Superintendent's Page

The Science of Teaching

One of the odd things about a career in education, unlike a career in engineering or medicine, is that most all of us have spent years during our own childhood in schools – and that translates for some people as qualifying them to be an expert in what it means to be a good teacher.  To an extent, there is some truth to this, but not entirely.   In the course of my job, I am fortunate to be able to walk through a great many classrooms while our teachers are teaching.  Yes, I can most always tell when I enter the room of a truly gifted teacher.  At first, it is the same thing that anyone (trained or untrained) would recognize:  the students are engaged in the lesson, the teacher is enthusiastic about the subject, the teacher appears to like children, and the room is well organized and inviting.

But, there is more to it than this, and that is where the science of teaching comes into play.  There has, in education circles, always been an on-going debate about teacher autonomy, academic freedom, and appropriate oversight.  For a long time in Bullitt County, I would suggest we leaned toward complete autonomy.  In no way do I mean to suggest that this was all bad.  I’ve known – and many of you who are Bullitt County graduates received instruction from – many, many naturally gifted teachers through the course of your K-12 school experience.  These naturally gifted teachers are just like naturally gifted anything else – they just automatically know the right thing to do in a classroom.  There are “naturals” in every field, from athletics to chess to musical instruments to flying an airplane.

However, we must face the reality that everyone is not a “natural,” and that those of us who are mere mortals can still be highly competent at chess, or basketball, or as a pilot, or a piano player if we work hard at it and become students of how to do it well.  The same is true of teaching.  I believe that almost all of us are called in one way or another to the teaching profession; I don’t know anybody who really decided to go into education for the great salary or long vacations.  Teachers teach because they want to make a difference in the lives of children and in their community.  But just because they are called doesn’t mean they are necessarily a “natural.”  This is where research in appropriate and effective classroom instruction becomes very important to making certain that every one of our 13,000 students receives a high quality education.

In Bullitt County, like in many counties in the nation, we have what we refer to as “non-negotiables” that we expect to occur in every classroom in our school district.  The principals monitor these non-negotiables to be sure that our instruction is consistent.  We do not want the quality of the education that any of our students receive to be dependent on the luck of the teacher to whom that child is assigned.  Some examples of non-negotiables is that we expect instruction to be aligned to the accepted subject standards, that we see learning targets (statements describing what a student is learning from the lesson), that students receive descriptive feedback on their work, that teacher practice some manner of formative assessment to assess their students’ understanding of what they are teaching them.  There are several others, but suffice it to say that each of these non-negotiables are based on years of solid educational research.

This is one of the ways that we – teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators — in Bullitt County are ensuring that every child is receiving access to the same guaranteed and viable curriculum regardless of which of our 23 schools the child attends.  An education that will contribute to the making or breaking of a child’s future should not be dependent on the luck of the draw.  Their future is far too important.

Good Improvement.  Now What?

Education is more than test scores.  I’ve had that said to me, and I’ve said it myself, hundreds of times, but results from assessments do paint a picture based on actual performance (as opposed to just feelings that a school is “good”) that is a requirement in our modern day’s focus on efficiency with the taxpayers’ money and return on investment.  The majority of intelligent voters understand that public education is critical to our future economic and social success, but at the same time, they want and deserve to know that their hard-earned money is not being squandered on inefficient solutions, good old boy politics, or weak results.

Our assessment scores are better.  The students in every one of our 23 schools are performing better on state assessments than they have in the past.  Previously, I’ve reported that on the overall state accountability, BCPS has moved from the bottom 20% into the top 50% – which is very good news, but we have recently received some results on our 8^th and 10^th graders that are even more encouraging.

Our 1,014 8^th grade students took the EXPLORE test – which is the first in a series that culminate with the ACT – last October.  EXPLORE tests English, mathematics, reading, and science and gives a composite score that combines all four.  The range is from 1-25.  BCSP 8^th graders scored average of 15.5, which exceeded the state average and which ranks us as 64th of 174 districts.  In 2006-07, our average composite score was 13.9, which ranked us then in 134^th place.  That is a tremendous improvement.

