Tools for Schools

Transmitted via New York 's Public Broadcasting Stations, produced by the New York State Education Department and the New York State Satellite Broadcast Network; recorded at the studios at Bulmer Telecommunications Center, Hudson Valley Community College.

For additional information, call or write:

John Quinn
Room 668 EBA
Office of Curriculum and Instruction
New York State Education Department
Albany, NY 12234
(518) 474-3954
E-mail: jquinn@mail.nysed.gov

For copies of the videotape and Facilitator Guide, contact Teresa Moore, Questar III BOCES, (518) 477-6749.

>> Rochelle: Good afternoon. I'm Rochelle Cassella welcoming you to the start of the 1999/2000 school year broadcast schedule of the State Education Department's Satellite Broadcast Network.

I hope you had a great summer break, that your school year has gotten off to a good start. This is another important year for us. Results from the new fourth grade assessments in English are encouraging, but they also indicate that we've got some work to do. And this is a critical time for high school seniors who have yet to pass the English Regents exam.

No matter what the results at your individual school or district, it is the time to keep reminding yourself it can be done; students can succeed. And, Commissioner Rick Mills, recent statistics on the results of the English Regents exam indicate that success really is within our reach, isn't that so?

>> Commissioner Mills: It truly is. We're still collecting data on the success of students with the English Regents exams, but I can tell you that the vast majority of students who entered the ninth grade in 1996, the year that the Regents adopted the standards, have already passed the English Regents exam. I have talked to people in some regions of the state where -- I think of one in particular where the district superintendent said that of 1,200 juniors last year, all but 76 had passed. They're so serious about getting every single child that superintendents there carry index cards around with the names of the children they have not yet been able to reach, but they will.

Fourth grade, we saw a lot in the paper about that. I think a lot of people were convinced that children couldn't stand up to that more challenging task, and except for about 11% who I believe are in academic difficulty, the news is good there, too, and it's going to get a lot better.

>> Rochelle: Right. So it's looking good, but we've got some work to do.

The Education Trust, a non-profit organization working with low-performing schools, conducted some of the research that indicates that things are going well and there's some things to do. Kati Haycock is the director of the Education Trust.

>> Our work at the Education Trust involves relationships with school districts and universities in different communities around the country, most of them high poverty. And we basically work with teachers and administrators at both levels, higher and K-12, on being clear about standards and then about the changes that are necessary to bring classroom practice into line with that.

In the course of that work, we have become absolutely convinced of two things. One is that clear, high and quite public standards for student achievement are critically important, just like you're doing here in New York, not just for improving achievement generally but for closing gaps between groups that, in many regards, is for minority kids who have been the biggest victims of our system of different standards for different kids, and they can profit immensely from this work.

And that's really the second part of this. There are a lot of doubters about high standards especially and rigorous assessments, oddly far more in this country than in any other country, people who say, "Oh, no, all kids couldn't possibly write well and analyze a piece of literature and do complicated mathematics; they just can't. But when you look at the evidence, the opposite is quite true, and when you set high standards, when you make sure you're teaching all kids to those standards, and in particular when teachers get help in replacing some of the old lessons that didn't work so well, even the old favorites, I must say, that kids' achievement really rises. And we make a real mistake if we don't challenge both our kids and our teachers to improve their practice.

The suggestion that some people make that any special ed student shouldn't be held to these standards because, "Oh, poor thing, they couldn't do it," is simply dead wrong. The states that are assessing special ed students instead of excluding them are finding, interestingly, that the vast majority of kids who we label as special ed can actually achieve at high standards and that despite what educators feared, that in truth when we include special education kids, even in these accountability systems that hold teachers and principals and schools accountable for progress, that they have only a tiny, tiny impact in terms of the overall school achievement and that, again, despite all the fears, that in truth it's much more sensible to include these kids in both the expectations that we hold for all kids and in our assessment accountability system because that's what helps drive the improvements.

>> Rochelle: The research shows that we are on the right track. Haycock's research also showed some common elements shared by schools where students did very well.

>> When you look at the difference between schools that succeed, especially schools that succeed with even poor kids, and those that don't, they're -- you find different things, but you also find a kind of common set of characteristics that really do distinguish them from others: The clarity of their standards, especially the determination of the leadership to get kids to those standards and to bring the school community along to that; the investment in the most important thing of all, which is developing teacher capacity to get kids to standards.

