Failing Alice Boucher Elemenatray 3 years after

[BHM]

Back in 2009, Alice Boucher Elementary went through some changes. After years and years of poor performance, the entire staff was asked to reapply for their jobs or move along.

May, 2009

The hiring of a new principal at Boucher comes as a result of a school board plan to reconstitute the administration and faculty at the struggling school. All educators at the school were informed recently that every position at Boucher, save for cafeteria and janitorial staff, was up for grabs. The plan also includes bonus/merit pay for teachers and administrators selected to work at Boucher. Several current teachers at the school reapplied for positions, but neither the principal nor the assistant principal re-upped.

Battle-tested principal drafted for struggling Boucher - The Independent Media Group

New Principal. Higher pay for better teachers including increased merit pay and bonuses. Smaller class sizes. Everything in the book was being thrown at this school.



They created and filled a new position... academic/behavior coordinator

Low-performing schools get help | News | The Advocate



Principal even kisses a live pig to celebrate the kids reading 10,000 books.


They opened a brand new medical clininc alongside of the school. The new Patterson Street location, located next to Alice Boucher Elementary School, now includes dental services as well as pediatrics, OB/GYN, KidMed and a School Linked Health Collaborative with Alice Boucher Elementary School.





So were are we three years later and what are we going to do now? Still an unacceptable schools and more money and services being poured into it.

Two Lafayette elementary schools and one high school are considered academically unacceptable. Preliminary calculations from the Louisiana Dept. of Education categorize JW Faulk, Alice Boucher Elementary and Northside High as unacceptable. "We've already begun to make changes at all three of these schools." says Dr. Pat Cooper, Superintendent. "New principals have been assigned to both elementary schools, and a health and wellness team is in place for the 2012-13 school year. An instructional strategist and data analyst have also been added to the school staff."



Three Lafayette Parish Schools Academically Unacceptable | KATC.com | Acadiana-Lafayette, Louisiana




So wjat do we do now. Our current methods do not seem to be helping or working. Is it time we shut these schools down and bus kids to other schools? That opition is available for some kids. Is the problem much deeper? Do we need to look at the neighborhoods and look for solutions there?

[lapalco]

Elemenatray


/thread

[BHM]

Now you know what school I went to.

[bclemms]

The easiest things to do....


1) Allow abortions to be paid for under medicare.
I know this is going to ruffle some feathers but you probably care about these kids grades more than the poor, unemployed, drug addicted parents of an unwanted child do.

2) Attach grade and attendance stipulations to welfare and medicare funding.
If you can't take care of your child then the government can't take care of you. I know this will also ruffle some feathers because people will think we can't punish these parents because the kids will ultimately be neglected but it isn't like they aren't already being neglected. Our government is not set up to raise millions of kids and we have to do whatever we can to get the parents involved.

3) If we are going to spend that kind of money spend it on young parenting classes, and children in the pre-k years.
It has been proven in many cases that this is where social spending on education makes the biggest impact for the least amount of money.

[guidomerkinsrules]

how much time you got?

i don't know how to fix this stuff but i am pretty sure there is no silver bullet (this coming from a teacher mind you)
but i have to imagine that trying to fix a school to improve education is like trying to fix a hospital to improve health

though well be able to spot outlier schools who show marked improvement in **** neighbborhoods, overall as long as kids are raised (reared) in hapless environments there's not going to be much we can do

2 things
- though i have absolutely no numbers to back this up i think busing would help only about 10-15% of kids - for numerous reasons
- the money that we keep dumping into this stuff would be better spent earlier - pre-school pre-k like harlem children's zone http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/opinion/08brooks.html

[Dragon]

Several things stand out in that story

3 years is incredible short time to change a culture. The oldest of those kids still have their roots in the system before the previous change.

What are the demographics like. Schools can only do so much if the parents and the surrounding works against them.

- If parents don't value education (or worse - don't want their kids " to be smarter than them")
- How is their home structure - do they have a quiet place/time to study. - Do they get breakfast before leaving for school (Studies show that low bloodsugar levels can make children lethargic during the early lessons)

- attendance. Schools can only teach kids that is actually at the school

Finally - by offering parents a choice to buss their kids to a higher performance school you remove the strongest kids from the schools- those whose parents care and have resources enough to get involved and request a transfer thereby bleeding the schools of precisely those resources that is needed to turn things around.

