TA Tr A Ee IE 0 SG ie reg 2 The Dallas Reporter Dallas, PA Wednesday, May 26, 1993 < In a move proponents believe will spur major changes in school organization and practices, a number of school districts and states are drafting new outcome- based student performance plans that call on pupils todo more than sit through required courses or pass a minimum competency test. While differing in terminology and specific strategies, the new plans share the idea that the education system must reorganize around some essential, far reaching out- comes that all students need to attain tobe successful after gradu- ation. Moreover, they call on students to demonstrate their mastery of these major outcomes; not merely put in “seat time." “A unit of credit has nothing to do with what a kid can demon- strate,” says Bill- Spady, director of the International Center on Outcome-Based Restructuring in Eagle, Colo. With different out- comes expected of different stu- dents and different standards for performance, too many students have graduated without the skills they need, experts say. A key tenet of the new way of thinking is that, rather than hav- ing all students take a series of courses in lockstep, anticipating that they'll be educated at the end of the sequence, schools must reorganize all their practices to support student attainment of significant outcomes. Although that may not appear to be espe- cially new, such a shift would mark a major move away from a system in which the accretion of Carnegie Units passes for mas- tery and schools lack the flexibil- ity to restructure their programs to help all students attain valued outcomes. In traditionally organ- ized schools, “outcomes are com- promised; time is what is fixed and determined,” says Spady. “We're trying to turn that around.” Although educators and poli- cymakers are approaching the issue from different angles, there is growing evidence of interest in better defining the outcomes all students should attain. As part of a national effort to describe what students ought to “know and be able to do” and to what level of proficiency they should be able to demonstrate it professional groups in nearly every subject area are drafting outcome statements (they use the term “standards”). The National Coun- cil of Teachers of Mathematics issued its standards several years ago, and groups in science, Eng- lish/language arts, history, Civ- ics, geography, the arts, and other subjects are expected to follow suit over the next few years. The proponents hope, standards, will help to push the education sys- tem away from a curriculum of minimal expectations. At least 30 states have identi- fied essential student outcomes, according to the National Asso- ciation of State Boards of Educa- tion. Although the scope and ter- minology of their plans differ, state outcome plans are frequently linked to state assessment pro- and they attempt to provide a focus for curriculum, assessment, and instruction at the local level. While nearly all states continue to require that students amass Car- negie Units to graduate, Pennsyl- vania this year became the first state to drop that requirement in favor of a plan that will force stu- dents to demonstrate their at- tainment of desired outcomes. A scattering of districts and schools around the nation have attempted to restructure their programs to better prepare stu- dents to exhibit valued outcomes. At Littleton High School in Little- ton, Colo., for example, gradu- ation requirements are defined not in terms of completing re- quired courses but by students’ ability to demonstrate proficiency on 19 different outcomes in such areas as communication, mathe- matics, ethics, and personal health. The school has embarked on a major effort to develop as- sessment tools, design curricu- lum, and coordinate the efforts of all teachers to support student growth toward the graduation outcomes. Although the push to articu- late what students ought to know and be able to demonstrate at the culmination of their schooling is not new, the types of outcomes currently being drafted differ in important ways from those in the past. In contrast to a decade or two ago, when district and state cur- riculum plans often listed hun- dreds or thousands of discrete behavioral objectives students were to demonstrate, the outcome plans now being tried are more likely to be broader in scope and to better reflect goals involving critical thinking or the ability to solve complex problems, several experts note. The outcomes being drafted in Pennsylvania “jump the level of expectations at least a couple of notches” from satisfaction with minimum competency according to Robert Feir, former executive director of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education. For ex- ample, a draft outcome in the Pennsylvania plan regarding citi- zenship calls on students to be able to “take and defend positions on contemporary issues confront- ing the United States and other nations, conducting research, analyzing alternatives, organizing evidence and arguments, and making oral presentations.” Such outcomes, proponents say, call on students to synthesize their knowledge and skills, not merely regurgitate discrete facts. Another feature of some of the new outcome plans is their recog- nition that schools are being asked to produce graduates who can do far more than apply the quadratic formula or recall who won at Waterloo. paying lip service to the broader mission of