Few Turn Out For Valley's Academic Probation Hearing
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
AKRON - Though it was a public hearing for Tippecanoe Valley High School's first year of Public Law 221 Academic Probation status, the public was virtually a no-show.
The Tippecanoe Valley School Board held the hearing during its regular school board meeting Monday night, but only about four parents showed up. The rest in attendance were school officials.
"I'm disappointed only two families showed. We would like to have seen more," said David O'Brien, board president, toward the end of the hearing.
According to Valley Superintendent Brett Boggs, in November, the Indiana State Board of Education placed all Indiana public schools in one of five accountability categories as required by Public Law 221. Schools are placed into one of five categories based on three factors: student pass rates on the ISTEP+ tests and End of Course Assessments, improvement on these passing rates and federal Adequate Yearly Progress determinations.
State law requires school corporations with schools placed in the first year of Academic Probation to meet certain obligations outlined in Indiana Code, Boggs said. The school board is required to issue a public notice of the school's lack of improvement. The board also must hold a public hearing.
The committee that develops TVHS's Strategic and Continuous School Improvement and Achievement Plan also "shall revise the plan to address the lack of improvement," Boggs said.
He said 75 percent of Indiana's high schools are placed in the two lowest categories, which are Academic Watch and Academic Probation.
Kirk Doehrmann, TVHS principal, said there are several areas the high school needs to improve on. Those areas include English, math and the graduation rate.
Of the 147 students who took the English test, 61.2 percent made AYP. The target rate for TVHS was 64 percent. Doehrmann said that 3 percent represented about 4 students that could have helped Valley make its target rate.
Like most area schools, Valley has seen its number of free and/or reduced lunch students increase. There were 64 free and/or reduced lunch students that took the English test, with 51.6 passing. The target rate was 59.6 percent.
Currently, to improve English scores, Doehrmann gave a list of strategies Valley currently is using. Those include continued use of Silent Sustained Reading Program, using a literacy coach and continuing with the All Write! Consortium.
In addition, Valley now will participate in a K-12 literacy audit, identify professional development for help, extend hours for the library, focus on SSR, K-12 literacy initiative and assess students on Scholastic Reading Inventory. Peer facilitators may be used to help struggling readers.
In math, 147 students took the math ISTEP with 54.4 percent passing. The target rate was 62.8 percent. Doehrmann said that was about 12 students or so who didn't make it.
Math strategies Valley has been using include identifying students at the middle school level to determine their high school class, all students taking the ECA at the end of the algebra course, students who fail the course and ECA are placed in algebra again, and students who pass the course but fail the ECA are placed in remediation.
New programs for math that will be used include breaking down the algebra curriculum into eight modules, students must show 80 percent mastery to move to the next module, students have nine weeks to complete modules or they must repeat the module, and students passing the class but not showing mastery will earn pre-algebra credit. Only students passing all the modules will take the ECA.
For the graduation rates, Valley's was 68.1 percent in 2007; 71.9 percent in 2008; 75.4 percent in 2009; and 80.1 percent in 2010. The state wants all schools to get their graduation rate to 90 percent.
To increase its graduation rate, Doehrmann said, they have several strategies already in place. Those include general education intervention for students not passing classes, APEX program for students behind on credits, use of graduation coaches for at-risk students, and use of Bridges program to help provide relevance to course work.
Additional strategies will include continued GEI process, providing transportation to Burket Educational Center, possible driving and work privileges suspended, and an incentive for all A-B and all students who raise their grades, as well as continued implementation of graduation coaches. Student athletes can not participate in their sport(s) unless they are passing classes.
Scott Bibler, TVHS, said student athletes have to pass five solids prior to their sport season. At mid-term, Valley now can pull them for a week or so until they get those grades up.
Doehrmann said Valley is at 58.1 percent passing, which puts the school on academic probation. With things Valley is putting in place, he said, there is no reason Valley shouldn't see an increase over the next few years.
In 2008, Valley was on commendable progress. From 2005 to 2007, Valley was on academic watch. Valley needs to move up 5 percent to 63.1 percent to be under exemplary progress. A school on probation has four years to improve until the state moves in and takes over.
During the two-hour hearing, those in attendance also discussed the impact students' home lives have on academics, self-esteem, No Child Left Behind, lack of parents at the meeting and how parents can best judge their child's school effectiveness when there is conflicting information coming from all sides.