[SharonT]

Originally Posted by Dragon

Finally - by offering parents a choice to buss their kids to a higher performance school you remove the strongest kids from the schools- those whose parents care and have resources enough to get involved and request a transfer thereby bleeding the schools of precisely those resources that is needed to turn things around.

Yes. Fight or flight is a pretty basic concept. There are parents not involved who would step up to fight for a school if approached by parent leaders who care. School reform has to be a team effort between the district and the families it serves. If you have parents who were not successful in school, it is more difficult but not impossible to get them involved or even supportive of change. I personally do not like busing, because it breaks up neighborhoods and the distance makes getting to school functions more difficult.

[St.Fury]

Originally Posted by Dragon

Several things stand out in that story

3 years is incredible short time to change a culture. The oldest of those kids still have their roots in the system before the previous change.

What are the demographics like. Schools can only do so much if the parents and the surrounding works against them.

- If parents don't value education (or worse - don't want their kids " to be smarter than them")
- How is their home structure - do they have a quiet place/time to study. - Do they get breakfast before leaving for school (Studies show that low bloodsugar levels can make children lethargic during the early lessons)

- attendance. Schools can only teach kids that is actually at the school

Finally - by offering parents a choice to buss their kids to a higher performance school you remove the strongest kids from the schools- those whose parents care and have resources enough to get involved and request a transfer thereby bleeding the schools of precisely those resources that is needed to turn things around.

Very solid post! I personally believe that too many parents put the bulk, if not all, of the responsibility of their child's education on the shoulder of the teacher/school. Parents should take an active approach to their child's education. It starts with the simple things: make sure they are in attendance, do their homework, study, etc. But, it shouldn't stop there. Parents need to help their children understand the importance and value of an education. Children don't want to study and do homework when they get home from school. They want to go play! They don't understand that value unless someone shows them. The classroom is where you learn, but the home is where your learnings are reinforced.

[SharonT]

Originally Posted by St.Fury

. Parents need to help their children understand the importance and value of an education. Children don't want to study and do homework when they get home from school. They want to go play! They don't understand that value unless someone shows them. The classroom is where you learn, but the home is where your learnings are reinforced.

When you look at the numbers for drop-out rates, attending college, finishing college, etc, one of the most potent indicators of student success is not test scores, but the highest level of education reached by the parents, along with ongoing education for the parent. It's so simple and makes so much common sense. Watching a parent study for a night class is a powerful message to a child. It doesn't matter if it's a PhD or GED, the house gets quiet and concentration begins.

Instead of slashing the budgets of our community colleges, we should be expanding the course offerings and slashing tuition. People learn at different rates, and some who weren't ready for college at 18 will be ready at 25 or 30.

[deauxmfan]

Originally Posted by SharonT

When you look at the numbers for drop-out rates, attending college, finishing college, etc, one of the most potent indicators of student success is not test scores, but the highest level of education reached by the parents, along with ongoing education for the parent. It's so simple and makes so much common sense. Watching a parent study for a night class is a powerful message to a child. It doesn't matter if it's a PhD or GED, the house gets quiet and concentration begins.

Instead of slashing the budgets of our community colleges, we should be expanding the course offerings and slashing tuition. People learn at different rates, and some who weren't ready for college at 18 will be ready at 25 or 30.

This! Or even better, teach kids a trade while they're still in high school. Even if a kid isn't college material, as some aren't, they still could be trained in something that would lead to a career.

[Cosmic201]

Originally Posted by deauxmfan

This! Or even better, teach kids a trade while they're still in high school. Even if a kid isn't college material, as some aren't, they still could be trained in something that would lead to a career.

I would build and expand more trade education in high school if I had the power.

There are so many legitimate careers out there that only really need a couple of years of training to do. Many are in extreme need.

Think about LPN's for nursing and elderly care. EMT's, a dozen different types of medical techs, CNA's, etc etc.
Then you have all of the technology related fields.

[St.Fury]

Originally Posted by SharonT

When you look at the numbers for drop-out rates, attending college, finishing college, etc, one of the most potent indicators of student success is not test scores, but the highest level of education reached by the parents, along with ongoing education for the parent. It's so simple and makes so much common sense. Watching a parent study for a night class is a powerful message to a child. It doesn't matter if it's a PhD or GED, the house gets quiet and concentration begins.

Instead of slashing the budgets of our community colleges, we should be expanding the course offerings and slashing tuition. People learn at different rates, and some who weren't ready for college at 18 will be ready at 25 or 30.

Very good points! Which further supports my theory that the root of our education system issues begin in the home.

