California teacher comes up with a way to save his school money

Here's a clever way that one California teacher has come up with to save the school some money in printing costs: offer advertisements on tests. The same sort of idea already is in play when it comes to programs for games, plays, and yearbooks, so why not for non-extra-curricular activities?

While this does sort of breed commercialism in schools, I see it as minimal compared to the sorts of free advertising that companies already get in terms of brand name clothes and accessories, among other things. Especially for businesses that cater to youth and the under-21 crowd (or even the coveted 18-49 demographic), I'm surprised more schools aren't attempting to pool their collective resources to fix this moderate line item expense.

So is the idea worth investigating further? Of course. With the state facing record shortfalls, it's time to start investigating new ideas. Or pooling resources and contractors.

Tags: advertising on school tests, ideas to save budget

Follow up to Capital School District post: A second comment

Out of fairness of giving additional exposure to yesterday's less articulate comment, I thought this comment to my post about the new grading policy at one of the school districts downstate was particularly insightful, in large part because it is written by someone who is actually experiencing said grading policy change:

"Note: This is a fairly long comment, but it clears up some misconceptions that have been floating around various places (not to accuse anything of having incomplete information though)

I am a student in the Capital School District. The grading scale (i.e., A=94-100, B=85-93....) has been that way for at least 5 years, with the exception of 50% as the lowest possible score. On the other hand, the 50-below-is-a-50 policy only applies to each quarter's score. In addition, a formative/summative grading system has been adopted for grades 5-12. Formative assignments, such as homework (which has a newly updated policy and is not supposed to be "busy work") and classwork, are intended to be for when students are still learning the concepts, and make up 20% of the grade. Summative assessments, such as tests and projects, are designed to assess a student's knowledge, and are worth 80% of the grade. These percentages are approximate, and may vary by 5% if my understanding of the policy is correct.

The purpose of making marking period grades under 50% a 50% is so that a student does not dig him/herself so deep into a hole that it would be impossible for them to pass that course, while "still reflecting that a student has failed". Under the grading system, 280 points (out of 400, 100 for each of the four quarters), are required to pass a full-year course. If a student gets, say, a 10% in the first quarter, that student would have to get at least a 90% every subsequent quarter in order to pass. With the 50% system in place, that student would need a 77% per quarter, which may be much more realistic for that student.

The formative and summative policy, at least in my school, is rather unpopular. Some (including teachers) despise the policy, while others take a more moderate view, preferring a change to the scale (A=90, B=80....) or a rebalancing to 70-30%,, and one of my teachers actually commented that she previously did a 90-10% system. Under this policy, class participation is not graded, and no assignment is allowed to be worth more than 20%. This means that teachers are required to give four summative and one formative assignment per quarter. For students, this results in their grades hinging heavily on their performance on tests. Previously, each teacher would set the weighting of each category of assignment. That tended to work well due to individual differences in course content, and it left some room for the teacher to adjust grades to ensure an accurate measure of student's performance.

This new grading system does cause stress for some students. In Capital, progress reports are released roughly halfway through each quarter, and reflect the student's current grade. Students scoring poorly on a test early on the quarter do not always have a chance to boost that grade before the progress report, and since the test makes up most of the grade when there are few other summative assignments, the student's grade will be much lower than what it should be. While some teachers do offer "make-up tests", essentially a re-test, not all will. An extreme example, but still showing the point, is one of a classmate whose average dropped about 15 percentage points in the beginning of the quarter due to a failed test.

The system places an emphasis on test grades, and so those that perform well on tests (showing that they do understand the concepts) but don't always do their homework will benefit, at the cost of those that do not always do well on tests, but always do their homework. It has been said that this promotes laziness, since it is not necessary to do any formative assignments at all if the average summative grade is at least 88% (resulting in a 70.4% average). Those that do work hard, but that are not good test-takers, are penalized.

A semi-recent Dover Post news article stated that the Board was open to suggestions for the policy. Several parents were present at their meeting and did voice their concerns about the new system. Topics mentioned included changing the percentage of each, class rankings differing large amounts dependent on the use of a 80-20 or a 70-30 split, and the first marking period grade of seniors hoping for early admission that are still adjusting to changing standards.