At the same time, our 920 10^th grade students took the PLAN test, which is the 2^nd in the series and is taken one year before they must take the ACT.   It assesses the same subjects, but the composite range is 1-30.  BCPS 10^th graders made an average score of 17.4, which exceeded the state average for the first time and ranks us at 56^th, up from 15.6 composite and 136^th place in 2006-07. This is a rise from the bottom 1/4^th to the top 1/3^rd of school districts and shows that our educational improvement is not limited to just certain levels, but across the board.

These results are not accidental.  The students back in 2006-07 were just as capable as the ones we have this year.  The change in our scores have come about because the increased expectation of our community as expressed through our Board of Education and because of the response to those community expectations by our teachers, administrators, support staff and very importantly – our parents and students.   We have set high expectations through policy, aligned our curriculum, set some non-negotiable expectations about what goes on in all our classrooms, increased communication and transparency,  given teachers more of  that most precious of resources – time – to do the very hard work of data analysis and planning, and increased flexibility and options for students.

The question now is: What’s next?  We are no longer an underperforming school district – we are average to above average.  The answer is that we keep striving for our vision, which is to be The Leader in Educational Excellence.  We are doing this now by focusing on increasing the rigor of our instruction and levels of thinking required of our students through careful planning of lessons.  This is not easy for our teachers or students, nor is it a loud, showy thing that we can point to.  It is the hard work of master teachers – and we have many of them – that will mostly be done behind the scenes.  Our schools need your continued support as they continue their work and your students will need your support and understanding as they tackle tougher, more thoughtful work.  In the end, our children will be better educated and better prepared for the future that awaits them.

Those of you who have been reading my columns or otherwise getting information on what our schools and district has been doing over the past few years know that it is our objective to become a leader in the state in providing a rigorous and effective education to our students.  To that end, our elected  Board of Education enacted a policy that requires all students who wish to obtain a diploma from this district to first demonstrate that they are ready for either college or a career (preferably both).  This requirement went into effect for our current sophomore class and applies to all graduating classes that come after.  Many, many people have voiced their support for the strong stand taken by our district to ensure that there is real meaning behind a high school diploma – much more than doing minimal work for four years.

This is the third year that I have taken the pleasure to personally visit each of our six middle schools to speak directly with the students in the 8^th grade who are getting ready to enter high school (about 1,000 students).  Together with Robb Smith, our Secondary Director and Brenda Pirtle, Principal of our special programs, we talk to these young men and women about the choices available to them, their own personal responsibility for seeking out information and making informed decisions, and how to get the support they need if it is lacking in their homes.  I specifically tell them what it means to be ready for college or ready for a career, we explain to them the special programs like Bullitt Advanced Math and Science program and the Career Readiness Center.  For the majority of students  who go to one of our three regular high schools, we describe the programs within those schools, such as the College Credit Advanced Placement program where students will earn 30 or more college hours before graduating high school and the career readiness tracks available in the schools, including business, JROTC, culinary, agriculture and several more.  In short, we spend about 1 ½ hours really talking with them about their future and answering any questions they might have. 

 This is just one event.  By now, all our 8^th graders have a complete Individual Learning Plan and have participated in several events centered on college and career readiness.   Going forward, the high school principals and counselors will meet with them to further discuss options, and the middle and high schools will work together to see that students are choosing a path that best meets their ability and interests.  We believe that, by building these relationships and talking with these 8^th graders in a realistic way, most of them will respond in a thoughtful and mature fashion.  We know they are not yet grown up, but they will soon be making choices that will have an effect on the rest of their lives.

 I would like to close by saying that Bullitt County has a right to be very proud of its 8^th graders.  I found them attentive, serious, and thoughtful in their interactions.  People who say that kids today aren’t like the ones from previous generations are right.  In my opinion and experience, today’s students – though faced with a dizzying array of options and quite a bit of uncertainty in the world – are up to the challenge and will do great things.

BCPS.JCTC.Presentation to Int. Joint Comm.on Ed.09-10-12

The above link will open a PDF of the presentaton material outlining the depth of BCPS partnership with JCTC – Bullitt County Campus

State of the Bullitt County Public Schools – August 2012 Column:

It is already the beginning of a new school year, and that makes it a good time to look back on some of the successes of the past year, as well as note some of our challenges and plans for the coming year.

