Coaching and Test Scores

Earlier in my teaching career, I worked for a large K-6 public elementary school in a large public district. This school was located in a mostly upper income neighborhood. And one year the norm-reference test scores for our school were below what was expected for the income level of the neighborhood.

We had an assistant superintendent from a different large public school district come to speak at one of the classes I was taking for my state administrative certification. In the middle of his talk he mentioned that often parents would call and say “how do I find your best schools?” He said he wanted to say to these parents “how much house can you afford?” Continuing, he explained that statistically scores went up as the different schools income levels rose. If school “A” had an average of $50,000 a year in per family income, their scores were significantly less than school “B” which averaged $100,000.

Returning to the elementary school I was at, by the time the next norm-referenced test was taken the next year, we raised our scores to the district’s satisfaction – meaning our income level. How did we do it? The school invested money in a practice test which would familiarize our students with the test. Nothing changed as far as instruction, class sizes or instructional materials. All we did was familiarize our students with the test by using a practice test just before the real test.

This thought goes along with the recent news of a study released by the National Association for College Admission Counseling which found that test-preparation courses for the SAT and ACT may not help as much as advertised.

The Wall Street Journal also reported on Wednesday, May 20th that the group which oversees the SAT, CollegeBoard, recommends familiarity with the SAT to give the biggest boost for short-term gains for students. There are practice tests on the CollegeBoard site for a small fee which can provide this familiarity for a student.

Caution is the word when looking for ways to support your child in preparing him or her for those college-entrance exams.

Writing Contests

Writing for a variety of contests locally, nationally, and even internationally serves to meet many goals in our composition instruction at Bios. It provides different perspectives on a student’s writing, provides a variety of topics and writing opportunities, and it is a method to help keep our writing instructors accountable.

The list of writing contests that Bios students enter are varied to say the least. In high school they have entailed cowboy poetry, science research, historical research, speaking, and literature reviews. The judges for each of these contests are just as rich in variety – former English teachers, engineers, judges, mayors, and police chiefs to name a few. All these people play an important role in our student’s education because teachers, being the humans they are, tend to like certain kinds of writing and not others. So our students have opportunities to be recognized by people other than their teachers.
When I taught our own children, I usually favored my older son’s writing over my younger son’s. I just liked his style better. But my younger son would win or place in many contests because those judges enjoyed his writing. Both sons placed in many writing contests, even with my bias.

Writing instructors tend to draw out writing assignments when they do not have deadlines to meet. A years worth of contests provides an aggressive but doable schedule for students to constantly practice their writing craft.

At the last school I was principal at, during our five year review from North Central Accreditation, the reviewer at her meeting to go over comments about our school mentioned how she wished more schools would provide the kind of writing instruction that we did with our contest entries.

On a final note, check out a wonderful web site, http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com/inklings/. Rachel Starr Thomson is a Christian, home-school graduate that writes books and articles for magazines. We entered a contest she had reviewing books. She liked four of our stories so far and wrote wonderful reviews on them. Not all the reviews are from our students. Also check out the wonderful writing of our students.

Voucher Update

In the Sunday Gilbert Tribune, reporter Howard Fischer wrote an update on the direction the governor is leading in providing financial assistance for students with disabilities or from foster homes.

Governor Brewer is considering calling a special session of the legislature this week. It looks like she will push for a tax credit for students with disabilities or from foster homes. It would be available only for the students who are already in the voucher programs and for those students who are in public schools and transferring to a private school. It would be a dollar-for dollar tax credit.

There was no explanation how this tax credit would be different or better for families then the present tax credit already in place for students in private schools.

Individualized Education at Bios

From the very beginning, Bios Christian Academy has always looked at educating students differently from how most of the world educated its students. Individualizing a student’s education is one of our differences. Each student has clear, daily expectations for each subject, which are set by the teacher.

We do this because no two students have the same skills learned for each subject. No two students have the same training from home. No two students have the same combination of skills learned, training from home, or life experiences. For example, when we instruct fourteen unique students in each and every math class, they all are working on different material and sometimes at a different pace. Forcing students to work on the same material and at the same pace may be an easier method to teach as far as a lecture presentation goes, but it does little to motivate or address each student’s needs.