Some people do support the new system though. One of my teachers has said that summative assessments actually should be making up the majority of the grade, since the point of a course is to gain knowledge in a subject and be able to use it. Another important argument is that colleges do not have formative grades, and most students are college-bound. I have heard that another school is piloting a summative-only program (failing to do homework results in a detention). As to whether or not we are better prepared for college because of it, we will not know for several years, and by then the policy may have changed again.

A Dover Post article from several weeks ago stated that the board had been monitoring the situation, and that several concerned parents had brought up some issues. A look at grades revealed that the number of grades that were lower compared to last year was only about 3% higher than the number that were higher. If I remember correctly, the board was also open to changes to the policy.

As for my opinion on the changes itself, I am largely undecided. My grades this year have largely been unchanged, although the summative category has caused some large drops in my average. While I do agree that the policy is better for college preparation, it is important that it is not college, which may have been the reason for the formative category. I personally would prefer either a change to the grading scale, or a change in the percentages to a 70-30%. As to whether this system will be modified or removed, we will just have to wait and see."

Tags: high school grading policies, secondary school grading policy systems

Capital School District comes up with a clever way of balancing the grading scale

I can't find a link to the article online, but the Delaware State News reported today that Capital School District (which I believe encompasses Dover High School and its subsidiary middle and elementary schools) has altered part of their grading policy from a 100 point scale to a 50 point scale. It's actually a pretty ingenious effort to level the playing field in high school academics.

I'm not going to spend to much time focusing on the negatives, and I'm sure there are exceptions for the absence or refusal to turn in assignments, but the gist of the new system is as follows. The grading scale is failing from 50-69, and passing from 70 and above (with a "D" average falling from 70-76, "C"s from 77-84; "B"s from 85-93, and "A"s from 94-100). The thought process is that if a student fails one test and improves over time, the increasing results have a more realistic possibility of having a final average in the "pass" range.

For example, under the old scale, if a student got a 35 on the first test, a 60 on the second, a 68 on the third, a 72 on the fourth, a 74 on the fifth, and a 76 on the last one, and there was no weighted averages for any, the student would have cumulative average of a 64, which would be failing. Under the new system, the score on the first test would automatically become a 50, and the average would be increased to a 67. It's still failing, but it makes it a little easier for the teacher to objectively demonstrate a progressive increase and possibly justify giving a little more weight to the later tests. Certainly if you play around with the numbers a bit, you can show an average that increases from below failing to barely passing.

In the grand scheme, it's not that much of a change from the system already in place and the discretion given to teachers in grading. Nevertheless, the idea that it's "trying to ensure we don't give kids 69 ways to fail and 31 ways to pass" is a novel one that warrants further consideration, perhaps by the rest of the districts in a similar fashion. Certainly credit can be given to the Capital School District board for trying something new.

And if it works well for Delaware schools, maybe other states would give it some consideration as well.

Tags: delaware public school grading scale

Thought of the day: Teachers and parental accountability

Just a quick rhetorical question: If parents were held to the same accountability standards as educators, how many parents would pass the equivalent of the DSTP? Maybe teachers don't shoulder as much blame as some of these comments in the newspaper would indicate.

UD wants to start a satellite in Sussex County - why not merge with DelTech?

I admit I haven't read the article in full nor the proposal, but I would hope that the fact that University of Delaware wants to open a Sussex County campus includes the suggestion to merge with Del-Tech. As a matter of efficiency, I highly doubt that the population down here can support one Wesley-type college, let alone two. I proposed as much a few months ago, but the fundamental idea remains the same given UD's interest in expansion: Expand Deltech into having 2-year and 4-year degrees, and make it like the Penn State satellite campuses. Deltech already has some sort of arrangement with the main campus, and now the credits would simply have to translate 1:1 instead of into whatever algebraic rip-off formula that currently is in place.

Penn State created its satellite campus system over twenty years ago and it has worked out fine. There is no reason for UD to reinvent the wheel on this one by creating a separate University of Delaware Sussex Campus, which would only serve to compete with Del-Tech, and quite frankly, would fall flat on its face. I caution these comments with my caveat that perhaps the proposal has this idea as an alternative, but if it does, the news certainly did not do a good job of reporting it.

Besides, what is the fiscal note that comes attached with this new campus as opposed to some sort of merger agreement? If UD is really anxious to create some sort of new school, why not open a med school? There certainly are enough shortages of them around Delaware.

