Genesee Preschool

The Genesee School District preschool is a tuition-based preschool operated as a service to the community. What began as a grant-funded program in 1992 transitioned to its current format in 1994 following the completion of the grant.

Idaho does not fund regular education preschool programs. Interestingly, it is against the State Board of Education rules to use state funds for a regular education preschool and it is also against the rules to transport regular preschool children on yellow school buses. In spite of these issues, the community has supported our preschool. Meeting three afternoons each week, the preschool follows an approved early childhood education curriculum to prepare students to successfully enter kindergarten both academically and socially. The preschool is taught by a certified and highly qualified teacher - Mrs. Gehring.

The District charges $125 per month for preschool tuition. Our attempt is to run this program at break-even. Currently we are not covering all the costs with tuition, but the benefits of having well-prepared students is an investment that benefits both the students and the District. It benefits the District by reducing future costs of remedial and/or special education. Numerous individuals have questioned why we cannot run this preschool entirely using grant funds. That is a excellent question. The answer is simply that grants are targeted at specific populations. The vast majority of preschool grants target low-income, minority students neither of which Genesee has in great numbers. Further, grants are generally intended to offer "seed" money to start programs with the entity eventually taking full fiscal responsibility.

Educational Assessments

Our students take a number of educational assessments during their public school education. There are a variety of purposes for each assessment. Some, like locally developed teacher-made tests, determine if the student has acquired the knowledge and skills being taught in the classroom. These serve to inform the teacher not only if the student has learned the material but also how well the teacher is getting the material across to all students.

Genesee School also utilizes curriculum-based measures in grades 1-6 to provide a quick method of measuring student progress in basic skills. These measures are utilized to make sure students are performing at grade-level or above and, if not, to insure that the student receives additional support as needed.

Idaho has a number of assessments required for students including the Idaho Standards Achievement Test. This assessment, a requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, measures student improvement in reading, language usage, math and science. Idaho also requires the Direct Writing and Math Assessments. These are performance-based assessments designed to track student writing and math problem-solving ability. One other state assessment currently in use in grades k-3 is the Idaho reading Indicator. This short assessment given three times per year is another attempt to measure student reading progress in the early grades and provide additional support for any student not reading at or near grade level.

With all of these assessments is there any time left to learn? The answer, of course, is a resounding yes. The state testing program requires from .12% to 1.46% of total instructional time for the year depending on grade level. The information gleaned from these assessments, when carefully analyzed, can provide useful information on student progress and development and, most importantly, can help the teacher tailor the educational program to student needs.

There is no question that these tests only sample a small proportion of what is learned in school. If we only focused on this thin slice of knowledge and skills, we would be missing other important vital components of every student's education. Some knowledge is easier to assess with pencil and paper tests or online testing. Many other methods of assessing student performance are used every day in every classroom; some formal and some informal.

Most assessment results are reported to parents regularly. If you have a specific question or concern about any test your student has taken or will take, please feel free to contact your child's teacher for additional information.

Math Education

Is it true that the United States lags behind other developed nations in the performance of our students in math? Yes. Even the top 15-year old U.S. students ranked 24th in math compared to the top internationally. On the International Student Achievement Exam (PISA), the U.S. ranked 28th while our neighbors to the north, Canada, ranked 6th.

What is going right for Canada? They use problem solving based math programs with an emphasis on professional development for their teachers. Conceptual understanding is also emphasized. What is going wrong for the U.S.? Often the focus is on procedural knowledge and computation without conceptual understanding. U.S. students are given fewer opportunities for problem solving and there is less emphasis on professional development. Math standards in Canada emphasize student's communicating their thinking, investigating rich problems and making generalizations. Traditionally in the U.S., the focus has been on using symbols, memorizing, procedures and quick thinking.

So what is the status of math education in Idaho and Genesee? Idaho has implemented the Idaho Math Initiative which parallels the very successful Idaho Reading Initiative. The IMI has a large professional development component with statewide classes for teachers to provide the background knowledge to successfully implement a rigorous math education for all students. The first wave of Genesee teachers will be taking these classes this summer.

