Haley, Riley cut ribbon on new Charleston school

Imagine what public schools could do if they were allowed the same rules , regulations and flexibility as Charter schools. Posted: Jul 23, 2012 12:59 PM EDT Updated: Jul 23, 2012 6:28 PM EDT   (Dave MacQueen/WCIV) CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) - Gov. Nikki Haley and state Education Superintendent Mick Zais joined Charleston Mayor Joe Riley as he cut the ribbon on a new building housing a private school in Charleston for low income families. Haley says the Meeting Street Academy can be a model for schools across South Carolina. "If we could get every single school in South Carolina to work like Meeting Street Academy, we would be in a much different situation when it comes to education," she said. The academy was founded in 2008. It aims to help provide a first-class, college preparatory education for families who care about education but can't afford traditional private schools. "They do things creatively," Haley explained. "They teach every child individually so they don't treat all children the same. They teach them separately. They focus on math and reading which is what really counts and there's parental involvement. They have parent meetings. They have parents that are required to read with their children at night. There's commitment not just from the students but commitment from the parents and we all know for education to be successful for a child the family has to be a part of it." The academy is supported largely by donations and contributions. It charges students a token tuition. In return, parents or family members promise to help the children with their school work and stay involved in the school. "This is what happens to education when beaurocracy's not a part of it. This is what happens to education when administrations don't take over the funding," said Gov. Haley. "This is what happens to education when it's about the child and reading and math and the parent's involvement as opposed to the way we have it now. And this should be the goal for South Carolina." Superintendent Mick Zais says the academy shows that low-income children can learn in the right environment. "Poor kids can learn and poverty is not an excuse," said Zais. "We have high-poverty schools across this state that are knocking it out of the ballpark and doing very well. And they are demographically, geographically and financially identical to some schools in our state that are high-poverty that are failing miserably. The difference between high-poverty schools that are doing well and those that are failing is not the students nor is it the parents. The difference has been the competence of the adults in the system." Gov. Nikki Haley called Mayor Joe Riley a "rock star" when it came to working out the logistics and thanked him for his hard work. Riley said the methods used at the academy can be a model for public schools.

