It’s a rainy day in Walker County, Georgia. In most schools, this would mean a day indoors with children and teachers wishing they could be outside. At Gilbert Elementary, you can look out the window and see a group of kindergarteners, in lime green rain suits, splashing their way across the playground on their way to the forest. These students will spend the next two hours making mud pies, building boats from found materials and observing the differences rain makes in their environment.
Gilbert is home to two Forest Kindergarten classes. Rain or shine, hot or cold, the students spend half of their instructional day in the 300 acres of forest. The concept is not a new one. Kindergarten after all means “children’s garden,” but in the days of high-stakes testing and ever-changing standards, the name has come to mean something very different. Forest Kindergarten is a return to the original intent. Students learn to be creative, solve problems and build relationships with their classmates and their environment.
The Forest Kindergarten program at Gilbert is in its third year. The students are performing above their peers on grade level assessments, and they leave the program with the relationship skills, creativity and grit necessary to be successful in the future.
When these students leave Kindergarten, they continue to have opportunities for outdoor and environmental education. The Gilbert Elementary curriculum is built around year-long research projects at each grade level. Kindergarten students raise chickens. First grade has a pollinator project with the Tennessee Aquarium. Second grade does a native plant study with partner schools from around the state. Third graders are organic gardeners. In fourth grade, students manage the forest. They use trail cameras to track wildlife and work with an arborist. Fifth grade focuses on energy conservation and alternative energy. There is also an indoor aquaponics lab, the SPLASH Lab, and a school-wide recycling program.
Gilbert Elementary is proof that change can be made in a traditional public school. The school is 25 years old. There were no grants or outside benefactors, no changes in requirements from the state and no overhaul of the staff. With 87 percent of students qualifying for free and reduced priced lunch, the staff relied on hard work and small donations to make the vision for the school a reality. Gilbert was named a 2017 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School, earned STEM certification from the state of Georgia and been recognized as a Title I Reward School for High Growth, all while moving away from the teach-to-the-test mentality that is so prevalent in education today.
The vision is expanding across Walker County. Other Forest Kindergarten programs are being planned; outdoor education and gardening programs are sprouting up at several elementary schools; and Ridgeland High School’s STEM academy incorporates agriculture in their program. The goal is to create a cohesive vision across Walker County that begins with Kindergarteners splashing across the playground on a rainy day.
Matt Harris is Principal of Gilbert Elementary School. Damon Raines is Superintendent of Walker County Schools.
Nick Gattuso is a computer science teacher at Point Pleasant Borough High School in New Jersey, where his students have developed a suite of learning applications to assist students with disabilities, as well as an emergency-response app for school officials. Last year, his students’ work was honored by the state school boards association.
“This November will be my 15th year at the high school. Prior to coming [here], I worked for 20 years for Bell Labs. It was the pre-eminent research institution of its time…I was scheduled to be in the Pentagon, in its computer center, on 9-11. The reason I wasn’t there was because it was back-to-school night for my daughter, who was in elementary school. After that…I wanted to give back. I was too old to be a cop or a fireman, so I decided to give back by becoming a teacher.
“I took an early retirement package from Bell, and was literally put into a teaching job with no experience. I have a master’s degree in software engineering, and also a bachelor’s degree in English and poetry. I took an almost $100,000 pay cut—no lie.
“When I was at Bell, we had done this work for a guy who was paralyzed in one arm. It was a voice-activation program that helped him do his work. Years later, I was talking to my son Nicholas, explaining this story and how this program had helped this guy, and we had the idea of building real software, something that means something to people. I went down the hall to the teachers in the special-needs programs, and they were like, ‘We’ve been waiting for you!’
Nick Gattuso
“PALS stands for Panther Assisted Learning Software. In our case, my students have a set of customers downstairs, in special needs, and those customers are dependent on us to create programs that are actually meaningful, that help their lives. One of the applications we built teaches them how to go grocery shopping—with a shopping-cart simulator that has them rolling around a 3D store, picking up the bread. Another one helps them count money.
“When this thing started taking off, I went down to my administration and said, ‘We have Programming 1, and we then we have AP Computer Science, but there’s really no place for kids to go after that. So we created Advanced Software Engineering Topics. All we do is project-based, like it would be in college, or in the workplace. There are deadlines, but there are no tests.
“The question is: Did you solve the problem? Did you build something that will enrich the lives of the children downstairs? Did you make their lives better?