That kind of focus on the things that really matter is what really separates these schools from others and as well as the willingness to, for the adults in the school, to be really held accountable for this, to accept responsibility, not for the things they can't control and, God knows, school folks can't control it all, but for the things they can control, like the expectations for kids' performance, like the demanding nature of the assignments, like the use of resources on the things that matter instead of the things that don't. Those are the things that really distinguish the schools that work from those that don't.

There's been a variety of researchers that have looked quite carefully at what sets the more successful schools apart from those that are less successful. In fact, we just finished a study of the highest performing high poverty schools in 25 states that really tried to look at what was going on differently in these schools from others, and that's -- from all of those sources, you really get the same messages over and over again, and there have been studies of this now in Tennessee, in Alabama, in Texas, large-scale studies, all of which have concluded that the single most important variable in whether a child learns or not is the teacher.

Unless the people who are going to implement standards in classrooms get ongoing, intensive help at their sites, not off in some class, you know, once a month someplace, but help meeting with each other, looking at student work, asking the question: Does it meet standards? If not, what could I do differently? That's the investment that we've failed to make in most parts of the country and that we absolutely have to make if we're going to make this thing work. Gains in student achievement are really more dependent upon professional development, on both its quantity but, more important, on its quality than on any other thing. Research is really quite clear about that.

>> Rochelle: As we looked at some successful schools in New York State, we also found common elements, even when there were vast differences in student demographics, geographical location and school finances. We're calling these common elements our Tools for Schools. That's our theme for this year's series of State Education Department's Satellite Broadcast Network programs.

Our first task today will be to give you a description of those tools. Then, once you have seen them, we'll show you how two very different school districts applied the tools to help their fourth grade students achieve very high results on last January's English language arts assessments.

For a discussion of how the tools are being applied to seniors who have yet to tackle that English Regents, we'll visit one of the big-five city school districts.

And before we leave today, we'll review those tools and we'll talk about how they can be adapted for use in other districts across the state. Now, the Tools for Schools.

(Music)

>> The Tools for Schools are basic elements common to all school districts. In the toolbox are responsive leadership, comprehensive planning, ongoing staff development, engaging curriculum, flexible resources, and the supportive involvement of parents and community.

Leadership is responsive when it provides teachers and school staff with direction and support. This can be accomplished by developing a comprehensive plan for the district or school building that includes a vision and mission statement, goals for student performance and a means of measuring strengths and weaknesses.

Good leaders create an atmosphere of trust and encouragement that enables teachers to try innovative classroom techniques and fosters a team approach that calls on teachers, school support staff, parents and community members to work together to achieve student success.

As new standards lead to new levels of student achievement, they may require teachers to approach classroom methods in new ways. Staff development is vital to the support of teachers as they incorporate new learning standards and performance measurements into the daily lessons of their students. Off-site workshops and seminars may provide faculty with fresh ideas and opportunities to network with colleagues from other districts.

But the most effective staff development is that which is provided within a teacher's home school and is ongoing. BOCES and teacher centers can be a resource for long-term staff development programs. Administrators need to review with teachers and school staff how they can strengthen their skills and provide support systems as teachers work together to acquire new skills. Teachers should seek help from their colleagues when needed, remain open to reviewing and sharing model practices, and continue to pursue professional development opportunities.

An engaging curriculum is one that is not only based on the new learning standards but also is made relevant and meaningful to both teachers and students. In developing vision and mission statements, administrators can set a tone that learning is fun. An engaging curriculum allows for innovative teaching strategies, accounts for a variety of student learning styles, and incorporates learning opportunities into a pupil's life outside the classroom.

The word "resources" brings to mind finances, but in today's school environment, flexible resources go beyond dollars and cents to include time and talent as well as fresh approaches to program funding. Administrators and teachers alike can ask themselves if time during, before and after the school day can be used to better advantage, explore such novel approaches as block scheduling, extended school days and Saturday academies.

The quality of current instructional time may be improved by eliminating distractions during the school day. The talents, skills, enthusiasm and interests of teachers, support staff, even parents and community members also may prove to be an untapped resource for schools.

It is more difficult for today's children to succeed academically on their own. They need help from home and within their community. For students to benefit from the supportive involvement of parents and community, however, school administrators and teachers must create an environment that welcomes the parent or community resident as a member of the school's supportive team, informing parents and the community of the new learning standards and assessments, explaining the relevance for students and providing parents and community members with guidelines for how they can aid children in achieving those standards can promote the involvement of non-educator individuals which could make the difference between a student's failure or success.

(Music)

>> Rochelle: A lot of interesting information, Commissioner. Any reaction?

