Mark Emery honored for after school programs in Fairfax County middle schools

Mark Emery, administrator of after-school programs for middle schools in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), was honored for his work with a 2011 Afterschool State Champion Award by the Afterschool Alliance.  Emery, who received the award May 17,  oversees the development and implementation of after-school activities in 26 FCPS middle schools.   Emery was nominated by the Virginia Partnership for Out-of-School Time.  He retired from his position as a research physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., after 25 years and currently shares his interest in science, technology, engineering, and math with FCPS students through the middle school after-school programs. He also serves as a board member of the Fairfax Partnership for Youth and the Fairfax County Boys and Girls Club, and is a former chairman of the Fairfax County School Board.

FCPS middle school after-school programs are offered five days per week at all middle schools at no cost to parents. Programs offer academic support and enrichment; social skill and youth development; physical, health, and recreational activity; and family and community involvement. The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization that works to ensure that all youth have access to quality after-school programs.

Alexandria City Public Schools to Open After Labor Day for 2011-12 School Year

Alexandria Public Schools (ACPS) students will begin the 2011-12 school year on Sept. 6 (except modified calendar schools Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School and Mount Vernon Community School). On Thursday, May 12, The Alexandria City School Board approved the proposed 2011-12 traditional academic calendar. The School Board voted unanimously to withdraw the Early Start Waiver request, submitted to the Virginia Board of Education in March, which would have allowed ACPS to begin the school year prior to Labor Day. The vote on the modified calendar for Tucker and Mount Vernon was postponed until May 26 pending further clarification from ACPS administration.

“While we firmly believe that an earlier start to the school year and an extended school calendar is what our students need and deserve to excel academically, it did not seem likely that this would get state approval this year,” School Board Chairman Yvonne Folkerts said. “Our students and parents deserve not to have to wait any longer for a decision while discussions continue; therefore the request will be withdrawn.”

Both the approved traditional academic calendar and proposed modified calendar can be viewed on the ACPS website at http://www.acps.k12.va.us/calendars/.

School Board candidate selection process needs improvement

I posted a comment on the Vienna Patch article about the endorsement of the at-large school board candidates by the Fairfax County Democratic Committee:

It’s time to go back to the drawing board in figuring out how to select school board candidates in Fairfax County. People keep carrying on about how important “elections” are in selecting school board candidates, but this story shows that the inner machinations of the local political parties are the determining factors here. I don’t think anyone can seriously argue that a difference of seven votes or 12 votes in a political party committee meeting has any real significance in determining the better candidates.  Greg Brandon and Maria Allen have both made many thoughtful and helpful suggestions for the future of Fairfax County Public Schools.

Source:  http://vienna.patch.com/articles/democrats-endorse-two-school-board-candidates-without-majority#photo-6236183

Diane Ravitch warns against dropping the arts and shrinking the time for history, geography, civics, science, and foreign languages

“To save their necks, teachers will teach to bad tests, school districts will drop the arts, and shrink the time available for subjects like history, geography, civics, science, and foreign languages to make time for more testing,”  Diane Ravitch said. “And there will be more cheating scandals as test scores determine the lives and careers of teachers and principals, and the survival of their schools.”

Bill Gates: Selling Bad Advice to the Public Schools.

Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time Schools Show Higher Test Scores

Schools in Massachusetts with four years of expanded learning time are demonstrating impressive increases in their proficiency rates across all grades and all tested subjects, including over 8 point gains in English Language Arts and nearly 20 point gains in math., according to the National Center on Time & Learning’s state affiliate, Massachusetts 2020, which released  the 2010-2011 update on the Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Initiative on February 28, 2011.

“Additionally, a far higher proportion of ELT Title I schools are “high growth” compared to all Massachusetts Title I schools, demonstrating the impact expanded time can have on student achievement in high poverty schools,” according to a summary posted at  http://www.mass2020.org/node/229. The summary also provides the following information:

“Student achievement results are only one measure of success, however. Massachusetts ELT schools are providing their students with a robust, balanced schedule of activities, often with the help of community partners, allocating an average of seven hours of instruction each week in art, music and physical education – twice the national average.

“Teachers are also reporting benefits from the expanded schedules. In a 2008 survey of all teachers in the state, teachers ranked time as the most important condition to promote student learning, and over 60 percent reported that they did not have enough time to complete the curriculum. In a 2010 survey of ELT schools, teachers said they are satisfied with the amount of time they have for instruction in math, ELA, science and social studies as well as for collaboration with their colleagues and professional development, thanks to their expanded schedule.”