Some of my kids are working now for Google, for Apple, for Yelp. They make oodles of money, but they always know that the genesis of their work was building stuff for special needs kids, for doing good for somebody else.”
Earlier this year, I spoke to just such a principal: Nancy Chave, who helped found the innovative Anoka-Hennepin Technical High School, just north of Minneapolis.
This educator’s dedication to students was obvious during my visit to her school. Yet, just as impressive, was the sense of commitment that I saw when meeting with the school board chair, superintendent, assistant superintendent, and teachers who were on campus.
It was a very uplifting experience—and solid evidence that public education remains one of the great success stories of American life.
Technical High School, as it’s sometimes called, is a last-stop hope for older students, ages 18 to 21, who—for one reason or another—are tantalizingly close to earning their high school diploma but need a little help to ultimately earn their degree.
It is the community’s way of giving struggling kids a second chance at success in school—and in their future adulthood.
This isn’t a traditional school. There is no bustling crowd of students filling the hallway between class bells. Fact is, there are only 150 to 200 students enrolled at any given time, and personalized learning and individual schedules are the norm.
Yet the most exciting aspect of this school is the sense of purpose and caring that exists. Students—who stumbled academically due to an unexpected pregnancy, troubles at home, or were simply a poor fit for a traditional education program—are taking seriously their last chance at earning a diploma.
They’re committed to learning—and they credit much of their success to the commitment of the educators working with them.
“The teachers are the number one thing,” notes one former dropout who is looking to pursue a criminal justice career. “When I came here, [the teachers] were really welcoming … and really pushing me.”
That’s uplifting to hear. But what truly impressed me were the adults. They care. You can hear their passion and devotion when they talk about their school—and their students.
“We can collaborate on student needs and, really, we get on the same page and do what’s best for students,” says social studies teacher Michael Doyle. “Everybody here really cares about the students.”
That commitment also is echoed by the school board chair, Tom Heidemann, who readily explains the district leadership’s motivation in starting this innovative school program.
“We were doing well with our top 50 percent of our kids in being college ready,” he says. “But we noticed that there was another 50 percent that we weren’t being as successful with. And so, we had to look at what would it take to really get these kids engaged … that’s where we started looking at what other programs can we offer.”
In these cynical times, it’s not hard to find critics willing to disparage public education. But, fact is, most of our nation’s public schools are quite successful. They’re educating kids. They’re meeting kids where they are academically—and getting them where they need to be.
The Anoka-Hennepin Technical School is an exemplary example of that everyday success.
THE MORNING CALL — The standardized tests that Pennsylvania students take every year aren’t going away, but they will count less under a new accountability system the state is developing.
On Wednesday, the state Department of Education outlined indicators it is recommending for use in the Future Ready PA Index, which would replace the School Performance Profile scores. The new system is expected to be in place in fall 2018.
When Gov. Tom Wolf took office, he tasked the Department of Education with coming up with a more holistic approach to measuring school proficiency and growth. In December, the state announced plans to replace the SPP with Future Ready PA Index.
The SPP scores heavily depend on the results of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment and Keystone exams. Students in grades three through eight take the PSSAs, while high school students take the Keystones in biology, literature and algebra at the end of each course.
But in talking with stakeholders across Pennsylvania, the state heard that growth-measure scores are more meaningful in determining a school’s success than just pure achievement scores, Stem said.
Read the full story and watch a video interview here:
CENTER FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION – School “resegregation” has been in the news lately, but is it real? Are our schools becoming less diverse, even as our student body becomes increasingly so?
By Dr. Elizabeth V. Primas (Program Manager, NNPA/ESSA Public Awareness Campaign)
I was recently approached by a father of a student from Ann Arundel County, Maryland that was disappointed that his son was unable to attend his neighborhood magnet school; his son met all the requirements to become classified as a magnet student. Upon inquiry, administrators informed the father that the feeder school system did not permit his child to attend the desired school, even though the campus was less than two miles away from their family home. This was especially upsetting to the father, because he purchased the home 10 years ago with that specific school in mind. The school prescribed by the feeder school system is 12 miles away from his home.
Great Schools, the leading national nonprofit organization devoted to assisting parents in unlocking educational opportunities for their children, gives the prescribed feeder school a two out of five stars rating, compared to the four stars given to the school initially selected by the father. Realizing that the school’s ratings may lead to a misguided conclusion, he and his wife toured the school to get a first-hand look. They were equally disappointed with the school climate and physical condition of the building.
