Sunday, December 24, 2017

THE REALITY OF BAY DISTRICT SCHOOLS. NEARLY FIFTY PERCENT OF BAY DISTRICT SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE NOT PROFICIENT AT READING.

THE REALITY OF BAY DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 

IS THERE HOPE?

I CALL FOR REVOLUTIONARY THINKING


It started when Florida (Panama City) was a leader of OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION. It failed and produced a generation of disabled children who became parents. The next Panacea came with COMMON CORE. And now the education system blames the parents disabled by the earlier failure for the current failure. And still the education establishment refuses to acknowledge the failure is in the curriculum and continue to blame the parents and children.

Why is reading made so difficult? Look at Susannah Wesley's one day method! She was the mother of 19 children.


If you are ever going to make something better you have to face the facts about Bay District Schools. 

https://www.niche.com/k12/d/bay-district-schools-fl/

So when Niche says that 53% of students in Bay District Schools are Proficient Readers that means that Bay District Schools failed nearly half (or 47%) in the most basic goal of our schools.

And what does that 71% Average Graduation Rate mean? It means that 29% of 9th graders did not graduate. That means NEARLY 1 OUT OF 3 who enter the 9th grade will not graduate.

Now, you know how much attention I pay to the Reading ability of children. Because I saw so many of those children in my classrooms in Henry County, Alabama unable to read their textbooks. But it was "current wisdom," Dean Kunkel assured me when he could give me no research to support Whole Language, the current and continued travesty, and it was the same everywhere! That was twenty something years ago. Things have only gotten worse. My contempt has increased for the deceit and deception of the education establishment.

So, do you do the same thing? Keep listening to the same experts? They're older now more advanced in their careers. Retired? Do you think they would give up their first born (their ideology and publications)?

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. REFUSE TO FOLLOW THE CROWD AND FOLLOW THE RESEARCH! 


Let me refer you once again to the article I wrote on the Spalding Writing Road to Reading, a program that is exceedingly effective with all children, but particularly Minority Students, as proven by John Winston of Natchitoches, Louisiana. (Remind yourself what a racist person I have been accused of being because I support traditional education as you read this and ask yourself just which group of folks are promoters of bigotry of low expectations.)








Look at these schools, Lucille Moore Elementary, Oscar Patterson Elementary, Springfield Elementary! While all students would benefit, these at least deserve a program that has been proven to be effective for this group of children. 


Those schools have scored the lowest and have the greatest deficiency in Reading, the most basic skill for which these schools exist.  Let me point out to the Administration, Board and the Public that the students in those failing schools mirror those students with whom the Black principal and Natchitochez, Louisiana, commission member, John Winston was charged to educate. Parks Elementary, served three housing projects and was a 96% minority school. The school board was desperate to find an answer and left it up to him. He took reluctant teachers to be educated in the Spalding method, but by the time of the middle of the year they were all enthusiastic. Their students went from the bottom to the top of the District.

He brought his students from the 25th percentile in reading to the 80th percentile, learning disabilities dropped from 40 to one or two and the discipline problems nearly disappeared. Shouldn't the children in Bay District Schools be given a chance? Especially since it is so inexpensive!!! No computer needed. Indeed, computers would have impeded the learning of those children because Spalding is so interactive with teacher and student.

Look at these schools! Those children, victims of the politics of low expectations deserve better! The first one in this list is Oscar Patterson Elementary. 100% Economically Disadvantaged Students, 67.9 minority, Title I. Just exactly the school type that John Winston could have turned around with the Spalding Program. (This should line up to the right of the above chart.)





Have you got that? Half of students grades 3 through 5 passed. HALF OF THE STUDENTS PASSED? Do you know what low reading scores in the third grade mean for those children? Have you any idea what a successful program could mean? 



It is not like you are taking a chance on lowering their opportunity here. You would be giving them at least a shot because what is happening now is TOTAL FAILURE. 

Why is there not rioting in the streets or has the POLITICS OF LOW EXPECTATIONS of disenfranchised minority and disadvantaged children made them throwaway children for whom they collect Title 1 money and then dismiss them? Common Core has failed our children. WHOLE LANGUAGE and PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION has failed our children.

With in depth analysis like this, the Education Reporter is well on her way to becoming Communications Director of Bay District Schools some day. Just as so many before her.
Once again the Newspaper spun the issue "More than half" passed the English Language Arts and Math Exams and they are "proud"?!!!!!!!

University Academy is using something called First In Math. 


