Is the Public Service Leadership Academy at Fowler the Answer to a Neighborhood's Troubles?

On June 25^th, the last graduating class from Fowler High School will walk the stage.  As these last 149 students’ names are called, Fowler High School’s story will end – but a new story is already beginning at the Public Service Leadership Academy at Fowler (PSLA), the Career and Technical Education school that is now housed in Fowler’s renovated space.  Whether this new story will be a happy one is yet to be determined.

Fowler High School struggled with inadequate facilities and low graduation rates.  In a recent Syracuse.com article, Julie McMahon detailed the troubled history of Fowler – poor construction leading to raw sewage seeping into the school, persistently poor test scores, and violent flare-ups.  However, McMahon also makes clear that the neighborhood school is situated in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country and serves a particularly stressed community – people from oppressed racial backgrounds, immigrants, refugees.  (In fact, both the valedictorian and the salutatorian of this year’s graduating class came to the United States from refugee camps in Thailand.)  McMahon quotes ***** that Fowler was “set up from the giddy-up,” poorly resourced to meet the needs of a challenging population.  People in the neighborhood found the school to be a sanctuary – with teachers who cared and who understood what it meant to live on the West Side.  With low graduation rates, it’s clear that most of Fowler’s students did not find success – but many did.  There are always stories of hard work and perserverance, even in the most difficult circumstances.  In the end, however, the No Child Left Behind law requires that consistently failing schools be “restructured” – and thus, Fowler became PSLA.

What has changed in the restructuring?  First, the renovation of the school has added windows and, with them, light -- the space is more cheerful than in the past.  A towering library and the transformation of the factory-like old building demonstrate real improvements.  There is a new principal and administrative staff, and a totally new curriculum.  The school is focused on CTE programs -- with 11 choices, focused on public service.  They are:

• Cosmetology/Barbering
• Electrical trades
• Computer forensics
• Cybersecurity
• Geospatial intelligence
• Drone technology
• Law enforcement
• Emergency medical technician
• Forensic science
• Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps

While school officials say that the curriculum will help students become college or career ready, the emphasis is on careers.  If you examine the curriculum, you will see that students are held to the same Common Core State Standards for literacy, math, and science as students in traditional high school programs.  PSLA at Fowler students will take the regents exams.  There are partnerships in place with Onondaga Community College to continue students' education in some of the programs.  There are also partnerships with local employers to give students hands on experience in their chosen fields and prepare them for careers.  According to school officials, the goal is "for students to graduate with a clear sense of their next step in life, whether it's a job right out of school or higher education.  Students often graduate with credentials or certification to work in their chosen field."

There are a number of questions that can be raised about PSLA at Fowler.  First, this kind of practical training, integrated with academic skills in reading, writing, math, and science, is similar to LEAP's emphasis on problem-based instruction.  The education is concrete and leads to succes in a career.  These are worthy goals.  But, at the same time, encouraging these students to focus on careers, rather than college, is to underestimate their potential.  Not everyone wants to go to college or will find fulfillment there.  We need police officers, EMTs, barbers, etc.  But we should not decide in advance which children should go to college and which should go directly into careers.  As long as these students have a real option to choose their path -- and to puruse "a job right out of school or higher education," is the question.  Inadequate schools combined with inadequate nutrition combined with the stress of poverty can set children up for failure.  Is turning to a career focused academy just realism?  Or are we giving up on these kids, and deciding that they cannot go to college?  One commentator on Syracuse.com wrote: "it seems that a whole lot of the 'village' it takes to raise a child, failed them."  Does a new name, a new curriculum, and a renovated building address the issues that led to Fowler becoming a "failure factory"?  

What do you think about the new PSLA at Fowler?  Is this a step in the right direction?  Are there other steps we should be taking?  Or are you concerned that we are giving up these kids?  Please let us know what you're thinking in the comments below.

LEAP into Lit this Summer!

We are excited to announce our free summer literacy program!  We will be working with children who have finished second grade but not yet started third grade.  The goal of the program is to increase the students' interest and ability for reading and writing.  Let's start third grade ready to go!

The LEAP program uses literature to jump into writing and problem-solving. Students in LEAP choose a problem in their world and work to find solutions to it. The solutions are then passed on to stakeholders in the community so that the children’s ideas can be put into action. Everything we do is student-centered. LEAP teachers believe that these are smart children who have a lot to say. The project’s goal is to show young students that reading and writing well will help them use their voices to change the world.

LEAP teachers work with small groups, giving lots of one on one attention

LEAP will start July 5 and run through Aug. 4. The program will meet from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday at Great Grace Church, 410 Oswego St. Classes are small. Each teacher works with only 4 or 5 students, so each child gets individual attention.  