Tags: university of delaware wants to open a sussex county office, university of delaware terry campus, deltech

The importance of education and why the next governor should focus on this instead of gambling

Concerning education, the economy, and the workforce in this state, there is much to write about. I've save my comments on the fiscal problems potentially facing the state in 2008 for another day. For now, I will respond to a "letter to the editor" I saw a little while back that is a good example of misinformation.

Unfortunately, I no longer have the letter, and obviously thanks to the Delaware State News's questionable new policy concerning their online content, I can't find it online either. Regardless, the gist of the letter said that the DOE may be too focused on getting kids to college when a lot of them only are there to play sports, aren't planning on going to college, and the educational standards may render otherwise non-academically gifted students ineligible, and consequently, they have no reason to go to school. The letter may have said something about school choice also, but I've already expressed why the education system should be unified across the state, so I'm not going to repeat my reasons here.

The problem I have with this letter (other than my general concern that his may not be a minority viewpoint) is that it overlooks the whole policy behind education in the first place. Now, I was a multi-sport high school athlete here in Delaware who had more than my fair share of conference and state glory, so I can certainly appreciate the point he makes. And I certainly am friends with people who were also athletes in high school and went onto college, and I am friends with people who did not. The ones who went on to get a college degree, in some respects, have no better jobs than some that did not. The difference is that their options are much greater.

Take, for example, a police officer. It used to be that you could be a cop right out of high school. Not so much anymore. Most town and state police require some sort of post-high school education (and most now require a 4-year college degree). Granted (and I'm being a little stereotypical here), it probably doesn't matter what type of degree you have; it's more of a door opener than anything else. The real reason why more and more jobs require a college degree is to simply help weed out the applicant pool. And realistically, any salaried job (and even some hourly jobs) is going to want you to have gone to college.

The statistics that a person with a high school degree will make more money over their lifetime is not a joke. It comes with the cost of debt, but so what. Whether you learn anything useful in college doesn't equate to half of what you learn just by being there and listening, absorbing other people's thoughts and just general exposure to a world beyond high school fiefdom.

The point to all of this isn't to rip into this guy for being mad that his kid probably didn't make the cut for a marking period or semester. And obviously, many of the high school students in this area have to work part-time jobs which must be balanced with the school load, and probably have a negative correlation with grades to some degree. The trick is to balance it all out, and just make a goal that once you go to college, you'll just borrow the money to survive. I submit that there is more money in terms of loans and scholarships out there than most people think. This is the job of the guidance counselors in these high schools to become more educated about that aspect of college and inform their students.

So that this entry doesn't go in any more different directions, I'll simply end it here and reiterate my plea for the next governor to sweettalk another MBNA-type organization to come to our state and set up shop. This way those with a college education aren't further tempted to just stay in their college town, or go to a big city to find a job that pays just as much but with a much higher cost of living. And if they can center down here (Kent County) (and the state comes up with some way of getting to the Philadelphia airport a little faster than 95), there may be some more added benefits.

The bottom line is that all of us, including the gentlemen who pled for lower educational standards, to start thinking about ways to improve this state. His point regarding education, however, is incorrect. This isn't the seventies (or the sixties or the fifties) anymore. If you can't finish high school for whatever reason, you're more likely to be an Uncle Rico type person than a real contributor to the economy. Get over it and graduate and quit assuming that high school is the be all end all. Times are changing, and if we don't get with it, the potential decrease in slot and gambling revenue is going to be the least of our state's problems.

Things that we as a State need to think about: Part I. Education

This is going to be the first of a series of posts regarding my ideas that I would like to see the next candidates for Governor address. It is my hope that it starts a dialog among the state; whether that happens remains to be seen. Among the top priorities I see that are problem hot spots, they are: education, jobs, economy. There are others, to be sure, but those are the ones I plan to address. Without further ado, part 1: "A Comprehensive Education Proposal."

Introductory remarks:
In the words of Publius, "The friend of popular governments never finds himself so much alarmed for their character and fate, as when he contemplates their propensity to this dangerous vice." The time has come for all of the People of this great State to unite behind a common purpose and begin discussing the positive directions to which we should be heading. I offer these remarks not as a directed commentary or evaluation but as a starting point for a conversation into what I hope becomes a united campaign behind which we can all support and champion.

The rich history of our state needs no introduction or remarks beyond these: all of us appreciate our native roots and the inherent siren call that either brings us back or keeps us here in one form or another. Our citizens have gone on to do a great many things in a great many fields, and all of us have stories that can convey a greater meaning to the statement that the rest of the country looks to our Delaware as a leader. The time for reflection, however, has passed, and our State has asked for all of us to once again turn and listen. The time has come for each of us to stop talking about change and instead ask ourselves what we can do to push our state to the forefront of our great nation.