In his book Why Don’t Students Like School?, cognitive scientist, Daniel T. Willingham expresses this thought: . . .I don’t accept that some students are “just not very bright” and ought to be tracked into less demanding classes. But it’s naïve to pretend that all students come to your class equally prepared to excel; they have different preparations, as well as different levels of support at home, and they will therefore differ in their abilities. If that’s true . . . it is self-defeating to give all of your students the same work. The less capable students will find it too difficult and will struggle. . .

We educate our students differently because each student is different. An individualized teacher-paced education is able to narrow the gap and promote the skills of each student by beginning their instruction where they can be successful and with clear expectations move those students towards their academic goals.

Looking for a Few Good Teachers

Here at Bios, we have been blessed with a loyal, long serving staff. How can this be when we have existed for less than a year as an institution of excellent learning you ask? All of this year’s staff, teachers and support, have served, worked, and labored with me for at least five years and as many as seventeen. Four of the new staff beginning next year have worked with me (and the rest of us) for 3, 3, 6 and 8 years.

We continue to search for those gifted people who have the work ethic, intelligence, and desire to be an effective teacher. Presently we have openings for instructors to teach in the primary (grades 1-3) and kindergarten. We are also interviewing for someone to work with me in beginning a preschool.

The best teachers and support people come from the families and friends of Bios. We look forward to interviewing the people you recommend.

Pride and Recognition

Our sermon in church last Sunday was on Mark 6 – Herod’s motivation, and John’s beheading. One major point was that most sin comes back to the sin of pride. For Herod and for that matter the world of nonbelievers in general, pride shows itself through making recognition, accomplishment and effort their focus.

This relates to education at Bios this way: Our purpose as a Christian school is to focus on honoring our God. Yes, we want our students to have and be recognized for their accomplishments and efforts. And that recognition should be made with a strong effort.

Education at Bios is not for us to satisfy the wants of the flesh. In honoring God, our accomplishments, recognition, and efforts are completed to further our service to God through our church families, and work.

Recently during a teacher screening interview, the candidate spoke about her teaching career. Most of it had been at public schools and only in the past few years had she had the opportunity to instruct students in a Christian school. She offered that those few years in the Christian school were by far the most enjoyable of her career. Then she said “Mr. Ihms, the difference is Christ. The education I gave for those many years (in public schools) was so empty. With Christ, there is purpose and hope.”

Even though our accomplishments, recognition, and efforts may look similar to public schools, they are not. The differences should be as distinct as night is from day; from children raised in an orphanage to children growing up in a loving home. Our students should stand out as confident, well-mannered, God-fearing students with academic skills our culture expects, and a work ethic to honor their God with. Students of a Christian school should work towards following this command – “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men . . .”

Though we are in this world we are not to be of this world.

National Day of Prayer

Yesterday around twenty students, staff, and a couple of dads gathered in front of our high school building to pray. We began with some of the students bringing up prayer requests with the dads and I praying at the end.

I found it very enjoyable to observe how the cadre of students, were so comfortable in sharing and praying together. It was a nice reflection of their parents training.

Praise to God!

Teacher-paced Instruction

The following passage was written by Ms. Flanagan in an article for the Wall Street Journal. She writes - “[Flannery O’Connor] in defending the teaching of the great works of the Western canon rather than those of the modern day (which kids far preferred) [said] something wise, the sort of thing an adult might say. She said that the whims and preferences of children should always, always be sublimated to the sense and judgment of their elders.”

“And what if the student finds this is not to his taste?” O’Connor asked. “Well, that is regrettable. Most regrettable. His taste should not be consulted; it is being formed.”

Part of our forming involves a teacher-paced instructional model. Within the idea that each student is instructed and advanced at a pace which is daily challenging yet not overwhelmingly frustrating, is the daily, no hourly, occurrence of the teacher setting the instructional pace for each student.

This may involve providing an alternate instructional method or use of materials, such as base ten blocks to teach place value, or doubling math assignments because a student, even when two grades ahead in their studies continues to easily meet the challenges set before them.

For many students, the only decision the teacher has to make is to stay the course already set. But when a student requires extra time and/or instruction with a concept, our teacher-paced methods allow each instructor to focus on the individual while not affecting the learning of the rest of the class.

One aspect of why we hire the instructors we do is their understanding and desire to support our parents in the training and forming of their children, all at an individual pace set by their teacher.