• Superintendent to implement lesson plan accountability.

By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

After a semester of evaluating strengths and weaknesses of Whiteville City Schools, Superintendent Dr. Randall Shaver spoke to his board at length Monday night about the short-range strategies he is implementing to “re-focus” the city system.

During its monthly meeting, the five-member board was presented a comprehensive look at the school system’s beliefs and its “critical expectations.”

Included in his presentation were six steps Shaver is immediately putting into place that should help improve student and staff performance.

Shaver prefaced his announcement of the changes with an explanation of the various beliefs he shares with the school system.

Different learning styles

Shaver told the board that classroom settings could no longer be just “sit and get” situations where teachers talk while students sit and listen for the duration of the class period.

“We don’t all learn by sitting and getting,” he said. “We don’t all learn by groups. We don’t all learn by project-based assignments. We need to look at the entire spectrum of learning styles.”

He said that teachers would have to learn to recognize and work with the variety of learning styles they will find in each classroom.

Shaver stressed the importance of schools providing opportunities for students to demonstrate what they have learned other than just the state-mandated end-of-course tests.

Technology is vital

And, he pointed out, technology would be more vital than ever.

“Technology is the pen, pencil and paper of the 21st Century,” he said.

He said as schools provide models for life-long learning, those models need to be made real so that students can see how what they learn applies to everyday life.

Shaver said schools also need to provide more opportunities for students to exercise their leadership abilities. Participation in clubs and on the athletic field are just two examples.

He said the school system needs to create opportunities for students and staff to experience success and to celebrate that success.

“I am a firm believer that not every child is going to learn the content laid out for him by a teacher every day,” he said. “But even the meanest child can have some success each day.”

Critical Expectations

Shaver said that for change to occur, staff and students would have to be held to higher levels of expectations and he listed those expectations, including:

Students will be able to effectively identity, access and process all forms of communication and information.

He said it’s not enough for today’s students to read, write and type information.

“Students must be able to manipulate content in a variety of ways,” he said.

He said that interactive discussions and collaborative work are vital.

“I get nervous when I see students lined up in rows with feet on the floor,” he said. “Those classes are clearly teacher-centered and not student-centered.”

He said students should be engaged in collaborative projects.

Not an EOC fan

Shaver said the multiple-choice questions of the state’s end-of-course tests are not very authentic. He said project-based work and evaluation is more authentic because students have to know the content and then apply that content.

Another critical expectation was: Students will understand abstract concepts, solve problems and develop critical-thinking skills.

Shaver said he believes the current student generation “has abstract thinking down” because of its ability to figure out computers and software.

Students and staff will be able to adapt to “new” ideas and “new” technology and think through problems logically.

“We can’t run away from technology,” Shaver said, adding that technology is important to anyone wanting to succeed.

Students and staff will recognize education as a catalyst for a quality of life, which reflects individuals who are caring, productive, healthy and law-abiding citizens in a global community.

Shaver said that earlier in the month he had refused to release two students from high school, both under the age of 16.

“They need to recognize that education is a catalyst for a better life,” he said. The better their lives are, the better our community is.”

Immediate changes

Shaver said there are several tried and true steps that the school system is implementing immediately.

For starters, Shaver said the system has no true way of identifying specific sub-groups or individuals who are not performing as they should in various subject areas.

“We can’t get an accurate reading of subgroups,” he said.

Shaver wants that remedied. His staff is working to make it so.

He said it is critical to identify the specific areas where students are having difficulty.

He also wants the schools’ alignment and pacing guides updated.

All state public schools follow the North Carolina Standard Course of Study (NCSCOS), a comprehensive set of goals and objectives that cover all of the major subjects taught in the state.

Alignment and pacing guides help teachers determine which goals and objectives teachers will cover by the month, week or day and at what speed and in what order.

Lesson plans

Perhaps the biggest change Shaver is ordering has to do with lesson plans.

Shaver is requiring every teacher in the school system to have written lesson plans for every day of lessons.

These plans must be submitted to the principal of each school on the Friday prior to the week they will be used.

Principals are expected to review every plan and make notes on them before returning them to the teachers.

“You board members are going to get some calls,” Shaver said, anticipating complaints from some teachers.

Shaver recounted how he didn’t truly become a teacher until year eight of his career when he became serious about class preparations and began developing lesson plans.

Shaver said that each lesson plan must ask an “essential question.”

An essential question is posed to the students at the start of the lesson. The lesson has been successful if the students can answer the essential questions by the end of class.

If not, then the teacher needs to rethink how the lesson was taught and rework it until all the students “get it.”

Shaver said the essential question is an excellent assessment for what the students are learning and for whether the lesson style is the right fit for a particular group.

Shaver said that Cindy Williamson, the associate superintendent for curriculum, will hold principals accountable for the plans. The principals, in turn, will hold teachers accountable for the plans.

“After a year they will understand the importance of lesson plans,” Shaver said.

Shaver again called for more collaborative teaching and planning. He also said that personal education plans would have to be created for all students at risk of failing.

Personal education plans are detailed plans used to map the weaknesses and strengths of students with specific details on how those students’ educations will be accomplished.

Where it has worked

Shaver offered examples of several school systems that have adopted these measures to successful conclusions.
Thomasville City Schools has the same number of students as Whiteville.

Nearly 90 percent of its students are on free or reduced lunch.

Only 21 percent of its students are white with 15 percent Hispanic and 63 percent black, Nearly one third have educational disabilities.

In 2000, the system knew it had to do something and aligned itself with the NCSCOS, developing pacing guides for all classes and teachers in all subjects.

It began lesson plan accountability and started formative assessment of all its students.

It focused remediation on the students who needed it and celebrated success at every opportunity.

Shaver reported that the school system as a whole had made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for four of the last seven years and that Thomasville High School has made AYP for seven years running. The middle school has made AYP for four out of seven years.

And the dropout rate has decreased by 2 percent.

Shaver pointed out a similar success with the Duplin County Schools. In that case, the implementation of curriculum alignment and lesson plan accountability in the second semester produced dramatic increases in that year’s test scores.

Shaver, who was working with the Duplin schools at the time, said “We know this had a quick and profound impact.”

In one year, schools that made growth jumped from three to 13 and schools making AYP went from five to eight.

Shaver said the six action steps he is implementing will make a significant difference.

He said that programs needed to improve school performance already exist.

“I’m not going to re-invent the wheel,” he said.

Board questions

At the conclusion of his presentation Shaver took questions from the board.

Board member Jim DiMuzio asked how remediation would affect students who don’t need it.

Shaver said they will move forward with the pacing guides.

“Remediation is most effective when it’s not in the classroom,” Shaver said.

Chairman Carlton Prince lauded Shaver for an “excellent presentation.

“We get what we expect and we get what we teach,” Prince said. “We know this. Our responsibility is to put this in action.”

Prince asked Shaver if he would make the same presentation to every school. Shaver said he would.

Prince said it was essential that every teacher hear it.