I base my remarks, in part, on the preamble to our State Constitution, which states in pertinent part as follows: "[A]ll people have by nature the rights . . . of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring and protecting reputation and property, and in general obtaining objects suitable to their condition, without injury by one to another. . . ." For over a century and beyond, our citizenship has developed on the premise that the rights inherent in these words are bounded only by reason.

Grounded in reason, then, I offer my suggestions, bearing in mind the words of the Federalist No. 1: "It may perhaps be thought superfluous to offer arguments to prove the utility of the Union, a point, no doubt, deeply engraved on the hearts of the great body of the people in every State, and one, which it may be imagined, has no adversaries." Feasibility and expense aside for the moment, I hope the adversaries to these remarks recognize their inherent merit.

A Comprehensive Education Proposal:
First and foremost, every Delawarean’s access to public education should be such that it does not matter which end of the public school system a student belongs. The diploma eventually earned by an elementary student in Delmar should have no different value than one from a student in Brandywine or any district in between. The legislative power to accomplish this goal exists in Article X of our Constitution, and reaching this goal requires no small sacrifice from each Citizen. It begins with the unification of the public school districts and abolishment of the current individual school board systems. Because no such system exists nationally, we need to develop our public education system in such a fashion that the rest of the States may follow.

A united public education across all districts ensures that every Delaware student, guided by the State, will no longer be disadvantaged by location. One economic benefit and effect from a unified public school system would be quantity pricing for necessities every district currently purchases individually, such as ordinary supplies and textbooks. An annual bid among all subcontractors for these various necessities ensures our State is not saddled with any one contractor trying to prosper unfairly at the expense of the General Public. The efficiency of the student transportation also increases ten-fold with a unified public school system, and an increased utilization of DART, as further explained below, may be of great assistance in making this an attractive and economically feasible goal.

Reaching the educational goal ensures that all graduates of our public schools are afforded the opportunities that a high school diploma brings, including the educational opportunities beyond high school if they so choose. Achieving a unified educational curriculum may be ambitious, but necessary for the long-term health and welfare of the State. I propose two methods that all educators and parents can agree upon as the ground to which reaching this goal begins and its success ultimately rests.

First, the pay scale for all public teachers must be unified across all districts. If a police officer in Sussex County makes as much as her counterpart in New Castle, the discrepancy in pay for teachers across districts can be and must be consistent before accountability and other related issues come to bear. A unified and equitable salary system potentially attracts qualified teachers to all districts in our State, not just the ones in the more affluent sectors. Such a system, to say the least, also requires a substantial increase in educational salaries. Recruitment and retention of qualified teachers will begin to increase the general education level of our State, a necessary precursor to reaching the rest of our goals. While all districts should be encouraged to enhance any teacher’s pay, we need to ensure that "teacher shopping" no longer occurs by reducing the percentage differences for similarly pay-graded teachers across districts. The education majors produced by University of Delaware also need to be enticed further into considering our Delaware schools as a viable option. Teaching our children, however, only solves fifty percent of the problem. Encouraging our students to learn constitutes minimally the next bulk percentage of the education quandary.

Second, we, as a State, need to adopt a means of affording a higher education to all. Such a long-term incentive may encourage our students to develop inherently a love for learning that motivates this result. Accomplishing this side of the education equation requires several steps, not least of which would be to create a full scholarship fund allowing all high school students with a certain GPA to be granted both conditional acceptance and complimentary tuition to one or both of the public universities. We need accountability to ensure that in-state students are not being selected out by the higher-paying out-of-state students. An equitable balance can and must occur. One feasible alternative to this suggestion would be to empower Del-Tech to award various four-year degrees, similar the power given to the satellite Penn State University campuses in Pennsylvania twenty years ago.

For those citizens who wish to pursue education out-of-state and are bogged by the financial aid process, the Department of Education should be funded to investigate the possibility of a financial aid non-profit organization devoted to all of our Citizens. No Delawarean should be deterred from the real possibility of a higher education simply because of application fees and associated CSS costs. Regarding the myth of exorbitance and college prices, our State could and must develop various incentive programs for debt relief to ensure that our graduates and college graduates return to Delaware with diplomas in hand. The money to pay for these education-related ideas can come from or through an increase in the lottery system revenue or from the revenues generated from the gambling industry.

