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DEL.ICIO.USDo What Works
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I thought I would mine my notes a little more from David Banks, the New York principal of a public boys school, who spoke of the cheese-sandwich discipline method.
His overall point was that he does what works in his school. Some other examples:
His students are freshman and sophomore boys. They stay up late. So the first academic class doesn’t start until 9:15 a.m. (The boys have to be at school by 8:30 a.m. for breakfast and a schoolwide assembly.)
Teachers don’t like all those announcements butting in on their classes, so Banks instituted a policy against them. Everything that needs to be said must be covered at the morning assembly.
Getting parents to the school in the evening was hard. So parent meetings are held every other month on a Saturday morning. He gives parents a calendar at the beginning of the year with the dates marked. He said a parent or other family member from about 140 of 180 families attends each meeting.
He reiterated over and over the importance of doing what works at your school. His is a choice school, so he has more leverage. (He can screen students based on their interest in attending an all boys school, but he cannot look at their academic record prior to admission.)
Parents, teachers, students: Any other examples of how a school made a change that works? Thoughts on any of the above points?
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By luvs2teach
April 19, 2006 03:09 PM | Link to this
My children’s elementary school, as a charter school, made the decision to increase the hours of ESOL time from 30 minutes to 2 hours for the lowest 25% of new English language learners. Good move, given that studies are now showing how much “academic English” lags behind “conversational English.”
All this goes to show is that a one-size-fits-all approach is not the solution.
By Sabrina
April 19, 2006 03:21 PM | Link to this
That’s my idea of being innovative. It’s like taking the Gospel to the streets, since that’s where you are needed most.
We need more innovative people, like this guy, in the education field. I love the idea of having Parents meet on Saturdays or hosting school events on the weekend.
When I was a child, my school hosted a fundraiser “Carnival” every year just before Halloween and it was the biggest moneymaker. People all over the county came to this event and the entire family would attend.
I agree that every school system and community is different; so they should be allowed to do things completely different.
However, I don’t get the impression that my school system is Open to trying new things, unless the idea comes from within.
By Lee
April 19, 2006 03:27 PM | Link to this
Charlie Reese, one of my favorite columnists, had a recent editorial about the state of education. Interesting read.
(http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20060419/index.php)
By Carrie
April 19, 2006 03:37 PM | Link to this
I wish more schools were given the opportunity to do what works for them. In general, I think they could do a lot better with fewer restrictions.
By SNY
April 19, 2006 03:43 PM | Link to this
I would LOVE to be able to have a conference on a Sat. morning. That way my husband would be able to attend. Great idea. Can we appoint this man to oversee all of education in the country?
By jim d
April 19, 2006 03:58 PM | Link to this
thanks Lee, great column.
By Temp
April 19, 2006 04:00 PM | Link to this
I never understood the school schedules. A coworker told me that his kids start school at 7:30 in the morning. I was dumbfounded.
Who is coherent enough at 7:30 in the morning to do anything mentally challenging? Most people don’t start their jobs until 8:30 or 9:00, why do we expect our kids to be ready before that?
By MMM
April 19, 2006 04:14 PM | Link to this
They start at 7:30 so the same bus can be used to make runs for three different schools. Someone has to be first.
Innovation is much easier with small groups of willing participants that share common goals. It’s not surprizing when we have so little of it in mega schools that people are assigned to acording to the system’s rules.
By SNY
April 19, 2006 04:26 PM | Link to this
Temp,
You are so right. I don’t even use an alarm clock to get up in the morning. The high school bus stops right in front of my house every morning at 6:20 or 6:25 A.M. Isn’t that sad?
Signing off, my day is over.
By MrLiberty
April 19, 2006 04:47 PM | Link to this
In 1994 the Republicans promised to abolish the Dept. of Education. In his run for president, Bush promised to reduce the federal role in education and return it to the local level. Democrats of course have been promising absolutely just the opposite. The republicans never delivered in 94 and Bush has only made federal control of the schools worse with NCLB. God help us if the democrats ever get to impose their federal will on the schools.
The message here is clear and many of the posters are showing their understanding of it. A school needs to function as necessary for its population (in other words it needs to respond to the needs of its customers). “A one-size approach is not the solution” and “I think they do better with less restrictions” pretty much sum up the obvious points.