>> Commissioner Mills: A lot of reaction. I think that list would strike a chord with the average person. It's common sense. Also struck by how it springs right out of the research. What we have heard here is very similar to what Kati Haycock was just telling us.

Leadership, responsive leadership: I think it should be abundantly obvious to people that the task of leadership now is to make certain that the instructional process works. Leaders have to get behind teachers. They have to understand instruction. That's why that school report card lands on the administrator's desk, so people have to pay attention.

The importance of strong curriculum, really rigorous curriculum where teachers get together and talk about it and constantly hone it to ensure that it's strong for everyone.

Professional growth -- I don't know if professional development is really the right word anymore. It's really a constant study of our craft. "This worked; this didn't. Let's stop doing that. What worked for you?" A constant professional exchange so that we have a massive body of professional work that is successful for children. That's the whole point.

>> Rochelle: I think it's also very exciting, too, for teachers, and we'll talk with a couple of them here and will see it in our videotapes, too, that teachers say -- longtime veteran teachers saying, "I made some changes. I'm not teaching the way I used to." And on the one hand, while that's scary, that's also exciting, too. It's good for them.

>> Commissioner Mills: It's a tremendously exciting time to be a teacher. We'll hear from all of you -- (Laughter) Certainly an exciting time to be a commissioner! (Laughter)

>> Rochelle: I can imagine.

Well, it's time to see those tools in action. We Visited two schools who couldn't be farther apart geographically, financially, demographically: Beaver River Central School and P.S. 150.

Consider this: Beaver River is a small, rural district in northern New York with just 1,200 students in the entire school district, none of them in the limited English proficient category. 27% are eligible for free lunch. P.S. 150, on the other hand, is in the Sunnyside section of Queens, New York. It has many more students than Beaver River, and its students represent 70 countries. They speak 40 languages. 70% of the student body is eligible for free lunch.

But both schools have very high attendance rates, few behavioral problems, and by using similar tools in ways that are appropriate to their individual student body needs, fourth grade students at both schools had very high success levels on last January's English language arts assessment.

Let's take a look.

(Music)

>> It's not hard to imagine just how good the good life can be here in Beaver Falls, New York. This quiet, rustic town is located in the foothills of the Adirondacks in northern New York, 25 miles southeast of Watertown. Surrounded by a wide expanse of farmland, its rural setting is home to generations of smalltown folk, dairy farmers and others whose forefathers worked the land, families who are proud of their tradition and upbringing, and prouder still of the children they're bringing up.

Beaver River Elementary School, student body, 470. Like most school districts around the state, they are reworking their instructional programs here to make sure that students are able to meet the higher New York State learning standards.

>> It's been an ongoing process the last few years, and with the advent of the New York State assessments, it's really got the teachers focused on those standards to prepare for the assessments.

>> Please look at your spelling workbooks, please, page 7.

>> Fourth graders at Beaver River Elementary School are being recognized for their high performance on the State's new English language arts assessment given in January. 81% of the fourth graders passed the E.L.A. for level 3/4. How did they do it?

>> There was a climate of excellence here. But we needed to streamline that; we needed to fine tune that, and I used what was here but I also used things that I had read, that I had studied, staff development.

>> From the start, teachers and administrators at Beaver River worked together to assess what had to be done. Working together, they formulated a comprehensive multiyear plan. The key, according to teachers, preparation.

>> There was a lot of preparation ahead of time. We had a lot of workshops, a lot of exposure. Once we felt comfortable as a staff with those, then we started going through and really taking a look at our curriculum.

>> Teachers were allowed to take the lead in the decision-making process during the many meetings and planning sessions that were held.

>> I often felt frustrated because I felt that some of the directions we went in didn't really coincide 100% with my own viewpoints, but I feel if you're leading a school, it can't be just the principal's viewpoint.

>> Can you find another word in the sentence...

>> Teachers found themselves busier than ever, but they were all determined to help the students succeed, to engage them in the learning process while at the same time covering all the material to be featured on the new assessments. Teachers needed to map out their strategy.

>> The curriculum mapping is probably the biggest factor that has been the most helpful for getting yourself focused on the standards.

>> We used the curriculum map that we had worked on all last year as our core. We all follow that core. Those are the things that we've all agreed on in our grade level need to be taught according to the New York State standards. However, how we might approach it between the three of us might totally be different.

>> Science, have we started that?

>> Nope, we start Monday.

>> Okay. Then I can hold off on that. Thank you.

>> Unit 2...