Registration for the program is now open. For more information and to apply, click here.  Feel free to contact our program director, Tabor Fisher, with any questions.  

School Lunches: Healthy or Popular?

As parents, many of us know about the constant struggle to provide healthy food for our kids and get them to eat it.  We struggle to plan meals, balance our budgets, avoid sodas and expand our children's choices. (I remember a long period when my children ate macaroni and cheese and peas for every meal.  And I'm not sure they always ate enough peas!)  Parents do our best, but it isn't always easy.  All of this becomes even harder when there isn't enough money to buy healthy food.  In families experiencing poverty, 32.8% experience food insecurity.

How our children eat impacts how well they can learn in school.  A hungry child can be tired, have difficulty concentrating, and have trouble remembering things.  Long term hunger can lead to delays in the mind's development -- leading to lower standardized test scores.  It is crucial that our children have enough food -- and healthy food -- to get the most they can out of their schooling.

The federal government takes these issues seriously.  The Obama administration changed the regulations for school lunches, mandating more whole grains, more fruits and vegetables, less sodium, and nonfat milk.  The regulations put in place by the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act in 2010 set high standards for nutritious food for our kids.

So, what can be wrong with these regulations?  All I have to think about is that seemingly endless period of time when my kids would only eat macaroni and cheese.  I can't imagine them stretching their palates to accept whole grain pasta in that macaroni and cheese.  What happens if the school offers healthy food -- but the kids won't eat it?

This is the concern raised by the School Nutrition Association.  In 2014, Lyman Graham, SNA's Director, pointed out that "with sky-high produce costs, we simply cannot afford to feed our trash cans."  The new administration is sympathetic to those concerns.  Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has halted the phasing in of some of the new regulations.  Some school districts, including C. W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville and Manlius Pebble Hill School in Syracuse, have already opted out of the federal regulations, giving up on federal funding for free and reduced meals, because students have resisted the healthier food.

What do you do when your kids want pizza or soda?  How do you balance the demands of making sure your children eat and making sure they eat well?  Do your kids complain about or praise school lunches?  And what do you think the school should serve?  Whole grain healthy food -- with hopes kids will get used to it?  Or not as healthy food, which we know they will eat?  Please post your opinions below.

The Vicious Cycle of Poverty and Iliteracy

            When my eldest child began to read, I remember the world suddenly opening up for him.  We’d be driving in the car and he would be so excited about reading each and every sign – whether it was the distance to the next town or an advertisement for fast food.  As he exclaimed with joy over the bits of information flowing to him from roadsigns (“Gas next exit,” “Garage sale,” “Grand opening”), I was struck by how much of our world is covered in text.  You are reading right now.  We get news from our friends in writing on Facebook; we find our way to the “restrooms” by reading the sign, I know I can get a cheeseburger, fries, and a soda, because it is written on the menu.  Without being able to read, what would the world look like?  How would we find our way around, pick up bargains, know what is happening in our city or state or country or world?

            Not being able to read well can have negative effects on human flourishing.  According to The New England Journal of Medicine people who are not good readers can misunderstand the instructions a doctor has given them, misread prescription dosages, and have severe health problems simply because they do not have the health information they need.  Poor readers have difficulty filling out job applications, finding addresses, and understanding safety information.  

There is a reinforcing cycle of connections between illiteracy and poverty.  People who have money are more likely to own books.  They are also more likely to have jobs that give them the time to encourage their children to engage with those books.  If someone works a janitorial job, for example, she is more likely to both make less money and work during the hours a school-aged child is home from school.  For these reasons, people who live in poverty are more likely to have poor literacy skills. 

However, the cycle continues: people who have poor literacy skills are more likely to become or remain poor.  The skills needed for higher paying jobs, the ability to read job notices and fill our job applications, and the clarity and confidence of oral skills are often lacking for people who have trouble reading and writing.  Literacy advocate AndyMcNab says that while the ability of a school to spend time on literacy is "not a problem for children who were exposed to books at home, it left those from deprived backgrounds disadvantaged because they had few role models outside school to encourage them to read.  'Kids from working-class families are being failed because they don't come from a middle class culture where everyone reads,' he said." 

Schools can only do so much, and without the supplemental instruction many children who live in poverty cannot receive at home, there is a growing gap in literacy skills between middle-class and poorer children.  This disparity is evident in the Syracuse City Schools, where the different in attainment on the third grade ELA test between those who are economically disadvanted and those who are not is the greatest difference in any category.  While 24% of children who are not economically disadvantaged in the Syracuse City School District were proficient on the 3rd grade ELS test, only 7% of students who are economically disadvantaged were proficient.