2011-12 Recap

I hope this article finds your summer happy and productive.  All the data is not yet complete – especially state assessment results, which we do not expect until October – but the summer break is a good time to look back at our system’s accomplishments from the past school year and the challenges that lie ahead.  We need to celebrate our accomplishments and understand that we truly fail only if we cease trying to become better.

Accomplishments:

95% attendance of the 12,914 students enrolled on an average day makes the past year’s attendance the best Bullitt County has ever recorded.  If students are not in school, they are not learning what they need to learn, so this is a great accomplishment on the part of our entire school community.

The percentage of our 3^rd grade students who can read on grade level rose from 80.0% in the spring of 2011 to 86.7% in spring of 2012.  All studies show that one of the most important indicators of future academic success is that a child reads in the average range or better by the end of the 3^rd grade.   For the 144 students out of the 1,087 in third grade last year that are not reading on-level, plans are in place to work more intensively to overcome this barrier to their learning.

Our Career Readiness Center (CRC) enjoyed a successful first year.  As many of you know, we started the CRC to provide options for incoming freshmen who wished to pursue technical certificates at the vocational school for ½ of the day while earning high school credit on-line and learning business success skills the other ½ day.  This program will continue and expand in the coming year so students do not have to wait until 11^th grade to begin learning technical career skills.  Our Board has allocated funding to help the state operated vocational school add programs and increase the offerings for our students, probably in the area of information technology and culinary arts, starting next January.  Bullitt County has become a state and even national leader in the area of career readiness through our requirement for college or career readiness and a career seminar into our graduation requirements.  Setting the bar high for graduation and making our diploma mean something brings risks, but our Board is committed to ensuring that a student holding a BCPS diploma has demonstrated readiness to be successful in a career or in college. 

Our middle schools have embraced the Individual Learning Plan process and are working with students starting in the 6^th grade to help them begin to chart a path to college or career readiness.  Schools have carved out time from their schedule to make room for this very much needed focus.  Starting early provides goals and motivation through exploration of various career fields.  This is important for the success of our students well beyond high school.

At the high school level, preliminary results indicate that our ACT (the key component of college readiness) results have again improved.  While our overall average score is ½ point below the state average, our students’ point gain doubled that of the state as a whole, meaning we are closing the gap.  This is the second year this has happened and I feel confident in our high school faculties’ ability to overtake the state in the next year or two.

The new district facility plan was approved and the planning for construction and renovation at all three high schools is in progress and should begin by late fall.  Plans include a Flexible Learning Center at each high school. The purpose of the Flexible Learning Centers is three-fold.  First, it will increase the capacity of each high school by approximately 300 students.  This will address capacity issues just as much as new high school without the enormous cost of constructing another full high school campus, which the district cannot afford and does not need.  Secondly, the centers will be an additional site for our partnership with the Bullitt Campus of the Jefferson Community & Technical College.  They will be able to use our buildings (with a separate entrance) to conduct classes in the evenings and on weekends for adults as well as high school students.  This kind of partnership between a school district and a college is unique and seems to be a very efficient use of taxpayer resources.  Finally, each building will include an large space that can be used for student assemblies, musical and theatrical productions, and as an auxiliary gymnasium.   The addition of multiple sports over the years, such as volleyball, wrestling, and archery have made it very difficult to schedule the current gyms and has led to some practices being held well into the night.  These spaces will be welcome additions for our high schools.  In addition to the Flexible Learning Centers, Bullitt Central will get a new library, the conversion of their existing library into computer labs, a modern kitchen and cafeteria, and a renovation of classroom spaces. 

Challenges and Work Moving Forward:

Challenges are many and the road to becoming and staying a truly great school system is unending.  Progress is hard won and sustaining gains in an enterprise where the work is done by human beings and where even the “products” themselves are human beings is never going to be easy.  I will discuss a few that are high on our list of priorities.

