Homecoming and Spirit Week

New London Local Schools is celebrating Spirit Week starting Monday October 3rd.  The week will culminate with our Homecoming Parade and football game on Friday October 7th where we will crown our Homecoming King and Queen.  Our students will celebrate with the Homecoming Dance on Saturday October 8th.

Homecoming is a tradition across our county.  It's celebrated in every high school, public and private, and is often seen as a right of passage.  As a parent, my oldest son attended his first homecoming dance last year.  My wife and I were equal parts excited for our son to experience his first high school dance, proud of the young man he's growing up to be, and to be honest, feeling old.  But this post isn't about being a parent, although I could go on for pages about that topic both from a parent's perspective and the perspective of a school administrator.

Today, I'd like to reflect on what homecoming represents and what it means to our school and our community.  Homecoming is a time when a school community enthusiastically welcomes back its alumni.  Many of these alumni are recent graduates.  For others, homecoming is the first time they've been back to New London in many years.  For everyone, it's a time to reminisce about their days in school.  It's a time of deep laughter, reconnecting friendships, and to create new memories.  For our district, it is an opportunity to show our alumni the changes and advancements that we've made.  It's an opportunity to for us to remind our community and alumni how much we value their support; how much we strive everyday to create lasting memories for every student.  Homecoming is a time of great energy and positive feelings. Welcome back to the many alumni that are visiting New London this week and thank you to every alumni, those that have remained in the district and those that are visiting.  Without the lasting support of our community and graduates our district would not be the success that we are.

In conclusion, congratulations to this year's Homecoming Court!  We are proud of you and look forward to Spirit Week!  Post one of your favorite Wildcat memories!

Release of New London's District Report Card

In my last Blog, I discussed the results of our state assessments and their impact on our State Report Card.  Today, I'd like to discuss the other components of the report card.  Let me start by stating that I am not happy with our results.  New London has prided itself on our report card and how it has demonstrated our commitment to student achievement.  My disappointment stems both from the local pieces we can control as well as the ever changing landscape of education in Ohio.  I also want to say that I have no problem with accountability.  I think holding schools accountable is good for our communities and good for kids.  The concerns that I have are how we are being held accountable and how that is being communicated, or the lack of communication, by our educational leaders in Columbus.

New London received a series of D's and F's on our Report Card.  Most of those low grades were issued in areas that are controlled by the state assessments.  This includes Achievement, Progress, and Gap Closing.  In my opinion, these are all invalid marks as the assessments that generated those scores are invalid.  New London is not alone in these rankings.  Of the 608 school districts in Ohio, New London is one of 295 that received a D in Achievement, one of 157 receiving a D in Progress, and one of 526 receiving an F in Gap Closing.

Many at the state level claim that these poor scores are due to Ohio raising the standard of education for our students and with a short adjustment period our district scores will rebound.  There is some truth to that.  Ohio has been raising the bar, and districts like New London has met that challenge.  In my opinion, the regression in the report card is more due to the lack of consistency in assessment tools utilized by the state and the moving target that is used to meet the indicator.
Ultimately, this report card does not adequately represent the high quality education that we provide to the students of New London, nor does it represent the quality of teacher that we have.  What it does represent is an opportunity for our district to audit our current resources and materials.  To really dig deep into the scores and determine, even if the assessments aren't perfectly aligned, that locally our district is meeting the needs of our students.

What do you think?  Post a comment to share your thoughts on the State Report Card and its value as a community member to forming your opinion of our school district.  Thank you for taking the time to read...and have a great day!!

The State Report Card & Their Flawed Assessments

Tomorrow, September 15th is grade card day for Ohio Schools.  The release day for the State Report Card is a high anxiety day for nearly every school district across the state.  Even the "best" of districts have at least one area on their report card that they wish were better.  When we take into account the dismal results that Ohio experienced on last year's State Assessments, the anxiety is even greater.  As early as July, I've been attempting to spread the word to our learning community just how flawed these assessments were.  Allow me explain in greater detail.

New London Local Schools belongs to North Point Educational Service Center.  This ESC provides services to 27 districts in our region.  They are a great organization, that in addition to other valuable services, provide an avenue for regional districts to share information.  In July, when preliminary state assessment results were released, North Point created a spreadsheet to allow districts to self report their results.  Eighteen (18) districts provided their data, and here is where my eyes started to open.  The results were shocking.  Of the 18 districts that reported, only 1 district met the state indicator in the following tested areas:  4th Grade ELA, 7th Grade ELA, 7th Grade Math, and High School English II.  Even more shocking, not a single reporting district met the state indicator in 8th grade ELA and High School Geometry!  There were also a number of tested areas where only 2 schools met the state indicator, but listing all of them would result in a very lengthy list!