It is clear that children do better when they have access to good books and to adults who engage them in reading.  Reading for fun -- and finding the fun in reading -- is crucial.  That is what we do in LEAP.  Our summer literacy enrichment program will take place at Great Grace Church of God in Christ, making it easier for children on the Near West Side ot participate.  The census tracts near the church include some of the highest concentrations of poverty in Syracuse, including census tract 30 with 65% of its residents below the poverty line, according to the most recent data.  The kids we work with are smart and curious -- but they do not have the same resources as other children.

At LEAP, we offer children a student-centered approach to reading and writing that focuses on their strengths and their enjoyment.  We encourage children to have fun with their reading and to write with a purpose.  Our well-trained teachers focus on each child's unique skills and needs, working with no more than 5 children each.  If you'd like to get more information about this summer's LEAP program or would like to support our efforts, feel free to contact us or donate.

The Complaint Teachers Love to Hear

There was a buzz of activity in the computer lab in the library at Le Moyne College.  Students typed furiously, their notes and textbooks spread around them.  It's the last week of classes and papers and labs and exams loom over the young people working industriously in the brightly lit room.  No less industrious are two young girls, each at their own terminal, focused and intent.  They confer with one another from time to time, but mostly pound the keys in silence.  They are also working to complete a project -- but there is no deadline, no assignment, no grade.  They are doing this for themselves.  I point out a writing convention here or there, suggest an elaboration, but mostly watch in amazement as these young people create.  Finally I say the words so many students live to hear, "Okay, save that document.  It's time to go."

And they groan.  "Do we have to?!?" they whine, almost in unison.  And that's it.  That's the moment every teacher yearns for.  A student so delighted in learning, in reading and writing, that she doesn't want to stop -- even though the darkening night is turning cold and there are cookies and punch waiting in the other room.  Parents are coming to pick them up.  Dinner and relaxation await them at home.  But they want to stay here, under the fluorescent lights, and write.

I pry them from their computers and we gather with the other students to tie up our last meeting of LEAP for the year.  The cookies are quickly devoured and one of the youngest girls wins the trivia contest and gets to be the scribe for a collectively written thank you note for donors.  Here's what they wrote:

"Thank you for donating money to LEAP because we are grateful to have something to look forward to when we come.  We are also grateful for the books, binders, pens, markers, paper, and flipcharts.  We are in different groups.  One group is making an anti-bullying packet for our schools.  Another group is doing a play on child abuse.  The last group is writing a novel.  We couldn't do it without your help.  Sincerely, LEAP!"

Our scribe writing the thank you letter, with lots of helpers leaning in.

To be in a room with such earnest young people, working hard on projects they care about, is an honor and a privilege.  Let me add my thank you to theirs for all the support you've given LEAP over the years.  (And if you haven't yet had that privilege, there's a "Donate Now" button above!)  And let me add my complaint to theirs, as well.  Do we have to take a break until January!!?!  Can't wait for the New Year.

Testing v. Learning

We have taken to measuring our children’s success repeatedly and then using that data to assess how we are teaching, who is teaching, where funding should go and other important aspects of our education system.  This sounds, on paper, like a great idea – get the data and then respond to reality.  So how could this go wrong?

Well, first, there is the experience of being tested to contend with.  Each test gives us information about how students are doing – but the test is another educational experience, as well.  And that experience affects our children.  What does it feel like, at the age of 5, to be just starting school and begin with a test?  And, since it is a baseline test, you are expected to fail it.  And you do.  And you’re five.  One kindergarten teacher described her students’ response: “They don’t know how to hold pencils.  They don’t know letters, and you have answers that say A, B, C, or D and you’re asking them to bubble in. . . .  They break down; they cry.”  Research shows that these tests can decrease students’ love of learning (Jones et al., 80).  They may score well on a test, but also learn to dislike school.  And the level of anxiety high-stakes testing produces can make many students physically ill, with incidents of stomach aches and headaches skyrocketing on test days (Jones et al., 95).  Testing and the anxiety that accompanies it often leads to lower scores (Cassady and Johnson 273), which then increases test anxiety for the next test, creating a destructive cycle.  Ironically, our measurements of how well our students are learning may show less achievement than they would be capable of without these measurements. 

Second, there are limitations to what we can measure on a standardized test.  A multiple choice instrument is not conducive to measuring creativity and imagination.  You cannot see how a student arrived at an answer.  But, since more qualitative measures are difficult to score, we opt for bubbling in A, B, C and D.  These multiple choice questions are best suited to lower level thinking skills like memorization and description.  Higher level thinking like analysis and evaluation are difficult to test by choosing one of four offered answers.  Even memory is not well tested by multiple choice, because the answer is written out for the student and all she has to do is find it in the list – rather than recall it herself.  And don’t forget that a student may have guessed the correct answer.  Standardized tests do not give us a window into the thought-processes of students.  As teachers, our goal is to meet students where they are struggling and help them figure out the material, but a score on a standardized test does not give us the information we need to do so.