First in Math expresses disdain for using paper tests to promote basic number skills, replacing those basics with this computer program. Of course, that increases the cost of education with a program that will have to be updated at another cost, along with maintenance, while learning to use paper and pencil computation might actually be a more important skill in the long run. But, hey, these folks have been convinced by Bill Gates and his cohorts that they are getting a Rolls Royce, while I think it is another EDSEL.

But, I also noticed that First In Math acknowledges the need for SEQUENTIAL learning! "FIM employs a sequential approach to learning...."


That is very different from what our school board bylaws have been changed to since Goals 2000. The bylaws originally read that SEQUENTIAL instruction would be used. But, with the power of the Progressive Lobby that was changed to thematic instruction to bring about co-operative learning for their Radical Agenda. Read other posts on this blog to understand what I am talking about.  

I also want to bring to the attention of the public that Bay District Schools continues to use their students for their social justice agenda giving these children the charge to change society by their service learning projects. These children need the opportunity TO BE CHILDREN! They do not need to be distracted from their academic challenges. It is not their job to change the world. They do not need to know about all the sad corners of our world. Let school be a safe place for their hearts and minds in addition to their physical security! Apparently becoming community activists is more important than becoming educated citizens. 

They do not need to be humiliated by being the kid that has to be in study hall because they didn't have a can of food to bring while others prance around in their pajamas at the pizza party because they were able to do so. They demean the value of class time and the dignity of the profession with such behavior. Dress for success folks.

I cringe thinking of those administrators/teachers that go to accept the honors (humbly in behalf of, I can just hear them say) gained by manipulating the little social justice soldiers into going door to door selling stuff. 

Quit producing the need for those special programs! Quit making potential homeless people by not teaching them to READ and CALCULATE!

Schools, perform your mission. Educate our children! 





There are methods that work! TRANSFORM THOSE SCHOOLS WITH SUCCESS!






I have NO FINANCIAL INTEREST IN THIS. I JUST WANT TO SEE THOSE CHILDREN BE SUCCESSFUL!



If you see this in your classroom grab your child's hand and run. Demand a Phonics based curriculum FIRST. Don't take a chance and let bad habits develop.

RUN AWAY FROM THIS!


Dr. Sylvia Farnham Diggory reports that children who learn to read phonetically also do better in Math. Their first abstract thought is relating the letter to the sound. However, if the Whole Language Method is used, sight words doled out, and guessing is conveyed as a strategy, that undermines later conceptualization and abstract thought. So, the choice of curriculum is critical for a parent. That first choice may determine a child's future.

If a child is NOT A FLUENT READER BY THE THIRD GRADE that can be predictive of his future success. 

Reading proficiency by the end of the third grade--a major predictor of future educational outcomes-- is one of the most important benchmarks in a child's academic journey. 

And then let them read...not the morally depraved, intellectually bankrupt COMMON CORE pap, but the books on Marva Collins books list. And by the way, she taught her students with Professor Phonics Gives Sound Advice and Open Court Readers she salvaged from the garbage can when she was run out of the public schools because she actually taught the children in her class correct spelling (not inventive), correct grammar (not transformational) and the other teachers were jealous. 


We have a tendency in education to adhere to the modern premise that unless something is "relevant" to a child they cannot learn it.  Thus we forget the Bible injunction, "That which is good, that which is pure, that which is of good report...think on these things."   Many of the books below presented the "thoughts" that brought about our country's Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  Perhaps if we elevate our thoughts, we could elevate our country.  Perhaps "honor" might once again have meaning.
The books listed immediately below are those which constitute the reading list for Marva Collins Westside Preparatory School.  She took those children labeled "disadvantaged," "learning disabled," "ADHD," "not auditory," etc. and actually taught them.

Her theory is that our children are not "learning disabled," we are "teaching disabled."  

To watch her in action is indeed watching a Master Teacher at work.

