The Education Committee of the Centennial School Board will hold a meeting to map out a plan for the district following a round of standardized test scores that didn’t make the grade.
Centennial School District did not achieve adequate yearly progress in 2011-12, according to recent PSSA results published on the Pennsylvania Department of Education's website.
Worse yet, William Tennent High School was placed on Corrective Action 2 for a fourth year.
"There is no fifth year of 'Corrective Action 2'," said School Board Director Mark Miller at Monday evening's school board meeting.
"There are predators out there, including our own secretary of education, who would love to take control of our brand, spanking new high school if we don't escape this corrective action," he said.
The escape: making adequate yearly progress or AYP.
AYP is how the federal law, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), measures the achievement of public schools across the nation.
In Pennsylvania, public school students in grades 3 through 8 as well as students in grade 11 take standardized reading and math tests known as the PSSA each spring.
Students then receive scores of below basic, basic, proficient or advanced based on the results of these standardized tests.
Every year the percentage of students expected to demonstrate proficiency grows. This growth will continue until 2014, when NCLB calls for 100 percent of students to test at a level of proficient or higher.
In 2011-12, Pennsylvania called for 78 percent of students in districts and schools to score proficient or above on the math test and 81 percent of students to score proficient or above in the reading assessment.
The AYP requirements are meant to measure whether schools or districts are making sufficient progress towards the year 2014 goal of 100 percent proficiency.
According to PDE, William Tennent High School, Klinger Middle School, Log College Middle School, Stackpole Elementary School and Willow Dale Elementary School did not make AYP for 2011-12.
The middle and elementary schools were placed on warning, as they had made AYP in the prior year. WTHS, however, has only made AYP twice since the inception of NCLB in 2001, once in 2010 and once in 2008.
Click on the .pdf to view a graphic representation of the meaning of the state's different AYP designations.
For schools that receive federal Title I grant funds, a fourth year of corrective action status means that the district needs to begin to prepare a plan to restructure the school.
According to greatschools.org, the restructuring plan must include one of the following alternative governance arrangements:
- reopen the school as a public charter school
- replace all or most of the school staff, including the principal
- enter into a contract to have an outside entity operate the school
- arrange for the state to take over operation of the school
- or any other major restructuring of the school's governance arrangement.
According to the parameters of NCLB, if a school that receives Title I funding lapses into a fifth year of corrective action 2 status, the school would be required to implement the previously agreed upon restructuring plan.
The statute does not define the consequences of the fifth year of corrective action for a non-Title I school.
The Centennial School Board's Education Committee will meet to discuss the results of the 2011-12 PSSA exams and map out a plan of action for the district and the high school Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. in the board meeting room of the administration building.
Every state education agency is required to determine which schools do not meet AYP every year. However, a specific designation by the U.S. Department of Education called "Federal school improvement status" applies only to schools that receive Title I funds. State education agencies are required to determine what larger goals are required of every school as they fail to perform annually.[14]
Appoint an external expert to advise school, or restructure the internal organization of the school. [15] Lastly, if a school fails AYP for 5 years or more, they must plan to and implement one of the following: Chartering: Closing and reopening as a public charter school. Reconstitution: Replacing school staff, including the principal, relevant to the failure in the school. Contracting: contracting with an outside entity to operate the school. State takeovers: turning the school operations over to the state education agency. Any Other major governance restructuring: engaging in another form of major restructuring that makes fundamental reforms.
I like how Hurricane Miller points out all the corruption in government .The Attorney General did point out Charter schools "can" get away with making more money then should but that PA could simply "FIX" the problems but they don't.Makes for easy fodder. Corbett could change law that lets failing SDs fire teachers. Cut staff size and salary not services to abide by Act 1 Stop forced unionism Stop teachers from striking (which has already been called unconstitutional.