>> Teachers meet with one another to share ideas and to plan their yearlong course outlines. Working as a team, they find out which approach works.

>> We also checked with other grade levels. Hopefully we're not doing the same exact lesson that they're doing.

>> So what are you writing? Finish that.

>> The groundwork that was laid for the new assessments here at Beaver River can really be traced back to work done in prior years. The elementary program is strong all the way around, enabling fourth grade teachers to build on work done with students in third grade and even earlier.

>> I've got two groups here. Koala, okay? Ashley, I'll let you guys do the Indian rhinoceros.

>> In addition to the teachers collaborating, Beaver River has an active district council and three building-level teams composed of parents, staff, board members and community members.

>> We have weekly folders where the parents can take the time over the weekend to look through their child's work. We have parent volunteers in the classroom.

>> For me, it was changing my teaching style and becoming more flexible, less structured.

>> I guess we have hopes of the children from last year, this year, doing just as well if not better.

(Music)

>> Welcome to the Big Apple... New York City, the Borough of Queens, to be exact. Big city life, fast-paced, charged with high hopes and expectations, and nowhere are expectations higher and hope more abundant than inside P.S. 150.

>> Okay, boys and girls. As we were discussing yesterday about different kinds of pets you had or would like to have...

>> Like Beaver River, fourth grade students here at P.S. 150 performed above average on the state's new English language arts assessments last January. 62% of its fourth graders passed the E.L.A. for level 3/4.

>> I was extremely happy. I had parents stop me on the street and high-five me, and I'm not even a fourth grade teacher.

>> How did P.S. 150 accomplish its goal of preparing fourth graders for the new standards? Their strategy mirrored Beaver River in areas of leadership, shared decision making, staff development, curriculum mapping and parental involvement.

Here's a closer look at their teaching tools.

In a school where students represent 70 different countries and where 40 different languages are spoken, it is important for administrators to make sure parents are actively involved in the process.

>> I would buy phonics books that would help him improve in reading, in his vocabulary, help him with his vocabulary, help him with his math.

>> Deborah Bonilla is among those teachers holding parent/teacher conferences before the start of school. Parents have taken a hands-on approach to helping their students learn.

>> We have a computer in the classroom so the children will be able to do research projects.

>> All right. Who can see our aim for the day?

>> To meet the learning standards, P.S. 150 has instituted block scheduling. Time is devoted to concentrating on what students must know for the new assessments.

Here, teacher Joohi Chun begins a writing curriculum with character development, using a graphic organizer. Children are encouraged to think of their own personal experiences to develop details about a character.

>> Anything else you know? Priscilla?

>> My brother likes to sing.

>> They are given handouts to help clarify what they are expected to do.

>> And then you're going to tell us what he does, what he looks like, what he feels, and what he says. Now you're going to do this on your own and then we'll continue.

>> The handouts are used to reinforce the reading assignment to illustrate character development.

>> I was a little bit scared about sleeping upstairs...

>> Students are then placed in groups and create the traits that best describe their main character.

>> I think it's important for kids to relate to their own experiences as they incorporate it into our lesson, and families and friends which they know well will help them understand character development in other stories.

>> This is just a reminder; we are going to be silent reading as we're listening, and the third thing we're going to be doing is?

>> Take notes.

>> Take notes.

>> Teacher Sylvia Feliciano is helping fourth graders with listening and writing skills. As part of her block, students are reading along in their books to a taped version of the book. It's a new approach and somewhat of a challenge for students. Vocabulary words have to be isolated, details about the character jotted down in their notes, and after they have read the chapter, the dictionaries come out and in groups they look up the meaning.

>> What are you looking for?

>> Tonight they're supposed to go home and review the vocabulary words, review the main idea and the facts that support the main idea, and they have to be able to go home and reread their own notes.

>> So this is basically what summarizes the main idea under the few pages that we read.

>> (Speaking in foreign language)

>> This is an integrated classroom. The teachers co-teach the fourth grade class with students who are bilingual. Several of the students have little proficiency in English. The teacher has brought in her notes from her journal. Students must then use their own journal notes to create a graphic organizer. Using the main details from their journals, they will then create a new story.

>> Good. So you're using one of the strategies we learned, observation. Good.

>> While students are busy writing, each teacher meets individually with them to assess their writing skills.

>> At this particular point in time, it's education for all children, regardless of whether they're special ed, bilingual, whether they're ESL children. All of the teachers are putting into place a very high-level instructional program and we cannot say, "These children cannot excel." We have to say, "These children will excel." If you build that into your school culture, the children will excel.