Tags: unifying the education system in delaware

Jobs for DE College Graduates

One of the major issues facing this state is education. I can guarantee that there will be future posts on this issue, but for now, I will direct the focus of this entry to one of the problems that is a consequence of pushing for higher education. That is, once you have the degree and want to come back to the State and do something, your options in Delaware are pretty limited. Outside of the state, certainly jobs await for you in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and any of the other 46 states, but how does that benefit Delaware? The answer to this rhetorical question is pretty obvious: Not at all.

With MBNA gone and with it all of the jobs and scholarships it gave out to a good percentage of the graduating high school seniors in this state, I submit that there is a shortage of entry level jobs for college graduates. With the exception of Astra-Zeneca, Gore, part of the duPont company, the state, and some banks that have stayed here, the remaining jobs are in the health, legal, and education industry, and half of those require an additional post-graduate degree. So my concern with this is that the state pushes for high schools to get their graduates up to "no child left behind" par, and a third or so go on to some type of college, and where do they expect these Delaware college graduates to come back and do? And even more to the point, is the state, by limiting these options, inherently telling the graduating seniors that unless you get a degree in these certain areas, you should look for jobs elsewhere?

Maybe, but probably not. Obviously your options with a college degree are more than they are without one. And there are a lot of jobs (although I agree there could be more) for those with just a high school diploma. But the gap is widening. And here, in 2007, I argue that a gap is beginning to form between those types of degrees people are getting. Thirty years from now, are you going to have to get a post-graduate degree in order to survive financially?

So what is the solution? (Meaning, how would I fix this?). I think the Governor, whoever the next one is, needs to make a concerted effort to recruit another Astra-Zeneca or MBNA-type (bank, insurance, etc.) (or Silicon Valley-type) company to relocate to Delaware. I would argue that this should be each of the '08 candidates' primary concern and platform (followed by the health care and education platforms that always show up at the top of the list). With the population growth spreading further south, the push shouldn't necessarily be to relocate this/these companies to Wilmington, but toward Kent or Sussex County. The population shift toward those counties is here anyway; the failure to recognize this and start to accommodate for it is just being short-sighted or disingenuous.

Even if one new company came in, that would create upwards of 2000+ jobs across the board (more if they build a new building and have to restructure the infrastructure). This would generate income for the state and the positive effects will certainly outweigh the negative ones I am conspicuously and purposely leaving out of this entry. Further, it would help fill out the void in the housing market that currently exists. While we are at it, why not start pushing for a branch of Toyota or some other car company to take over when Chrysler finally pulls out and leaves even more people out of a job? I think the effort to bring industry and business in shouldn't be focused directly on incorporation and the franchise tax; a scattergun recruiting effort across multiple industry lines could work. More research, admittedly, will need to be done (which helps create more jobs as well).

Lastly, for now, the idea of putting a new company south of the canal allows for the first step toward creating a mass transit system a more realistic idea. The current rail system exists for the industrial sector; putting the dual rails back in and recruiting a Septa-type organization to bid for the contract certainly would create additional jobs (both permanent and temporary) in building, running, maintaining, and policing this system. It could also help with the beach and tourist industry because many more would hop on the train to get to the beach, and could thereafter take Dart from the final train stop. Translation = more money for the state. More on this mass transit idea another day.

I can only invite commentary by posting; feel free post a comment and explain why this idea would or would not work.

Tags: delaware college jobs, delaware jobs, delaware jobs for college graduates idea, relocating business to delaware, delaware mass transit system

Tragedy at Del State

I saw this on the news this morning and haven't heard much about it other than what has been put on the national news. Two students were shot, one seriously, at Delaware State University. While anything I would say about this would be pure speculation, I will simply provide the links and say no more. Given the tragedies that have already struck the campus prior to the start of this semester, this sort of thing can't be too great for recruiting. Nevertheless, it is very sad. Hopefully these "persons of interest" are caught soon.

At the same time, however, I wonder how the events of this morning will affect Race Weekend, since the racetrack is practically across the street and a quarter million Nascar fans are expected to pour into the Monster Mile to watch over the next 72 hours. This sort of perfect storm of sorts must be a state and local police nightmare, and a media field day. I can only hope it is relatively quiet.

Tags: students shot at delaware state university