We heart Elm City Prep in New Haven: Blog 1 of 3
September 3rd, 2010
Kate and I spent a great Monday morning in New Haven. We saw Day 1 of kindergarten. Fantastic.
1. Amazing Execution
Because it’s only a day for the new kids, several teachers are in each classroom. A kid is teary; someone to hug him. A kid isn’t following directions; someone to step in and model the right way.
Parents welcomed with open arms. They can be in classrooms with kids, take some photos of Junior’s first day. They can mingle with other parents in another room with coffee and stuff.
A kid doesn’t show up; the principal, Morgan Barth, is on the phone to Mom.
After a few courtesies: “Frankly, I’m a little disappointed. You and I had discussed last week the details and how important the first day is. A teacher and our social worker will be at your home in 10 minutes. They will drive him here. We really need your son to be dressed and ready for school. This can’t happen again.”
2. Kid’s Schedule
During the first couple weeks, they work on procedures. How to walk quietly in line. How to eat breakfast without making a mess. Etc.
Once the regular schedule starts, this is a typical day:
7.25 to 7.55 breakfast and morning work
7.55 to 8.30 morning meeting8.35 to 9.50 reading instruction: lots of phonics
Snack/bathroom
10.10 to 11.25 guided reading
Lunch/recess
12.15 to 1.10 writing
Bathroom
1.20 to 1.35 vocab
So the first 3 hours and 40 minutes is reading and writing. Then:
1.35 to 2.25 math
2.30 to 3.10 art, music, gym
3.15 to 3.55 science
I mentioned that 3 years ago I visited Elm City Prep with a couple Boston educators. Principal and teacher. (I was hoping that seeing the amazing literacy levels of these inner-city kids would move them; the principal was impressed, the teacher hated it). That school is persistently low-performing, 3 years later.
This is a sample kindergarten schedule of that school, taken from their website:
9:15am-9:45am Breakfast and Choice Time
9:45am-10:00am Greeting and Introduction to daily OWL literacy centers
10:00am-11:00am OWL Choice Time (Dramatic play–pizza shop, making pizza dough, dishwashing in the water table, painting, white board letter practice, stationery making)
11:00am-11:15am Story Time (A Letter to Amy by Erza Jack Keats)
11:15am-11:35am OWL Small Groups
11:35am-12:05pm Recess
12:05pm-12:45pm Lunch & Independent/Lap reading
12:45pm-1:30pm Art
1:30pm-1:50pm Building Blocks math
1:50pm-2:45pm Rest
2:45pm-3:30pm Building Blocks work time
3. Schedule differences: two kindergartens, similar kids
Elm City has an 8 hour school day, versus 6 in the other school. So 33% more time.
Even with the most generous possible accounting, the Boston school has 2 hours of time for reading and writing, and Elm City has 3 hours 40 minutes. Hmm. That’s 83% more time for the Elm City kids.
Even that 83% probably understates the Elm City “dosage” advantage.
From the Boston school’s description of OWL learning time, it seems like some stuff labeled as “literacy” is kids playing, maybe acting out stories. Not actually, you know, reading. Here’s how the Boston school describes its approach for kids aged 3, 4, and 5:
We adopted OWL (Opening the World of Learning) Pre-Kindergarten curriculum in all of its Pre-K classrooms. OWL is an integrated curriculum designed to develop language and early literacy skills through exploring rich content areas including math, science and social sciences. The OWL curriculum consists of six units, each with a theme, explored through intensive readings of carefully chosen read-alouds. Combining academic work and play, these books inspire student-initiated academic choices.
We pair the OWL curriculum with the Building Blocks math curriculum, which includes similar student-initiated centers, empowering students to make choices and take ownership for their own learning as early as age three.
4. The Amazing Thing
A big study* of Boston charter schools “found”, indeed, that it was extended learning time that explained the charter advantage.
But what do you think better explains the difference? Amazing execution? Or more raw time?
If you could get 6 hours of Elm City, or 8 hours of the Boston school, which would you pick for your kid?
I’d pick Elm City, because they obsess over the question: how do we put our teachers in the best possible position to succeed? And they have a concrete approach. Which I’ll blog about next.
*I think the study gets it wrong. They argue that leader autonomy is the key ingredient. But both of these schools have full autonomy. Te Boston school I’m describing is a pilot (in-district charter school).
Then they study authors argue effective charter leaders use that autonomy to extend the day. True, but less important. Those same leaders would emphasize they use the autonomy to build a group of teachers who row in the same direction, all obsessively committed to a positive, disciplined culture. A bad culture spread across 8 hours isn’t much better than the same thing stretched over 6 hours.
