Monday, January 24, 2005
Snow Day Extravaganza, Part II: The 90% Club
One thing that looking out over the snowscape outside this blustery Monday has brought to mind is the matter of attendance. Because barring some truly bizarre twist of fate, there will be school tomorrow. But how many of my students will be attending, this I can not say. Which is a shame really, because the school has made a real effort in the past few weeks to muster all the students it can to boost attendance.
Why is this? Well, for a few reasons. First, our attendance numbers in general are pretty poor, with the average hovering around 70% on any given day. Imagine how many people you knew in high school who showed up everyday, or nearly everyday. Then cut that number in half a few times and you get an idea how very very rare perfect attendance is at Underwood. This in turn impacts how well students do in their classes and leads to diminished academic achievement. But besides all that, there's a greater (and unstated) agenda, whispered only in shadows by mysteeerious administrators in backrooms and corner offices.
The details of the plot are simple. Take your standard inner-city school with relatively poor test scores. In any given year following the implementation of No Child Left Behind, that school is expected to make what is known as AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), demonstrating that the school is actively addressing areas of concern. How do they measure AYP?--Can it be quantified or is it doomed to metaphysical oblivion a la Rousseau's general will? The answer is the former rather than the latter (Most politicians wouldn't know what to do with an existential quandary if it bit them on the hand. Though now that I think about it, would I?) In any event, the way to gauge progress is by test scores. If the scores go up a certain amount, we receive a gold star and the distinction of having made effective progress. We then rest on our laurels for a year and hope we can continue the upswing in a second year. This of course leads some (yours truly included) to wonder if this plan were actually to work what would happen when we reached the 90% proficient stage...would progress even be possible in that scenario? Fortunately (or unfortunately), this does not seem likely at this juncture as Underwood still has approximately 75-80% of its students ranked Below Basic in writing and math.
But that's ok, because there is an alternative route to AYP, which is how Underwood did it last year. Namely, improving a larger number of non-test related criteria, like attendance, by even a small amount can yield the same legal results as a wholehearted jump in the academic realm. Which led, I suppose to the creation of the 90% Club, a joint venture of WellMeaningPlans.Com and GoodIntentions, Inc. The idea was simple, set up a competition between the various homerooms, with those breaking the 90% average daily attendance over a set period of time would receive prizes. What sort of prizes? How about a dance in the gym...at night?
Not your thing?
How about a gift certificate to an unspecified store? And since it has to go to the whole class, it will probably be for a piddling amount?
Aha, that's not working for you?
Maybe a ...field trip?
Well in any event, they had this plan. And so two Thursdays ago, they unleashed/unveiled the 90% Club unto the world. The school wide assembly was implemented without warning and students were escorted to the gym, with my freshmen sitting in the same room as seniors, the latter group's higher rank in the school hierarchy reflected by their seats in the bleachers as opposed to the lowly freshman folding chairs. The cheerleading team, the drumline, the dance/drama group...all were in attendance. And what music were they playing at this most serious event, as students filed in to hear my principal extol the merits of good attendance?
"Shake that ass...." by Mystikal. Of course! Or perhaps it was something by Fitty-Cent (that is to say 50-Cent). Because nothing says studious and attentive like gangsta rap! Nothin'. I eventually grew tired of the spectacle and left halfway through the assembly to take my prep time, which would otherwise be stolen away. In the next couple of days, I checked whether my students were more inspired to attend, and the answer was the same as always. The kids who show up will show up, especially if for some reason I don't want them to show up, like if they're disruptive. The kids who don't show up will not. Fatalistic? Yes. Accurate? Scarily so.
Do I think that will apply tomorrow? Only if we have school. Who knows if the snow gods will bless us twice?
One thing that looking out over the snowscape outside this blustery Monday has brought to mind is the matter of attendance. Because barring some truly bizarre twist of fate, there will be school tomorrow. But how many of my students will be attending, this I can not say. Which is a shame really, because the school has made a real effort in the past few weeks to muster all the students it can to boost attendance.
Why is this? Well, for a few reasons. First, our attendance numbers in general are pretty poor, with the average hovering around 70% on any given day. Imagine how many people you knew in high school who showed up everyday, or nearly everyday. Then cut that number in half a few times and you get an idea how very very rare perfect attendance is at Underwood. This in turn impacts how well students do in their classes and leads to diminished academic achievement. But besides all that, there's a greater (and unstated) agenda, whispered only in shadows by mysteeerious administrators in backrooms and corner offices.
The details of the plot are simple. Take your standard inner-city school with relatively poor test scores. In any given year following the implementation of No Child Left Behind, that school is expected to make what is known as AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), demonstrating that the school is actively addressing areas of concern. How do they measure AYP?--Can it be quantified or is it doomed to metaphysical oblivion a la Rousseau's general will? The answer is the former rather than the latter (Most politicians wouldn't know what to do with an existential quandary if it bit them on the hand. Though now that I think about it, would I?) In any event, the way to gauge progress is by test scores. If the scores go up a certain amount, we receive a gold star and the distinction of having made effective progress. We then rest on our laurels for a year and hope we can continue the upswing in a second year. This of course leads some (yours truly included) to wonder if this plan were actually to work what would happen when we reached the 90% proficient stage...would progress even be possible in that scenario? Fortunately (or unfortunately), this does not seem likely at this juncture as Underwood still has approximately 75-80% of its students ranked Below Basic in writing and math.
But that's ok, because there is an alternative route to AYP, which is how Underwood did it last year. Namely, improving a larger number of non-test related criteria, like attendance, by even a small amount can yield the same legal results as a wholehearted jump in the academic realm. Which led, I suppose to the creation of the 90% Club, a joint venture of WellMeaningPlans.Com and GoodIntentions, Inc. The idea was simple, set up a competition between the various homerooms, with those breaking the 90% average daily attendance over a set period of time would receive prizes. What sort of prizes? How about a dance in the gym...at night?
Not your thing?
How about a gift certificate to an unspecified store? And since it has to go to the whole class, it will probably be for a piddling amount?
Aha, that's not working for you?
Maybe a ...field trip?
Well in any event, they had this plan. And so two Thursdays ago, they unleashed/unveiled the 90% Club unto the world. The school wide assembly was implemented without warning and students were escorted to the gym, with my freshmen sitting in the same room as seniors, the latter group's higher rank in the school hierarchy reflected by their seats in the bleachers as opposed to the lowly freshman folding chairs. The cheerleading team, the drumline, the dance/drama group...all were in attendance. And what music were they playing at this most serious event, as students filed in to hear my principal extol the merits of good attendance?
"Shake that ass...." by Mystikal. Of course! Or perhaps it was something by Fitty-Cent (that is to say 50-Cent). Because nothing says studious and attentive like gangsta rap! Nothin'. I eventually grew tired of the spectacle and left halfway through the assembly to take my prep time, which would otherwise be stolen away. In the next couple of days, I checked whether my students were more inspired to attend, and the answer was the same as always. The kids who show up will show up, especially if for some reason I don't want them to show up, like if they're disruptive. The kids who don't show up will not. Fatalistic? Yes. Accurate? Scarily so.
Do I think that will apply tomorrow? Only if we have school. Who knows if the snow gods will bless us twice?
