Franklin Schargel’s Blog

I had the privilege of meeting Matt LaPlante from Nodropouts.org  in Philadelphia.  He sat in one one of the two workshops that I delivered and posted what follows on his website.  It is an excellent website, designed to stop dropouts.  I suggest that you visit.

“The teacher dropout rate in this country is higher than the student dropout rate,” laments Franklin Schargel, author of 162 Keys to School Success. By some estimates as many as 48 percent of teachers won’t survive five years in the classroom, Schargel said.

But it’s not the kids that are driving teachers away, Schargel said.

“The number one reason teachers give for leaving is administration,” said Schargel, who spent 30 years as a teacher, counselor and administrator in New York City. “They’re not getting the support they’ve been told to expect.”

One major reason for that, he said, is that teachers don’t demand to be treated as professionals. For one thing, he said, teachers are given scant credit for what they bring to the educational table.

The best way to tell which students are going to succeed in college, he noted, is to look at which ones succeeded in high school.

“Teachers are the best predictors of success,” Schargel says. “The SAT and ACT are not.”

But when our nation wants to measure how well students have been educated, do we trust the teachers to tell us? “No,” Schargel says, “we give them tests.”

Of course, that’s not going to change anytime soon, but Schargel said that there are many things administrators can do to treat teachers as professionals “” from printing business cards to encouraging everyone to hang their credentials on the wall to putting teachers in charge of observing and accessing their colleagues.

And finally, he said, teachers need to be given every opportunity possible to succeed “” by changing the culture of schools to resemble a family.

“And families,” he said, “don’t let their members fail.”

Schargel’s website is copyright free “” and he encourages visitors to borrow liberally from material posted there.

A new report issued by the America’s Promise founded by Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and his wife, Alma says that the United States graduation rate is rising.  But the report doesn’t satisfy the critics of public education. Schools have a long distance to go, but the report sees where the schools are compared to where they were.  I would like to quote from the report:

The number of dropout factory high schools fell by 261, from a high of 2,007 such schools in 2002 to 1,746 schools in 2008. This 13 percent decline is important, given that these schools produce half of the nation’s dropouts every year.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the national graduation rate increased from 72 to 75 percent between 2001 and 2008. An additional 120,000 students earned a high school diploma in the Class of 2008 compared to the

Class of 2001.

Tennessee and New York led the nation in boosting high school graduation rates, with breakthrough gains of 15 and 10 percentage-points, respectively. Ten other states had gains ranging from about 4 to 7 percentage-points. These gains were in states that had graduation rates in 2002 that were above, near, and below the national graduation rate, indicating that improvement is possible regardless of starting point.

More than half of the nation’s states “” 29 in total “” increased high school graduation rates. Eighteen states had rates that remained essentially the same, and three states “” Arizona, Nevada, and Utah “” experienced noticeable declines in their graduation rates.

The rate of progress over the last decade “” 3 percentage- points “”  is too slow to reach the national goal of having 90 percent of students graduate from high school and obtain at least one year of postsecondary schooling or training by 2020. Over the next 10 years, the nation will need to accelerate its progress in boosting high school graduation rates fivefold from the rates achieved through 2008.”

The 88-page report, “Building a Grad Nation,” was published by America’s Promise Alliance, along with two other groups.”

A new report issued by the America’s Promise founded by Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and his wife, Alma says that the United States graduation rate is rising.

The report cites two statistics. The national graduation rate increased to 75 percent in 2008, from 72 percent in 2001. And the number of high schools that researchers call dropout factories “” where less than 60% of entering students graduate-declined to about 1,750 in 2008, from about 2,000 such schools in 2002.

In most communities, education is the most expensive item.  The one just held will have a major impact.  The sad state of the economy has caused states to examine their spending on education.  The “one time only” stimulus money given to states by the federal government to avoid teacher layoffs is due to expire.  The Federal No Child Left Behind is up for reauthorization and with the Tea Party and Republicans saying no additional spending, education is in serious trouble.

Now is the time to ask your state and federal legislators several key questions:

1.  Do you send your children to public or private school?

2.  Do you support taking public money to support private schools?

3.  Do you support or oppose funding cuts to education?

4.  Do you support the funding of full-day pre-K and kindergarten?

5.  Do you believe that “high stakes testing” is a true measure of academic achievement?

Legislators need to be reminded, “I am an educator and I vote.”

As readers of this website know, dropout prevention and dropout recovery are hot button issues.  My friends at RAPSA are presenting a webinar on Friday, December 10 entitled  Dropout Recovery Solutions – What Will It Take to Re-engage Out of School Youth?  Information about how to register for this webinar can be found at:  https://siatech.ilinc.com/perl/ilinc/lms/register.pl?activity_id=ccrxkfc&user_id=#none

Facilitated by Ryan Reyna & Mark White

Friday, December 10, 2010

11:00 ““ 12:00 (Pacific)
12:00 ““ 1:00 (Mountain)
1:00 ““ 2:00   (Central)
2:00 ““ 3:00   (Eastern)

REGISTER TODAY!

Dropout Recovery ““ What Will It Take to Re-engage Out of School Youth?

You’ve all heard the statistics ““ 30 to 50% of students in America leave before graduating high school.  While schools have begun to focus on preventing dropouts, few have begun the even harder work of reengaging those who have left school.