So what are children achieving when they score well on a standardized test?  They have prepped well, their teacher has drilled them on the facts they need to know to pass the test, and they have good memories.  This does not tell me if the student has new, creative ideas or if he is engaged by reading The Giver or if he understands the causes of the Civil War.  Albert Einstein once complained that coercive testing so turned him off to learning that he gave up on science for a year.  Are we losing some young Einsteins because of our current emphasis on high stakes testing?  

Bibliography

Cassady, Jerrell C. and Ronald E. Johnson.  "Cognitive Test Anxiety and Academic Performance."  Contemporary Educational Psychology.  (2002) 27:270-295.

Jones, M. Gail, Brett D. Jones, and Tracy Y. Hargrove.  The Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing.  Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003.

Monahan, Rachel. "Kindergarten gets touch as kids are forced to bubble in multiple choice tests."  New York Daily News.  10 Oct 2013.

 "Multiple Choice Tests."  FairTest.  fairtest.org.  17 Aug 2007.

The Joys of Teaching -- without High Stakes Testing

I believe two things with all my heart:

-- Children love learning and, therefore, teaching should be delightful

--  I am the luckiest person in the world

These two things are confirmed every time I step into the small room in the Falcone Library at Le Moyne College where, on Tuesday evenings, we hold the LEAP program.  These lovely children come on their own time to read, research and write.  They race ahead of us with ideas and energy.  Our jobs as teachers are more about guiding their boundless energy than prodding them to get to work.  This Tuesday night, as the parents arrived to pick up kids at 8 p.m., one girl sighed audibly.  "Already?!" she complained.  If only children felt that way every day at the end of the school day.  And I believe they would -- if education can be realigned with its true purpose.

The kids in LEAP are reading, researching and writing in order to make a change in their worlds.  The kids in this year's programs are in three groups.  The oldest group is researching child abuse and writing a pamphlet to be distributed to their peers.  They want "by kids, for kids" emblazoned on the brochure.  So as they work on getting the grammar and spelling right, and making sure their information is correct, they are not focused on passing an exam, but on getting the word out about a problem that is important to them.  The same energy these kids would have put into spreading the news about a new romance or break-up goes into what is, actually, school work.

A group of LEAP kids enjoying Whoopi Golberg's Sugar Plum Ballerinas series

One group has decided to write a novel about bullying.  They decided that people should see how a person becomes a bully (based on their research, many bullies were bullied themselves in the past).  They also wanted to let people know that there are effective ways to stand up to a bully.  Inspired by Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan, they, too, wanted to write a story about overcoming obstacles and the grace and dignity people have, even in the worst circumstances.  By writing a novel, they can show the internal struggles of the characters (a trio of girls).  The energy they are putting into writing this novel -- which they have no doubt will be published, because it is "awesome!" -- is amazing.  And, of course, we will do all that we can to make sure that the novel gets into the hands of a publishing house.  We believe that the kids in the program have something important to say and will do anything we can to help them say it.

I should point out that these children are exceeding all expectations in the Common Core State Standards for responding to literature, writing narratives, gathering information through digital sources, revising based on input from teachers and peers, and using proper grammar and spelling (although we did discuss the use of dialect, the power of The Color Purple and accurate portrayal of characters).  But don't tell them they are exceeding Common Core Standards -- they think they're just having fun.

I look at these children, happily working away on their own time, when they could be home watching television or playing video games, and the contrast between them and the picture concerned parent Jeanette Deutermann draws of children dealing with state assessments:

We saw our children crying at night over months and months of test prepping homework. We heard our children say, “please don’t make me go to school”. We saw our 8, 9 and 10 year olds wake in the middle of the night asking, “What will happen if I do bad on the test?” On test days we watched our children break out in hives, refuse to eat, throw up, lock themselves in school bathrooms, shake, sob, and lose their smiles. These are not isolated instances, but an epidemic. (You can read Deutermann's full account here.)

 The atmosphere created by high stakes testing is draining away the energy and joy our students naturally have when it comes to learning.  The good news is that it pops right back when children are placed in a supportive, purpose driven environment.  We learn to read, write and do arithmetic in order to communicate with each other and solve life's problems.  We learn in order to be citizens.  The kids in LEAP, given that opportunity, are engaged and excited about learning.  And that brings me back to my second truth: I am the luckiest person in the world.  Why?  Because I get to watch what kids can do, watch them take charge, grow and learn -- and I get to help them do it.  There is nothing more rewarding.