Teacher World

I recently blogged regarding the announcement that half of the nation’s public schools failed to meet No Child Left Behind progress goals, which has added incentive for U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and others to give waivers to states allowing them to change the standards for “adequate yearly progress” in schools. One such state which plans to apply for a waiver happens to be my own home state of Ohio.

Ohio public schools did better than the nation, with 60 percent meeting federal goals during the last school year, but half of its districts failed to meet these goals.

Under current NCLB policy, all public school students are to be proficient in math and reading by 2014. To guarantee that this occurs, the federal government required states to set “adequate yearly progress” goals. Each year or every few years, these goals must be raised. Due to this practice, most states now require approximately 90 percent or more of their students to pass the state tests.

Since Ohio and Kentucky recently adopted demanding math and reading curricula and are also developing new, college-preparatory tests for students, Duncan has argued that this high bar penalizes states like these.

How bad is the problem in Ohio? Well, in the Cincinnati area, 45 percent of its public schools failed federal annual academic progress goals. The largest district, Cincinnati Public, had 67 percent of its schools fail, and the second largest, Lakota, had 9 out of 20 of its schools fail. Winton Woods had all six schools fail.

So what is the common problem within these schools? Steve Denny, the executive director of accountability for Winton Woods, says it is the schools’ diversity; he says that the more diverse the school is, the harder it is to meet federal requirements. Which makes a lot of sense.

Here’s how it works: for a school to meet federal standards, each demographic student group, or subgroup, must pass the tests. Subgroups are based on several factors including ethnicity, poverty, disability, and limited-English-speaking level of students. Schools that don’t have many of these students have few federal progress goals to meet. But, according to Denny, it only takes a few students in a subgroup to fail for the school and district to fail as well.

Janet Walsh, the district spokesperson for Cincinnati Public, explained that in the 39 schools in the district which failed to meet federal goals, learning disabilities were a factor. She went on to explain that about 5 percent of the students in the district are unable to take the regular state tests due to severe disabilities. Yet, Ohio only allows these schools to give alternative tests to one percent of its students. This means that the other four percent fail the tests.

Jeanine Molock, director of accountability at the Ohio Department of Education said, “Ohio is in a better position than most states. Our story wasn’t as dramatic as most states were reporting.” She explained that part of the reason for this is the fact that Ohio allows its schools to meet federal standards four different ways, which exceeds the chances which other states have.

First, there is the traditional way: if the required numbers of students pass their state tests, as in other states, Ohio schools can meet federal goals. However, if an Ohio school fails that, it can still pass if one of the following goals is met:

• its two-year average for passing grades meets the federal standard,
• or enough students are on a trajectory to pass tests within two years,
• or the percent of students failing declines by 10 percent from the prior year.

But, Molock said that, in spite of this flexibility, Ohio will seek a waiver from federal progress restrictions by February. Those of us who are Ohio teachers will be watching to see if our state gets a waiver, and if so, what exactly that waiver means for our schools.

low-performing schools, No Child Left Behind, state achievement tests, Teacher-World's Blog Arne Duncan, No Child Left Behind, Ohio, state achievement tests, state waivers

If you follow my blogs at all, you know that I am an advocate for strong anti-bullying policies. What just happened in my very own state on October 17 is a perfect example of just how rampant and violent bullying has become, and makes me more determined than ever to continue to be annoyingly vocal, if necessary, about bullying of any kind. Why am I so outraged as I write this blog? Well, let me lay out the facts of the matter because I believe they speak for themselves.

At Union-Scioto High School in Chillicothe, Ohio, a city about 50 miles south of Columbus, an innocent, young, gay man was attacked when he entered his classroom by another student who was clearly waiting for him to arrive. The horrendous event, which was captured on a cell phone video and later posted to Facebook, shows a boy waiting until his unnamed victim enters the room, at which point the violent attack begins.

Rebecca Collins, the boy’s mother, told ABC’s affiliate WSYX in Ohio exactly what happened. “The boy stood there and waited and waited on him. As soon as he walked in the door, the boy hits. [My son] walks away — ‘What did I do? Why are they doing this?’ and keeps walking away. He turns around and tries to defend himself and then he tries to get away and the boy grabs him and beats the living crap out of him.”

Her son told them, “I covered myself and shielded my body, and he kept hitting. Nobody did anything.”

Am I alone when I say that the victim’s words chill me to the bone? First, who would be so hate-filled that they would attack someone so publicly simply for being gay? One can only assume that this student deliberately chose to attack this boy in school to have an audience; to make him feel more of a man, and to make sure it was documented through a cell phone for the world to see.