Reading List for Marva Collins Westside Preparatory School
Author's lastAuthor'sTitlePublisher
AdamsRussell LGreat Negroes, Past & PresentGolden Press
AdlerIrvingMathematicsGolden Press
AldingtonRichardThe Portable Oscar WildeViking Press
AlexanderLloydThe Marvelous Misadventures of SebastianDutton
AlighieriDanteDivine Comedy
AristophanesThe Plays of Aristophanes
ArmstrongSperryCall of Courage
AsimovIsaacInside the AtomHarper and Row
AureliusMarcusMeditations
AustenJanePride and Prejudice
BachRichardJonathan Livingston Seagull
BambergerRichardPhysics Through ExperimentSterling
BarrGeorgeResearch Ideas for Young Scientists
BendickJeanneThe First Book of TimeFranklin Watts
BlackwoodPaulPush and Pull:  The Story of EnergyMcGraw-Hill
BleekerSoniaThe Masai:  Herdes of East AfricaWilliam Morrow
BondMichaelA Bear Called PaddingtonHoughton Mifflin
BontempsArnaFrederick Doublass: Slave-Fighter-FreemanAlfred A. Knopf
BowieWalkerBible Stories for Boys & Girls
BrentRobertThe Golden Book of chemistry ExperimentsWestern Publishers
BradwoodRobert J.Archaeologists and What They DoFranklin Watts
BronouskiJacob and SelsamBiography of an AtomHarper and Row
BronteEmilyWuthering Heights
BuehrWalterThe First Book of MachinesFranklin Watts
BullfinchThomasBook of Myths
BunyonJohnPilgrim's Progress
CarsonRachelThe Sea Around UsGolden Press
ChaucerGeoffreyThe Canterbury Tales
ChekhovAnton
ClarkeArthurThe Challenge of the SeaHolt, Rinehart & Winston
ClearyBeverlyThe Mouse and The MotorcycleWilliam Morrow
CleatorP.E.Exploring the World of ArchaeologyChildren's Press
ClymerEleanorThe Second Greatest Invention:  The Search for the First FarmersHolt, Rinehart & Winston
ColumPadraicThe Children of Odin
CottrellLeonardLand of the PharaohsWorld Publishers
CousteauJacques & Dumas, FredericThe Silent WorldHarper and Row
De FontaineJeanneFables of LaFontaine
DickensCharlesGreat Expectations
David Copperfield
The Old Curiosity Shop
Bleak House
DickinsonAliceThe First Book of PlantsFranklin Watts
DostoyevskyFyodorThe Brothers Karamasov
Crime and Punishment
DriskoClarkUnfinished March
DunbarPaul L.Poetry of Paul L. Dunbar
EatonJeanetteMarcus-Narciss ThitmanHarcourt Brace Jovonovich
EdelAbrahamAristotle
EmersonRalph WaldoThe Portable Emerson
Epstein Sam and BerylHarriet Tubman, Guide to FreedomGarrard
FaulknerWilliamLight in August
FeltonHarold WNat Love, Negro CowboyDodd,Mead
FieldingRichardHitty, Her First Hundred Years
FlemingIanChitty,Chitty Bang Bang.  The Magical CarRandom House
FosterG. AllenCommunicationCelebration Books
FosterGenevieveAugustus Caesar's World 44 B.C. to A.D. 14Charles Scribner and Sons
FranklinBenjaminThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
FreemanIra and MaeThe Story of ChemistryRandom House
GallantRoyExploring the UniverseDoubleday
GoldingWilliamLord of the Flies
Goldsmith,IlseAnatomy for ChildrenStirling
GregorArthurThe Adventures of Man:  His Evolution from Pre-history to CivilizationMcMillan
GuntherJohnDeath Be Not Proud
HarteBretThe Luck of the roaring Camp
HarrisonGeorge RusselThe First Book of LightFranklin Watts
HavilandVirginiaFavorite Fairy Tales told in CzehoslovakiaLittle, Brown
HenryOThe Gift of the Magi
HardyThomasThe Return of the Native
HogbenLancelotThe Wonderful Book of Energy
HomerThe Odyssey (do background on Homer first, explain term odyssey, which now means long voyage)
HugoVictorLes Miserables
HuxleyAldousBrave New World
HeyerdahlThorKon-tikiBooks, Inc
IrvingWashingtonRip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
JacobsJosephThe Fables of AesopMacMillan
JonesVernonThe Most Delectable History of Reynard the Fox
JudsonClarra IngramAndrew Carnegie
JustierNortonThe Phantom TollbothRandom House
KosinskiJerryThe Painted Bird
KnightDavid C.The first Book of AirFranklin Watts
KnightEricLassie, Come Home
KohnBerniceThe Peaceful AtomPrentice Hall
KredelFritz (illustrator)Aesop's FablesAesop's FablesCrosset and Dunlap
KrylovIvanFifteen Fables of KrylovMacMillan
LambCharlesTales from Shakespeare
LeeHarperTo Kill a Mockingbird
LeonardWilliam E. Aesop's Fables
LindgrenAstridPippi Longstocking; Pippi Goes on BoardViking Press
LondonJackWhite Fang and Other Stories
LowieRobert HIndians of the PlainsNatural History Press
MalcolmsonAnneSelections from the Tales of Chaucer
MandellMurielPhysics Experiments for ChildrenDover
MarloweChristopherDr. Faustus
MorganAlfredFirst Chemistry Book for Boys & GirlsCharles Scribner and Sons
MeadMargaretAndthropologists and What They DoFranklin Watts
McCloskeyRobert HWhy They Wrote: The Canterbury Tales
MullinVirginia L.Chemistry Experiments for ChildrenDover
McKendryJohn J.Aesop, Five Centuries of Illustrated FablesMetropolitan Museum of Art
McLeodMaryKing Arthur & His Knights
Murasaki,LadyThe Tales of Genji
NorthSterlingThe Wolfing
OrwellGeorgeAnimal Farm, 1984
OlbrachtIvanIndian FablesPaul Hamlyn
Poetry
UntermeyerLouisStory Poems: The Golden Treasury of Poetry
PoeEdgar AllenEdgar Allan Poe's Selected Stories & Poems
ShakespeareWilliamPoems of William Shakespeare
HughesLangstonSelected Poems
DickinsonEmilyPoems of Emily Dickinson
DunbarPaulPoems for Young People
Epics
SandarsN.K. (ed.)The Epic of Gilgamesh
Mideaval Epics
BaldwinJames (ed)The Story of Roland
Biography
CarpenterFrancisPocahontas and Her World
BontempsArnaThe Story of George Washington Carver
BontempsArnaFrederrick Douglas, Slave-Fighter-Freeman
FlentonHarold W. Nat Love: Negro Cowboy
FendersonLewis H.Thurgood Marshall, Fighter for Justice
JudsonClara IngramCity Neighbor:  The Story of Jane Addams
SeibertJerryAmelia Earhart
KellerHelenThe Story of My Life
EatonJeannetteGandhi, Fighter Without a Sword
HahnEmilyMary, Queen of Scots
BakerNina BrownPeter the Great
LathanJean LeeDrake, the Man They Called a Pirate 
BuehrWalterThe World of Marco Polo
AristophanesThe Plays of Aristophanes
PlutarchPlutarch's Lives

