Turning the Community School Upside Down
On Tuesday, we pondered the concern that the community schools approach recently championed by Randi Weingarten of the AFT could turn schools into "social service agencies of last resort" while driving education to the margins. This is indeed a danger, we argued, when schools must use their money to "fill the void" left by cuts to essential social services.
A recent story in the Washington Post bears out this fear: Apparently, teachers are assuming medical duties--even managing students' diabetes--as more school nurses get their walking papers. Not only is this situation potentially dangerous, it distracts teachers from teaching. This is a perversion of what should be happening. It turns the community school model on its head.
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The Long Turnaround
According to the numbers, Central Elementary School in Roundup, Montana, seems to fit the currently fashionable definition of a “turnaround” school. After many years of below-average test scores, the school has recently made double-digit gains in the number of its students meeting proficiency on the statewide assessment. In true turnaround fashion, that improvement appears to have happened in a very short period of time. As recently as the 2005–2006 school year, for example, Central’s math score was nearly 20 percentage points below the state average. In 2009 it was at the state average.
But ask current principal Vicki Begin about the school’s success and she’ll insist that it’s been anything but a quick turnaround. Begin, who is in her third year at Central, gives much of the credit not only to the school’s veteran teaching staff, which averages 23 years of experience, but also to her predecessor, Joe Ingalls, who guided the school from 1994–1995 to 2006–2007. Obviously, this is not a case of overnight success or of cleaning house and starting over. Read more...
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