Reducing the number of students who must be retained or held back in a grade is important for a number of reasons.  For now, retention is necessary.  Sending a child to the next grade level when he or she has not mastered the content required to succeed at that level is a disservice to the child, as well as the other children in that grade.  The problem is that retention is quite often an ineffective way to increase student learning and it is clearly an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars.  It costs about $8,600 per year to educate a child (including buildings, energy, transportation, maintenance, staff salaries, and management) in Bullitt County.  While this is quite low in comparison to most other school systems, it is still a lot of money.  If a child is held back, tack another year’s cost onto the total bill for an elementary and secondary education.  Aside from the money, research shows that retaining a student, especially in upper grades, decreases the chance the child will graduate.  Retain a student two times or more, and a drop-out becomes all but certain.  The child that doesn’t complete high school becomes the adult that earns lower wages than their fellow citizens, is more likely to commit crime and go to jail, more likely to need public assistance, and  is less likely to be able to help pay the cost of civil society.  Add to those negatives the fact that, often, the child doesn’t do much better the next year and one can see that it is a lose-lose-lose situation.  The student who doesn’t do the work of learning may “learn a lesson,” but it is a very expensive lesson for everyone involved, both in money and unintended consequences.

A better, more cost-efficient way to deal with students who do not master the material must be developed.  We must understand and accept that some children just learn more slowly than others.  It doesn’t mean anything is wrong with their brains; it is just a fact of life that people mature at different rates.  Some kids are very short until they are 17 or 18 years old, then they sprout up.  Any 3^rd grade class will have kids of all sizes, though they are the same age.  Why should we expect every kid to function at the same mental level just because they happen to all be 8 years old?  The bottom line is that some children need more time to learn.  Wouldn’t it be a good investment to spend some extra money to provide more time during evenings, weekends, or summers so a child wouldn’t need to repeat an entire year of the same instruction?  If it keeps a child on track to graduation, it would save resources in the long term.  The problem we will tackle this year is to answer the question of what we should do, what we can do (legally and financially), and what we as a broad educational community have the will to do.

On the other side of the learning coin is the question of how we best serve our most academically gifted students.  These are the students who learn quite a bit faster than the average student.  There are those in the field of education (and politics) who assert that these kids can take care of themselves, that we should just get out of their way and they can teach themselves.  I disagree, but more importantly, solid educational research indicates that we can do great harm to these students if we allow them to wallow in the normal curriculum and progress through it at the same pace as their same-age peers.  Human motivation thrives on appropriate challenge and if we don’t do enough to challenge these really academically smart kids, we are sending them the message that it is ok to be mentally lazy.  For the sake of those kids and of our society in general, that is nearly the worst thing we could do.  In no way am I saying that our school system is doing a bad job challenging gifted students.  In fact, with the expansion of our Advanced Placement programs, the Bullitt Advanced Math and Science program, the increased attention to partnerships for early college credit attainment, we are doing quite well at the upper grade levels.  But, we need to take a look at what we can do better, especially in the elementary and middle schools.  We need to challenge our own assumptions and past practices to see if what we currently do stands up to scrutiny.  If we find that there are better ways to serve these kids than what we are currently doing, we must do whatever is necessary to make it better.

These are just two of the big challenges facing us as we strive for continuous improvement on the path to fulfilling our vision as the leader in educational excellence.  There are plenty more, plus we must maintain and improve our efforts to communicate with our parents and community, to provide excellent customer service, and to serve as a resource to the community that supports what we do every day.

Without a doubt, the most serious challenge to implementing any of the recommendations that may come from our planning is funding, especially funding from the state.  As much as our government leaders have tried to protect education during this recessionary period, they haven’t been able to do so.  Inflation adjusted funding is lower than it was 4 years ago by about $6 million dollars and many expenses formerly paid by the state or other state agencies (retirement contributions, volunteer background checks, etc.) have been passed on  to the local taxpayer.  While we do a good job being good stewards of our funds, such as reallocating existing funds to reform and create innovative programs (like BAMS, CRC, Early College), there are limits to what we can do. 

Understanding that these challenges and barriers exist should not be interpreted as excuses.  We have made impressive progress these past five years in the face of the same issues and we do not intend to stop.  We (meaning all of us in Bullitt County) are blessed with a very talented group of educators in our classrooms and school offices, and they are supported by an excellent staff at the central office under the direction of a Board of Education strongly committed to improving the level of education in our community.

I look forward to any ideas or comments.  I encourage you to communicate with any of us.  Our web site is well organized and easy to use.  You may always email me at keith.davis@bullitt.kyschools.us.  I invite you to sign up for electronic newsletters from the district and any or all of our schools.  You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter.  District Assemblies are held each month to discuss items of interest to educators and citizens.  Board meetings are informative and open to the public.  We welcome your involvement and, as always, I thank you for your continued support of Bullitt County Public Schools.