Obama backs race-based school discipline policies

Published: 1:18 AM 07/27/2012 By Neil Munro Archive | Email Neil Munro Get Neil Munro Feed inShare 5 In this June 25, 2012, photo, President Barack Obama addresses supporters during a campaign fundraiser at Symphony Hall in Boston. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) President Barack Obama is backing a controversial campaign by progressives to regulate schools’ disciplinary actions so that members of major racial and ethnic groups are penalized at equal rates, regardless of individuals’ behavior. His July 26 executive order established a government panel to promote “a positive school climate that does not rely on methods that result in disparate use of disciplinary tools.” “African Americans lack equal access to highly effective teachers and principals, safe schools, and challenging college-preparatory classes, and they disproportionately experience school discipline,” said the order, titled “White House Initiative On Educational Excellence.” Because of those causes, the report suggests, “over a third of African American students do not graduate from high school on time with a regular high school diploma, and only four percent of African American high school graduates interested in college are college-ready across a range of subjects.” “What this means is that whites and Asians will get suspended for things that blacks don’t get suspended for,” because school officials will try to level punishments despite groups’ different infraction rates, predicted Hans Bader, a counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Bader is a former official in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, and has sued and represented school districts and colleges in civil-rights cases. “It is too bad that the president has chosen to set up a new bureaucracy with a focus on one particular racial group, to the exclusion of all others,” said Roger Clegg, the president of the Center for Equal Opportunity. “A disproportionate share of crimes are committed by African Americans, and they are disproportionately likely to misbehave in school… [because] more than 7 out of 10 African Americans (72.5 percent) are born out of wedlock… versus fewer than 3 out of 10 whites,” he said in a statement to The Daily Caller. Although ” you won’t see it mentioned in the Executive Order… there is an obvious connection between these [marriage] numbers and how each group is doing educationally, economically, criminally,” he said. The order created a “President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans.” It will include senior officials from several federal agencies — including the Departments of Education, Justice and Labor — which have gained increased power over state education policies since 2009. The progressives campaign for race-based discipline policies also won a victory in Maryland July 24. The state’s board of education established a policy demanding that each racial or ethnic group receive roughly proportional level of school penalties, regardless of the behavior by members of each group. The board’s decision requires that “the state’s 24 school systems track data to ensure that minority and special education students are not unduly affected by suspensions, expulsions and other disciplinary measures,” said a July 25 Washington Post report. “Disparities would have to be reduced within a year and eliminated within three years,” according to the Post. The state’s new racial policy was welcomed by progressives, including Judith Browne Dianis, a director of the D.C.-based Advancement Project. “Maryland’s proposal is on the cutting edge,” she told the Post. Dianis’ project is also a law firm that litigates race-related questions, and it gains from laws and regulations that spur race-related legal disputes. “The combination of overly harsh school policies … has created a ‘schoolhouse-to-jailhouse track,’ in which punitive measures such as suspensions, expulsions, and school-based arrests are increasingly used to deal with student misbehavior,” claimed the group’s website. This “is a racial justice crisis, because the students pushed out through harsh discipline are disproportionately students of color,” the group insisted. The administration had previously advertised its support for the campaign to impose race-based discipline policies. In February, Attorney General Eric Holder claimed that “we’ve often seen that students of color, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and students with special needs are disproportionately likely to be suspended or expelled.” “This is, quite simply, unacceptable. … These unnecessary and destructive policies must be changed,” he said in his speech, given in Atlanta, Ga. Holder’s speech did not, however, include any evidence of discrimination toward any individual African-American student. For example, he offered no evidence that school infractions by African-American students prompt stiffer punishments than similar infractions by white, Hispanic or Asian students. The progressive campaign to impose race-based rules on schools relies on various judges’ decisions, which penalize so-called “disparate impact” in hiring. According to progressive lawyers, “disparate impact” may occur when companies or state and local governments hire and promote people at rates different from their percentage in the local population. Because of judges’ decisions, juries can force companies and state agencies — such as city boards that hire police officers and firefighters — to pay heavy financial penalties to plaintiffs, even when hiring policies are recognized as color-blind. When facing a disparate impact lawsuit, employers have to justify their hiring practices, for example, by showing that the job demands special skills possessed by relatively few members of a racial or ethnic group. In 1997, however, the Seventh Circuit appeals court barred the practice of racial balancing in school discipline to avoid disparate impact lawsuits, said Bader. Progressives say the “disparate impact” claims are supported by the 1964 Civil Right Act. Critics, such as Clegg, say “disparate impact” law is used to trump popular and effective color-blind practices, such as civil-service tests by governments and employment-suitability testing by companies. Another critic, David Rettig, head of the National Character Education Foundation, told The Daily Caller in February that apparently-disproportionate school discipline practices can be a reflection of local crime reports. “Outside the walls of the school, how many of these kids are coming from not just dysfunctional homes, but homes that are not supportive of their children?” he told TheDC. Follow Neil on Twitter Ads by Google Maritime Welding DiplomaKick Start Your Future With A Diploma Program At ATI. Apply Today www.Auto.Edu/MaritimeWelding Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/27/obama-backs-race-based-school-discipline-policies/#ixzz21s6GlJcG

Proposed Educator Evaluation Support Guidelines

Email from Molly Spearman, SCASA Exec Director Proposed Educator Evaluation Support Guidelines issued by the State Department of Education have significant changes and impact for all teachers and principals.  http://ed.sc.gov/agency/lpa/documents/Proposed_SC_EdEval_Guidelines_06252012.pdf (if this link is not active, please type it in or go the web site ed.sc.gov) Teachers and principals need to be aware that the proposal will require all teachers and principals in the State who are evaluated beginning with the 2014-15 school year to receive a letter grade of "A" through "F" on their performance evaluation.  The guidelines are begin piloted immediately during the next two school years in SIG schools. On pp 7-11 and pp19-20 the proposed models and formulas for calculating the evaluation rating for teachers and principals explain that for teachers: 30%-40% of their evaluation rating would be based on"classroom value-added" or "school value-added" components.  For principals, it appears that 50% of the evaluation would be based on the "school-value added" component. Also, on pp.13-15 rules are proposed for contract and employment decision based on the evaluation results.  The rules specify when a district must consider contract non-renewal. Given the significance of these revisions, and the apparent lack of input from educators, it is essential that all teachers and administrators in our State review and react to these guidelines. We anticipate that the State Board of Education will discuss these guidelines at a meeting in the near future.  We will notify you if that is the case.  Thank you.

New Schools Pass Final Inspection!!