Suggestion: go check out PDE. search for PSSA scores, and take a look at how Centennial measures up. You all have full access to demographics, scores, percentages, etc. Maybe do that before you start casting blame in any direction. This is a failing on multiple levels: an assessment tool that is being used in a way it was never intended, restructuring that doesn't take into consideration the disruption to the learning environment, lack of parental understanding, interest, and/or support of student achievement, trying to prepare students for a test in March or April that assesses a year's worth of schooling, poor test construction in the first place - placing blame, though, doesn't do anything but maybe make you feel better. It solves nothing. Ask your children's teachers what your child can do at home to continue their PSSA preparation; ask their teachers what they do in the classroom to support that as well. Be an active participant in your child's education, not a passive complainer on a message board.
Both under worked partime Does anyone know the salaries of both! Contract = ticket and tax increase
"There are predators out there, including our own secretary of education, who would love to take control of our brand, spanking new high school if we don't escape this corrective action," he said I HAVE HEARD IT ALL...., Hey Mark Miller bricks and mortar, you and the teachers ( and supporters ) lets stop blaming NCLB, PARENTS, STUDENTS, AND SO CALLED "PREDITORS" who want buldings. Lets bounce a few under performing teachers and put the rest on notice. Lets have a consumer (student) driven system and stop protecting teachers who pompously get offended, like their own students who are evaluated AKA report cards, and have a measure of accountability for teachers. Buildings, teacher/student ratio, money, will not save a failing system, we need a state wide voucher program. BTW LETS DISOLVE THE FEDERAL EDUCATION DEPT WHILE WE ARE AT IT ( a Jimmy Carter error).
It would be very hard to overstate the importance of high caliber academic materials to maximize the development of a child's potential. Youngsters need regular mental as well as physical exercise and challenges to promote full growth. Unfortunately, PA does not require that elementary school teachers have a solid foundation in arithmetic and PA's Math standards were developed without consulting any math experts. Programs like Everyday Math, EM, were designed by and for adults with very little judgment regarding the level of mathematical sophistication required to pursue highly skilled college and career opportunities in an increasingly global economy. It is fundamentally unsuited to prepare youngsters to compete academically, in analytically-based fields such as math, science, engineering and medicine. In far too many urban neighborhood schools, including Phila. and NY, it is virtually impossible for kids to break into such areas after years of reliance on cripplingly shallow programs such as EM that undermine their development.
What the United States Can Learn From Singapore's World-Class Mathematics System: An Exploratory Study - By: American Institutes for Research 1/28/05 - unequivocally warns that mile-wide, inch deep PreK-8 math curriculum must be dramatically streamlined. It critiques 2 of the most popular but shockingly shallow American text series: Scott-Foresman - a traditional program and EM - a reform/constructivist one. Follow the money! The heavily marketed math books that most of America's public school students have been using for years are atrocious. Our high school math performance is rotten because our elementary schools have been increasingly buying into warm and fuzzy, shallow, spiral pedagogy for many years.
You have my deepest sympathy - very few people are professionally qualified to make sound public school academic decisions, particularly regarding mathematical issues. I knew of only one educator that I would care to trust; for a short while she was our acting superintendent and I had high hopes for our district and looked forward to helping our youngsters expand their opportunities; she has since successfully sued our district. I am actively involved with national experts who told me about the exquisitely fine Singapore-based math textbooks. First, I urge you to get and start using quality materials ASAP. Second, I recommend you register your daughter for math competitions: -- Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools: http://www.moems.org/program.htm I ran the program for my son's school, while he was in 2nd grade. -- 24 Game - http://www.24game.com/ - also used in ES + MS competition FYI - valuable report: A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Nation_Deceived/ND_v1.pdf PS Wallingford Swarthmore SD is not successful because of EM, but in spite of it. The data for Central Bucks is also disappointing given their demographics. I urge parents to be pro-active regarding educational issues. A laissez-faire approach is too dicey to risk on something potentially so pivotal. Our public schools are not taking the need for focused rigorous academics seriously.