Schools That Are Doing Well

Admittedly, there are times when I focus a little too much on the negative in education, giving people the impression that I only want to nitpick. But there is a fair number of schools that are doing well. The Baltimore Sun talks about one such school, George Washington Elementary, in downtown Baltimore, not far from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Tucked amid a block of rowhouses around the corner from Camden Yards is an elementary school with a statistical profile that often spells academic trouble: 76 percent of the students are poor, and 95 percent are minorities.

But George Washington Elementary has more academic whizzes than most of the schools in Howard, Anne Arundel, Carroll and Baltimore counties.

These students don't just pass the Maryland School Assessment - they ace it. About 46.2 percent of George Washington students are scoring at the advanced level, representing nearly half of the school's 94 percent pass rate.

The cut line for passing is the "proficient level" meaning the students have mastered the basics. There are a number of factors that go into Washington Elementary's success. First, the school is pretty small, even compared to other elementary schools, with 250 students. This creates a smaller community of teachers, students and parents. While the classes are smaller, the schools success rate cannot be attributed solely to smaller class sizes. The Sun points out that the most successful schools, regardless of the race and/or income levels of their students have several things in common. They tend to have experienced teachers with lots of time in position (meaning they have been at the same school for a long time), the schools have extracurricular activities, and often have expansive gifted and talented programs.

The latter is important because gifted and talented programs push the bar higher for more students.

"We should be pushing our kids into the advanced level," says Carol Williamson, associate superintendent in Queen Anne's County. "It isn't enough to have your child just make it."

snip

Today, many children in the state no longer see passing the dreaded Maryland School Assessment as a big deal. While public attention has focused on failing schools, there are dozens of elementary schools statewide where 90 percent or more of students are passing the test.

Principals say the discussion in these high-performing schools has moved away from worrying about how many students will pass to how many students will fly through the test with ease and score in the advanced category.

The question, says Robert O. Glascock, an assistant superintendent in Howard County, is, "What can we do to have more of our children achieve at a higher level?"

Some administrators think that school systems with separate classes for gifted-and-talented students have an edge when it comes to having students who score at the advanced level. Montgomery, Howard and Baltimore counties, for instance, all offer many students an advanced curriculum in reading, math, social studies and science from second grade on.

In middle school, these students are taking Algebra I in seventh grade, and by sophomore year in high school they have moved on to Advanced Placement classes.

"We want large numbers of students in the advanced-level programs," says Glascock.

But it is easy to focus on just making sure the kids "make it" rather than push harder. But gifted and talented programs are no ubiquitous across all high performing schools--Washington Elementary does not have such a program.

But what Washington does have is practically buried later in the story, but I think has a much higher impact on the school's success than any other factor--teachers who are not only long on the job, but also gven a degree of autonomy not often found in public education.

But it isn't just experience and tenure that seem to matter in successful schools. Teachers also need to feel they have some say in how their school is run, educators say. George Washington teacher Tracy Larkins says teachers at her school have been given a degree of autonomy. When staff members go to the principal with a new idea, they usually will be allowed to try it out, she said.

Recently, the school has allowed teachers to concentrate on what they do best, so Larkins, for instance, teaches all of the math and science in the third-grade curriculum, while another teacher concentrates on language arts.

It strikes me odd that elementary schools don't spend time focusing on what teachers do best. Breaking down curricula into segments just makes sense. Most elementary schools have teachers focus on the bulk of the curricula, with on teacher providing instruction in most subjects, math, English, science, social studies, etc. I also imagine that when it comes to music, P.E. and other non-academic pursuits, the students will go to another teacher. So if music, art and P.E. are taught by specialists, why not other areas. The argument that one teacher is a stabilizing factor in a child's life is hogwash, if stability were so important, the same teacher would teach all academics, and the arts, and P.E. and everything. Clearly that is not the case.

The Sun article does a good job of pointing out what is going right in schools. Here is hoping that more of the same will follow.