Dear Colleagues,

As I wrote before, I’m going to send out a summary of the monthly Board of Education meetings, along with miscellaneous news that comes to mind as I write. 

Board Meeting 8-21-12

• Jaime Goldsmith presented tokens of appreciation to Sheriff Greenwell and Deputy Bruce Rucker for their support of and work as School Resource Officers.  Deputy Rucker is very supportive of our schools, seemingly always on hand to assist when a situation arises.  He is fully funded by the Sheriff’s office.
• Cindi French, a teacher at Nichols Elementary, brought students Amy Fife, Chloe Martin, and Kaylee Shepherd to tell the Board members about their Garden Club.  They were excellent; the kids discussed what they learned from the garden and even brought some tomatoes for the Board.  They plan to serve the produce in their cafeteria as well. 
• Clotfelter-Samokar architects Russ McFarland and Joe Sandman gave the Board an update on the College & Career Centers at the three high schools, as well as renovation/library/cafeteria at BCHS.  They expect construction to begin at North and East in this coming January and delivery of the project in January 2014.  BCHS, due to being more involved, should be complete in in time to start school in August of 2014.  I’ve attached a rendering of the College and Career Center at North.  The others will be nearly identical.
• Nichols resident Dennis Mitchell talked about the Red Cross blood drives at the high schools and asked for everyone’s support.  Red Cross provides scholarships to students in the school based on the number of units collected (for example, 101 units would equal $1,000 scholarship, 250+ equals $2,500).  So, in addition to your toil, tears and sweat, your blood is also requested…
• Parking lot sealing/striping was approved for CGES, EMS, ZMS, LJES, MWES; duct cleaning at FES, OMES, SES, MES, and PGES; gym rafters/exterior duct cleaning at BC, NB, BLMS, HMS, ZMS, BE, BMS, EMS, MWMS, & CGES.
• Partners in Prevention is donating $10,000 to continue the student drug testing program for students participating in extracurricular activities.
• Approved Homecoming parades for BC on September 20^th and NB on September 13^th.
• Final reading/approval of policy on volunteers.  Since the state has stopped providing free background checks, volunteers will be required to pay the $10 fee to volunteer (nobody likes it), but it will be good for two years rather than one.
• First reading of policy that will allow the HR department to seek a waiver t allow coaches with less than 64 college hours to be certified after completion of rigorous screening and training upon recommendation of the principal.

Miscellaneous News:

• The school year is off to a great start – THANK YOU!
• We’ll be seeking volunteers to serve on two work groups this year.  One will conduct a comprehensive study and make recommendations to the Board regarding our Gifted Education program.  The other will study and provide recommendations on how to avoid student retention (known to increase drop-outs) while not resorting to age-based “social” promotion, and ways we can better support those students who do have to be retained. Part of our schools and district accountability is our graduation rate and college/career readiness.  If kids are coming into high school two or more grade levels behind, their likelihood of success is pretty dismal.
•  An interesting documentary was on Fox News last Sunday called Fixing our Schools.  It focused on solutions that are working across the country and most involved some aspect of individualized and digital learning.  I was reminded of curriculum delivery at BAMS and CRC, as well as the FlexSchool program in each high school.  This link will take you to a description and an embedded link will show a snippet.  http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/16/fixing-our-schools-solutions-that-work/
• Robb Smith, our new Director of Secondary Education and Jan Stone, our Director of Data and Research gave a presentation on End of Course Exams at yesterday’s District Assembly (4:00 on the day of each Board meeting – you all are welcome to attend, interact, question, express concerns, learn).  It was very interesting and definitely shows the need to align our instruction based on what the tests assess.  Teaching to the test?  I’m not sure what that means, but if it means making sure that our students can demonstrate knowledge of content and analysis that our elected legislature, policymakers, and researchers have deemed required for their future success in college and career, then I suppose we’d better do that. 
• Our first BAMS cohort has completed the bulk of their high school requirements in two years and are not enrolled as college students at the Bullitt Campus of JCTC, where they are on track to earn 60 or more hours by their “normal” high school graduation date.  This is a good thing for BCPS and shows that many of our students, when given the opportunity, will rise to the challenge.
• New for this year is a partnership with JCTC whereby we are hiring college instructors to provide – this semester – English 101 and Math 150 to about 30 students each from NBHS and BCHS.  They are using one class period of their 6 period day for both classes (MWF/TThF).  Students must meet ACT benchmarks to enroll, but if they pass the course, they will earn 6 college hours and their HS English and math credit for $400 (to pay the professors) plus books.  There will be 6 more hours offered next semester, for a total of 12 college hours in one year that are fully transferrable to any in-state college.  Students will still have 5 period for other coursework and electives, plus it frees up some teacher time for other needs in the school.  This is really awesome for our kids and the principals and counselors of those two schools are to be highly commended for making it happen.
• We have Chess teams forming at every middle school and all but one elementary school.  Chess is proven to improve academic performance in many ways and is an excellent addition to our extracurricular offerings.  Thanks go out to those who have agreed to lead these teams.  We will ask the Board to expand the stipend into the high schools next year, so get ready. 

