National and State Writing Tests: The Writing Process Betrayed

Interesting article from Phi Delta Kappan

Does this sound familiar:

On other national and state tests, how much time are students given to prewrite? And how much time should prewriting take? The answer to the first question varies widely. A few states say that they give students unlimited time, but this claim is often hedged. In an e-mail correspondence, for example, one state department of education official told me that 1) the state's language arts test has no time limit, 2) it must be completed in one day, and 3) "three hours is plenty of time for most students to finish the writing exam." In another state, the students theoretically have "all day" to complete the writing test, but relatively short time limits are "suggested."

Continuation of The Oregonian's research into local high schools. Good stuff.

Ten practices of high performing schools -

1. Demand more of each student and end dumbed-down tracks.

At small-town Joseph High, every student takes algebra as a freshman and geometry as a sophomore. Most double up and take Algebra II along with geometry their sophomore year.

The school does not offer general math, pre-algebra or other non-college-bound math classes. That helps explain why, in a town where 17 percent of adults have college degrees, 75 percent of the children go to college.

At David Douglas High in east Portland, teachers were stunned in the early 1990s to see that 20 percent of their students were going to four-year colleges while half were going to work. Teachers realized that for most of their students, formal education ended in high school.

So they pumped up the demands. They raised the graduation requirement to 25 course credits, up from the standard 22. They began requiring students to log 27 pieces of high-quality work, such as research papers, science projects and artistic creations. They declared that students who get a D must retake that course until they get a better grade.

Ironically, by attempting to better prepare students for work, the school now prepares most of them for college. And they're thriving there. Among 44 metro-area high schools that sent at least 20 graduates on to Oregon's public universities, 42 of them saw their students average C's as college freshmen, according to university system figures released in 2003. But David Douglas graduates averaged B's.

2. Build a schedule that gives teachers fewer than 150 students apiece.

Oregon's large high school class sizes, averaging in the 30s, hamper close teacher-student relationships. Even hard-working teachers can't give all teens enough attention when their class rolls stretch to 180 students or more.

A quick solution would be to cut class sizes to 20, but the costs are exorbitant.

Schools can, at no cost, rearrange their schedules so that each teacher has fewer classes that last longer. This doesn't reduce class size. But it does lower the total number of students taught by each teacher.

In the traditional model of a seven-period day, teachers teach six classes and have one planning period. With 30 students per class, that gives them 180 students -- too many.

Here are two ways to change a high school schedule so teachers have fewer students:

Block schedule: A school divides an eight-period schedule in half, offering four 90-minute courses each semester. A teacher has three classes for a total of 90 students per semester.

Trimester: The school year is divided into thirds, each with five 70-minute periods. A teacher has four classes for a total of 120 students per trimester.

3. Get teachers talking.

At Nathan Hale High, a small group of teachers meets one afternoon to discuss what's causing academic troubles for seven of the 90 students they share.

"Where does Alex sit with you guys?" asks Susan Burnett, a social studies teacher. "When I had him in front of me, he was on target. In back, he was just not as involved."

"There are not enough front seats," says health teacher Nickie McDonald.

Conversation among teachers about student performance, sporadic and informal in many high schools, occurs every day at Hale.

It makes it "hard to be a mediocre teacher," says Jodee Reed, a 10th-grade English teacher.

Deeper communication among teachers spurs ongoing examination of the school's effectiveness and a collective quest to improve.

"If you have a sticky situation, chances are really good that a teacher you work with has run into it before and has practical, creative ideas to address it," says Santha Cassell, an English teacher at Portland's Roosevelt High.

4. Assign academic work worthy of being showcased.

At San Diego's High Tech High, students learn by doing ambitious projects -- documentaries on World War I, a public debate on evolution, a working submarine.

Teachers cover many of the same basics as at other high schools. But they say students understand and retain the basics better when they're tied to meaningful projects, not dictated in a lecture.

At David Douglas High, all juniors gather their best essays, research reports, shop projects and other work into a portfolios that showcases their most advanced skills. Then they must top it with a senior portfolio with more elaborate samples. Those get displayed at a "portfolio fair" for students and parents.

5. Create student advisories.

Rachel Loble teaches French and English, not psychology. But on this Friday, like most, the Southridge High teacher is trying to get inside the heads of 21 freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors.

Each was assigned to her as a freshman, and for four years, she watches their grades, collects their school pictures, helps them pick courses and backs them when they need help navigating the 1,900-student school.

A growing number of Oregon high schools have found that making every educator an adviser helps ensure that no teen drifts through high school unnoticed.

Loble knows her advisory students' quirks, and they know hers. On this day, she's coaching them through a personality test to find their career profiles.

"Dude, this is so not me," one student complains, reading that he's observant, yet blunt, and might make a good police officer, stockbroker or car salesman.

Serving as a sort of den mother to her students, most of whom will never read "Tartuffe" in her French class, wasn't part of the job description when Loble started teaching. Now it's an integral part of her week.

6. Make every minute matter.

Effective high schools crack down on absences and tardiness, start classes on time and keep students on task until the bell.

They read announcements during lunch instead of class. They institute routines so they don't waste class time passing out and collecting papers or repeating homework assignments. They don't allow students to crunch chips and slurp soda in class.

Southridge and David Douglas high schools require students to carry planners. When students want to leave class, teachers put the time, destination and their signature in the planner, creating a permanent record. Students don't parade in and out of class.