And how could a room full of students, who you can see milling around in the video, do nothing to stop the beating of a fellow student? That frightens me even more than the beating itself. No one felt compelled to stand up for another human being who was being beaten, not for anything he has done but for what he is? No one in that classroom felt indignant, horrified, something that even remotely resembles compassion for a victim?

And, finally, what kind of person would calmly video-tape the whole attack for the express purpose of posting it later to Facebook in order to further humiliate this young man? There is a sickness in our nation; a perverse preoccupation within our young people to beat someone up and capture it on video to share online, as though it is something to be proud of. Whoever took this cell phone video is culpable as well.

Collins reported that two of her son’s teeth were broken due to this malicious attack, and he may also have suffered from a concussion. “It turns my stomach,” she said, “It’s my son. I don’t care, and they did it just because he’s a homosexual.”

So, what happened to these students? Well, the boy who attacked Collins’ son served a three-day suspension, and there was no mention of any other disciplinary action for the video-taper or the bystanders who did nothing to help this boy. Really?

James Osborne, the principal at the high school, said, “We have never had an incident of this nature. I am not saying we have never had any reports of bullying– we have just as much as any school. But we’ve never had anything of this magnitude.” He also admitted that although the school has an anti-bullying policy in place, it does not have a gay-straight alliance.

I am curious how a school with an anti-bullying policy in place would not be much tougher on both the attacker and those who, by their apparent compliance since they did nothing to intervene, seem to bear guilt as well. The message that this principal sent was extremely wimpy, as far as I am concerned. Will it stop future attacks of this nature? I think not.

In my opinion, Osborne let his students down when he didn’t take this situation more seriously and use it to make some necessary changes to their current anti-bullying policy. First, treat this situation as a criminal act, which it was, and be tougher on the disciplinary consequences. Second, start dealing with the obvious issues in that school in regards to LGBT students. Get some dialogue going, get a gay-straight alliance in place so that students like this victim have a group that supports them, and get counselors and staff members to work with these students to discuss tolerance (and that means tolerance of all students who might be different in some way) and send the clear message that this behavior will not be tolerated in the future. Teach your students how to deal with bullies as an observer. Encourage and reward students who join together to stop bullying when they see it taking place.

There was fertile ground here; an opportunity to take a terrible situation and use it as a wake-up call for change. Instead, there was a slap on the wrist and an apparent indifference towards those who just watched the mayhem occur.

And apparently Union-Scioto High School is not alone in its attitude towards LGBT students. GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network reports that one in four LGBT students have experienced some kind of assault in Ohio each year. Data from its 2009 National Climate Survey showed that these students were “punched, kicked or injured with a weapon” at least once in that year because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, almost 61% of LGBT students in Ohio experienced some form of harassment or reported being threatened by other students through emails, text messaging, or through postings on social networking sites.

Collins’ son can attest to that. He told reporters that he has been bullied regularly and that a recent comment: “Check out the definition of a faggot” appeared on a posting with his picture on Facebook.

Well, just like me, Rebecca Collins is outraged by the manner in which this attack against her son was handled, and she has decided to seek some real justice. She has filed criminal charges against her son’s bully, claiming that what he did was a hate crime. No arrests have been made at this time, but the Ross County Sheriff’s office is now investigating the attack.

Rebecca summarized the situation quite well when she said, “Just for all the people out there who have hate in their heart — they need to let it go. People are going to be who they are.”

And she is right, but until society gets that, they will need to be taught. And schools, just like Union-Scioto High School in Chillicothe, need to take the necessary steps to ensure that students like Rebecca’s son can safely attend their schools without fear of harassment or physical attack.

Bullying, LGBT youths Chillicothe, GLSEN, LGBT bullying, Ohio, Rebecca Collins, Union-Scioto High School

An interesting new chant at a Catholic football match in Cincinnati, Ohio, got more than just the fans fired up. Here’s what happened.

On Friday night, two teams which ranked among the top 30 in the Rivals High 100 standings of the country’s best teams, #8 ranked Cincinnati Colerain and #26 ranked Cincinnati St. Xavier, met in a very close game which ended in a 17-14 victory for St. Xavier after Colerain missed a game-tying field goal just as the time clock ran down.

But it wasn’t the loss that had Colerain football coach Tom Bolden fired up. It was the chanting he could hear from the St. Xavier student section that had him yelling foul. Apparently, at the end of the game, St. Xavier’s student section began to chant, “We’ve got Jesus!” And, that’s why Coach Bolden told the Cincinnati Enquirer, “That’s where I’ve got to draw the line. [The St. X student section] ought to be embarrassed.”

