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BHS strives for improvement  Share
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed by President Bush on January 8, 2002, with overwhelming support by both the Senate and House. NCLB consists of four basic educational goals: accountability for results, more local control, reproducing proven teaching methods based on scientific research, and choices for parents. Accountability for results is the area that has America's schools apprehensive. However, a positive result of accountability is school improvement planning. Accountability is reported in the Illinois School Report Card. To see the report card, locate the link that is required to be on every school's website. Beecher's school report cards are found online at www.beecher.will.k12.il.us by clicking on the link, or a copy can be requested from the school office. Additionally, the interactive report card for all Illinois schools can be retrieved at http://iirc.niu.edu. Once the report card is in hand, anyone has access to loads of information about a particular school including racial/ethnic background, mean class size, average teacher credentials and salaries, funding sources and, most importantly, how students faired on state testing. Each April during their junior year of high school, students throughout Illinois are tested using the PSAE. Elementary and junior high children are tested through the ISAT, which is administered in March. Although several areas of education are appraised, reading and mathematics are the subjects in which schools must achieve a specified percentage of students passing. According to NCLB, this percentage increases by 7.5% each year until 2014, when each school's goal states that all of their students, i.e., 100%, must pass the state testing. On the final page of the school report card, the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is recorded. The current report card shows that Beecher Elementary (and all schools in the US) had a minimum target of 70% of students passing the ISAT. BES reports 88.6% exceeding requirements in reading and 93.4% in mathematics. Therefore, this school is meeting AYP and has not been identified for ''School Improvement.'' In other words, BES is doing an excellent job of teaching Beecher's children.
Linda Goedke, Beecher Elementary principal, and John Jennings, Beecher Junior High principal, should be congratulated for the success of their schools. The Junior High ranks at 93.7% in reading and 91.8% in math Ð over 90% of Beecher middle school students are meeting state standards. The challenge in Beecher arises in high school, where the school report card shows that 72.1% of students passed the reading portion of the test, but only 61.6% passed in mathematics. The reading scores, with an incredible 12.5% increase from 2008, allow BHS to remain above the state requirement. However, the math score of 61.6%, even with its 11 1/2% rise from 2008, falls below the Illinois minimum requirement of 70%. Now that BHS has failed to meet state standards in mathematics for the second consecutive year, it has been placed on Academic Early Warning Status by the state. In this stage, the state works with the school to approve a school improvement plan. Although the words ''academic early warning status'' sound very threatening, the community must understand that the requirements set by NCLB are increasing at such a rapid rate that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for schools that have fallen behind to catch up to state standards. With the 2009 percentage at 70%, even an extraordinary increase of more than 10% of students passing is not enough. Next year looks even bleaker with the required percentage rising to 77.5% of students meeting or exceeding the minimum level on testing. Many other area high schools are also in trouble. Bradley-Bourbonnais, Grant Park, Manteno, and Peotone High Schools are in Academic Early Warning Status. Other schools similar to Beecher have reached the next level, Academic Watch Status, which occurs when schools fail to make AYP for a total of four years. These schools include: Kankakee, Momence and St. Anne Community high schools. Results such as these require an intervention by the state. The intervention for Beecher High School is written in the School Improvement Plan (SIP), which was recently approved by state agencies. This plan was put together by the School Improvement Committee, consisting of Brian Wright, BHS principal, and other BHS staff members: Katie Bonnan in Foreign Language, Krista Grant in Mathematics, David McCord in Science, and Dawn Micele in Special Education. According to Wright, ''The process of writing the state school improvement plan uncovered significant gaps in what we do and how we do it, when compared to best practices of highly performing schools.'' This fall, BHS will begin recording significant local assessment data to be used in deciding how to improve instruction and learning. Although students will not see major instructional changes based on this SIP until the fall of 2010, BHS educators already are beginning to work on modifications during teacher institute days. First, staff must define the ''Power Standard'' for each course. This will be a statement which explains the goal of the class. For example, in chemistry, a power standard might read: By the end of this course, you will understand the basis of matter and the chemical interactions of our world. After the Power Standard is defined, teachers must determine how their daily lessons will meet state learning objectives. They will consider lecture, activities, labs, assignments, and even field trips to verify that all lessons lead the students toward an understanding of the course. Many subjects, such as history, health, and physical education, will apply the reading and writing learning objectives so that many classes focus on helping students become better readers and writers. The SIP requires not only aligning curriculum but also aligning assessments to the learning objectives. Assessments usually are tests but include any form of evaluating a student's progress. Aligning assessments will give a clear picture of whether students are reaching the course goals. According to Wright, the key is ''to teach aligned curriculum so that data can be collected and used to further increase student achievement.'' In the process, assessments and curriculum will be designed to be the same for multiple classes of the same course, even if the class is taught by different teachers. Students of those courses will be tested at determined points to formatively evaluate student learning. This form of local assessment data will give instructors the documentation that is needed to determine if growth is occurring as a course, class group, and individual. The review of assessments of individual students aids teachers in detecting those who need extra help. This leads to the change which students look forward to experiencing this fall: AOL, Additional Opportunities for Learning. By slicing five minutes from each class throughout the school day, then adding the 30 extra minutes to the end, AOL will provide students with the opportunity to be tutored in the classes in which they struggle. AOL is designed such that students are placed in a red, yellow, or green zone based on their grades each Wednesday afternoon. Green zone students are allowed to use the 30 minutes for homework or even the privilege of hanging out in the gym. The red zone will focus on the basic skills, i.e., math and English, which are missing in particular students. Red zone is an intensive three week program that will supplement the regular work in the classroom. Finally, the yellow zone, an area between the red and green zones, is short term tutoring for core subjects. If a student qualifies for a yellow zone, once the grade improves, he or she will transfer back to the green zone. With AOL, students will have the opportunity during the school day to ''make the grade'' and improve their skills. School Improvement Plans are meant to improve learning for the students of a school. Last year, Beecher High School's plan generated a new layout of the school day from block scheduling to the current traditional scheduling, which affords students the luxury of visiting every course, everyday. Wright claims that, ''The traditional schedule is making a difference in our students' academic progress. Teachers have commented to me that they are able to proceed at a faster rate due to students retaining information from one day to another as opposed to having a day ''off'' in between. Another teacher indicated that he was teaching material in November that was taught in February last year. That is significant.'' Although we may not see the results of traditional schedule in the school report card for a few years, testimonies from teachers are encouraging. And with each year, a new and enhanced school improvement plan takes Beecher High School to higher test scores and, more importantly, better educated students. Dawn Wolf is a reporter for Russell Publications.
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