>> For both P.S. 150 and Beaver River Elementary, the challenges were the same. Using limited resources, provide the best environment for learning, the best curriculum and staff development to support teachers, involve parents and community members in the process. It has proven to be a most effective means of implementing the new state standards, a proven formula for success.

>> Neat. And you know what I really liked about this? The last sentence. Would you read it even louder, Taylor, for everyone to hear?

>> Rochelle: With us today, Gloria Guzman, principal of P.S. 150; Julia Waligor, former principal at Beaver River, now superintendent of Remsen Central School District, and fourth grade teacher from Beaver River Martha Allen. Welcome all of you.

You can't get much farther apart than that, can you, Commissioner? (Laughter) But what's so exciting is that they have used the same tools and we have seen high success. So everyone out there who says, "That's not going to work in my school because..." It kind of dispels that kind of argument right there.

Let's get into some of the details of what you did in your schools. First of all, I would like to talk about the staff development or staff growth because Martha in Beaver River talked about all of that planning and all of those meetings and things. I'm going to ask Judy. Give me a bit of background on what those meetings were like and what that staff development consisted of.

>> Well, the staff development started nine years ago at least with the compact for learning. We started working on our shared decision-making plans and from that, we began working on curriculum, instruction, the assessment pieces, so teachers and administrators met and talked about all of those pieces and how we could make that a program at Beaver River and what we could do with that.

>> Commissioner Mills: Is it a continuous thing?

>> Yes.

>> Commissioner Mills: It's not something that happened for awhile and stopped?

>> No. We started many years ago and the effort was ongoing. We devoted our staff development days to that process. But in addition to those days, we also incorporated after-school meetings and so on. So it wasn't just for four days a year when we had our staff development. We really had an ongoing process, before school, after-school meetings. The schedule was very full for everyone involved.

>> Rochelle: Did you also incorporate some -- how did the staff development take place on limited resources and also to make it in-house and ongoing, as Kati Haycock suggested is the most effective kind of staff development?

>> Well, I think that took place because of the dedication of the people involved. They really put heart and soul into this. It was part of their entire professional sense, and so they really took this very seriously.

>> Rochelle: Okay. And also you called on teacher centers, BOCES -- you used those resources available to you as well.

>> Yes, we did. And that was very helpful. Without those outside resources, we probably wouldn't have been quite so successful. They really gave us a sense of what was happening at the state level. We took that information and we used it back at Beaver River.

>> Rochelle: Gloria, you're nodding your head in agreement. It sounds like you guys did the same thing?

>> Yes, we have. And we have also done a couple of things that may be a little different, I guess because of the different systems.

But our district has also put in place a lot of staff development for individual schools in District 30. Every school has a literacy team where those teachers come from the individual schools and they go for training at the district level, sometimes the teacher center, or they bring in resources from the outside. Those teachers come back to the schools and do turnkey training with the staff that's on board.

We have set aside grade conferences where teachers are constantly meeting together to take a look at the curriculum that has to be implemented, learning about the principles of learning, struggling with it, understanding it, as well as the standards, and then applying the existing curriculum, or the curriculum that they have been taught in the college courses and how to transfer that knowledge that they have to now the knowledge that has to be taught to the children.

It's been a tremendous amount of their own time. They have given up a lot of time. Sometimes they meet in the morning before school, during school; they stay after school. And another piece that we've added is we've changed the way in which observations are being done here at P.S. 150. We now have teacher performance review where teachers come together and they develop new lessons and they have to incorporate the standards into what their performance is going to be, and it's basically been presentations of either workshops that they have attended or successful lessons that they have accomplished.

>> Commissioner Mills: Do teachers get a chance to watch other teachers teach?

>> Sometimes they do. We've had teachers as well. I also have at every faculty conference something that's a little bit different and some of the all-day staff developments where we're now using individual teacher's successful practices in their classrooms and they're sharing it.

>> Commissioner Mills: Some of the practices that I saw on that tape were really quite sophisticated, and a new person coming in would have a chance to learn that from more experienced teachers?

>> Yes, we have tried to pair them off.

>> Commissioner Mills: So you don't lose anything?

>> No, we're trying not to! (Laughter)

>> Rochelle: Martha, we heard Ellen, your colleague from Beaver River, talk about how she's changed in what she does in the classroom. How have you changed what you do in the classroom as a result of all of this?