Bolden was reportedly so enraged by the chant that he stormed out of his team’s huddle after the game yelling at the students who were seated in this section.

Since the football game, St. Xavier fans have gotten vocal as well, pointing out that Bolden’s team has engaged in their share of abuse towards the Bombers. According to several St. Xavier students who wrote into the newspaper, it was the Colerain student body which sparked the chant wars with their version of “We’ve got girls!” which was meant to attack their all-male, Jesuit student body.

One disgruntled St. Xavier student wrote in to explain that, due to the restrictions placed upon the Bombers fans by the school’s administration, they have a limited amount of non-religious options that they are permitted to use for cheers. In fact, many cheers have been banned because the administration feels they are offensive for a Catholic school to be chanting.

One St. Xavier fan followed up by saying: “The sad reality of this situation is that our entire faculty has absolutely handcuffed us in terms of what we are and aren’t allowed to chant because they are so worried about our public relations, and the chants that our student section chant are nothing compared to what the teams we play are able to stay us.” (I think he meant “say to us.”) “How about you report on the constant anti-gay chants we have to deal with week in and week out?”

It isn’t the first time that people have been offended by what fans have chanted at a football game, and it won’t be the last. Unfortunately, when you mix football cheers with religion, the result is just problematic. Too bad the administration at St. Xavier didn’t think to ban, “We’ve got Jesus!” from the repertoire of inappropriate cheers.

On the other hand, Coach Bolden’s reaction may be a little over the top! It’s a rivalry and rivalries can get a little insulting. Let it go, Coach. It’s Christian to forgive, especially kids who are excited over a football victory!

Teacher-World's Blog Cincinnati, Colerain football team, Ohio, St. Xavier football team

A Canton kindergartner is the latest statistic regarding young children bringing a loaded gun to school. This time it was a loaded 9mm Ruger semi-automatic which was brought to Gibbs Elementary School last Wednesday by a 6-year old boy.

Apparently, he brought the gun, still in its locked case. But the bad news is that he also brought the key to the case and was able to unlock and open it. He was looking at it when, thankfully, a cafeteria worker and teacher happened to walk by and see what the boy had. They closed it up immediately and took it to their administrator.

Now, here is where it gets even stranger, when the boy was questioned about the gun, he told a teacher that his dad shot and killed somebody and buried the body in their backyard! A little weird, right? Especially when police discovered that this story was completely bogus.

When police arrived at the boy’s home on St. Elmo NE, they quickly determined that, not only had there been no shooting and no shooting victim, but the boy’s father lives out of state.

But that is not where this story ends, because the police discovered that the home in which this little boy is living with his three siblings was disgustingly dirty. Animal feces were everywhere, and photos taken by the police showed a home in which children were forced to eat, sleep, and live in filth and garbage. Additionally, Sandra Holderness, the “mom” admitted that she had left the gun out and unattended when she was sleeping.

Holderness has been arrested and charged with child endangering for failing to keep a loaded gun out of the reach of her child. If she is convicted, she could face 6 months to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Meanwhile, the 6-year old boy and his three siblings are in protective custody.

Parents at Gibbs Elementary School are rightfully upset. Even though Ken Kendall, the school’s safety director explained that this was an isolated incident and that the gun wasn’t even taken out of the case, parents are legitimately afraid.

And I can’t blame them! It seems that guns showing up in the hands of young people who have no idea how dangerous they are, is becoming a more alarmingly common occurrence these days. Just look back at how many blogs I have written about these events recently if you need proof.

So I totally understand when Brandi Burnsworth said, “I was upset that nobody let me know that my daughter was actually exposed to a loaded gun at school.” 

And Judy Henderson was clearly speaking for parents everywhere when she said, “The gun could have accidentally went off and killed any of the students.”

Kendall stated, “We’re safe here. I want the parents to know their children are safe. There was nothing to be fearful of here.”

But, let’s face it! That’s a bunch of bunk, because they were simply lucky. At any time, that boy could have pulled that loaded weapon out of its case and decided to “play” with it. Kids that age just don’t get it! They have no idea of the tragedy a loaded gun can cause. To them, it is a toy that looks fun like the countless movies they have seen.

So, let’s get real! Gibbs Elementary School quite literally dodged a bullet, as have so many elementary schools of late. It makes you wonder if we need metal detectors in all schools because we have too many parents out there who are no longer parents and certainly are not doing their jobs.