Tags: Haven, New Haven
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Towne named Indiana State head coach
September 3rd, 2010
Indiana State will begin the 2010-11 season under the direction of newly-hired head coach Greg Towne. Towne was hired just three weeks after former head coach Mike Whitson resigned to take the head coaching job at Eastern Kentucky, his alma mater.
Towne is a graduate of Wichita State University, and spent 22 years playing professionally. He was a member of the Nationwide Tour for five years, where he notched 20 top-25 finishes. Towne also qualified for the 1997 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club.
Towne has extensive experience as a teaching professional, working with tour pros for 10 years. He was the head instructor at Rabito Golf from 2001-09.
“Greg Towne brings a wealth of teaching and playing experience to our program,” said Ron Prettyman, Indiana State Director of Athletics. “He is a Midwest native and a product of one of our Missouri Valley Conference schools. He is inheriting a quality group of young ladies that excel in the classroom and on the golf course. Coach Towne is a nice addition to the Sycamore head coaching family.”
Indiana State finished the 2009-10 season ranked No. 147 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings and open the fall on Sept. 11-12 at the Redbird Invitational in Normal, Ill.
–Information from Indiana State was used in this report.
Tags: Coach, Head Coach, Indiana State
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Seminole County exempts cheerleaders from short-skirt ban
September 2nd, 2010
Dave Weber
SANFORD — Seminole County schools’ tough new student dress code designed to make students look more “professional” already has its first exception: Cheerleaders will be allowed to wear short uniform skirts to class on game days, as has been tradition.
While some complain it is unfair, district officials have decided that the ban on short skirts on girls does not apply to cheerleaders.
The decision came after high school principals huddled at the start of football season and agreed to give cheerleaders an exemption to the new rules, which say “dresses, skirts and shorts must be at least mid-thigh or below in length” and nixes clothing that is “sexually suggestive.”
The rules also ban “garments that are distracting” – and spirit-building distraction is the intent of having the cheer squad wear outfits to school on game days.
“It is tradition that they wear their uniforms on game day, like the football players wear their uniform shirts,” said district spokeswoman Regina Klaers, a former cheerleader at Seminole High.
Klaers said the mother of a Lake Brantley High girl who was sent home for wearing a short skirt complained that cheerleaders were getting privileged treatment. But Klaers said the new dress code provides that principals make final decisions on what apparel meets the rules.
The School Board wrestled for a year over tougher dress standards for students, saying sharper dress would set an atmosphere for higher student achievement. School Board Chairman Sandy Robinson said she was striving for a “professional look,” but the final code fell short in many aspects, including allowing students to wear flip-flops on their feet.
Klaers said she was uncertain whether other exemptions to the code would be made, but anticipated some. For example, she said, schools sometimes have a “pajama day” to build school spirit. Pajamas are specifically banned as every day wear.
Other items such as chains linking pierced noses to pierced ears also are banned, as are dog collars worn as jewelry and T-shirts that promote sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco or violence.
Tags: County, Seminole County
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Controversial health-care reform is Constitution Day topic
August 31st, 2010
Constitution Day will be celebrated at California State University, Fresno with a panel discussion of recently enacted national health-care reform legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The session, titled “Obamacare: Landmark Legislation or Dead on Arrival?”, is scheduled at 10 a.m. Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. at the Satellite Student Union. The panel discussion is free and open to the public.
Panelists are Fresno State political science professors Dr. Yishaiya Abosch, Dr. Jeff Cummins and Dr. Tom Holyoke, and Jeffrey G. Purvis, a professor at the San Joaquin College of Law in Clovis.
The event is co-sponsored by the Fresno State’s College of Social Sciences and Division of Student Affairs, and the law college.
Constitution Day on Sept. 17 is the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution in 1789 and a celebration of U.S. citizenship.
(Copy prepared by University Communications news intern Sadie Thomas)
- Constitution Day
[Translate]
Tags: Constitution Day, Day
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Video interview with Mission Viejo linebacker Tre Madden
August 31st, 2010
Here is an L.A. Times video interview with Mission Viejo linebacker Tre Madden. The Diablos are coming to Seattle to play Bothell in the 2010 Emerald City Kickoff Classic at Qwest Field on Saturday.
Here is the story that goes with the video.
Tags: Linebacker Tre, Linebacker Tre Madden, Madden, Tre Madden
Posted in Education Sport Notes | No Comments »