Sunday, November 27, 2016

"The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." ~Dan Rather

This Thanksgiving at my mom’s I had three of my four sisters there as well as our own kids and also my son’s college friends.  In all, we had thirty people gathered to have a great time enjoying one another’s company.  We discussed the usual: politics, education, jobs, and our children.  Of course football was on the television, creating more noise adding to the chaos already there.  We do not always agree on politics or even education, so you can imagine how loud it might get when everyone is trying to give their expert opinion.  At times feelings might get hurt but in the end we can all leave with the understanding that we love each other because we are family.  We know we will never agree on all topics but through the years we have developed a relationship that allows for us to express our opinions and still know that we will continue to be a part of the family. 

Building strong relationships are key to many facets of one’s life and no truer than in education with the student/teacher relationship.  Advocates of evidence based education know that students who have constructive relationships with their teachers are more likely to do well at school, and teachers who actively build such relationships have a strong effect on the lives of their students.

When students see that their teacher care about them they tend to want to go the extra mile to get their work done and they begin to think more positive about school in general.

Research continues to back up the fact that if you genuinely show care for your students that they will achieve higher.  However, this doesn’t mean that you should be too permissive. Students like order and security, but they also need to know you have nothing but their best intentions at heart. 

Finding that middle ground of being an authoritarian as well as friendly can be difficult, but it can be done; it just takes time.  If a teacher is only authoritative, having high expectations but does not show students that he/she cares, the students tend to not take risks, and it becomes the teacher vs. the student, resulting in ‘I’m right, your wrong’ attitudes.  On the opposite side is the friendly teacher who cares more about his/her students’ self-esteem than their work. This tends to cause students to develop mediocrity.  It is only when we can combine the two styles together that we truly can get students to achieve more.  Teachers who have high expectations as well as genuine care for their students is when learning becomes fun.

But, like a family relationship, there will be ups and downs, so it is important that parents, teachers, and students work out any differences they might have.  There is too much research to ignore that positive relationships and high expectations are keys to a productive future.

Monday, November 21, 2016

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela

Every educator many not in education understand the importance of providing a quality education to our students.  We understand that these students will become the adults who will be leading our state in the future.  Providing a quality education takes resources; resources require money.  We all want class sizes to be small, we want the latest technology for our students to learn 21st century skills, we need professional development for our teachers to allow them to improve with research based teaching strategies, we need safe buses, we need HVAC systems that work, upkeep of the facilities, a quality food service program, fine arts programs, athletic programs and the list goes on.

With a predicted $350 million deficit to end the fiscal year, education could possibly see another round of cuts.  The forecast does not look good for the FY18 either as consensus revenue report is predicting and additional $450 million deficit.  Our current Governor would have you believe that Kansas has a spending problem, but I am going to tell you that we have a revenue problem.  In 2012 Governor Brownback along with many legislatures in Topeka voted for a tax policy to eliminate income tax for LLC’s and to lower income tax.  This plan has not created new jobs nor more revenue as we were told.  In fact, we are losing $200 million each year in LLC’s not paying income taxes, and $700 million this year in lowered personal income taxes.  When you add in oil prices and natural gas prices tanking, you have a formula for a disaster. The current tax policy has failed and it is time to repeal our current policy if we want the next generation of Kansans to have bright future.

Kansas ranks 41st in the nation in average teacher salaries.  In 2011, over 7,000 students were enrolled in colleges to become a teacher, and today that number is less than 5,500.  Many school districts across the state have not been able to fill teaching positions.  Ten years ago it was not unheard of to have 50 applicants for an elementary teaching position.  Today you are lucky, if you have five applicants.  Young educators are leaving the profession, and fewer candidates are pursuing a degree in education.  If this does not stop, this will have a more devastating effect on the economy than not having revenue.

What has this meant to North Ottawa County Schools and what will happen if this trend continues?  Over the past four years USD 239 has seen an increase of only $17,000 in our General Fund Budget.  On the flip side expenditures have increased well over $300,000.  In order to offset the amount, we have had to find ways to cut without hurting our students.  In doing so we have the same amount of work required with less employees.  The cutting is getting tighter each year and with the large deficit to our state budget, it appears that schools will not see any additional funding for next school year as well.

We have three options:  1. raise the mill levy, which is not a popular choice, 2. find more cuts, or 3. dig into our reserves and wait for the storm to pass.  I also want to point out that our mill levy over the same four years has not increased but has actually decreased from 54.102 to where we are today at 53.353.

I hope you will take the time to share your concern about state funding with Senator Elaine Bowers of Concordia and Representative Susan Concannon of Beloit.


Despite the grim outlook of the past several years of lack of funding, North Ottawa County has put students first and will continue to put students first.  We are fortunate to have a community that believes and trusts in education.

Monday, November 14, 2016

"The principle goal of education is to create men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done." Jean Piaget

We all know someone who has gone to college with great aspirations to graduate within four years but then return home after their first semester or year uncertain the direction they want to go. Or we know someone who graduated and find themselves working in an area where their degree is not.  Good, bad or indifferent, this happens more than it should and I don’t have to look very far to find an example as my oldest daughter who went to college and graduated with a criminal justice degree and now works for an insurance company and loves her job.

Some might argue that the college experience prepares you for life or that one must find out on their own what is best for them. If that is the true, is it worth the thousands upon thousands of dollars in debt they become just to experience life or is it possible to prevent this?

I don’t know if we will ever be able to prevent this happening to all students but I do believe we must make every effort in our school system to provide students with a direction of a career path that best suits them. More often than not students attend a four-year institution because that is what mom and dad want or that is what their friends are doing, but in reality that is not what is best for them.  How do we help students decide what is best for them?