Holderness deserves to be locked up for a very long time, sending a message to other unfit parents to get their act together or suffer the same fate.

Ashley Motley, another Gibbs Elementary parent said, “Anyone is at risk when you have a child with a weapon. They don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know the extent of the injury they can cause on someone.”

This is a frightening trend, and it must be looked into seriously by school systems everywhere.

School violence, Teacher-World's Blog Canton, child endangerment, loaded gun, Ohio

I want to tell you a story about hope, a story about relationships, and a story about failure replaced by success. It’s also the story of ABC’s Person of the Week for last week, Anthony Smith, and why he achieved this honor. Because I am so captured by this story and there is so much to tell, this will be a two-part blog.

Let me start out by setting the scene. Ten years ago, Taft Informational Technology High School located in Cincinnati, Ohio, was considered to be the worst slum school in the whole city; teachers didn’t want to teach there, parents didn’t want their children to go there, and the failure rate was high. It was “dilapidated, crime-ridden, and filled with failing and forgotten students.” One of the comments that best summarizes the condition of this school was, “It was so dysfunctional that each clock told a different time-all of which were wrong.”

But something happened nine years ago which changed everything at Taft; they got a new principal named Anthony Smith, and they would soon discover that this was not your average principal. Smith’s motto was, “Failure is not an option.” And he has lived out that motto at his school.

When he first arrived, he had the option of firing all of the teachers at Taft since it was considered a failing school, but he kept them all. He admits that he thought at first that the teachers didn’t know what they were doing, but he learned pretty quickly that he was wrong. Smith said, “They knew what they were doing, they were working hard, just working hard in the wrong direction.”

What’s so different about Anthony Smith and this school that has basically been reinvented? It’s very simple; the principal and every teacher in the school have learned the importance of developing personal relationships with the students they work with.

Now before you think that is no big deal, let me explain how that plays out. First, Smith walks through the halls and into each classroom of his school every day taking the time to talk to students along the way. He makes it his business to connect with each student, calling them all by name, and letting them know that he is aware of their successes and struggles. He encourages them, he jokes with them, but the bottom line is, he lets them know he is interested, he cares, and he has high expectations for each one of them.

He wants to know if they are happy, who needs help, and what they think about their teachers. He tells them that they must pass; failure is not an option, and he even tutors students who are struggling after school. He knows each student and what their situation is which makes a huge impact on the students of Taft.

And he has placed that same expectation on his teachers whom he teams up with to monitor the progress or struggles of each student. Together, they meet daily to identify students who are falling behind and make plans to catch them up.

Smith stated, in the ABC interview, that sometimes he has students who just give up and stop coming to school. He explained that he gives them a couple of days, but then he goes to their house, knocks on their door, and makes it clear that he will not let them give up. How many principals do you know who would do that?

The bottom line in any story about turning around a failing school is always: Did it make a measurable difference? Well, I’ll give you more details in tomorrow’s blog, but here’s a little nibble: Ten years ago, the graduation rate at Taft was 12-18%. The current graduation rate is 95%! Yeah, I’d say it’s working!

So, how do the teachers feel about this new attitude and their success? Kelly Rozell said that she chose to come to Taft because she figured, “They were so far in the dumps and at the bottom, there was nowhere else to go but up. Nowhere else to go!”  She went on to say that change has come because students know that their teachers really care. “And kids know whether or not you are genuine or if you really, really care about them.” She felt that this is what is making Taft a success; a principal and teachers who genuinely care.

When asked why he thinks it’s not happening in schools everywhere, Smith said, “People forget the major R. There’s an R-factor called relationships. You have to look at these children like they’re the most important part of your life, and if you do that, you’ll be able to replicate it. Because I can teach you how to be a great teacher, but I can’t teach you how to care.”

Think about it. The teachers who had the biggest impact on your life were the ones who made you feel that you mattered to them. And because they did, you worked extra hard in their classrooms in order to please them.

Now imagine going to a school where your principal made a special effort to talk to you daily, who knew what was happening in your life in and out of school, and was willing to work with you after school or show up at your house if need be. What if all of your teachers genuinely cared about you? Wouldn’t you work harder and be more successful? Happy, well-adjusted students are more cooperative and diligent.

Could the answer to turning around our schools be as simple as this? Well, there’s a second piece of the puzzle that I will share with you tomorrow, as well as significant and irrefutable proof that this approach is working. So, stay tuned…

Changes in Teaching, Educational Reform, low-performing schools, Teacher-World's Blog Cincinnati, failing schools, Ohio, Principal Anthony Smith, Taft Informational Technology High School, turnaround school