schools, some outcome based plans explicitly address society's expectation that young people should understand the importance of ethical conduct or make good decisions about per- . gramsorcumiculum frameworks. . sonal behaviors. Virginia, for Yi Ay Instead of, merely EE REC IN: Ti Yo Yor (ed IC example, has drafted an outcome on “personal well-being and ac- complishment,” calling for “a re- sponsible individual who has a good sense of his/her abilities and needs, and uses that knowl- edge consistently to make choices likely to lead toa healthy, produc- tive, and fulfilling life.” Such an individual, the draft states, would be able to avoid behaviors tha contribute to illness or accidents, manage personal needs without ignoring the needs and the rights of others, and implement personal, educational, and career plans, among other capabilities. Those advocating a move to outcome driven plans cite several benefits. At Littleton High School, which describes its program as “perform- ance based education,” a commit- tee of teachers, parents, and stu- dents worked for nearly two years on the new graduation require- ments that, beginning with the class of 1995, will replace the old Carnegie Unit mandate. That process involved looking beyond “the existing curriculum and pecking orders” to describe the key attributes that all graduates ought to possess, says Wester- berg. The new graduation re- quirements have given a common - focus to the curriculum, he says, and teachers are exploring a se- quence of classroom experiences that will prepare students to demonstrate the outcomes a proc- ess outcomes enthusiasts refer to as “designing down.” “It forces people to think: how are we going to teach so that students will attain. the out- comes?” says Dan Brickley, a veteran teacher who chaired the graduation requirements commit- tee. The new plan encourages teacher collaboration around is- sues of expectations and stan- dards, he adds. “This summer, the language arts and the social studies departments got together and talked about how their expec- tations about student writing dif- fer. That's absolutely unheard of.” The Jefferson County, Colo., public schools are reorganizing around six outcomes, saying stu- dents should be effective commu- nicators, complex thinkers, re- sponsible citizens, self-directed learners, ethical individuals, and quality workers. Vera Dawson, assistant superintendent for school effectiveness for the dis- - trict, says the new outcomes plan provides a “transformational per- spective” that will encourage flexi- bility and the use of different strategies and innovations. “For many teachers, what's kept them from doing this is the education system itself,” says Dawson. The development of outcomes and the process of redesigning school programs around them, she hopes, will spur change where it counts—in the classroom. “The essential part of this is changing instruction and kids’ experiences in school.” For example, some of the district's schools have begun or plan to use such strategies as block scheduling, multi-age Ed Others believe that reorganiz- ing around outcomes will help to raise expectations for all students. By establishing common out- comes and standards, educators are hoping “that ‘average’ and ‘below-average’ students will be getting the same kind of opportu- nities that only ‘above-average’ kids got before,” says Vito For- lenza, director of curriculum and instruction for a regional service unit in Pennsylvania and chair of the Pennsylvania ASCD's curricu- lum committee. A survey of affili- ate members found them suppor- tive of the Board's plan, and the affiliate is offering seminars to help educators prepare for it, he adds. Although the idea of restruc- turing school programs around new student outcomes has gained currency, some critics see draw- backs. In Pennsylvania, for example, the state Board of Education's process to establish student out- comes has been temporarily de- railed by state legislators. Legis- lators were responding, in part, to concerns that some of the 58 outcomes drafted by the board strayed too far from academics and too far into affective outcomes and values. A leader of a group critical of the outcomes asserted in Education Week that “it is not, parents say, the business of the state to be assessing and remedi- ating the values and attitudes of students. Itis the business of the state to fill children’s heads with the cognitive knowledge they need.” While admitting that affective outcomes may be harder to teach, proponents of the new outcomes plans insist they are properly a part of the curriculum. Further, they say that the new outcomes plans don't downplay academics— just place them in a different context. “The curriculum has to be more practical,” says Brickley. “I don't think we can justify kids An explanation of outcome-based education taking three years of social stud- ies, for example, and not being able to demonstrate their ability use that knowledge in meaningful ways." Accountability and assessment concerns also are being raised about the new outcome-based plans, particularly- with regard to values and affective outcomes. Some parents and policy-makers, for example, worry that it will be difficult to assess whether stu- dents have mastered broadly framed outcomes. Educators at Littleton High School consider this a major design challenge and are exploring a range of ways to as- sess student growth. including exhibitions and on-demand