At Nathan Hale, teachers are so adamant about starting class on time that they sometimes phone parents when students are late.

7. Help kids choose courses.

As a freshman, Southridge High student Breanna Johnson wasn't sure whether to sign up for regular college-prep sophomore history or shoot for the tougher Advanced Placement class.

At Southridge, 15- and 16-year-olds aren't left on their own to make those decisions. The school required Breanna to consult her freshman history teacher, Stephen Pape, a favorite of hers.

"I asked, 'Do you really think I should do this?' He said, 'Yes, definitely. I will be really disappointed if you don't.' "

At Southridge, students can't advance to another class in any subject without permission from their most recent teacher in that subject. The idea is to spur students and teachers to talk about which courses are the best fit.

Student after student recounts a story such as Breanna's -- a favorite teacher tells them they have what it takes to opt for a harder course, so, emboldened, they do.

Physics teacher Linda Hirschy is delighted when students ask her to help them pick their next science course: "Some of my best friends are counselors, but how can they know what every student is capable of, what every student is planning to do in life?"

8. Turn seniors into mentors.

Freshmen look up to older students, and juniors and seniors welcome the chance to lead. Studies show schools are safer when they promote connections among the grades.

That thinking led Franklin High in Portland to start a Link Crew in 2000. The program enlists juniors and seniors to mentor freshmen.

All freshmen are assigned mentors, with three or four upperclassmen matched to each group of about 20 freshmen. The ninth-graders get advice on which courses to take, how to study, how to get along with people of different backgrounds.

Franklin students say the results have lived up to the hype. The halls are unusually civil when 1,500 students pour into them to change classes. Students call their school friendly and welcoming.

9. Give parents, students and teachers more say.

Talk to parents at Southridge High, and they'll tell you they help run the school. Parents suggested the trimester schedule. Parents insisted on a wide array of electives. They wanted to e-mail their children's teachers and get an answer by the next day.

Teachers at Southridge also have a strong hand running the school. Giving every teacher a say in big decisions, such as the right balance of academics versus athletics and how to reform the math curriculum, takes time. But that way, solutions don't get undermined.

And from their perspective, students think they run Southridge. They serve as equals with teachers on the school's lead governing council. Students decide issues the school should tackle -- last year, one was the tension between students with a lot money and those without -- and their recommendations are followed.

10. Captivate students with real-world lessons.

At David Douglas, 150 electives mean students can find classes that match their diverse interests -- electronics, Japanese, even golf course maintenance.

At the Center for Advanced Learning, a new charter school in Gresham, students build Web sites, weld furniture and use defibrillators on mannequins to study information technology, engineering and health sciences. Students say they shift into overdrive to fulfill the demands of a program that aligns with what they want to do in life.

"I love it," said David Starr, 16, a Reynolds High junior.

After David Douglas High paired senior Chris Czupryk with a pathologist, the teen watched him autopsy a man who had died of a massive brain infection. It involved cutting open the skull and examining the swollen brain. Now, he can't wait to study microbiology and cytology and wants to become a pathologist himself.

Bailey Ortiz, also a senior, spent 90 hours observing and helping top brokers at the local Smith Barney office. Now she is planning to go into finance, and her accounting class is meaningful, she says.

David Douglas faculty members make sure every student, from special education to the honor roll, spends time job shadowing.

"It's opened up doors to careers I never thought possible," says senior Analicia Horn.

Great articles in The Oregonian about the outdated ("factory") model of the comprehensive high school:

Anthony Ramirez looks back fondly on elementary school, when he earned good grades, devoured books about dinosaurs and kept a diary of his imaginary journey on the Oregon Trail.

He hated to miss a day of school, even when he was sick. But by the time he reached high school, he rarely picked up a book. He skipped classes to go skateboarding.

There are success stories however:

Three guiding principles

From its inception, Southridge had a mandate to break the mold. It was designed by the principal, teachers and parents. They settled on three traits that would define their school: relationships, rigor and relevance.

How do they do it?

Give all students a teacher adviser to nurture and nudge them at least twice a week for all four years.

Create a schedule that reduces the typical teacher load to 120 students, not 150 or more.

Offer scores of advanced classes. Instead of making it difficult for students to get into those courses, they make it hard to avoid them.

Must be an election year:

White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters Bush's 2005 budget proposal calls for an increase of more than $2 billion for elementary and secondary education, a 48 percent boost over 2001.

Wow $2 billion will help print a lot of tests.

I've always thought it was interesting that films, unlike literature, have a stereotype that by using them the teacher is being lazy and the kids are being cheated.

This article proves otherwise:

When Gwen Bailey began teaching film last year at Richard Lindblom High School on Chicago's south side, she noticed that several of her students were barely passing their other classes.

To Ms. Bailey's surprise, however, many not only earned an 'A' in film, but went on to improve their other grades, too. "It's because film is an excellent way to examine life," says Bailey, who shows films like "Citizen Kane" and "Rashomon."

If used correctly and if thoughtfully planned out, film is a great learning tool. Couldn't lit books/novels also be used by lazy teachers? "Read chapters 1-7 by Thursday", how many students here that a week?

Posting is writing, editing, thinking, etc. Publish will uplink your post to the web. I used the first standard template Blogger had on their list but they've updated since.