by K.G. Beavers, Messenger Staff Writer
The Franklin County school board met in regular session on Sept. 16 to elect officers, hear a report on the new reading program and to discuss system goals.
Kevin Caroland was elected chairman; Cleijo Walker was elected vice chairman; and Betty Jo Drummond was elected as the Tennessee legislative network representative.
Elementary Supervisor Fineé Downing gave an hour-and-a-half presentation on the new reading program, followed by a question-and-answer session. The new reading program was implemented two weeks before the start of this school year in order to raise reading scores across the county.
In the Aug. 5 school board meeting, Rebecca Sharber, director of schools, presented the testing results. Because most schools in the county had declined in testing results, Sharber is implementing five new strategies to help reach annual measurable objectives. These included more focus on instruction, especially in math and reading. A new reading program has been implemented at the elementary schools that requires 105 minutes of uninterrupted reading in all classes. In August, Sharber described this new reading program as an effort to support the schools as professional learning communities, where teachers will plan, assess, talk and collaborate on what is working well and which students are not learning. There are also instructional coaches and more help with technology.
As a district, Franklin County’s reading scores ranked (on a scale of 1–5, with “5” as the best) a “1” in overall, “1” in literacy, “2” in numeracy, and “1” in literacy and numeracy on value-added effectiveness.
In Franklin County grades 3–8, the percentage of students meeting the goals for “proficient or advanced” decreased on all four TCAP tests. In reading, 47.6 percent were proficient or advanced, which is a decrease of 1.9 percent over last year. In math, 42.9 percent of students were proficient or advanced, a decrease of 1.7 percent over last year. In science, 61.8 percent of the students were proficient or advanced, down 1.6 percent over last year. In social studies, 85.6 percent were proficient or advanced, a decrease of 1.4 percent from last year.
The new reading program, created by Pearson Education, is called “Reading Street.” This program “supports achievement, is researched-based, scientifically proven and aligned with the Common Core,” said Downing.
“The program is designed to teach, improve and enrich reading/language arts, writing, science and social studies,” she said. “This is a program that needs to be implemented with fidelity.”
As part of this new program, elementary students in grades K–5 have reading class 105 minutes a day. The 105 minutes is broken down into sections, including 30 minutes where the teacher reads the script to the children, 45 minutes of center activities and another 30 minutes of teacher interaction. Lesson plans are available to the teachers, but the materials for the workstation learning centers are not.
“This program was rolled out rather hastily, and we won’t know until the end of the year whether we will see results or not,” said Chris McDonough, school board member. “I think a solution may have been to implement this program at the schools that are not doing well, not across the board, in order to get concrete evidence.”
“I do understand that something had to be done to raise achievement scores,” McDonough said, “but teachers have had a lot thrown at them in the last couple of years. There have been so many things changing in our education system, from evaluations to changes in tenure and salaries, and the way they are supposed to teach. They feel as if the rug has been pulled out from under them,” he said.
“I am worried about teacher morale at this point. This is something you need to be aware of. It is a chastisement to what they have always done,” said McDonough.
The question I have is how do we all get on the same page?” said McDonough.
Sharber noted that the county school system would have to figure out a way to make this work.
“Principals have been asked if they need help with instructional supplies money,” said Sharber. “The teachers do have support from instructional coaches.”
“There are those who don’t want the new program to work, and all I can ask is you do your best to help our children,” said Sharber.
“The first year of a program is the toughest year. We should really see an impact in three to five years. But we will see progress at the end of the year,” said Downing.
“The timing was not good to roll out another program,” said Chris Guess, school board member.
“Maybe we need more time. If we can’t meet a specific goal in two months, we need to make sure we are addressing those concerns,” said Caroland.
“This program is time-consuming and expensive when teachers have to make their own centers,” said Drummond. “I hope this does not affect their teacher value-added score at the end of the year.”
Guess asked if feedback was being given from administrators and teachers that could be used to enhance the program. Drummond noted, “nothing we are hearing could be used to enhance the program.”
A teacher in the audience said after the meeting, “I am a teacher with 40 years of experience, and I am being treated as if I were a first-year teacher. Most teachers don’t have a problem with the reading program or because they are afraid to work hard. The way the program is implemented is the problem. We are being treated as if we don’t know how to teach.”
System goals for 2013–14 include that all students will reach high standards, at a minimum of attaining proficiency or better in reading/language arts and math; and that all students will experience academic growth.
See <http://www.boarddocs.com/tn/franklin/Board.nsf/files/9BES5A6B9C1E/$file/Adoption%20%26%20Approval%20of%20System%20Goals.pdf> for more information on the system goals.
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