The reasons for this lack of focus on dropout recovery are many.  One of the unintended consequences of AYP and state accountability measures is that there is a major disincentive to bringing students back into schools ““ students who dropout are often far below grade level; more likely to drop out again; and more likely to have family and criminal issues and other needs that schools find difficult to meet.  However, the Alliance for Excellent Education has projected billions of dollars in enhanced economic activity from re-engaging just a portion of the nation’s dropouts on a diploma track.

Join RAPSA on December 10th for a discussion of cutting edge proposals to recover dropouts.  Ryan Reyna, a senior policy analyst the National Governors Association and co-author of Achieving Graduation for All: A Governor’s Guide to Dropout Prevention and Recovery will discuss his ongoing research and recommendations.

Mark White, Associate Superintendent, Houston Independent School District, will discuss recent reforms and grants that the State of Texas has sponsored to reengage dropout students and improve retention efforts.

Among the emerging successful practices to be discussed:
o   Use data to identify out-of-school youth and target their individual needs
o   Employ outreach strategies to reengage out-of-school youth
o   Create financial and accountability incentives for dropout recovery
o   Provide rigorous relevant options for earning a high school diploma
o   Connect to postsecondary and workforce interests including dual enrollment, internships and apprenticeships
o   Offer state sanctioned online initiatives including virtual schools
o   Award credit for performance, not seat time

This guest post was written by Lynda Wade Sentz, author of Write With Me: Partnering With Parents in Writing Instruction . Sentz is an elementary school teacher in New York. Read below for her reflection as part of our Tales from a Teacher’s Heart series. The following is available on my publisher’s website, www.eyeoneducation.org

Other  Tales from the Teacher’s Heart (including one I submitted) can be found on The following blog post: https://blog.eyeoneducation.com/2010/11/18/what-if.aspx

I ended my teaching day one Friday, asking myself what I had accomplished that week. Perhaps more to the point, what had my students accomplished? What did I teach them? What did they learn? Did they learn? Friday reflections not only help me take stock of the week that was, they also help me gear up for the week that is coming. Fourth grade is a huge year academically. Our curriculum is heavy ““ so much for nine-year-old scholars, so anxious to turn “double digits,” to master.

This one particular Friday, my mind kept turning over what was reality and what I wish could be for my students. I started to wonder how the week might be different if certain conditions were met. Then I began pondering how the bigger picture ““ education for our nation ““ might be different if only so many small things were different. I wasn’t thinking about a bigger, better school or a box of new textbooks. I wasn’t wishing for new classroom furnishings or a larger paycheck. I wasn’t wondering what I would do if only I had more technology. The thoughts I had that day still linger.

What if”¦
“¦every student came to school well-rested and well-fed?
“¦every student arrived at the classroom ready to learn?
“¦every student came in to the classroom eager to learn?
“¦every student listened attentively, even eagerly, like someone important is speaking?

What if every child spent more time each day reading than watching television?
What if every child grew up in an environment where learning is valued?
What if every student’s life outside school was filled to the brim with enriching experiences?
What if every student tried their hardest every day on every task?
What if every child realized the great gift that education offers and eagerly accepted that gift?

What if”¦
“¦teachers didn’t need to teach students good manners?
“¦teachers didn’t have to instruct proper hand-washing and nose-blowing?
“¦teachers only needed to prepare to teach academics?

What if every teacher gave 100 percent effort every day?
What if teachers weren’t encouraged to teach to standardized tests?
What if there was no need for unions?
What if every teacher realized that educating the children of today is a gift for our nation’s tomorrow?

What if”¦
“¦all parents realized that they are their child’s first teacher and reveled in that responsibility?
“¦all parents read to their children each day, even after they can read by themselves?
“¦all parents exuded a passion for learning and shared that passion with their child?
“¦all parents made it their mission to raise productive citizens?

What if all parents filled their child’s leisure time with meaningful experiences?
What if all parents talked — really engaged in meaning-filled conversations — with their child?
What if all parents were deeply interested and deeply involved in their child’s education?
What if no parents saw their child’s education as being solely “the teacher’s job?”

Maybe if all the “what ifs” were answered, there would be no crisis in education today. There would be no need to assess and re-assess on a standardized state test. Maybe we wouldn’t all be “waiting for Superman.” Maybe we would realize that Superman lies within all of us, whether we be teacher, student or parent.

Reading scores for the nation’s 12th-grade students have increased since they dropped to a historic low in 2005. Average math scores also rose.

Experts said the increases, after years of dismal achievement reports, were surprising because every year the nation’s schools are educating more black and Hispanic students, who on average score lower than whites and Asians. Researchers presume that language barriers pull down scores for Hispanics.

On the 500-point scale used in the reading assessment, the average 12th grader scored 288 on the 2009 test, up from 286 in 2005. About 38 percent of 12th graders scored at or above the test’s proficiency level.

The latest results show that Asians overtook whites as the nation’s best readers at the 12th-grade level from 2005 to 2009. The average Asian 12th grader scored 298 in 2009, compared to 287 four years earlier. The average white student scored 296 in 2009, up from 293 in 2005.

The average Hispanic 12th grader scored 274 in 2009, a two point rise from 2005. Black 12th graders, on average, scored 269 in 2009, up from 267 in 2005.

On the math assessment, which is scored on a 300-point scale, the average 12th grader scored 153 in 2009, up from 150 in 2005.

While the increases are small, they are still increases.  Teachers need to get credit for these increases.  Politicians, the media and the business community complain when scores go down.  And they talk about schools needing to be globally competitive.  Yet at the first signs of state budget shortfalls, education goes to the top of the list for cuts.