[guidomerkinsrules]

Originally Posted by Cosmic201

I would build and expand more trade education in high school if I had the power.

There are so many legitimate careers out there that only really need a couple of years of training to do. Many are in extreme need.

Think about LPN's for nursing and elderly care. EMT's, a dozen different types of medical techs, CNA's, etc etc.
Then you have all of the technology related fields.

i've said this before in other education threads - but my students and i came up with the idea to de-institutionalize education - instead of putting all studies under one roof, you teach classes at real world environments (math at a banks maybe, english/literature at a library, social studies at city hall/community outreach centers, science at hospitals, etc etc - plus gyms, museums, theatres, dance studios, et al)
you take education money and apply it as tax credits for any biz that wants to take this on and the tax break grows if the students improve and lose them if students fall back
general education would be set up as tutoring centers

[brockmeaux]

Originally Posted by Cosmic201

I would build and expand more trade education in high school if I had the power.

There are so many legitimate careers out there that only really need a couple of years of training to do. Many are in extreme need.

This exactly. I want all my kids to succeed, and I'm going to do my absolute best to teach them all as well as I possibly can. But at some point, we've got to face reality. Not everybody is made for a traditional 4-year university setting. Increasing opportunities at trade schools and giving students the opportunity for dual enrollment with their high school and trade school so that, when they graduate from high school, they're also graduating with (or at least a year into) a trade degree and are able to enter the workforce with career-ready skills would go a long way towards helping out the majority of high school students. I also understand that it's tough to ask a 16 year old what they want to do with the rest of their lives and starting junior year scale back traditional high school classes and move into a more 50/50 high school/trade school schedule. But it's better than keeping the status quo and pushing EVERYONE, whether they're willing, able, and interested or not, towards a traditional 4-year university. In an ideal world, everybody would be able to do that. And it's something we should keep working towards. But it's not feasible yet in the real world.

As far as improving elementary education, that's a lot tougher. Because those years are SO formative and dependent on repetition and developing good habits and work ethic, the teacher at home is every bit as important as the one in the classroom, probably more so. The easiest answer is beefing up our pre-K education. My godson, for example, is a couple months short of turning 1. We're a couple years away from traditional classroom education being important to him. But the daycare that he goes to acts as a school. They keep kids in the same age groups, and from 0-2 or 3, they work on developing mostly motor skills. As they turn 3 and 4, they put them in something resembling actual classrooms, where they teach them routines, classroom behavior, things like colors, counting, alphabet, basic math, etc., staffed by former certified teachers. They also give them the opportunity to do dance or tumbling or gymnastics as they get older. That way, when they're ready to start pre-K or kindergarten, they already know the basics. If every child went into kindergarten knowing basics, like how they're supposed to behave, how to count, how to do some reading, how to write, etc., it would do worlds of good. It would allow those first years of traditional school to become actual knowledge-based teaching opportunities instead of more behavior-based teaching. Of course, all this has to be reinforced at home, or it does no good. Some kind of parent accountability is a must. If there were a way to hold parents accountable for being part of their children's education, test scores would go through the roof, and it wouldn't take much. Even things as simple as asking "how was your day" and "what did you learn today," just things to get the child to think about the knowledge they received outside of the classroom, would do a lot to make that knowledge stick, not to mention show the student that their parents care about them and their education is important, so it probably should take it seriously. But I don't know what way there really is to do that, and if I did I'd be a very rich man and we'd be at the head of the worldwide class in education.

[BHM]

I have waited several years to see the results of all this extra money being spent. Not surprising, little has changed. Spending more money on education is typically a good thig but sad to say, there are situations where the money will just go to waste.

The environment around this school is horrible. I was offered a blow job in front the school by a street hooker and had to stop my car to wait for two grown adults fist fighting on the street in front of the school. Lots of low income welfare houses in that area.

Sad thing is that the kids will grow up to repeat the lifestyle. A great school and great teachers can not always over come a poor environment. As menthioned earlier, busing only takes a few kids out of that school and takes away resources.

Getting parents to understand and value education is what needs to be done. No easy task in some areas. You really can not teach a parent to care. I like the idea of taking kids out of the school and bring them to businesses. Perhaps this would also offer some of these kids a view of life outside their jungle.

Maybe we need to do a school share where groups of these kids are bussed to other schools for a couple of weeks at a time. This would allow these kids to experience other kids and other lifestyles. It might show them that there is a better life out there beyond what they see around their house.