writ- ing tasks. This year, the school is developing a plan that describes specific skills undergirding the broader outcomes, demonstration tasks, testing conditions, and performance standards. Students will be required to demonstrate proficiency in all 19 outcomes and excellence in any two of them in order to graduate. Even those supporting the move toreorganize schools around valu- able student outcomes have res- ervations about some of the ap- proaches being tried. Spady, for example, argues that many local and state plans simply derive outcomes from the content of the current curriculum. Morever, he considers iil a mistake to frame outcomes subject area—a tactic being employed by the projects to set national standards. Educators committed to re- structuring around outcomes say the benefits outweigh any disad- vantages, however, Westerberg believes that students are re- sponding to the higher expecta- tions held for them. “I'm seeing students much more involved in their own education,” he says. “They're being asked to demon- strate, toperform at a higher level, on more complex tasks” than ever before. Re 1993-1994 DALLAS SCHOOL DISTRICT CALENDAR SUMMARY PROGRESS REPORTS DECEMBER 11 FEBRUARY 25 MAY 10 EARLY DISMISSAL DATES JANUARY 17 APRIL 12 GRADUATION DAY JUNE 15 FIRST SEMESTER oct 11 TEACHER'S IN-SERVICE NOV 25-29 THANKSGIVING VACATION NOV 30 - CLASSES RESUME DEC 23-JAN 2 HOLIDAY VACATION JAN 3 - CLASSES RESUME ER Ra I a, REPORT CARDS K-53 6-12 NOVEMBER 19 NOVEMBER 19 FEBRUARY 4 FEBRUARY & APRIL 15 APRIL 18 JUNE 15 JUNE 22 PARENT CONFERENCES ELEMENTARY - NOVEMBER 15 - APRIL 18 SECONDARY - NOVEMBER 22 - ~APRIL 20 SECOND SEMESTER FEB 18 TEACHER'S IN-SERVICE FEB 21 PRESIDENT'S DAY MARCH 31-APRIL 4 EASTER VAC. APRIL 5-6 SPR BREAK/SNOW DAYS MAY 30 MEMORIAL DAY Nn SARS SR RE The Dallas Reporter v - . Dallas, PA Wednesday, May 26, 1993 3 District's computers get upgraded In an effort to keep the Dallas School District's computer offer- ings at the front of current tech- nology advancements, various computer upgrades have been made in each of the District's buildings. : In the Senior High School, two more computers are scheduled for the word processing lab. In addition, each English classroom will have one computer networked to the word processing lab. These will be used for word processing, classroom writing instruction/ evaluation, teacher management of written assignments, and desk- top publishing. Dallas Middle school has added six networked computers to the six science rooms. Coupled with the use of the Jostens Integrated Science Curriculum, and Re- search Capabilities. The new computers will allow Science stu- dents in grades 6-8 toview certain experiments previously unavail- able to our classes. The Compu- terized Science curriculum is upgraded frequently, bringing the latest advances to our students. Two networked computers will also be placed into the Eighth Grade English classrooms for use in word processing, writing in- struction, research and partici- pation in the formal Josten's Writing program. Stations in the Library and Computer lab pro- vide further instruction in Writ- ing, Word Processing, Reading and Math. In the Elementary Schools, networked computers were added to the various individual class- rooms. At Westmoreland Elemen- tary School 18 classrooms will receive computers which are PORTABLE SCHOOL - The district has added six laptop comput- ers that students can take home to help study reading. hooked directly to the main com- puter in the lab. At the Dallas Elementary school there will be 22 classrooms receiving comput- ers, each networked to the main computer in the lab. These additional computers will allow individual students in the classrooms to access research materials, as well as their own filed for Reading, Math, Keyboard- ing and Writing programs. Teacher management of student work is also enhanced with the addition of the computers in the class- rooms. Parents wishing to obtain fur- ther information about how the Dallas School District's Computer Labs operate or how the class- room additions will be used for their children should contact Mr. Jack Wega, Computer Coordina- tor at 675-5201. COMPUTER UPGRADES - As part of an upgrade to the district's computer systems, new machines were added and others were networked so that students could share work. becomes available. Laptop computers involve parents in child's reading With funds from the Federally funded Chapter 1 budget, six laptop computers were purchased for the Dallas School District's Chapter 1 Reading program. The Tandy Model 1800 computers with hard drives were loaded with special software designed to help students with their reading skills. Mrs. Sharon Hartshorne, Mrs. Rita Mundy, and Mr. Jack Wega, District Reading Specialists, selected programs geared to the various age levels, reading levels and reading needs of the District's Chapter 1 students. Six evening sessions for parent training in the use of the computers and pro- grams were offered during the month of February. Ninety four parents participated in these workshops under the direction of District Computer Coordinator Jack Wega. Computers were sent home on a 2 day basis with parents and students working together on the programs. The machines are transported to and from school by the parents and are assigned on a rotating schedule. Participating parents and students have of- fered very positive comments about the program. The District hopes to