Starting the 2016 school year Minneapolis Jr/Sr High have assigned each 7th-12th grade student a career advocate.  These career advocates are four teachers who split time between their other assigned duties to work with students and their families in guiding them through these tough decisions.  We use a program called Career Cruising, which is a computerized program that gives students tools for skill and career assessments, four-year planning tools, post-secondary school and job market information, an employment guide and more.  This program also comes with a parent portal that helps parents and families explore the program and see the work their student has completed. The portal also helps parents see their student’s goals, interests, and course plans so they can provide feedback and ask questions to teachers if needed. 

Prior to completing high school, students will now have a better understanding of what career path they want to pursue.  This career path may lead them to a technical college, 2-year college, a four-year college, the military, and the workforce. 


Will we have students who change their mind about their career path? I believe we will, but our job is to not make the decision for them but to give them the tools to make informed decisions with their parents.  



Monday, November 7, 2016

"The difference between where we are and where we want to be is created by the changes we are willing to make in our lives." – John C. Maxwell

Posts are intended to inform the North Ottawa County Schools Patrons about Kansas Education, education trends, and what is happening in our own local schools.

Last week I shared about what the new vision is for Kansas education set forth by our Kansas State Board of Education.  This week I want to discuss with you the new accreditation system which will be used to hold schools accountable for following the new vision and outcomes.  The Kansas Education System Accreditation, known as KESA, was approved in June 2016 from our Kansas State Board of Education (KSBE).

KESA is a five-year cycle that will begin July 1, 2017.  Currently we are what the KSBE calls zero year.  Zero year is the year we inform all of our stake holders about the accreditation process.  Our stake holders include Local Board of Education, District and Building Level Site Councils, District and Building Level Leadership Teams, Teachers and Community Members.

  • Zero Year—Inform Stakeholders
  • Year One—Needs Assessment and Goals
  • Year Two—Goals and Action Plan Development
  • Year Three—Implementations and Adjustments
  • Year Four—Continued Implementation
  • Year Five—Data Analysis and Growth Documentation

While our schools are working hard at improving, the reality is that the rest of the world outside of education is changing faster, leaving a growing gap.  So in order for education to keep up with all the changes, schools will need to change how they prepare students for the future.  Assessing students can no longer be about what they know but what they will do with what they know.

As educators we recognize the challenges that are facing us today.  In order to address these challenges, we must understand that effective instruction is key to school improvement.  Everyone from school leaders, teachers and learners must improve daily.  School leaders must challenge teachers and give them tools that will allow them to improve their teaching strategies.  Our system as a whole must be future-focused using effective research based strategies that will allow our students to be productive and successful in the 21st century.

So as we set our goals as a district to meet the requirements of the state’s accreditation system our focus will be on how we can prepare all students for a career after high school.  In doing so we need to provide our students with relevance but at the same time rigor in our curriculum.  Students like to be challenged and have high expectations but at the same time it is important to show them the “why” as well.  Believe it or not this begins before kindergarten and it is a school wide effort involving our parents and community.

“Learning should be an active process.  Too often, students come to school to watch their teachers work.  When students use what they learn, they remember the information better and understand the utility of what is being taught.” Bill Daggett, Ed.D, Founder and Chairman of International Center for Leadership in Education.

We are fortunate to have teachers and staff in our district that come to work every day for more than just a paycheck, our teachers and staff genuinely care about the future of your students.  

Change isn’t coming, it is already at our doorstep.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Kansas leads the world in the success of each student.

Posts are intended to inform the North Ottawa County Schools Patrons about Kansas Education, education trends, and what is happening in our own local schools.

The new vision, which was adopted in October of 2015, "Kansas leads the world in the success of each student," calls for a more student-focused system that provides support and resources for individual success.  The Kansas State School Board has adopted the following five outcomes that school districts will be required to measure and show growth over a five year period with the new accreditation model known as KESA.
  • Kindergarten Readiness
  • Individual Plans of Study based on career interests
  • Graduation Rates
  • Post-secondary attendance and attainment
  • Social/Emotional Growth measured locally
This process does not begin when students enter high school, nor does it begin with kindergarten, but it starts with building the relationships prior to kindergarten with families and maintaining a partnership throughout the student's education.  A KSDE study showed that children who entered kindergarten with strong school readiness skills were more likely to maintain this success at least into third grade.

Individual Plans of Study based on career interests will begin in the junior/senior high working with our students giving them opportunities to explore their interests.  Elementary students will also be given career exploration opportunities as well but not as a plan of study.  Each year students head off to college frustrated, eventually wasting dollars, because they do not know what they want to do.  It is our hope that by having the conversations with the students and their parents early in their education about career choices will potentially save the family's money and lead them to a successful career.

Those without a high school diploma qualify for only 17% of all jobs, primary in sales and office support, food and personal service and blue-collar jobs.  (Georgetown Center on Education)  Many of these jobs may not provide a living wage or health care benefits.  By 2020, 71% of jobs in Kansas will require some type of post-secondary education and/or training. (GCE)

It is extremely important that the students, families, and schools recognize that not all students need a four-year degree. Many of our students will elect for a 2-year college, a technical college or join the military, which are all very valuable in the workforce today.

Academics are not the only thing that assures a student will be successful after high school.  We believe that our students will need to learn teamwork, perseverance, have critical thinking skills, learn to set goals, have empathy for others and be able to maintain and build relationships with others.

The Kansas State Board of Education defines a successful Kansas high school graduate as someone who has the academic preparation, cognitive preparation, technical skills, employability skills and civic engagement to be successful in postsecondary education, in the attainment of an industry recognized certification or in the workforce, without the need for remediation.

This is just a snapshot of what is taking place in our Kansas schools today,  in my future posts I will share with you the why, the what and the how North Ottawa County Schools will be addressing these five outcomes.