>> Well, I think probably the writing process, the actual writing process being -- making sure I'm following every step, making sure there's a lot of modeling, making sure that when the kids have done their pieces they have a chance to share.

Again, parent communication. A lot of them, the kids have a sense of purpose for their writing, that it's not just going to go in a drawer or get a mark on it, but that other people have a chance to see it.

Again, not just writing things we have to do but to have kind of a sense of humor and that it can be fun.

So, you know, those are the basic things. But I think also just talking with our colleagues makes a big difference and saying what works, what doesn't, how did you do this or did you find your children were having trouble in this particular area? It's just a constant dialogue which I think helps us all improve.

>> Commissioner Mills: When teachers -- when you and your colleagues get together to talk about lessons, do you have student work there?

>> Yes.

>> Commissioner Mills: Not just your students' work but the work of colleagues?

>> Right. Lots of times, if we have a specific -- for example, if the children are going to write on America, we may all four approach it in a different way or the actual story might be different, but when we get together like that, we still talk about where we find the strengths, the weaknesses.

When we were giving them the practice tests, we got together; we scored -- we just picked three random samples from each of our classrooms and we each scored all of those and then we got together and talked about, you know, what we found, to see how we were grading and looking at kids' papers as a whole, as a whole team.

>> Rochelle: Interesting. Parental involvement, I think, is also fascinating. Beaver River, you really get parents right into the classroom as well, don't you? Let's talk about that.

>> Yes. Well, first of all, they really want to be there. It's a very community-oriented school, so they readily volunteer and we're glad to have their assistance.

When you walk down corridors, you see that it's a very open system. There are a lot of parents, grandparents in our system. So I think that develops a sense of trust and also it helps them to understand what we're doing so that when they're not in school, when the children aren't in school, parents and grandparents can help them at home because they have seen what's happened in the school environment. And I think that's very helpful.

It's very -- it's a very different endeavor now than it was when many of the parents and grandparents graduated a few years ago. And so it is a process of informing them and educating them about what's happening. It's very informal, and so people seem to enjoy that and we're glad to have their help.

>> Rochelle: Gloria, what about how you are working with parents?

>> Well, one of our biggest challenges is the fact that we have parents that are so multilingual in our community. So we do a major presentation at the beginning of the year where we actually explain the new format of the assessment that's going to take place, which is very different for parents either from the countries that they came from or if they were educated in the system here. They have to understand that it's no longer the short answer; it's more the writing and the critical thinking that, you know, plays a major factor in terms of the new assessment.

So in having this major presentation, we discuss with parents different strategies that they can incorporate, you know, into their children's daily lives. We also have the classroom teachers do presentations on how they can individualize some of the instruction and follow up with some of the instruction that they sent home for homework.

In addition to that, usually around late winter, we do what we call an assessment workshop where the workshops are also provided in Spanish and Korean for the parents so that they have a good understanding of what's happening.

And the last piece to that is that we have sample assessments which we have the parents take during --

>> Rochelle: Ah! (Laughter)

>> -- during the night of our presentations because they really need to understand the difficulty.

>> Commissioner Mills: What was the reaction when you did that?

>> They really feel sorry for the children! (Laughter)

>> Commissioner Mills: They also feel that something very serious is happening in your school.

>> Yes, and I think they have to understand not just the implications for their children as fourth graders but the implications for the children as future adults, you know, when they get to high school how much more difficult it's going to be at that point than it was for them when they were in high school.

>> Rochelle: We're going to move to high school right now and take a look at the Syracuse City School District which ended the school last June with 105 students heading into the senior year without having passed the English Regents. Actually, that represents just about 11% of the senior class.

Using grant money, English teacher Linda Pavese set up a pilot program for some of these students. By the time the students took the English Regents again in August, they and Linda had learned a great deal.

>> Eleventh grader Shontay Thomas has his eyes on a prize: A passing score on the January English Regents exam. Success on the test stands between Thomas and his high school diploma. He's failed the exam once before. Now he and seven other juniors at Corcoran High School must retake the test. They have enrolled in a four-week intensive summer preparatory class.

>> We grouped a lot. We went over the things that we thought that distracted us the first time, you know, and we were taught about like how to graph the things that we needed to put in our papers and stuff.

>> Thomas says the class has helped him minimize distractions and improve his analytical and writing skills. English instructor Linda Pavese taught the course. To zero in on the students' specific problems, she interviewed them even before the class began.

>> I started off by really interviewing the kids. I think by surveying and talking with them in the beginning about what's difficult for them, you gain a window of understanding. And also it says to a student, "Gee, they really care that this is what I think."