The federal government, through the dept. of education gives back only 6% of the funding each state spends on schooling. At the same time they generate over 90+% of the regulations (I am being generous with that figure - I actually think that its at least 5-8% higher). Worse, state legislatures see new federal regulations and not wanting to be outdone, force through more of their own as well.
As any school administrator or superintendant and they will tell you that most of their staff is just there sucking up hundreds of thousands of dollars just to deal with the regulations. Regulations are not about flexibility or local problem-solving.
But you folks keep asking for more regulations when you elect politicians from these two parties, especially ones that say that they will go to Washington and fix the education problem. Washington only hands down one-size-fits-all approaches. You can’t have it both ways and you are too besmitten with whatever worthless party you belong to to even question the position of the candidate you are voting for.
So the next time someone wants to shut down the DOE, let them. Don’t accuse them of not caring about the kids. Getting the feds out of the education business would be the greatest thing ever. Getting the state out of the business too would be better still.
Ending all government involvement in education entirely would be the best thing that could ever happen to education. But I am afraid that positive solution will take electing Libertarians, and the democrats and republicans have already rigged the laws to make that nearly impossible.
By oldteacher
April 20, 2006 08:39 AM | Link to this
What great ideas! There are times when teachers bend the rules a tad because it works for their kids. I teach remedial reading and if mine work better on the floor, squatting in their desk or laying across the seat of their desk, I don’t have a problem. My goal is to get them to work and not to disturb others.
By Blue mom
April 20, 2006 09:19 AM | Link to this
I did not know where to put this so , I am writing here. There is a meeting today at 2 PM to determine whether the Harry Potter books should be removed from all School Library’s!! There is a Mom that has started all this because she states”the books offend her Christian beliefs” Well, all of us that live in Gwinnet are NOT Christian and, we are able to see and thin outside of the box. These books offer so much more than a look at dark arts and Witch craft. They teach tolerance (something this woman could learn) loyalty and friendship. SHe admits to not having read them and yet she is judging them and those that choose to read them She needs to read Farenheit 451 umless it’s already been removed from her school or she burned it herself!
By oldteacher
April 20, 2006 09:23 AM | Link to this
I totally agree, Blue mom. Harry Potter is great fiction. I just wonder if she is doing this to get her name out in the public and is planning to run for school board.
By Karen Armsby
April 20, 2006 09:46 AM | Link to this
The ‘Christian’ mom advocating censorship of the Harry Potter books that she admitted has not even completely read indicates a her inability to distinguish between fact and fiction and reality and fantasy. I am Catholic which is also Christian (I was told by a Baptist once that Catholics didn’t believe in Jesus Christ but I digress). As a good Catholic mom who is an avid reader, I encouraged my kids to read anything and everything. My son read the entire Godfather series in 5th grade and we discussed the mafia, murder, sex, and the whole social context of the book. He’s a college juinor now at UGA and doesn’t show any signs of becoming a mobster, Thank God ! (tongue in cheek : ) )
A parent’s role is to educate his/her children about a lot of things, like the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, fact and fiction, reality and fantasy. This mom clearly is unable to separate fact from fiction or reality from fantasy and put the readings into a context for her children. Perhaps she should seek counseling instead of wasting the time of school officials who must listen to her witch hunt ravings.
By SNY
April 20, 2006 10:21 AM | Link to this
Good morning everyone!
I personally have no interest in reading Harry Potter but, my 14 year-old stepson started reading them and he really enjoys them. Before he got into Harry, he didn’t like to read. Now he reads everything he can get his hands on. What this book series did for him, no other teacher or book series did. I don’t mind. He isn’t building bombs in the garage or walking around like a zombie so I think he understands that it is PURE FICTION.
Good for him!
By Susie
April 20, 2006 02:44 PM | Link to this
Wow, 140 out of 180 families represented…those are some impressive numbers.
By Laf
April 24, 2006 04:11 PM | Link to this
A principal in our community had a schoolmeeting for the parents at the local mall. I thought this was a good example of a principal going the extra mile to reach the parents.