Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools
The State of Our Schools Where Weve Been
and Where Were Going Monroe County
Community School Corporation August 25, 2003
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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• The Business of Education
• State Basic Grant reduced by 1.6 million in
  2002-2003
• MCCSC reduced expenditures by 3.0 million for
  2004-2005
• New state budget was 65.7 million below revenue
  forecast in July
• States Budget Director stated must meet revenue
  forecast or face serious consequences
• Serious consequences could mean . . .
• More state spending cuts
• Repeal the small increases that public schools
  are receiving
• Delay payments to public schools forcing School
  Corp. to borrow money
• School Corp. incurring additional expenses to
  operate

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• The Business of Education (continued . . .)
• State has permitted the transfer of Capital
  Projects Fund (CPF) dollars to replace General
  Fund (GF) and Transportation Fund (TF) money that
  the state has not delivered
• Capital Projects Fund Resources used to support
  General Fund and Transportation Fund Operations

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• General (GF) Transport (TF)
• 650,000
• 350,000
• 300,000
• 300,000
• 556,524
• 1,856,524
• 300,000
• 300,000
• 1,113,048
• 1,413,048
• 3,269,572 600,000
• 3,869,572

• Replace reductions in GF (2002)
• Replace reductions in GF (2003)
• Replace reductions in TF (2004)
• Transfer GF Maint. to CPF (2004)
• Transfer utility costs to CPF (2004)
• SUBTOTAL thru 12/31/04
• Replace reductions in TF (2005)
• Transfer GF Maint. to CPF (2005)
• Transfer utility costs to CPF (2005)
• SUBTOTAL -- 2005
• FUND TOTALS
• Total CPF Resources Used (2002-05)

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• The Business of Education (continued . . .)
• The MCCSC has kept CPF tax rate below the state
  permitted maximums
• Need to recommend a tax rate increase
  approximately (0.065) to replace the money lost
  to state funding shortfalls
• Other areas of concern . . .
• Property/Casualty Insurance premiums (30)
• Medical/Dental Insurance premiums (35)
• Worker Compensation Insurance premiums (25)

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• Where Weve Been - The MCCSC Schools as Compared
  with Indianas and the Nations Public Schools
• A 13 year trend shows Indiana schools have
  improved
• Contradicting hearsay stories about educational
  decline
• Trends continue to go up on key education
  indicators
• Resources used . . .
• National Assessment of Educational Progress
  (NAEP)
• ACT, Inc.
• College Board
• Indiana Department of Education

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• NAEP - The Nations Report Card
• Indiana has consistently outperformed the nation
• Remarkable improvement in Math in the 90s
• Indianas passing NAEP appear to be same ball
  park as Indiana passing ISTEP
• Indianas margins very similar in Grade 8

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• Attendance has improved significantly since Base
  Year (1988-89)
• Built a climate of higher expectations in the
  area of attendance
• Highest level recorded in Indiana

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• Graduation Rate has improved significantly since
  Base Year (1988-89)
• Graduation credits have increased from 32 in 1984
  to 40 credits for the 2004 class
• GQE not impact graduation rate
• Highest graduation rate in state history
• Concern for MCCSC (89.5) below state average
  (91.1)

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• ISTEP Averages for All Tested Grades
• The MCCSC has continued to outpace the state
  average
• The MCCSC has exceeded expectations and made
  gains from the Base Year (1998-99) to the present
  (2002-03)

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• Every year more students have qualified for Core
  40 and Academic Honors Diplomas
• 68 - Core 40
• 37 - Academic Honors
• More rigorous a students high school curriculum
  and course load the greater success the student
  will have at the post secondary level

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• SAT composite scores have increased 34 points in
  the last 6 years
• MCCSC scored 52 points higher than the nation and
  73 points higher than the state
• Total score ranks 8th in state
• Test takers as of H.S. Graduates
• Nation 46
• State 55
• MCCSC 67
• Gains have come when we have tested far more
  students, giving more marginal students a chance
  to enter college

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• ACT composite scores at the highest mark in state
  history
• Indiana ACT scores have exceeded national scores
  in every year of the study
• Fewer Hoosier students, including MCCSC students,
  take the ACT (applying to out-of-state colleges)
• Nation 39
• State 19
• MCCSC 6

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• Advanced Placement (AP) courses help prepare
  students for college and high level exams
• AP can expose many average teens to a level of
  instruction once reserved for honor students
• From 1998-2002, AP participation by
  underrepresented minority students (77) and
  low-income students (101) increased
• Admission deans say that AP is a better predictor
  of college success than the SAT
• Not one Indiana school ranked in Top 100
  (Newsweek, June 2003)

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• of H.S. Graduates going on to Post-secondary
  (87)
• MCCSC ranks 16th in state
• Has increased 6 over last 5 years
• Question - How many students are still in college
  in the . . .
• MCCSC State
• 2nd year? 86 76
• 4th year? 22 16
• 5th year? 41 38

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• Key Education Indicators
• National Assessment of Educational Progress
• Attendance
• Graduation Rate
• ISTEP English/Language Arts Scores
• ISTEP Math Scores
• Percentage of Graduates Receiving Academic Honors
  Diploma and the Core 40 Diploma
• SAT Verbal Scores
• SAT Math Scores
• ACT Composite Scores
• Percentage of Students Enrolled in AP Courses
• Percentage of Graduates Going on to College

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• Historical Evidence
• Data prove that Indiana public schools are not in
  decline
• Data prove that Indiana public schools have
  progressed
• From the 1980s to the present, federal reports
  and/or law have focused attention on failing
  schools, and have blamed teachers
• A Nation at Risk (1983), Goals 2000 - Educate
  America Act (1994)
• No Child Left Behind (2001)
• Not any closer in 2003 of making sure that no
  child is left behind than we were in the 1980s
  or 1990s
• Public deceived into thinking that we can fix
  our youth
• All children must be ready to learn when they
  arrive at schoolhouse doors
• Must continue our trend of continuous improvement
  and make good schools, Great

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• Where Were Going - High Performing Schools
• Welcoming School Climate
• Too much emphasis on structural elements
• Educators must overcome tendency to attribute
  students difficulties largely to conditions
  beyond the school
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
• Align, Map, and Articulate Curriculum
• Differentiated Instruction
• Balanced Literacy Model
• Writing Process
• Closing the Achievement Gap
• Common Assessment
• Extensive Use of Test and Assessment Data
• Data help us monitor and assess performance
• Deming, Plan, Do, Study, and Act

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools

• Where Were Going - High Performing Schools
  (continued . . .)
• Job Embedded Professional Development
• Teacher Coaches (Facilitation, Support, and
  Follow-up)
• Identify staff to become cadre of facilitators
• Professional Learning Communities (Five critical
  elements)
• Reflection (Think about what we do before,
  during, and after our actions)
• Inquiry (Enables us to transform our
  inquisitiveness into practice)
• Dialogue (The purpose is understanding which we
  foster by listening and building on others
  ideas)
• Collaboration (Encourages teachers to work
  together)
• Collective Focus on Student Learning (Assumes all
  students can learn at reasonably high level and
  teachers can help them, despite many obstacles
  students may face outside of school)

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Moving from Good Schools to Great Schools
Good teaching comes in myriad forms, but good
teachers share one trait they are truly present
in the classroom, deeply engaged with their
students and their subject . . . and the
connections made by good teachers are not held
in their methods but in their hearts . .
. Parker J. Palmer They may forget what
you said, they may forget what you did, but
they will never forget how you made them
feel. Carl W. Buecher