Fairfax County Council of PTAs exaggerates time in school.

Seven hours is not the amount of time that students are in school each day in Fairfax County. Pam Konde, education chair, Fairfax County Council of PTAs, told the school board May 17, “Our children are in your hands 7 hours each day, every day—every year for 13 years.”

This is false. From Tuesday through Friday, most elementary school students are in school six hours and 35 minutes per day; others are in school for six hours and 40 minutes. On Mondays, these students are in school either four hours and 30 minutes or four hours and 10 minutes.

Pine Spring, Westlawn, and Riverside are the only elementary schools which currently let the students stay in school for a full day on Mondays. The students in these three schools have a total of 32 hours and 55 minutes per week in school.

All the other elementary schools allow the students to stay in school for only 30 hours and 50 minutes per week. This is the equivalent of six hours and 10 minutes per day—clearly an inadequate amount of time. Fairfax County must fix this problem and end the policy of dismissing elementary school students early each week.

Four early dismissal days per year is a reasonable number. Dismissing students early every week, or sometimes twice in one week, is unreasonable and excessive. Reform is needed in Fairfax County!

Early dismissal days announced for the 2011-2012 school year in Baldwin County, Alabama

Early dismissal days in Baldwin County Public Schools, Alabama, were announced recently. October 7, November 10, January 27, and March 9 schools will be dismissed at noon. Times may vary in feeder patterns due to bus routes.

This information was posted on the website of  Fairhope Intermediate School: http://www.fairhopeintermediate.com/?PageName=LatestNews&Section=LatestNews&ItemID=144424&ISrc=School&Itype=News

Superintendent Alan T. Lee wrote a letter to Dr. Joseph Morton, State Superintendent of Education March 7, 2011. “The Baldwin County Public School System (BCPSS) would like to include early dismissal days in the calendar for the following purposes:

• Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) High Schools That Work/Making Middle Grades Work professional development; and
• Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) professional development.

He also said, “Given the possibility of losing professional development days from the school calendar due to funding shortfalls, the requested early release days will help ensure skillful implementation of SREB and PBIS. If approved, the early release days (3 hours each day) will be October 7, 2011, November 10, 211, January 27, 2012, and March 9, 2012. Principals will be required to submit their agendas prior to each professional development day based on identified objectives.”

Later high school start times pushed by Phyllis Payne of SLEEP

Although Phyllis Payne was not able to get to the public hearing Tuesday  night, she prepared the following written testimony for the Fairfax County school board:

“The health of our children is one of the most important factors in maintaining and raising student achievement.”[1](Dr. Dale, Superintendent)

Good evening.  My name is Phyllis Payne; I’m here to speak on behalf of 9,100 members of SLEEP and 175,000 students in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

I believe you can provide a healthy school environment and save money, too.  Studies continue to show a connection between healthy high school start times and positive outcomes for students, including some benefits that could decrease costs for the school system and other benefits that would decrease costs for families and the community.

A study just published shows that delaying school starting time by one hour could enhance students’ cognitive performance by improving their attention level and increasing their rate of performance, as well as reducing their mistakes and impulsivity.  The study confirms previous findings that teens with later morning start times do sleep longer each night. Read the rest of this entry »

Elizabeth Schultz sends budget comments

School board candidate Elizabeth Schultz, who is seeking to represent the Springfield District in the November election, sent an email to the school board Wednesday supporting increased teacher pay, full-day kindergarten, increased use of the construction reserve, and an independent audit function for the school system. Here is the text of her email:

Due to commitments elsewhere in the county last evening, I was unable to provide personal testimony with respect to the pending FY2012 budget deliberations facing the School Board.

As an active parent, community member and Fairfax Education Coalition Executive Board Member, I have urged this School Board on a number of issues to pursue accountability, transparency and community engagement in the Fairfax County Public Schools’ decision-making process.

It is laudable that, upon a fiscally responsible transfer from the Board of Supervisors to FCPS, the penultimate goal was met in terms of the long-promised increase to teachers. It is noted the increase was provided with no additional funding by the county’s taxpayers through the Board of Supervisors. One wonders, with a determined focus from the outset on this priority, if the increase to teachers has, in fact, gone far enough? If less effort had been expended on traversing the county encouraging residents to lobby the Supervisors for a real estate tax increase versus addressing this priority with the existing funds which, due to the circumstances, has now been done, would the teachers have been fared better? The School Board is to be commended for providing an increase for teacher; in the winnowing days of this budget cycle, though, the School Board is strongly encouraged to pursue any further efficiencies which could result in eking out even a modest additional amount. Read the rest of this entry »