This morning, under the watchful eye of MB Kahn's Don Atkinson, the state fire marshal relayed that both schools have passed the final inspection. Success letters will be sent to the architect McMillian, Pazden, and Smith and the office of school facilities from the South Carolina Department of Education. A certificate of occupancy will then be forwarded to the schools. Good job!!

Portion of letter from USDOE Duncan to Zais concerning waiver of NCLB/ESEA

Here's a portion of the letter from US Education Secretary Arne Duncan to SC Superintendent of Education Mick Zais.  There is a paragraph in the letter that indicates an expectation for communication with local districts and superintendents. "Although South Carolina submitted a strong request that met all four principles of ESEA flexibility, we are concerned by the lack of local educational agency (LEA) support for South Carolina’s proposed accountability system and the potential impact of that lack of support on the effective implementation of South Carolina’s request.  The Department expects that South Carolina will conduct robust outreach to all LEAs to ensure that school and LEA leaders are informed about the State’s new accountability system, including how the metrics are designed, how the system will be implemented, and how the State educational agency (SEA) will work with LEAs to support continuous improvement in all schools.  We expect that this outreach will be proactive and will be designed to result in a clear understanding by stakeholders of the impact of the new system on South Carolina’s LEAs and schools.  Additionally, as South Carolina implements its ESEA flexibility request, the Department expects that the SEA will meaningfully engage and solicit input from stakeholders and meet regularly with LEA superintendents. "

SC Waiver Summary from USDOE

HIGHLIGHTS OF SOUTH CAROLINA’S ESEA FLEXIBILITY REQUEST

COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY expectations FOR ALL STUDENTS

South Carolina adopted rigorous English language arts and math standards now in place in 45 other States and the District of Columbia, with a strong plan to transition to the new standards.  South Carolina is working with the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment Consortium on revising its English language proficiency standards to align with the new college- and career-ready standards.  South Carolina is working with the National Center and State Collaborative to develop an alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards aligned to the State’s new standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.

IMPROVED STATE AND DISTRICT ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL STUDENTS

Ambitious Performance Targets:  South Carolina established new performance targets for reading and math based on increasing the average score on South Carolina’s current assessments.  Schools will be required to meet the new targets for all students and subgroups. 

Index System Based on High Expectations and Multiple Measures:  South Carolina will identify schools using an A-F grading system based on proficiency in reading, mathematics, science, and history as well as graduation rate for high schools.  To determine a school’s grade, South Carolina will determine whether individual subgroups meet achievement targets, the 95 percent assessment participation requirement, and graduation rate targets. 

Renewed Focus on Closing Achievement Gaps:  South Carolina will identify the schools in the State with the greatest challenges for groups of students as “Focus schools” and demand interventions to improve student performance.  Schools in the State with the largest achievement gaps will be identified as Focus schools, and these schools must develop a transformation plan that includes research-based interventions for the identified subgroups.             

To capture more schools in the accountability system, South Carolina has lowered from 40 to 30 the minimum number of students necessary for individual subgroup performance to be considered (known as “n-size”).  This change will increase the number of schools accountable for subgroup performance.  For example, the number of schools held accountable for students with disabilities will increase from 510 schools to 729 schools, which is 64 percent of all schools in the State.  South Carolina will also add male and female subgroup performance into its accountability system.

Aggressive Plan for Turning Around the Lowest-Performing Schools:  South Carolina will identify the lowest-performing schools in the State as “Priority schools” and will ensure that districts implement meaningful interventions in these schools.  South Carolina identified 9 percent of Title I schools as Priority schools.  Priority schools will assemble a Transformational Learning Community that consists of stakeholders from the school, district, local school board, State, and community to design a rigorous intervention strategy for the school. 

Building Capacity for School Improvement:  South Carolina is developing a Transformational Leaders Academy to recruit, train, place, and support principals in the lowest-performing schools.  South Carolina will support interventions in priority schools through its new Office of School Transformation that focuses resources exclusively on transforming schools.

Increased Accountability and Support for Districts:  South Carolina will assign districts school grades based on the academic performance and graduation rates.  South Carolina will support districts and schools through leveraging resources, reorganizing the State’s internal structure, and investing in strong school leaders.

Transparently Reporting on Students’ Progress:  South Carolina will publicly report on all elements of the school A-F grading system at the school and subgroup level, including academic achievement, academic growth, test participation, and graduation rate.