His son is a recipient of the President’s Award for Educational Excellence. The administrators were adamant that the prescribed school would meet his son’s educational needs; despite their insistence, the father was never convinced.
After failing to make progress with school administrators in Ann Arundel County, he made the hard decision to enroll his child in a local non-magnet school, which has only one Advanced Placement (AP) course and limited opportunities in advanced courses.
My question to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is this: Why is it that, despite your push for “school choice,” parents are still being directed to lower performing schools with poor school climate, inadequately prepared teachers, and failing test scores?
This is contradictory to the intention of the Every Student Succeeds Act. It is the opposite of the policies you and the Trump Administration say you support. The options offered to this parent were inadequate and did not allow him the opportunity to ensure his child will receive a quality education. Furthermore, the feeder school system, in this instance, was completely ineffective.
Instead of fixing education, it appears this administration has allowed states and local school districts to re-segregate, provide lower quality education to children of color and sentence our children to academic underachievement. This is not how ESSA was designed to operate.
Thankfully, this parent did not accept less for his child. Other parents may not have the ability to stand for their children. ESSA was supposed to provide a high-quality education to all children. Let’s make sure no child is faced with choosing between potential social isolation for a higher quality education or convenience at the expense of academic achievement.
Get involved with education in your community and learn more about the Every Student Succeeds Act at www.nnpa.org/essa.
Dr. Elizabeth Primas is an educator, who spent more than 40 years working towards improving education for children of diverse ethnicities and backgrounds. Dr. Primas is the program manager for the NNPA’s Every Student Succeeds Act Public Awareness Campaign. Follow Dr. Primas on Twitter @ElizabethPrima3.
By Dr. Elizabeth Primas (Program Manager, NNPA/ESSA Public Awareness Campaign)
I am a former teacher. I taught for 25 years in the public school system and have held various titles in the field of education throughout my 40-year career. I have always had a passion for education. My family and I joke that I have been teaching since the first day of kindergarten. My older sister also wanted to be a teacher. So, we would spend our evenings “playing school” with our many siblings and neighbors. Because of our productive “pretend play” I began school already reading and writing. I remember printing the alphabet with pride. By the time I reached third grade I was reading everything I could get my hands on and helping my classmates read as well. In fact, the only time I was reprimanded was when I tried to help a classmate pronounce names during her social studies report on current events.
I shared that time during my childhood, because it is important for educators to understand that children begin school on various levels. Children develop and retain information differently. Some students begin school ahead of the pack. As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure all children, irrespective of their initial academic level continue to make progress.
Unfortunately, most students are not progressing at an appropriate pace. The reauthorized, national education law, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), grants states the freedom to develop their own academic standards and measures of accountability so long as those standards prepare students for college and career readiness. State academic standards can include a wide range of subject areas; in contrast to the previous emphasis on reading and mathematics. To support the academic achievement of students with varied academic ability, background, and socioeconomic status, it is vital that educators refrain from the one-size-fits-all model of instruction promoted during No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
To improve academic achievement, we must reflect on our stated mission: to educate all children. Not every child is going to be a mathematician. Not every child is going to be a scientist or doctor. However, every child is born with specific gifts and talents. It is up to us, as parents and educators, to help each child develop those specific talents. In a family of six children, each of my siblings had a different area of interest. One became a medical doctor, another a mathematician, still another, an engineer; there are two former teachers, and a law enforcement officer. We were all expected to excel in our respective fields, and we did.
Success comes in many forms. A successful student is allowed to pursue his/her natural talents and encouraged to learn the skills needed to be a productive citizen. Had my siblings and I been limited to reading and mathematics, we probably wouldn’t have been as successful; not in our careers or personal lives. To improve academic achievement, let’s first equip teachers with the skills to recognize the natural talents that support and encourage academic achievement. School systems must realize that tests only measure a finite set of skills and that skills do exist outside of those measured. Academic achievement is improved when we recognize the differences in children and embrace them rather than trying to put every child in the same, square box. Academic achievement is improved when parents take the initiative to advocate for their child’s needs from the womb all the way through college graduation and the start of their careers.
Who is responsible for improving academic achievement? All of us. Get engaged, go to the meetings, participate in the professional development, take part in the free webinars, read the articles on education in your local newspapers, and be a voice in your child’s education.
If you are looking for tips on how to get involved, or where to go to attend meetings, visit . www.nnpa.org/essa.
