(Vol. 1, No. 2 - Spring 1997)
The SECOND issue of Changing Schools in Long Beach
-- a tabloid newspaper published by the Focused Reporting Project --
is now available on paper and here on MiddleWeb.
If you'd like a paper copy, here's how you can get
one.
Here are the stories published in
the paper version of Volume 1, Number 2:
Scenes of
progress and struggle along the road to school reform -- Snapshots of
events, large and small , on the long trip toward middle grades reform.
Teacher Content Knowledge
Getting to Know -- Students
will not meet higher academic standards without teachers who have a deep
understanding of their subjects -- and many do not. But in Long Beach, good
professional development programs and a "seamless" community partnership
are beginning to make a difference.
Standards-Based Reform
Building Standards-Based
Schools -- Many teachers in LBUSD's middle schools are looking more
deeply into their own classroom practice and coming out of their classrooms
to work together on standards-based teaching.
What issues do schools face
as they grapple with standards? -- When teachers begin to open up to
each other and talk about using academic standards as the foundation for
teaching and learning, what issues confront them? According to principals
and teachers, these are some of the basic concerns they have to work through.
Practicing the Impossible
-- As teachers rush like Alice's rabbit from one demand to another, many
see the Long Beach school district's new emphasis on a standards-based curriculum
at the edge of their vision and think: "It will just have to wait its
turn" or "Prove to me it's more important than all the other pulls
on my time." Anne Lewis tries.
Authentic/Classroom Assessment
New ways of testing and grading
can "help students learn and teachers teach" -- As the Long
Beach Unified School District expands its testing and assessment program
to support standards-based reform, teachers are expected to learn new ways
to test and grade in their own classrooms.
Why test scores can't be
the only score -- Critics claim that the current way we judge school
performance and hold educators accountable to basic skills test score results
just doesn't work well enough. Here's why.
Just what IS a rubric?
-- If you're the parent of an elementary or middle school child, you may
have heard the word "rubric" and wondered what it means.
A "Problem of the Week"
rubric -- Karen Maine, a 7th grade mathematics teacher at Cubberly School,
provides a rubric to guide her students in completing a math "problem
of the week." It's a word problem that requires students to pick out
important information and use a variety of math skills to find the solution.
Cultural Diversity
Kids at Marshall Middle School
believe "It's up to us to end the racism." -- A group of youngsters
who call themselves the "Diversity Ambassadors" have accepted
personal responsibility for easing racial tensions at a California middle
school where diversity is the norm. An interview with four 8th graders.
A sensitive teacher and a
misplaced essay help bridge one school's racial divide -- Francine Curtis,
a history teacher at John Marshall Middle School in Long Beach (CA), describes
the development of the school's "Diversity Ambassadors" program
and the progress students have made in building racial harmony in the school.
Connecting Parents to Middle
School Reform -- Schools need parent and community support to make standards-based
reform work. To build that support, they'll have to overcome traditional
barriers of communication between home and school.
Parents and the Community
Finding a Common Language
-- School-home communication is doubly difficult when parents speak more
than 40 different languages. "There are parents who feel if you don't
know the word for 'standards' in Spanish, don't talk to me."
LBUSD "is hearing what
business is saying" -- Wilma Powell is Chief Wharfinger of the
Port of Long Beach and chair of the advisory board for the Youth Development
and Resource Center at Stanford Middle School. She talked with Changing
Schools about the business role in school reform.
Find out about LBUSD's "recipe"
for middle grades reform -- A new report from the Long Beach school
system documents the district's campaign to raise middle school school achievement
through standards-based reform.
Here are some additional materials that will be available only on
MiddleWeb:
7th Grade Students at Cubberly
Middle School Talk about Rubrics -- Cubberly teachers Karen Maine and
Lorrie LaCroix asked their 7th graders to discuss the pro's and con's of
using rubrics -- from a kids-eye point of view.
Francine Curtis Describes
the Diversity Ambassador Program -- Here's the complete interview with
Francine Curtis, a history teacher at John Marshall Middle School in Long
Beach (CA), who has helped her students develop a program to reduce racial
tensions in their school.
An Evaluation of Standards-Based
Reform in Long Beach -- Consultant Barbara Berns offers an evalution
of the school district's middle school reform efforts thusfar.
A long-term assessment plan
for the Long Beach schools -- Memorandum by Lynn Winters, assistant
superintendent for research and evaluation, describing LBUSD's assessment
strategies.
Stories from the first issue of Changing
Schools in Long Beachare also available on MiddleWeb.
ORDER THE NEWSPRINT EDITION
To receive a copy of the newsprint version of Changing Schools,
send a self-addressed envelope with $1.28 postage to Kevin Kirkwood, The
Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 250 Park Avenue, Suite 900, New York, NY
10177. Ask for "Changing Schools in Long Beach, No. 2, Spring
1997."
Back to the Index for Changing Schools in Long
Beach #2
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