According to an article in last Sunday’s (Aug. 15th) Statesville Record & Landmark, the I-SS Central Office is now going to be called ‘Central Support Services.’ The article states that the change is meant to dispel any “us vs. them” mentality and to reiterate that administrators are there to work with the schools’ staff. The article also states that Mr. Johnson said that he doesn’t want staff to look at administrators as roadblocks, but instead as resourceful tools they can use in order to accomplish the goal of educating children.
Later in the article it cites Mr. Johnson as saying that with the district moving from a district of “progress” to one of “distinction” with an 80.7% performance composite for 2009-10 under ABC results, the goal moving forward is to get to 100%. Then the article quotes Mr. Johnson as saying, “You hear people talk about No Child Left Behind, but we’re serious about that.” However, there was no mention of the low AYP scores.
Of course Mr. Johnson also did not mention that one of the I-SS primary goals has been that the district was to have 97% expected ABC growth by 2010 and that another goal was that the district was to meet 96% of the AYP targets in 2010. Remember that the AYP scores are a measure of the success of the ‘No Child Left Behind’ program.
If Mr. Johnson is serious about ‘No Child Left Behind’ then he has to admit that the I-SS AYP scores dramatically decreased this past year and discuss what the district is truly going to change in order to improve both the ABC and AYP goals. I don’t think that rebranding the Central Office as Central Support Services is going to bring much real change in the way that the I-SS administration does things.
The state as a whole dropped just like ISS in regards to AYP.
ReplyDeleteYou also need to understand that there were students whose test scores were not previously figured into the AYP scores in past years, but this last school year, they were counted. Part of the NCLB program that is set to mainstream EC students. So if you had 30 students who were not previously tested as part of the AYP figures, and who scored 2 or 1 on the tests..and those tests were figured in for each (most) schools, then that could considerably drop the AYP score. I feel that the test scores were actually pretty good, but those new scores being figured in would make them drop.
ReplyDeleteThe state as a whole is mainstreaming EC students into general population classes. We are going to grade EC students on the same scale as students who are not EC qualifying. These poor EC students are going to struggle even more than they have, but that's a state or national level decision, not a local one. We are going to take away a sense of accomplishment that these kids have always had because they could keep up with the material their EC teachers taught in a designated EC classroom. Now we are going to overwhelm them. Doesn't quite seem like we won't be leaving some kids behind with this new structure.
same old, same old---whenever a negative connotation pops up, just change the name to something that sounds positive--never mind that nothing has changed except the name. Walk into the majority of the "CSS" offices and you'll find flat screen monitors and newer cpu's than you will find in 98% of the classrooms that house the students that they are supposedly "serving." The real truth is that admins put themselves first and they always have--- students and teachers are way on down the CO's list of what is important
ReplyDeleteWell we will soon know for sure. There is a hiring FREEZE, we lost assistants and have over 25 students in a classroom. Heard today that Dale Ellis' wife is leaving the central office to move to wherever he went. Let's see if they hire someone in that position - oops I bet it's considered a critical position.
ReplyDeleteThe district hired 3 new AIG coordinators. How many coordinators does a district need??? We now have IFs, ITCs, EC, AIG, etc. What about the needs of the classroom teacher???
ReplyDeletewhere have all the posters gone? please no comments/articles on the current news?
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