Creating a Well-Rounded Education:  To encourage schools to focus on a well-rounded curriculum, South Carolina will hold schools accountable for student performance in social studies and science, in addition to English language arts and math.

SUPPORTING EFFECTIVE INSTruCTION AND LEADERSHIP

South Carolina has had teacher evaluation and support systems in place since 1998 and is modifying the State’s existing system to include student growth.  South Carolina has developed guidelines for local teacher and principal evaluation and support systems, and will pilot the revised teacher and principal evaluation systems in a subset of schools during the 2013-14 school year.  The State will provide statewide training in summer 2014 in preparation for full implementation of the new systems during the 2014-15 school year.  

NCLB Waiver for SC approved by USDOE

Date:   July 19, 2012

The U.S. Department of Education gave the SCDE notification late yesterday that the South Carolina waiver request from certain provisions of No Child Left Behind has been approved.  Attached is the press release distributed to the news media.  For the final version of the waiver submission, please visit http://ed.sc.gov/agency/lpa/ESEAFlexibility.cfm. 

Superintendent's Forum for 12-13

We are planning to continue our SUPERINTENDENT'S FORUM this year. We plan to meet four times this year.

 

We value the input we have received from our parents, community, employees and students over the last few years. Anyone who is interested in making our school district the best in South Carolina is welcome to attend and participate.

 

Be watching for meeting announcements. If you have a topic for discussion, please call or email me so I can be prepared and have the proper people in attendance for a substantive discussion.

Senate overrides Governor's veto

Wanted to give you an update on the Teacher Salary Supplement Support ($10 million).  The Senate voted to override Veto 7 by a vote of 41 to 2 (Bright and Davis).  This final vote means that school districts will receive this allocation.

LIVE RESULTS: General Assembly veto votes in House completed - Governor Watch - TheState.com

LIVE RESULTS: General Assembly veto votes in House completed - Governor Watch - TheState.com

New Schools-District Gets Okay to Move In !!

The Office of School Facilities gave a verbal OK for our teachers to enter the buildings in the  NEW COMPLEX and work in their areas to get setup for school. Architect Marvin Coker from McMillian Pazden Smith, had a conversation with the OSF and the state Fire Marshall to get clearance for the teachers.

 This is the first step in getting ready for boys and girls at Ninety Six High School and Edgewood Middle School for the fall semester. Principals Ward and Fisher are pleased that teachers can come in and work.

This is a project that's been in place for about three and half years, including getting the referendum passed, selecting an architect and construction manager and completing the building.

A last reminder, the district will be having an open house and dedication ceremony on Sunday, August 12, from 2 PM to 5 PM. Everybody is welcome.

2012 General Assembly summary by SCSBA

Get an update on the state budget passed by the General Assembly in the final days of the 2012 legislative session, gubernatorial vetoes and recent education bills signed into law in the July 2012 SCSBA Capitol Pulse.  SCSBA Capitol Pulse is  a monthly video program to update our members on legislative activities. To view the five-minute program, just click here (or paste following url address into web browser: http://associationstudios.com/scsbacapitolpulseupdates) Thank you for your service,  Debbie Elmore, SCSBA Communications Director

National Renaissance conference

Ninety Six High School principal Rex Ward and I attended the national Renaissance conference this past weekend in Orlando, Florida. What a terrific conference as a lot of ideas were shared amongst the attendees.

 Renaissance is a program that is used in over 7000 schools across United States to recognize academic achievement. We brought home a theme that will be used in our district over the next year, " Something to Believe in".

 I think it will inspire our staffulty (faculty and staff) to connect with all of our students K-12. According to Maslow's hierarchy, everyone needs something to belong to.

 What do you believe in?

Renaissance conference t-shirt

I received a t-shirt at the conference with the following printed on the back:

Education Strikes Back

Long ago when of a galaxy far far away there was aneducation system lacking in its attempts to recognize and inspire students andeducators the lack of motivation at dire effects on the system and educationsuffered.

There was a force building in the distance force wasJostensRenaissance  it would demonstratehow to bring back the importance of making academic excellence and achievementthe focus of recognition. gradually I learned that what they do really doesmatter in the lives of others and they can inspire others to do great things.

Through great efforts from administrators staff teachersand students JostensRenaissance took root and spread to of thousands of schoolsthroughout the galaxy . The effect of these efforts has changed the face ofeducation for millenniums to come.