Let's look at these results at the state level.  For this year's results, the state predicted the percent of students that would score proficient on the assessments.  That prediction became the percent that each district needed to meet to earn their indicator on the report card.  Let's take a look at some of these, keeping in mind that the indicator was what Ohio predicted to be the percent of students scoring proficient.  In 5th Grade ELA, the state established the indicator at 73%.  The actual result - 60% of Ohio's students scored proficient on the assessment.  6th Grade ELA, the indicator was set at 74% with the actual results coming in at 54%.  A similar gap in what the state predicted and what actually happened occurred in 6th Grade Math wit the state predicting 74% proficient and 56% of students scoring proficient.   The results do not get any better as we move up the grade levels, as the gap between what the state predicted and what actually happened sits in the 20% points range.  The worse gap is in High School Geometry where the state predicted 80% of the state's students scoring proficient and only 49% were proficient, for a gap of 31% points!

Locally, I'd like to look at the data in an entirely different way.   Over the summer I looked at each grade level of students in grade 4th through 11th.  For each grade, I went back to their 3rd grade year, the year that they began taking state assessments and traced their level of success.  The results confirmed what I had suspected, but were no less shocking.  Starting with the 11th graders math scores.  These kids averaged a success rate between 66% and 74.6% over the years, yet last year only 42% of these students were proficient on the Geometry test.  Our 8th graders:  in math they scored between 79% and 74% over the years, but last year only 42% were proficient.  ELA say similar results.  Historically these kids scored between 72% and 91% yet only 40% scored proficient last year.  Again, I could provide additional examples, but in the interest of time I'll bring this to a close.

New London Local Schools has a strong tradition of academic excellence.  This tradition is not based on State Assessments, but is illustrated by them.  During the 2015-2016 School Year, our excellent team of teachers and staff didn't decide to stop educating our students.  During the 2015-2016 School Year our students did not stop attending school nor did they magically decide to stop learning.  Regardless of if you look at it from the State level, Regional level, or local level these scores point to one conclusion -  the assessments were flawed.  There is no rational explanation for such a dramatic disparity in historical scores, both on the district level and the individual student level.

Since much of the data used in generating our Report Card comes from these assessments, it's not just the Achievement component that will be impacted.  This testing environment that Ohio currently finds itself is not in the best interest of students.  Over assessing students, especially with assessments that are flawed does not promote education or educational reform.  Possibly the greatest negative from this flawed environment is the impact on public perception of public education.  As I discussed in a previous blog, our ACT scores were very strong last year.  Our students are becoming more prepared for college and career at a greater rate now than they ever have.  Our extra and co-curricular activities are the strongest they've been in over a decade.  The reality is, New London Local Schools is setting the example on how to educate the total student.  I'd hate to see one flawed state assessment change how people view our district.

 Let me know what you think! Post a comment to this Blog or contact me via email or phone. Thank you for taking the time to read such a lengthy Blog.

Creative Approaches to Classroom Arrangements

Although its been nearly a decade since I was a classroom teacher, I was never a big fan of the industrial model of classroom arrangements:  the strict rows of students that provided for limited movement; over the top structure that often limited student's creativity and stifled their learning process.  I never really knew why I felt this way, I hadn't taken a class on creative classroom arrangements, nor was their an abundance of research on it at the time, and since this was the late 90s and early 2000s I didn't have Pintrest to offer me any ideas.  Although I used the structured rows in my early years of teaching, I just knew it didn't fit my style of teaching, and by the time I left the classroom I had done away with seating charts, rows, and a structured environment.  By the way, for those that don't know, I taught High School Social Studies in a very diverse community within the Inner Ring of Cleveland.  When I became a school administrator I started encouraging teachers to be creative with their classrooms, and supported that creativity.  

     Fast forward to the present, and their is an abundance of research on the benefits of standing desks, fidget bars, flexible spacing, and non-traditional seating arrangements.  The benefits are both health related, as well as educational.  According to research flexible seating can help students burn energy, increase their metabolism and improve concentration.  One of my hobbies is health and fitness.  I exercise regularly and read much on the topic.  Dating back to my college days, I've endured lower back problems. Last summer, after reading a number of articles on the benefits of standing desks, I decided to try it.  I'm happy to say that since I stopped sitting all day, my lower back has never felt better and I've also noticed improved focus on longer tasks.  In addition, as a parent of a child with Attention Deficit Disorder,  I can attest to the educational value of her being able to stand or move around while working on her homework.

  Over the past few years, teachers at New London Local Schools began experimenting with flexible seating options.  Starting with physioballs, student desks gradually transitioned to tables. This summer Mrs. Yetter, Mrs. Fuller, and Mrs. Albaugh, and others took the next step and brought in work stations.  No more desks, limited assigned seating, or designated space.  Students are now able to work where they feel the most comfortable and can change their work environment as often as necessary.

Our expectation is that students take more of an ownership of their learning, becoming producers of knowledge, instead of consumers of instruction, while adding benefits to their health and wellness.  With these more student centered, exploratory environments, our classrooms are now more like a Silicon Valley Technology Firm than an industrial plant.