...there were a non-judgmental forum for making suggestions at school?

Over the past few weeks I have openly discussed some of the various issues at University City High School. I do not presume to be the only one to notice these issues - nor do I believe I am the only one to bring them up. However, since there is such a lack of consistent communication at our school, I felt the need to bring to light some of the problems I see as diminishing the potential of this great school.

37 years ago, UCHS was built by people with beliefs and ideas about how to change the education available to students in West Philadelphia. At present, I believe we are failing at that mission, partially because we do not collaborate enough on the hard solutions that would really get to the cure instead of providing proverbial Band-Aids to fix the symptoms. I have come to realize that my posts only continue in that vain and are not making the kind of difference I had wanted them to so I am ending them.

I challenge all of you: If you read even one of these emails take some time to think about how you could be fixing the real problems at UCHS instead of just brushing them under the rug to never deal with them in the future. Work with your fellow staff and collaborate on projects that might end up benefitting the school more than you have ever dreamed.

In order to foster this idea I have created a new Google account that all of you can access using my newest email address. I have done this so that suggestions will remain anonymous unless the suggester wants to add his or her name. In the Documents section for this account there is a document named "How to make UCHS better." I recommend you follow the instructions below to navigate to this document, add to it, and keep tabs on it so that these suggestions can be implemented. And if they are not, talk to someone who should be fixing them.

Instructions:
1) Go to http://docs.google.com
2) Login with the following info:
Email: wb1682
Password: uchs1682
3) Click on the document in the window labeled "How to Make UCHS Better"
4) View/edit/add to the document at will
5) When done, click the "Save & Close" button in the top-right corner so others can do the same

...announcements didn't waste so much time?

For a school with the types of problems our does, we want to maximize the amount of instructional time we have with our students. It's hard enough as it is for students who lose 6th and 7th period every half day and often for other assemblies to catch up to their peers with earlier classes. When the myriad of announcements are added to the list of interruptions, it becomes almost incomprehensible for teachers to effectively teach the students. Announcements are important - but they should be consistent in when they happen and as concise as possible. During advisory is the best time for lengthy announcements as it has been built into the schedule. The last five minutes of 7th period is okay for short ones and last-minute ones. Anything in between should be short and sweet.

...each class were allocated an equal amount of time during the school year?

Half days have their issues and we all understand that. Students are sometimes less likely to focus on instruction because they know they get to leave early. Teachers sometimes view them with dismay because periods are often shortened and very little effective instruction is possible (especially if students arrive 10-15 minutes late and stop working 5-10 minutes before the end of the period). It is for those reasons that we must balance the classes affected by a half day at school. While periods 1, 3, 4, and 5 are currently allocated 181 days of instructional time, periods 2, 6, and 7 are either shortened or cut during half-days, reducing class time by a full 7 days! How are teachers expected to keep up with the Planning and Scheduling Timeline for these classes if they are not provided with the same number of class days? A more balanced system would alternate half-days, alternating periods 1-3 (with a full period 2 block) and periods 4-7. This would at least guarantee that all classrooms were somewhat created equal.

Minimum number of hours of instruction per school year: http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/022/chapter11/s11.3.html

If you do the math on this one, 990 hours of instructional time divided by 180 days (including half-days) = 5.5 hours per day. So if a half-day provides roughly 2.66 hours of instructional time (they even get lunch time on half-days!), that means we are shortchanging our students by 2.833 * 7 = 19.833 hours over the course of the year. Nice job, school!

... testing were organized in a sane way and communicated to the staff beforehand?

PSSA. NAEP. PSSA Make-up. Weekly assessment. Constructed responses! All of these take time to implement in the classroom - time that could be spent actually teaching our students. The past two weeks saw all of them at once - a mandated weekly bubble assessment; constructed responses in all core classes, the PSSA taking 1st and 2nd period away from ALL 11th grade students, and then a retake to give them another opportunity to take it (during which many of them cut). And, to top it all off, the NAEP test took some of our best students away from classes they need without very much warning (an announcement telling students to go to various different rooms without explaining it beforehand is not enough). These tests are taking valuable time away from instruction - valuable time away from learning. If we want to call ourselves educators, we should spend more time educating and less time being so testy!

By the way, if you ever have comments/questions/suggestions please do not hesitate to send them to me at this email address or to whistle.blower1682@gmail.com. Or, if you missed the email this week because of a block on District addresses, please send me a non-SDP email address you would like me to send to.

...professional development were developed professionally?

Teachers are told early and often to differentiate their instruction to ensure all students are motivated and engaged. It does make sense - students enter classrooms with different background knowledge and need to be taught with that in mind.

But what about instructing the teachers? They definitely come with different background knowledge and, after all, we should most likely practice what we preach. Professional development should be useful and tailored to the needs of teachers so that they can be effective at what they do. Instead of having a large group all focused on the same mundane topic that has been beaten to death, give the teachers the opportunity to lead discussions with each other; allow them time to meet as a department; provide them with materials with which to plan lesson together. Give them something useful to do with their time so they feel like they are being considered too, just like their students should be.

Check out the report on professional development from the National Staff Development Council here: www.nsdc.org/stateproflearning.cfm.

... staff and teachers knew about school plans at least one day ahead?

Correct me if I am wrong, but planning ahead is generally seen as a good thing. In fact, the administration uses this argument to require teachers to have their lesson plans written down in the official PA Lesson Planning booklet two weeks in advance. Why, then, do teachers and staff find out about assemblies, Credit Recovery meetings, fire drills, etc the morning (or in some cases 5 minutes before) they occur? There seems to be a gap in communication here - one that needs to be filled ASAP in order for all staff to do their jobs correctly. I'm pretty sure when an organization is contacted to come in and do professional development, they are given fair notice - make sure to give the teachers that too.

If you need some help to coordinate, there are some great resources out there. http://www.when2meet.com/ is just one of them.

... we had computers that were actually maintained and available for use.

In a school with at least four large rooms filled with computers it is a sad state of affairs when only a handful of them actually work for what we need them to. One of the labs that does have working computers is so old even USB keys are unable to transfer files. Moreover, since we have restricted all downloads to those with specific passwords, students cannot even email themselves important documents. Is this really creating an environment where technology is assisting in the educational process? We understand that computers can be used for nefarious purposes and are at risk of being stolen, but if we squander our resources (*cough* smartboards and laptop carts behind lock and key *cough*) we will have achieved the waste of thousands of dollars.

A solution to security worries: http://www.lojackforlaptops.com/