>> Pavese says the key to success in working with the class was tailoring instruction to meet the standards.

>> We did a lot of modeling. We would teach a graphic organizer for a section of the exam and we would put it together and then we would write it on the overhead, all together with everybody giving ideas.

We really were looking at what everyone needed and trying to help each other. We did a lot of group things and not so much individual things, that kids can hear other ideas and feed off that, and what one student understands, another one doesn't, and peers really help each other a great deal. So those are the kinds of things we did.

>> It's an approach Pavese says school districts and teachers need to incorporate into curriculum standards and daily classes.

>> We need to work smarter and look at, across curriculums, the kinds of skills that kids need so that we're dovetailing those things and constantly overlapping and reinforcing. Instead of modeling things after practice tests, what you need to do is pull -- you know, take the standards, pull the test apart and say, "All right. Well, what does a child need to be able to do to get here and how do I put this within the way that I want to be teaching?"

In many ways, all teachers are going to need to be English teachers. All teachers are going to need to be content reading teachers. That's the kind of thing that needs to happen.

>> With the four-week course behind them, both students and teacher have gained new skills and insight.

>> We don't all learn at the same rate and we haven't all had the same experiences. But I do think that the kids can do this. It just is going to take some people longer than others.

>> Now that I know how I'm going to react to this test, I can just go right into it and just try and do the best that I can.

>> Rochelle: We wish Shontay good luck as he heads into this year. Linda Pavese is with us. We're delighted to have her.

Linda, how did the four-week course come about and what was the day in class like for the students?

>> It was a proposal for a pilot because we knew that we needed to address the needs of students who weren't there yet, and these were students who had passed the eleventh grade but were far from competency in the Regents, and so we decided to try it with a small group and keep track of what we did with them and hopefully we can be replicating it with students who need it this fall, start from there.

I guess I started by interviewing because these are young adults. These are people who have a goal and they really do know a lot about themselves and they do know what is difficult for them. They were able to tell me what people had done with them before, what kinds of things they had used, and so I could kind of model things a little differently or replicate things that had been successful for them.

Also, there's a kind of self-esteem issue for these students. They have already failed something twice. And it's something really important. So it was important for me to establish a relationship that we're in this as a team; we're in this together; I care that you do this; it matters to me. And it certainly mattered to them.

We approached much of the learning as a team approach. We were going to get everyone together to get this to happen. I wish I could say it had happened for all of them. We worked very hard. We pulled things apart; we taught graphic organizers. As I analyzed, I kept a journal, kept a notebook, kept going back, would try something different. But they didn't make competency, and it hurt me and it hurt them. But when you look at it, they all gained in points from the time they took it last. This was a four-week program. So students perhaps who had a 43 now have a 51. They're four points away from perhaps reaching competency. So...

>> Commissioner Mills: Did anybody give up?

>> No.

>> Commissioner Mills: No one gave up?

>> No. They came; they took the Regents. The people who proctored told me they were the last ones to leave.

>> Commissioner Mills: So what happens next for them? You keep going?

>> We do need to keep going, and what we need to look at Corcoran High School is how we're going to facilitate that. To me, it's difficult in an extended day when a student's been in school from 8 to 3 already. So we need to look at how we group students for instruction, perhaps pull them into study and supports and work with them separately there. Most of these students are now in twelfth grade classes with other students who have met competency. So we need to look at how we tailor instruction and how we make sure that their needs are being met because in January they're going to be taking this again.

>> Rochelle: What's interesting is the motivation, that these kids are still motivated and how do you keep them motivated as they go into it again?

>> I don't know. I gave them breakfast. (Laughter) But it was a team; we were really a team. We worked really hard together. I called parents if someone was late, if they didn't show. Their parents really want this for them as well. I think we need to do more to bring parents into this, and it's difficult at the high school age. High school students really don't want their parents to be involved in what they're doing, but parents still care about their kids in high school and need to know, you know, the kinds of readings that kids could be doing at home to help them, the kinds of talking that you can do with students to get them to give an opinion and to give an idea and give reasons because that kind of thinking then becomes incorporated into the kind of writing that they do. So I think that's a big issue for us.

But I talked on the earlier tape about the fact that we need to work smarter, and I think that's a big part of it.

>> Commissioner Mills: Is your teaching going to change or has it changed because of this experience with these students?