That’s all for this month.  If you have any questions, suggestions or concerns, don’t hesitate to let me know.  We are all part of a great team that is making our school system on for which we can be proud to work because we are improving  the lives of our children and our community.  Keith

College is not for everyone.  There are many jobs that do not require a college degree that will provide a really fine living and enable a person to support themselves and their family. Everybody knows this and says it and I entirely agree.  This is the reason why we are working hard in BCPS to enlarge our career offerings, including adding two positions to the Area Technology Center which, because of funding issues, they cannot add for themselves.  All jobs have dignity and worth and if someone works hard, they can definitely get ahead in this country.  

I heard a respected minister on the radio today say that if we can’t face a problem, we can’t fix the problem.

The problem we are facing is that too few of our citizens are going to college and too few are completing when they do go.  Our wonderful county has many, many positive attributes that make it a great place to raise a family, but the percentage of our citizens holding a bachelor’s degree is not one of them.  Only 9.2% of people 25 or older have such a credential, compared to 17.1% in the state as a whole and 24.4% in the United States. 

So what?  On average, a person with a bachelor’s degree will earn about $16,000 more per year than one holding only a high school diploma.  Over a 40 year career, that bachelor’s degree will earn the holder an additional $640,000 in income on average.  If that person lives here, much of that income will be spent here in our local businesses, generating economic activity to support our community.  Businesses looking to move into a community do look at levels of education, especially businesses that wish to base their headquarters in a location where they can find skilled workers and management staff.

We have so many well prepared high school students.  They should make us all proud.  They are making the scores that can get them into college, but a lot of them don’t go.  Maybe it is just an excuse, but I hear them tell me that it is so expensive and they are going to work for while then go.  Unfortunately, this plan often doesn’t work because in life, one thing leads to another and next thing one knows, they have a mortgage, a car payment, a spouse and a child of their own.

I think – and statistics show – that if a student has some college credit in their pocket when they graduate high school, they are more likely to persist to graduation.  All three of our high schools are offering college credit opportunities, and all are going to be more aggressive in letting kids know they need to be enrolling in these course.  They do cost money, but much less now than if they wait until they graduate.

Full time undergraduate tuition at University of Louisville for the full year is $9,466.  A full-time student earns at least 12 credit hours, but usually 15.  To become a college sophomore, one needs 30 credit hours and to become a college junior, one needs 60 credit hours.  Right now, a qualified BCPS student can enroll in college courses that will transfer directly to any in-state school (like UK or U of L) at a cost of $180 for a three hour class.  If a student earned 30 credit hours by graduation, it would cost $1,800.  That is a savings of $7,666, plus the student starts college with a whole year head start on someone with just a high school diploma.  Please, talk to your kids and your friends’ kids about taking advantage of this incredible deal – it will help them and it will help our community.  If you need more information, staff at all three high schools can walk you through the requirements and possibilities that are available through our partnership with the Bullitt County JCTC campus.