add more software and computers in the future as funding cally and socially. Conferences attract 700+ On Wednesday, April21, 1993, secondary parent conferences were held at Dallas Middle School, Dallas Senior High School. These conferences were scheduled at the parents’ convenience between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. The informa, tion shared at these conference will help the parents and teachers’ work together so that the child will be successful both academi- Mr. Martinelli, principal of Middle School, reports 343 con- ferences held, 46 phone contacts for a total of 389. Mr. Galicki, principal of Dallas Senior High School, reports 323 conferences held, 23 phone con- tacts for a total of 346. Answers to frequently-asked questions about the budget The 1993-1994 Dallas School District Budget presentation will not be an accounting issue but more a process of informing the community members as to the status of the school district's expenditures and what they are receiving from their investment in our educational system. After several years of present- ing budgets to the public, the district has developed a list of questions which would most likely be asked at a budget meeting. Our response to each question follows. Question 1. Is our tax millage going up for 1993-94? Answer 1. Preliminary budget calculations project no increase in millage for 1993-94. This will be the third consecutive year that the school district tax rate will remain at 158 mills. Question 2. What programs or services will be reduced in the proposed budget? Answer 2. Our proposed budget is intended to support the goals, objectives and priorities of our long range educational plan. Ee does not reflect any curtailment in programs or services from the districts’ educational plan. Question 3. Why does so much of the budget go for teachers'sala- ries and fringe benefits? Answer 3. School districts are service oriented institutions, therefore, approximately 52% of the funds in the preliminary budget are allocated to teachers and professional support staff salaries and benefits serving regu- lar instruction. Education is a labor-intensive organization and staffing projections provide a basis for budget allocations. In addi- tion to the regular instruction costs are the salaries and benefits for special education. These spe- cial education expenditures are approximately 7% of the budget and when we break out the cost for special education programs, they reflect a higher per pupil cost than regular education costs. Question 4. How much finan- cial support in the proposed budget will be provided to Dallas School District from the state? “freeze” on the amount ol basic educational subsidy allocated to Dallas School District which is almost 4 million dollars... The Governor's proposal, however, does call for an increase in the special education funding from the state. The total financial support from the state is esti- mated to be 5.8 million dollars or 37% of the budgeted expenditures. Question 5. How much is budg- eted for extra-curricular activi- ties? Answer 5. The Student Activi- ties section of the budget repre- sents approximately 2% of the proposed expenditures of the district or $327,000. This section of the budget not only covers expenditures for sports or athlet- ics, but also salaries and costs associated with student council, band, drama, yearbook, newspa- per and other activities that com- plement the regular educational programs. Question 6. How much does the Dallas School District spend on textbooks? Answer 6. Approximately $115,000 was spenton textbooks for the 1992-93 school year and about the same amount is budg- eted for the 1993-94 school year. In addition to the monies spent for textbook adoptions and re- placements, are correlating work- books and audio-visual aids which amount to $55,000 for 1993-94. Question 7. What is the pro- posed cost for health care for employees of the district? Answer 7. Health care costs are a major expenditure for the district projected to be about $1,000,000 for the upcoming fis- cal year. Our employees have the option of three medical plans: Blue Cross/Blue Shield, HMO of North- eastern Pennsylvania and Geisin- ger Health Plan. The projected increase for the plan to which the major segment of the employees are enrolled is 9%. Question 8. What is the rea- son for a budgetary reserve and fund balance in the proposed budget? Answer 8. According to the Manual of Accounting for Penn- sylvania School Systems, in addi- tion to the appropriations which are made to the various programs, it is sound management practice to provide for operating contin- gencies through a budgetary re- serve. Experience indicates that there are certain variables over which control is impossible re- gardless of the care with which-a budget is prepared. Transfers from the budgetary reserve re- quire authorization of the Board of School Directors. The balance in the budgetary reserve at the end of the budget year becomes a part of the total resources avail- able for the next budget year. The fund balance provides fi- nancial stability in uncertain economic times and changes in state funding. Any or all of the fund balance may be used for appropriations. ‘I'he Dallas School Dsitrict pro- posed financial plan is the “win- dow" that provides a clear view of what is happening in your district and how your educational dollar are being spent. FI
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