>> I've always been pretty hands-on, pretty much of a modeler kind of person, but I think I've become a great deal more reflective about looking back and trying to pinpoint the moment where something was an "aha" for someone that I could replicate. I really think that it's much more important to me to have that relationship with a child so that they feel that I'm with them in getting through this because I think at this point for these students that's essential. They can't feel what we're doing is just drilling and drilling and drilling a practice test over and over again because I think we're going to lose them.

>> Commissioner Mills: It's not about passing a test --

>> No, it's not.

>> Commissioner Mills: It's about becoming competent.

>> It's about the skill being embedded in what they do and learning how to do that.

>> Rochelle: Good luck to everybody.

Time to review the tools that we have seen used so far. In Beaver River and P.S. 150, we saw two very different districts: rural northern New York, New York City; small student body, large student body; no L.E.P. students, lots of L.E.P. students; small free lunch eligible and large free lunch eligible.

Strong leadership with visions for all children succeeding, lots of staff development, shared decision-making, curriculum mapping, comprehensive planning, how we incorporate standards.

Standards-based curriculum, reading emphasized, success well recognized in both schools, notetaking emphasized in P.S. 150; using block scheduling, using teacher planning periods, using parent volunteers in classrooms; using Title I money for extended day program at P.S. 150.

Parents involved, understanding the standards, really getting briefed on the standards, given support materials so they can work with students at home, trained on how to assist in child literacy, parenting skills, in-class support, and on committees to select school administration. I know that was a big issue at P.S. 150.

Corcoran High tools that we saw Linda using: Staff development. She kept a journal. She really started to think about what worked, what didn't work, and now she is using a standards-based curriculum. She told me that no lesson in her classroom from herself or her student teacher goes through without saying, "What standard does this address?"

Individual attention based on student interviews, group learning and discussion. Learning can be fun. She used motivational tools, breakfasts, goody bags, motivational slogans. Resources: She looked for a grant to fund the program and she used summer school to help these students gain some competency.

Now, some basic tips for how you can use some of the Tools for Schools in your particular area.

(Music)

>> Rochelle: As this is our first program under the Tools for Schools theme, the Commissioner has a call to action for school administrators and teachers out there. Commissioner, what is it that we're looking for under this program?

>> Commissioner Mills: Well, it should come as no surprise to anyone, we are looking for results. We want to see student achievement go up. I personally want to know -- I want to hear from people who have used these tools; I want to hear about their success. We're going to have a program in May that will put the spotlight on those who have been able to do this, and we want to keep sharing success with everyone.

>> Rochelle: Great. We want to be able to look at more model programs like we have seen here today and hear some of those similar results on the assessments and things.

Okay. Good enough. You've got your challenge out there: Start using these tools; get yourself a good plan, and let us know how you're doing so that we can incorporate you into our program in May.

To reach us, you can contact me. You can call rcassel1@twcny.rr.com; that's my E-mail address. Or you can reach me in the Albany office at 518-477-6749. You can also send your suggestions and your comments to John Quinn at jquinn@mail.nysed.gov, or you can reach Teresa Moore, the program's administrative assistant, at tmoore@questar.org.

Also, if you would like some additional tape or you want a facilitator's guide from today's program or you have questions or some comments you would like to make about what you have seen today, you can contact us, again at those numbers.

We would like your feedback also on what's going on and we have a survey that's now on-line. So we want you to get on-line and check out the Tools for Schools site and tell us what you think about what you have seen today, some of the past programs, and you'll also find a schedule for what's coming up in the future. To provide feedback, you can complete the October 4th Tools for Schools survey at www.nysed.gov. What you do is you hit the "Schools for Tools" link and it will bring up the survey and you'll be able to complete it.

That is all the time that we have for today. I would like to thank Commissioner Mills and also Linda, Judy, Gloria, and Martha for their trip in to Albany for our program today and also for the good work that they have done and continued success to you all.

Our next Tools for Schools program airs Wednesday, December 1st at 2 p.m. on public broadcasting stations. It's going to deal with English language arts crossing the boundaries into all subject areas. Remember when Linda said that all teachers will have to become English teachers, reading teachers, content teachers? Well, she really led right into what our next program is about. Linda, thanks very much. The check is in the mail! (Laughter) We're going to show you some schools where that's really coming into play, that they really are working with those English language arts skills across the boundaries. So make sure that you mark Wednesday, December 1st on your calendar; that's the day of the program.

Make sure that you fill out that survey at www.nysed.gov, Tools for Schools site.

I'm Rochelle Cassella. Thank you very much for joining us. Have a good afternoon and rest of your day and make sure that you're back with us in December.