Something Better

Time for success

When student test scores hit bottom, Ferguson-Florissant educators grew the school year for four elementary schools.

When administrators in the Ferguson-Florissant School District realized four of their schools were on the verge of academic deficiency, they took drastic measures to improve student test scores in four elementary schools. The key factor in their strategy — time.

“We felt that time was the missing element here and were exploring what we could do to allow us more time for teachers to plan and organize and more time for children to focus on what they need to learn,” says Jo Ann Jasin, Ferguson-Florissant School District’s Area Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction.

Beginning in the 1998-1999 academic year, the school year for the four lowest achieving schools grew by 25 days for the students and an additional 14 days for staff members. After the close of the traditional school year, students recessed for one week before returning for the extended session.

Missouri NEA’s Academic Performance work group members contacted educators in school districts with high-level MAP results. Offering extended learning opportunities was one of the 14 common themes of high-performing schools the committee discovered in its research.

What we did was radical, and we couldn’t have done it without the understanding and support of our NEA colleagues,” Jasin explains. “They knew and understood the economic impact failing schools could have on our community. The big sell had to do with families. Many were concerned that this was punitive, that it was something that was targeting strictly African-American children. That is not the case. It was something that had to be done. We had a superintendent at the time who said that change comes about in two ways: either by evolution or by revolution. We did not have time for evolution.”

Radical measures

The district set out to start from scratch in all four elementary schools. All employees in the schools — principals, teachers, custodians, nurses, kitchen staff — interviewed for jobs in the schools. Each had the opportunity to transfer to another school within the district. Many educators found the extended school year (ESY) a good opportunity. Some chose to transfer because they value their summer break. Those who choose to teach at the ESY schools receive their regular year salary, not a reduced summer-school pay rate, for each extra day worked.

“Teachers were guaranteed a job in the district,” says Ferguson-Florissant NEA leader Terry Reger. “Secondly, it was voluntary to go into the ESY buildings. No one was punished for choosing to transfer, and everybody was placed in a position.”

Hurdles

Making the transition was no easy matter. Below are some of the activities necessary to implement the change.

• The district had to invest $1 million to install air conditioning in a building.

• School district employees launched a campaign to educate the community on the importance of the change.

• Families had to change their perspectives on vacation time.

• School employees and students worked on team building.

• Educators received in-service training on the instructional strategies, primarily reading programs, they would use to bring children to higher levels of learning.

• The district employed instructional specialists in each of the schools. These individuals assist educators with instructional planning and teaching techniques.

• Permanent substitute teachers were assigned to each ESY building. These teachers received training on the reading programs to provide continuity when the classroom teachers are absent.

Focus on reading

In the schools participating in the ESY program, educators at all grade levels use the same reading programs to avoid children having to invest time relearning a new program every year.

“Consistency in the reading program also provides opportunities for teachers in the building and schools to discuss and reflect upon what is and is not working for their students,” says Ferguson-Florissant NEA member Janet Wallace, instructional specialist at one of the schools in the program.

Among the reading blocks are: working with words, guided reading, self-selected reading and writing. Children spend approximately two and a half hours each day in reading activities.

“Reading provides the foundation of all subject matter,” Wallace says. “If our students have a strong foundation in reading, then they will be successful in language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. Research indicates that the more students read, the better readers they become and the better writers they become. When our students take the TerraNova or Missouri Assessment Program, the assessments not only evaluate the correct responses, but they also evaluate reading and writing skills.”

Attendance

When the program began, attendance during the extended school year dropped to 87 percent, down from 94.5 percent during the traditional school year.

Now that the program is at the end of its second year, community members who chose not to participate in the ESY program are returning their children to the four participating elementary schools.

“In addition, staff members in other buildings have heard so much about the reading focus and the four-block literacy framework that they are interested in learning more about it and how it could help students in their classrooms,” Reger says.

Academic turn around

Before the district implemented the extended-school-year program, one ESY school’s third graders ranked 782 in 784 on standardized tests. Another ESY school’s sixth graders ranked 557 in 558. In another ESY school, second graders ranked 731 in 735. The numbers clearly painted a gloomy picture for the academic future of the children in these schools.

On the 1999 MAP tests, 17 percent of the ESY students moved from the lowest achievement levels into the top three levels in reading. In math, three percent of the students moved from the lowest levels to the top levels. The students will take their second MAP tests in July, three months after other children across the state have taken the same exams.

“I cannot describe to you the level of pleasure that classroom teachers shared with us on the impact of the shorter lapse of time between the two school years,” Jasin says. “With only a month’s lapse, the children got right back into the routine. We didn’t experience the usual loss of momentum after a three-month summer break.

“We aren’t as far along as we want to be, but we’re not ranking at the bottom in academic testing anymore,” Jasin says.

By Debra Angstead
MNEA communications director