NSBA President: Let's spread the word about school success stories

You’d only hear about the “problems” and “failures” and would miss the true story of how our nation’s schools are succeeding — despite such challenges as shrinking budgets, unfunded and underfunded mandates, threats of takeover by meddling politicians, and large numbers of students from families with severe economic and social problems.

Of course, some lawmakers and members of the media support public education but they often can’t be heard over the din of their counterparts who say public education is a failure. To counter this negative bias, I plan to focus on school success stories — on what I call “snapshots of success” — during my year as NSBA president.

The following three success stories are from different regions of the nation, but all of them are aimed at raising student achievement and are based on the idea of community engagement and collaboration. And none of them would be possible without school board leadership.

In Alaska, school leaders believe that efforts to raise student achievement must be carried out along with corollary efforts to address some of the social issues that affect children and families. That’s the idea behind the Alaska Initiative for Community Engagement (ICE), created by the Alaska Association of School Boards (AASB).

“If you can get parents and community members to partner with the schools, you can improve student achievement,” says AASB President Mary Becker, a member of the Juneau school board.

Alaska ICE sends trainers to communities across the state to help parents, business leaders, tribal leaders, and civic and youth groups get more involved with children and the local public schools, Becker says.

Alaska ICE builds on AASB’s asset-building framework, which aims to help young people develop as many positive characteristics, or strengths, as possible. There are 40 assets that are the key building blocks necessary for children to become healthy, caring, resilient, and successful.

Examples of some of these assets are a supportive family, clear rules and consequences for youths, a caring and safe community, a peer group that models responsible behavior, motivation to do well in school, and strong social skills.

Research shows that the more assets a young person has, the more likely the youth will succeed in school and become a productive citizen and the less likely he or she will be involved with drugs, alcohol, or risky behavior.

Alaska ICE works in schools and with tribes, youth-serving programs, and entire communities to promote the shared responsibility of all members of the community to build assets in all young people.

Collaboration is also a key element in San Diego’s initiative to reduce the achievement gap. All 42 school districts in the county approved a resolution three years ago to create the San Diego County Superintendents’ Achievement Gap Task Force.

Along with Rudy Castruita, superintendent of the San Diego County Office of Education, the task force includes superintendents of 10 districts in the county; Luan Rivera, a member of the school board of the Ramona Unified School District and a member of the San Diego County School Boards Association; Carol Skiljan, a member of the Encinitas Union school board; and representatives of universities and teacher associations.

The task force decided to start its efforts by focusing on narrowing the achievement gap between whites/Asians and African-Americans and Latinos on the math portion of the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE). Next fall, it will expand its efforts to focus on language arts, as well as math, says Rivera, who is also the president of the California School Boards Association.

Even though the goal is raising test scores of high school students, the effort includes elementary districts as well, because “everyone realized early on that this is not a high school issue; it is a K-12 issue,” Rivera says. “We knew if we were going to raise student achievement in the high schools we had to start early.”

The “CAHSEE Compact” has four goals: to ensure every student has access to a qualified mathematics teacher, to provide a rigorous math curriculum for each student, to extend the learning time for students who have not passed the math exam, and to disseminate results and best practices.

The task force identified various steps districts could take to reduce the achievement gap and provides resources and guidelines. It’s up to each district, however, to determine a course of action and decide how to use the resources.

For example, the task force developed a supplemental curriculum to support students who need extra help and another curriculum to prepare students for algebra beginning in the fourth grade. Some districts are using these materials in class. Others are using them in after-school tutoring sessions or for teacher training.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution,” Rivera says. “It’s about providing resources to meet the needs of particular districts.”

The universities have helped by establishing creative partnerships with the districts. Ramona Unified, for example, is working with San Diego State University to train “master math teachers” for grades 4, 5, and 6, Rivera says.

The effort has paid off. In 2003, 69 percent of white and Asian students passed the math portion of the CAHSEE. But only 32 percent of Hispanic/Latino and African American students passed that test. The achievement gap was 37 percent.

In 2004, the achievement gap was reduced to 25 percent, and in 2005, it was down to 14 percent.

Another good example of a school success story is in Elmont, N.Y. Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School has a 99 percent graduation rate, and 94 percent of students go on to higher education.

Such statistics might seem surprising in a school where 90 percent of the students are African American, African Caribbean, or Hispanic, and a quarter are low income, says board member Aubrey Phillips. “There is a generalized notion in our society that because of that demographic, we should not expect a good educational outcome.”

The community’s elementary schools offer several academic programs that set the stage for student achievement in the upper grades, says Phillips, school board president for the Elmont Union Free School District, which serves six K-6 schools, and also a member of the Sewanhaka Central High School District, which serves five 7-12 schools, including Elmont Memorial.

Phillips says students who take AP courses are more likely to consider higher education and have academic goals. More than 80 percent of students at Elmont High who take AP English and math not only pass the state-required Regents exam, but pass at the mastery level.

How do school officials encourage so many students to register for AP courses? Phillips says the school sends letters to parents touting the benefits of the program and counters negative attitudes among students by encouraging them to be a part of the community through service learning projects.

He also credits the large number of well-educated parents in the district. “I can’t minimize the effect of parents with a deep appreciation for education,” he says.

Last fall, the Education Trust recognized Elmont Memorial as one of five “Dispelling the Myth” schools across the country for its progress in closing the achievement gap.

The elementary district offers a Saturday program that teaches foreign languages as a way to “celebrate diversity in the community,” says Phillips. About 10 percent of the district’s students in grades 4, 5, and 6 attend a voluntary language academy, where they can learn Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and Urdu.

“We hope to ensure that in a community as diverse as ours, we are not looking at one another with a jaded eye,” Phillips says. “When you expose children to other languages, they are much more ready to accept others.”

The elementary district collaborates with Hofstra University on a program aimed at improving children’s reading skills. The Saturday program, initiated by board member Joy Madera, focuses on a technique called “miscue analysis” to help children better comprehend the text and improve their confidence in reading.

While there is no data yet on whether the program has an effect on test scores, “the anecdotal evidence is quite encouraging,” Phillips says.

Citing the schools’ extensive programs in art, music, and languages, Phillips says: “The district’s aim is to educate the entire child. State assessments are a bump in the road in educating the whole child. That is not our goal.”

I applaud the efforts of the school board leaders and educators in Alaska, San Diego County, and Elmont, N.Y. Their initiatives show that school board leadership can make a difference in raising student achievement and forming productive community partnerships in support of the local public schools.

These are the kinds of success stories featured in NSBA’s Center for Public Education (www.centerforpubliceducation.org), which also has information, data, and research results about public education that can help school leaders counter the negative attacks by politicians and the media.

As the stories described here show, school boards across the nation are doing important work. They are working to improve student learning and reduce the achievement gap. They are building partnerships with community groups and universities.