July 9th through 13th from 8:30 to 12:30.  Location MWMS

FLL Camp Registration form 2012

FLL_AtaGlance_FNL

Re:             Background:

 The Bullitt Alternative Center has been operational for over 30 years as a place to serve students who have made poor choices at their home schools. For most of those years, it was fairly well funded by the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children, but that funding has fallen by over $60,000 over the last three years. There have been two other efforts at reforming the program in light of changes in court placement guidelines and in response to high cost versus less than desired student outcomes.  These efforts have not had the desired effect – essentially we are in the same situation as we were five years ago regarding both truly assisting our regular schools in maintaining discipline and helping the assigned students learn more successful behavior. The recidivism rate of student assigned to Bullitt Alternative Center program completion is high, the eventual drop-out rate is very high, and the successful high school completion rate of those assigned is very low (in the 15% range).  The cost per child is very high – around $16,000 per student when measured on average daily membership.  This is not meant to cast blame. For the most part, the staff is doing the best they can under the circumstances and, frankly, the die of failure for many of these students is cast many years before they arrive in the building.  That said, we believe we can do better with a different approach.

 Current Situation:

 Our current staff –

 Principal paid at high school level for 240 days

Three Social Workers at 197 days

Four Teachers at 187 days

Two Instructional Tutors at 183 days

Three Instructional Assistants at 185 days

One Bookkeeper at 205 days

One Clerical Assistant at 190 days

 The total cost, including fringe benefit costs for the staff for this year is $682,451.89.  In addition to this, the staffing plan was adjusted – with agreement of the high school principals – to free up three teaching positions which adds $156,181.41 and by tightening up some of the special needs load, the Director of Special Education can contribute two special needs positions, which adds another $104,120.94.  The grand total that is available for personnel is $942,754.24

 Aside from the problems outlined above regarding success rates and cost, the placement process is extremely cumbersome dominates the time of several key central office staff members, including the Secondary Director, the Director of Pupil Personnel, and the Safe Schools Coordinator usually along with one of more Social Worker and school administration.  Other districts do not have such a cumbersome process and we wish to free these people to do the important work that their job requires.

 Recommendation:

 The recommended reorganization makes several changes to staff positions, but most importantly, it intentionally changes the philosophy of the program from one where an offender is placed at the alternative school for a specified period of time to one where treatment outcomes and a successful transition back to the home school determines the length of a child’s stay.  We also desire to create, as part of the overall treatment program, a focus on a very defined and rigid set of behavioral expectations, careful data monitoring, and consequences that encourage compliant, controlled student conduct. 

 Finally, we are recommending the creation of three rooms that are staffed with experts in emotional and behavioral disorders as our most restrictive environment for our most critical students, including those with a history of mental illness and behaviors that make even the most restrictive regular school setting insufficient. 

 To do this, we are recommending the following positions, along with an approximate cost.

 One Principal paid at elementary level for 220 days

One Assistant Principal paid at elementary level for 187 days (no extended days)

Three Social Workers for 197 days

Four Regular Education Teachers

Three Special Educations Teachers

Three Instructional Assistants
Three Special Educations Assistants

One School Resource Office

One Clerical Assistant/Receptionist

 The approximate cost for this arrangement will be $875,979.12.  The remaining $65,000 will be held in reserve for additional costs related to the program.

 Some savings have been achieved by reducing the number of extended days and the supplement amount of the principal, as well as eliminating a secretary/clerical position.  The very limited bookkeeping duties will be handled at the central office by the finance department.  In addition, the Back on Track program will be eliminated.

 There is a need for an assistant principal.  The principal of the program is charged with overseeing Bullitt Alternative Center, but also Riverview Opportunity Center (CRC & BAMS) and Spring Meadows Children’s home.  There are also several meetings and trainings that are required of the principal by the district and by the grant funding authorities.  Another administrator on duty will assist the staff with order and discipline, as well as free up the social workers who have been serving as de facto assistant principals for several years.  Their skills would be better used in helping develop relationship with students and removing barriers to success.

 A School Resource Officer is needed to provide a secure environment and assist with criminal violations that occur in the facility.  The students assigned to that program must understand that order will be maintained and law violations will very likely lead to their arrest.  We are teaching them nothing of the “real world” when they can curse staff, break things, assault others, and refuse lawful directions without significant consequences.

 Students who require discipline for particular offenses committed at school, such as drug offenses, theft, vandalism, and assault, may be excluded from all school functions and property and be provided services via technology under their parents’ supervision.  The transition teacher will monitor the progress and utilize the social workers to make contact with these students.  The student will be allowed to re-enter school through the transition room at BAC after a specified period of time that includes sufficient academic progress and making amends for their actions (such as restitution, community service or completion of an outside drug treatment program).

