In an earlier blog I commented on Governor Heineman's interview with the World Herald (October 9, 2011) on education in Nebraska. Here is what he said about changes that might boost student performance.
Heineman- "We need a longer school day and a longer school year. Kids who aren't performing, help them out in the summer.---(In Fremont)We were going to have kids in the fourth grade who could do fifth grade math go to the fifth grade class. "And, Oh. we can't do that." They can play together in the under 12 soccer league, but they can't be in different classes just because of age? We have to get away from some of the old mind-sets. If kids can progress faster, so be it. If we can challenge more kids in the last half of their senior year, let them take dual credit courses at community colleges.."
My opinion- I agree that a longer school year would increase student achievement (right now most schools in Nebraska schedule 180 days). Other countries have students in school at least 200 days, many are at 220 days. But the cost of adding school days makes it unaffordable in the minds of many. Especially if schools cannot produce evidence of increased learning.
As far as placing students into classes by age, in the Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary we want students placed at the correct level of difficulty so that the student can be successful. If the work is not challenging the student, we want to accelerate that student into a higher level of work. This is called cross-grade grouping. The problem with placing students is that we want to avoid placement decisions based on "parental energy"- a term I heard used by an Elkhorn administrator to describe efforts by parents to get students placed into classes that the student did not meet the critieria for. We have to get past the excuses ("my child is not a good test taker", or "it might hurt their self-esteem")and make academic decisions based on student data. Some might argue that too much emphasis is placed on reading, writing and math, but if students don't master these skills when they are young, that limits their potential as adults. There are many people who are comfortable with the status quo of "the haves and the have-nots". Public schools should be a place where family social status does not effect student learning.
I also enjoyed the sports analogy. He has a point. I know of football coaches that will spends hours on weekends collecting data on their players (watching film) and making very detailed practice plans to improve player performance. How can we get the same enthusiasm for teaching math, or science, or english?
As for dual credit courses, B-R offers a possibility of up to 29 credits through Northeast Community College. Currently 21 B-R students are taking dual credit classes.
I am glad to see our Governor is a supporter of many of the things we are doing at B-R. I hope he will support providing the resources necessary for all Nebraska schools to improve student performance.