Marva Collins and John Winston are my heroes. 



Compare the websites of these schools. The three lowest scoring schools compared to the highest scoring school?

Does it tell you anything about pride of the administrators in that school? Perhaps the Marketing class at Bay High that did such a good job with the Hallelujah Chorus could help these folks out a bit.


Lucille Moore Elementary


Springfield Elementary

Oscar Patterson Elementary

University Academy



Should the Board decide to give the schools (meaning all teachers and administrators at that school, and parents who want to take the training) and Spalding a chance to turn things around, I would be willing to participate in learning the method and tutoring children as well. We would organize parents and volunteers to participate, because I will guarantee you, once the results begin to be seen others will want to come into the school. They will have to be tutored in the method. 

As I told my students' parents, take your child to a specialist OUTSIDE the system. Because tutoring within the system is only more of what failed in the first place. So many of my students parents had taken their children to be tutored by Dr. Fritchie at Troy (expensive) -- the teacher that taught the teachers that failed the children. Of course, to no avail. Wasted money. So sad!

That is why we need to get this program started here in Panama City and if I have any of my Dothan friends reading this, in Dothan as well!

Sadly, I look at the population of the school board (good and honorable people all) and I see years and years of professional service in the system. I see years and years of circle the wagon, acquiescence to whatever the newest "current fad". Acquiescence to the ideology dictated by the colleges of education where they acquired their latest degree. Acquiescence to COMMON CORE, the most diabolical example of academic bankruptcy and moral depravity that ever pretended to be education. 


But what have those years of experience brought them? This fact ought to tell you. Only 50% of Bay District School Children able to read. Isn't that THE MOST IMPORTANT PURPOSE OF OUR SCHOOLS? Why do they think service projects more important than class time? Why ARE there no more subjects--disciplines to be mastered--History, English, Civics, Political Science, Mathematics that make sense, Science that is not orthodoxy to the current world view?


No one will read this blog, so my reflections really do not matter. But, I do wonder how did we get to this point. And I wonder, why I seem to be the only one (around here) challenging the status quo. Robert Sweet and the Reading Reform Foundation are fantastic national advocates of a return to the basics in teaching children.


I can predict the administration and establishment education's answer for those failing schools. More money. More computers. And I will guarantee you that those children will fall further and further behind. They cannot let a true back to basics curriculum outshine that which they have spent so much time chasing dollars and writing grants for and now they must justify their existence. As that administrator told me years ago, when i asked if he would allow his school to pilot the Spalding Writing Road to Reading, "We're already invested too much on what we've got."

The computer assisted (CAI) pretender. The one producing failure. 

I threw up my hands in retreat. 

So now, here in Panama City, the children of the parents the schools have already failed are now being blamed for the failure of the schools to teach their children. The cycle continues. 


Parental involvement? Really? Which came first? 




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