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I do not doubt that this year's results will show improvement, as last year's results did when the CASD met "Adequate Yearly Progress" or AYP for the first time. Generally, the district's administration, teachers and other employees, under the direction of Superintendent Como, deserve praise for this. The problem lies in that this progress is simply not enough, especially for the children of the city that perform lowest on the test. The ones that will not take the SAT test, the ones that will not go to college, or will fail out their freshman year, and the ones that will be generally unprepared for anything after high school, whether they graduate or not.
In 2007, only 42 percent of African-American 11th-graders, 45 percent of "economically disadvantaged" 11th-graders and 22 percent of special-education 11th-graders scored proficient or above on the PSSA reading test within the district. The math results of 22 percent, 29 percent and 12 percent, respectively, were lower.
While the numbers are somewhat discouraging, the attitude of our community about the scores should be of most concern. Education among these populations will not increase in any meaningful way until these results become totally unacceptable to our community and each stakeholder takes the approach that we will do whatever it takes so that each child can be, at least, "proficient" on this test and achieve the level of education required to do so.
Please note that for purposes here the phrases "do whatever it takes" and "spend more money" are not interchangeable, as many effective ideas can be put in place that actually save money, such as the Gordon Education Center.
Well, what will it take? The most important thing is the adoption of a different attitude, one that rejects the excuses of circumstance. This will spawn ideas, maybe some that would be considered drastic or extreme. When it was first suggested that the district close Gordon Elementary School over a year ago, someone told me that it was a "radical" idea. If radical means better compliance with special-education law, better education, better access to counseling and the savings of close to $3 million, perhaps radical is what we need.
Let's look briefly at what stands in the way of our most at-risk students.
First, these students will often get in their own way, by making poor choices, perhaps they will use or sell drugs, commit a crime, or simply not study or care about their school work or act in a disruptive manner at school.
Second, their parents will get in their way, by not enforcing rules and consequences, and by not requiring that they study or do their homework and by generally not making education a priority.
Finally, the school itself will get in their way, perhaps by not identifying or giving them the special education services they need or by failing to address their behavior, attendance or mental health needs in an appropriate way.
What specifically will help at-risk students?
Well, first students and their parents have to be held accountable for getting to school each day and being on-time each day, and the school district has to be serious about it. A 90 percent attendance rate sounds good, until you understand that it means on average each student is missing 18 days of school each year, and the rate is obviously higher among the at-risk population.
Second, the discipline code needs to be changed so that out-of-school suspensions are not the primary method of school discipline. Are students missing many days due to suspensions? I estimate that last school year, in grades 9 to 12 only, students were suspended out-of-school for approximately 2,500 school days, and this number is probably low. When students must be suspended they should be given a place to go during the day to serve that suspension. I think there are some rooms at Gordon not being used this year. Community service and a Saturday school program come to mind as inexpensive, effective alternatives.
Third, if students cannot test proficient and/or they do not keep their grades up, and/or they do not come to school, after-school, Saturday and summer tutoring programs should be mandatory. Mandatory as defined as obligatory, binding, compulsory or you must be there, not come if you feel like it, as demonstrated in the district's middle school summer tutoring program where we see single-digit percent levels of participation (transportation is provided).
Fourth, proficiency should be required for graduation, at least in reading. A student who does not score proficient on the 11th-grade PSSA test in reading should have to demonstrate that proficiency on a district-implemented test sometime before graduation and should be given the extra support that they should have had from the moment they fell off of grade-level functioning.
Fifth, the school district must find a way to better access the mental health and drug and alcohol treatment systems for its students. The reopening of Gordon as an "alternative" school and the recent hire of mental health specialists increased the district's commitment to these goals. Personally, mandatory drug tests are beginning to seem like an appealing option.
Finally, the district should partner with the city and other interested parties to maximize recreation and enrichment opportunities for the children, especially over the summer months.
These are just a few ideas that emphasize the idea that student effort, family support and an unwillingness to accept substandard results are the keys to improving education in Coatesville. Once this is done we still must ask the hard questions about our graduates. Where are they a year after they graduate? Are they still in college? Are they employed or headed toward learning a trade or being successful in a career? The answers may change how we educate our children. But when we can say yes to these questions for all of our graduates, then Coatesville will see a day when the crime rates drop, when the drug use and drug trade decline and the gang activity dries up. This will not happen when as many as 35 percent of all graduates, and as many as 60 to 75 percent of your at-risk population graduates are not proficient readers.
Whatever ideas are implemented they must be shown to get the desired results. The district recently started requiring an additional one-half credit class of math and/or reading if a student was not proficient in either area. Has this helped? We should know shortly.
I can only hope that when I learn of the 2008 results, that the results are followed by ideas about what will really improve education and ideas that can be implemented this year. Next year is too far away. The same old ideas that will result in same modest progress should not be acceptable to anyone.
