Where There's Smoke, There's Fire....Or Not...

If I'm not quite as well rested this week as I should be while preparing for the opening day of school, it's with good reason. This past weekend my family and I endured our smoke detectors going off indiscriminately at all hours of day and night for no apparent reason. We changed batteries, cleaned every detector, reset our system, all to no avail...apparently at some point these things just fail and have to be replaced. Fortunately, the alarms were not shrieking in response to a real threat of fire, but they were telling us there was a problem. Sometimes how we interpret information is more important than the information itself.



This past month, North High School received its test scores from the state of Michigan. North improved in every tested category except social studies where we stayed above 90% at 94% proficient. This effort by our students reflects a concentrated effort by staff to focus on literacy and writing in particular. Our writing scores on the state's standardized test increased by 6% while many schools saw declining writing scores this year.

In addition over the summer, we received notification from Newsweek that North was again named one of the top 1000 high schools in the States. We increased the number of students taking AP tests significantly while maintaining a pass rate of close to 70%.

How then, one might ask, is it possible that North does not meet the federal government's standards for "Adequate Yearly Progress" or AYP? Elsewhere on this blog is a lengthy explanation for how that determination is made, and on what basis. However, at first blush one might look at AYP status and use it to determine whether a school is in trouble. It's a kind of fire alarm for schools.

In this case, the truth is that North does have an issue - just not the one that it may appear to have - much like my own home fire alarm situation. While overall our school is doing exceptionally well (in fact is one of the very best schools not just in Michigan, but in the country), we have an achievement gap issue which is recognized in our AYP status. The gap between certain sub-populations in our school and our highest performing students is too big. Our goal is to eliminate that gap without sacrificing performance at the top.

On this blog, check out the link to our High Schools 2.0 plans, as well as the narrative on AYP to see some of our plans for attacking this achievement gap. While I don't believe in the methodologies being employed in the Federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, or particularly in our state's interpretation of the data points, all of us at North firmly believe that all children can and should succeed. The idea behind the law is sound despite its flawed implementation. Nevertheless, we are focused on getting better and leaving no child behind - for real.

Sometimes when the alarms go off, all is not as it seems - North is a tremendous school, and successful in almost every way, by almost any measure. Still the AYP alarm has helped us focus on our one real deficiency - closing the achievement gap that exists. We made tremendous progress this last year, and expect that progress to continue in 08-09.

Some say that NCLB's goal of 100% proficiency by all students by the year 2014 is unrealistic. It may be, but I do believe in the "shoot for the moon and if you miss you're still among the stars philosophy". In the midst of all of our accolades and successes we can't ignore the real meaning of an occasional alarm.

Corvette or Van, That Is the Question...

My wife and I recently joined the ranks of mini-van owners after years and vehicles of avoidance. The mini-van seemed to us the final concession. Despite four kids and a dog, we held on as long as we could to more stylish, gas guzzling people movers. We are now officially not cool ( no comments please from those who believe that bus left the station years ago....).

Nevertheless, I have to confess, we love the van. It's comfortable, has lots of room, gets decent gas mileage, and from the kids' perspective has the one thing that matters in any room or vehicle - satellite television and the screens that go with it. In fact recent conversations with our kids got me thinking about how much home environments influence all of us, especially our children. As we prepare for the return of students to school, I thought it was a good time for all of us to think about how our home environments impact the lives of our children.

While together with friends whose children are approximately the ages of our children, my wife and I overheard a conversation one of our elementary aged daughters was having with her friend. Our friends have a corvette, and their daughter told our daughter that she was going to have a corvette when she got older. Without hesitation, and very proudly, our daughter said she was going to have a VAN.... when the laughter subsided, I started thinking about how much children reflect their parents and their homes.

A colleague of mine often says that adults are always modeling behavior whether they realize it or not. Our children mimic us and develop much of their belief system and value system based on what they see us do, and not what they hear us say - "Do as I say, not as I do" rarely works. Often times I meet with frustrated parents who are looking for a third party to give them some ideas as to how they can assist their children. From my daughter's desire for a van, I was reminded that the things we do, and the people our children observe us to be, determine to a large extent what and who our children will be.

A few years ago I was at a retirement party for a teacher who had spent more than forty years in the classroom. During his retirement party he said, "In 41 years of teaching I never met a student I didn't like where I also didn't like his parents". The comment was facetious, but with the ring of truth. We're always modeling. In humorist Dave Barry's list of life lessons he's learned he says "A person who is nice to you but rude to a waiter is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)" What a great reminder to all of us that how we treat others, and the behaviors we model are not just important for us, but for those who depend on us.

As we prepare for the start of another new school year it's a great reminder for all of us that the behavior we model is destined to be repeated.

By the way, I told my daughter that she shouldn't limit herself...there's no reason she can't have a van and a corvette if that's what she wants...