their specific grade-level reading, and that's more valuable for educators, she said. Rose didn't feel comfortable picking one test or metric that would define students' reading skills by grade level.

Board members gave officials feedback, reiterating their desire to put the district's literacy goals in writing. Board Vice Chairman Gregg Meyers acknowledged the difficulty in picking one system but said the board didn't need to articulate in policy what that system should be. The board does need to ensure that its policy underscores the importance of reading, he said, adding that he didn't want to lose sight of that being its primary objective.

"At some point, we have to know who's not reading well," he said. "We, the board, help the organization by saying that's where you really have to dig in."

Gepford told the committee that the board's directive on this issue has sharpened the administration's attention to it, and they wanted to give schools sound targets to accomplish. Gepford said he expects to return to the committee with recommended changes at its next meeting in November.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.

Comment by Shea Onofrey on September 27, 2009 at 7:20am

From Linda Ketner Blog 9.26.09


We Have 37.5% of the Worst
Posted in Economy, Education, State Politics by Administrator on the August 18th, 2009

There you have it …

We have 37.5% of the top 25 worst performing public schools in the United States.

What are we going to do about it? Please don’t send suggestions about how to avoid the public school system. Send suggestions about fixing it. Because until we fix it, we can’t - and won’t - compete economically in the 21st Century.
4 Responses to 'We Have 37.5% of the Worst'

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1.
Mike Reino said,

on August 19th, 2009 at 3:21 am

Not to be a smartass here, but I have a Math question. What number of 25 equals out to 37.5% ? Nine would be 36%, Ten would be 40%…. Nine of 24 is 37.5%… Just asking.
2.
Linda Ketner said,

on August 19th, 2009 at 8:43 pm

Be a smart “one” anytime you want, Mike! It’s the dumb ones we should worry about.

I came up with the percentage because they removed one of South Carolina’s schools from the list of worst because the No Child Left Behind raw data that was submitted originally from this school was incorrect. So, I divided by 24 instead of 25.

BUT, in going back to check when you asked, I find that we have 10, rather than 9, of the 25 (now 24) worst. Not feeling so good about that.

Plus … now I’m worried about the study itself … . I got the information from a link sent by an educator who should know, but when I try to find a reference on the site for the details of the study, I’m not finding anything.

I may be overlooking the reference, and I did skim the site because I’m late for an appointment, but I’m concerned.

Call me anytime on any of my stuff, Mike. And, the link is :
http://www.walletpop.com/mortgages/worst-performing-public-schools
Thanks much!
Linda
3.
Linda Ketner said,

on August 20th, 2009 at 5:07 pm

More Information About the “WalletPop.com” story from Bruce Moseley with the State Department of Education. Bruce says:

“The amazing thing about this list is that is DOES NOT contain any of the schools identified as Palmetto Priority Schools by the State Department of Education. (41 in all) That will be receiving “special attention” this year to improve AYP at their schools.

It all boils down to a lousy piece of legislation passed in Washington during the Bush years called NCLB. The expectations are unrealistic to say the least. For example, one part calls for all students, ESOL and even those receiving special education services to be tested ON GRADE LEVEL.

Bruce Moseley
Program Director
School Leadership Executive Institute
Office of School Leadership”
4.
Dentist Clearwater said,

on August 28th, 2009 at 2:45 am

That is certainly an alarming rate. It is 37.% after all. However i do not want to put all the blame on the educational system but also on the study habits of the students. Honestly speaking, there are too much distractions in the market right now that some students neglect their studies. My friend is tutoring a 9 y/o kid who still cannot spell or read properly because all he does at home is play with this computer games.