School Daze!

Last week the PRU Crew's attention was drawn to an article in one of the local rags -- District 64 Board asked to approve $385,000 in new salaries.

The article notes that "Last year, the School Board was asked to consider $700,000 in new staff positions, but the board opted instead to approve half of the positions requested, resulting in a cost of about $425,000 for the 2008-09 school year." So it comes as no surprise that the newest recommendation to increase staffing goes beyond the previously recommended budget.

We can't say with any certainty whether or not any of these staffing recommendations are absolutely necessary or not. But the PRU Crew is aware of at least one tangent issue -- the hiring of an additional school nurse and the position taken by the State's nursing union on treatment of children with diabetes.

It is the union's position that only a trained and registered nurse is capable of over-seeing the administration of medical care such as the injection of insulin for diabetics. This of course is not absolutely true since diabetics have been injecting themselves since forever, and parents of diabetics have been injecting their diabetic kids since forever. However, if one stops to consider the function and purpose of a union, then one may come to understand that taking the position that only a trained and registered nurse is capable of administering medical care sure goes a long way in securing jobs for nurses, which is of course one of the functions of the union. In fact, the State's nursing union has regularly opposed legislation that would allow diabetic children themselves, or a teacher, to administer insulin when necessary. This opposition has regularly created havoc in the lives of diabetic students, and mandated some bizarre routines for both students and parents -- in some cases, requiring that a parent pick up a child from school, move off school property, receive an insulin injection either self-administered or from a parent (we assume not all parents of diabetics are trained and registered nurses; ditto that for school age children), and then the student is returned to school.

And we see that some local priests aren't the only group of adults willing to use children as pawns in political maneuvering.

The PRU Crew also decided to take a look at what else the School District 64 powers that be have been up to.

Some of our readers may remember our post -- Pas Plus Francais. In that post we noted "The standard minimum guideline for weekly instruction for FLES programs, last time we looked, is 75 minutes per week. So, it looks like the district's program isn't just light on grammar, but also light on instruction time."

The district has a FLES (foreign language in elementary school) review committee, which has been tasked with, what else, reviewing the district's FLES program. In the March 9, 2009 School Board minutes (.pdf) we read that the School Board asked questions of the committee -- the first question being, "Has the level of student achievement in the FLES program been affected by the decrease in instructional time?" And the answer is...? Well, see if you can figure it out --

"Ms. Betts explained a table with Educational Ends assessment data for 3rd grade and 5th grade students with 75 minutes of FLES instruction in the original program and with the current 50 minutes per week of instruction. This data was measured from 2001 – 2008.

When the number of minutes decreased in 2005, the assessment and target level of proficiency for 3rd grade were also changed, so a true comparison is difficult to measure.

For 5th grade students, the number of questions on the FLES assessment remains unchanged, but the targeted proficiency level was reduced. Therefore, as with 3rd grade, it is difficult to answer Question 1 as to whether a decrease in minutes directly impacted student achievement."

We think that may mean "yes."

The next question the School Board asked was, "If instructional minutes are increased from 50 to 60 minutes per week, where will this additional 10 minutes come from in the school day?" And the answer is...?

"The elementary schedule is divided into daily blocks of time for reading, language arts, and math. There are also specific times for p.e., music, art, and FLES. The remaining time is used for social studies, science, health and “other” activities, such as civil behavior, holidays, current events, etc. Ms. Betts proposed that the additional 10 minutes of FLES instruction come from this “other” category."

The third question posed by the School Board was, "Would the additional 10 minutes be better spent in another area of the curriculum?" And the answer is...?

"According to data presented, the amount of instructional time District 64 allocates for reading/language arts, science, and social studies is on target with the State average.

However, District 64 is below the State average for math instructional minutes. Fifteen additional minutes were allocated to reading/literacy because of the EIS/RtI initiative.

While some districts choose to allot their instructional minutes and money toward reading and math in order to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), District 64 values teaching the whole child, and continues to allocate minutes for art, music, FLES, health, etc.

Ms. Betts stated that it is the Board’s decision to determine the best use of the additional 10 minutes. The elementary schedule is very fluid. Teachers have more opportunities to capture teachable moments throughout the day, unlike a middle school “bell” schedule.

Ms. Betts summarized by saying that there is no proof that the 10 additional minutes will equate to higher student achievement in FLES. Best practice calls for 75 minutes per week. The goal of our program is to provide students the highest level of proficiency we can. At the April 6th Board meeting, administration will present the additional costs for increasing the number of instructional minutes. A final decision from the Board is expected at the April 27th Board of Education meeting.

Following the presentation by Ms. Betts, the Board discussed whether the additional 10 minutes will have a beneficial impact on students’ language proficiency. Several Board members said the costs to add the ten minutes will be an important element in their decision."

Il est seulement de l'argent. Oh! Excusez-nous! Pas plus francais! Better make that es solo dinero!

In other School District 64 news we read in the School Board report of April 6, 2009 (.pdf) on page 8 that the administration has revised their recommendation to eliminate the Honor Roll in response to School Board members' reluctance. The aptly named Miscellaneous Sub-committee recommends that if the Honor Roll isn't eliminated "the sub-committee also feels that the other categories for student recognition should be recognized equally." The administration's response is that "The administration understands the Board's reluctance to eliminate formal recognition of academic achievement. We agree that academic achievement is an extremely important goal in school and needs to be formally recognized in some way, but believe that other aspects of student growth, effort and involvement should also be recognized."

Uhhhmmm, the PRU Crew was under the apparently deluded impression that academic achievement is THE GOAL in school. We guess we've failed to understand the message that everybody's awesome.

Pas plus Francais.

In the December 28th edition of the Chicago Tribune we read: District closes books on French classes.

The District 64 School Board has acquiesced to the wishes of district parents and made Spanish the sole foreign language that will be offered at all elementary schools.

We think that is unfortunate. Especially since the district's FLES program is, as Dr. Sally Pryor notes, not intended to "develop fluency," ..."The goal was to develop those neural pathways so that when [pupils] reached middle school and high school and wanted to study foreign language in a more academic way, they'd be able to."

Toutefois, e'tant donne' que l'objectif principal du programme est de developper des structures neuronales, ces voies doivent developper n'importe laquelle langue e'trangere est enseignee.* As long as the proper curriculum guidelines are followed...

We note the article goes on to report: "Children receive two 25-minute lessons a week, instruction that is intentionally light on grammar. Instead, students learn vocabulary tied to other parts of the curriculum -- the names of the planets, for instance, when the solar system is being studied -- and the cultures of French- and Spanish-speaking nations."

The standard minimum guideline for weekly instruction for FLES programs, last time we looked, is 75 minutes per week. So, it looks like the district's program isn't just light on grammer, but also light on instruction time.

C'est la vie!

* Translation: "However, since the program goal is to develop neural pathways, those pathways should develop no matter which foreign language is taught."