 The building capacity will be 55 regular education students and approximately 30 critical special needs students. There will be three rooms in the main building for regular education students, each containing 15 students (total of 45).  We need content specialists – especially in English and mathematics to assist with higher level content and are exploring the possibility of making one room a READ180 class (an intensive reading intervention program used in several of our middle and high schools) to help students improve their reading skills to a level that gives them a chance to be successful in the regular school.  There will be a transition room constructed in the gymnasium/lunchroom facility staffed with one teacher who will work with 10 students who are transitioning from the very restrictive program back to the home school.  Three special education rooms will provide space to serve up to 30 critical special need students.

 Current teachers and staff members who do not meet certification guidelines will be transferred to other positions in the district for which they are qualified and certified.   The instructional assistants will start their day at the regular high school and ride the bus to and from the alternative school to monitor student behavior. Until a new principal is hired, Mr. Roberts will be responsible for the hiring in conjunction with me and Mr. David Marshall.

 For regular education students to be assigned to BAC, the placement decision will move from a district level expulsion review committee to a consultation between the alternative school principal and the home school principal.  The principals will review the documentation regarding the offense, discipline history, interventions undertaken, and student academic progress. Once they make a recommendation for placement, the Director of Secondary Education will review the recommendation and approve the placement before the child is enrolled and will mediate any disputes.  For special needs students, the regular school principal will involve special education staff members (consultants or director) after consultation meeting with the alternative school principal.  For students who need to be assigned home-based learning, a procedure similar to the current Expulsion Review Committee process will be developed over the summer due to the more serious nature of the offense and to ensure parental understanding of their responsibility to help their child.

 Upon intake to any of the levels of the alternative program, an individual success plan will be developed and approved by the alternative school principal. It will be detailed and specify the data-based treatment goals for the student.  Upon completion of these goals, the students will transition to the next level toward returning to home school.

 The intent of this proposal is to simultaneously become more punitive and more treatment based.  These students, like all our students, deserve as many chances as we can give them.  In order to teach them academics, these children must learn that appropriate behavior is required for success in our society.  We believe that this recommendation will result in increased success for these students and a more orderly learning environment in our regular schools.

 If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or any of the others who worked with me on this proposal.  They are Debby Atherton, Christy Coulter, Rob Fulk, Dave Marshall, Jeff Marshall and Greg Schultz, along with assistance from Monica Tharp, Pat Smith, Denise Smith, and Patty Whitney.

 We recommend and ask for your approval for this proposal.

CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION                                                                             08.212

Lesson Plans

Preparation

Lesson plans shall be prepared in advance of classroom instruction and shall refer directly to the relevant content standards.  Where appropriate, plans should be developed collaboratively through the PLC process to ensure instructional continuity and curricular standardization.

Lesson plan format shall include, but is not limited to, the following essential elements:

• Standards addressed – written in long form
• Daily learning target congruent to standard
• Critical vocabulary
• Instructional method
• Strategies/activities (including entrance and closing activity as appropriate)
• Method of formative and summative assessments (including date of summative)
• Modifications/accommodations for students with special learning needs (including identified gifted students).
• Intended homework

Plans of co-teachers of students with learning disabilities shall reference the regular education teacher’s plans and detail the modifications/accommodations for individual students – these are not to be publicly posted, but only submitted to the Principal.

Availability

Lesson plans shall be available for use by substitute teachers and other personnel. Plans will also be readily available to administrators conducting classroom monitoring. Teachers shall post lesson plans on their web page no later than the start of the school day the first day of each week or earlier as directed by the Principal. Special Education collaborative teachers will submit their plans to the Principal as soon as practical after reviewing regular education lesson plans.

Monitoring

Principals – utilizing appropriate staff – shall review lesson plans weekly and provide feedback to teachers in written form using District monitoring form- see administrative procedure.

Templates

A lesson plan template shall be developed as an administrative procedure. Principals may, at their professional discretion, require individual teachers to use the template, or may allow alternative lesson plan formats that meet the above requirements.

Reference:

KRS 160.345

Adopted/Amended: 04/17/2012

Order #:         316