Dr. Elizabeth Primas is an educator, who spent more than 40 years working towards improving education for children of diverse ethnicities and backgrounds. Dr. Primas is the program manager for the NNPA’s Every Student Succeeds Act Public Awareness Campaign. Follow Dr. Primas on Twitter @elizabethprimas.
A recent panel discussion hosted by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, showcased the importance of an education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The panel discussion was held during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s (CBCF) Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.
Former NASA engineer and co-founder of STEMBoard Aisha Bowe moderated the ALC panel discussion on expanding STEM opportunities for young minorities. (www.aishabowe.com)
Moderated by former NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, the co-founder of STEMBoard, the panel included STEAM ambassador and Patcasso Art LLC founder Patrick Hunter; Quality Education for Minorities CEO Dr. Ivory Toldson; Johns Hopkins chair and Surgeon in Chief Dr. Robert Higgins; and INROADS, Inc. President and CEO Forest T. Harper.
Congressman G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) kicked off the conversation, which was focused on increasing opportunities in STEM careers for underrepresented youth.
“The STEM field is important to our country, it’s critical to jobs in the 21st century—jobs that make the big bucks,” Butterfield told the excited students from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and Carver Technology Early College High School, who participated in the session. “To succeed, we need to draw from the best in our community.”
Butterfield continued: “The lack of African-Americans in STEM means that many of our best minds are not included.”
In 2016, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and Carver Technology Early College High School formed a partnership with Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, and the University of Maryland at Baltimore for a P-TECH program that offers health science degrees in areas of concentration like health information technology, respiratory care, or surgical technology.
The program creates a school-to-industry pipeline for students in STEM fields.
Eugene Chung Qui, the principal at Dunbar High School, said the visit to the CBCF event excited his students, who are enrolled in STEM courses.
“Being that our focus and the mission of the school is to push our students into STEM fields, this is an excellent opportunity for the children to be able to talk with and ask questions of such an esteemed panel,” Chung Qui said.
Another panelist, Tamberlin Golden of General Motors, noted the company’s passion for STEM.
“Technology, right now, is disrupting everything in the industry,” Golden said. “Now, people are looking for connectivity, autonomy, electrification, and convenience. We have to monitor thoroughly how we manufacture our cars.”
Tamberlin continued: “If you want to make a good wage from ‘Day 1,’ you want to go [with STEM]. GM has been very invested in this and we want to partner with many organizations.”
A report released, earlier this year, from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration revealed that there were nine million STEM workers in the United States in 2015.
About 6.1 percent of all workers are in STEM occupations, up from 5.5 percent just five years earlier, according to the report.
Employment in STEM occupations grew much faster than employment in non-STEM occupations over the last decade—24.4 percent versus 4 percent, respectively—and STEM occupations are projected to grow by 8.9 percent through 2024, compared to 6.4 percent growth for non- STEM occupations.
STEM workers command higher wages, earning 29 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts.
Further, nearly three-quarters of STEM workers have at least a college degree, compared to just over one-third of non-STEM workers.
The report also revealed that STEM degree holders enjoy higher earnings, regardless of whether they work in STEM or non-STEM occupations.
“When I was in high school, I was a truant and I was unfocused, because my parents were going through a nasty divorce and I just wanted to go hang out with my friends,” said Bowe, an aeronautical engineer and entrepreneur who manages multi-million dollar defense contracts and private-sector technology clients.
“I started with pre-algebra,” Bowe shared, then speaking directly to the students she said, “We want you to understand that in entering STEM, you’re entering into an unlimited field.”
Gilbert is home to two Forest Kindergarten classes. Rain or shine, hot or cold, the students spend half of their instructional day in the 300 acres of forest. The concept is not a new one. Kindergarten after all means “children’s garden,” but in the days of high-stakes testing and ever-changing standards, the name has come to mean something very different. Forest Kindergarten is a return to the original intent. Students learn to be creative, solve problems and build relationships with their classmates and their environment.
Gilbert Elementary is proof that change can be made in a traditional public school. The school is 25 years old. There were no grants or outside benefactors, no changes in requirements from the state and no overhaul of the staff. With 87 percent of students qualifying for free and reduced priced lunch, the staff relied on hard work and small donations to make the vision for the school a reality. Gilbert was named a 2017 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School, earned STEM certification from the state of Georgia and been recognized as a Title I Reward School for High Growth, all while moving away from the teach-to-the-test mentality that is so prevalent in education today.