In addition to professional development school districts, including Genesee, are in the process of reviewing research-based math curriculum which emphasizes the National Council of Teachers of Math (NCTM) national standards. The regional math consultant is meeting with our staff on March 12 to provide an overview of the IMI and background information regarding the process of curriculum material adoption. To provide a more thorough review, Genesee has chosen to take the next twelve months to review relevant research and select appropriate curriculum to present to the Trustees for adoption. The Board set up a math curriculum committee, which includes parents and staff, to make the final recommendations.

Since advanced math courses are the biggest predictor of college success, they can help the U.S. catch up on educational attainment as well. Taking advanced math courses in high school significantly improves student performance in college math and science courses. The Genesee School District graduation policy requires more math than the state minimum. Students graduating with the class of 2013 and beyond will also need to pass Algebra I and Geometry. Students may not enter ninth grade without having taken Pre-Algebra. In order to insure student success, our elementary and middle school curriculum will be reviewed for adequate rigor. Our goal is to increase the number of students successfully completing Algebra II, Trigonometry and Calculus.

School Attendance

It is the philosophy of the School District that students need to be in attendance to benefit from the instruction provided. Regular attendance enhances learning and develops skills which relate to future educational and occupational success. When employers contact administrators for references on former students, they universally ask about attendance patterns. But there is much more to attendance than meets the eye...

Idaho defines school age as "all persons between the ages of 5 and 21... The age of five years shall be attained when the fifth anniversary of birth occurs before the first day of September of the school year the child is to enroll in kindergarten." (Idaho Code 33-201). In addition to identifying when students can begin public school, Idaho has a compulsory attendance law which states that parents or guardians of any child between the ages of 7 and 16 shall cause the child to be instructed in subjects commonly and usually taught in the public schools.

This education can occur in public, private, or parochial schools or through home study. While there is virtually no state regulation of home schooled students, our District has several policies relating to the transition of these students into the public school and dual enrollment of non-traditional students. See GSD Policies 320.8 and 430.9.

When parents or guardians of school age children choose to enroll them into the public school, they fall under local policy which identifies a ninety percent attendance requirement (Policy 440.2). Students are allowed to miss ten percent of the time school is in session. This is nine days for secondary students each semester and eighteen days annually for elementary students. The only days NOT counted in calculating attendance include: school-sponsored activities and field trips, bereavement in the immediate family, subpoenas to appear in court, and illness or hospitalization verified by a physician. Exceeding the allowable absences may put a student in jeopardy of moving to the next grade level and, in the case of secondary students, earning credit toward graduation.

Interestingly, attendance also factors into the funding of the local school district. The funding formula for Idaho schools is based on average daily attendance not enrollment. We must provide facilities, instruction and materials for every student enrolled, yet we are only given funding for those who attend. Generally, we have a very high attendance rate in Genesee which hovers around 95%. Even a one percent increase would provide an additional $23,000 of state funding to the District.

Very few students would ever have 100% attendance. They get sick and they should stay home to get better and protect other students. They may have a medical or dental appointment that cannot be scheduled outside of school hours and other legitimate reasons. Encouraging your student to be successful in school through regular attendance will allow him or her to develop a positive attitude toward life-long learning.

Board Meetings and Community Participation

Regular monthly meetings of the Genesee School District Board of Trustees are always open to the public and each agenda has an opportunity for public input. Agendas are always posted at the post office, City office and on the door at the school by the district office. Further, an agenda is always posted on our web site. This is so interested persons know what business the trustees intend to discuss and possibly take action upon.

A parent, patron or student who would like to address the trustees may either contact the superintendent ahead of time and be placed on the agenda as a scheduled visitor or s/he may opt to address the Board under the unscheduled visitor portion of the meeting.

Both of these opportunities have been provided specifically to solicit input on agenda items or even non-agenda items. A Board meeting is technically a meeting held in public, not a public meeting. This means that the Board's business is conducted in the open but it is their meeting and it is not open to general participation by visitors. Anyone wanting to address the Board should be prepared to do so as a scheduled or unscheduled visitor. There may be times when the Chairman allows a visitor to speak at other times, but this is not generally the case. Once the visitor input portion of the agenda is over, the trustees will proceed to discuss and act upon unfinished and/or new business. They cannot act upon new items that have been brought forward by visitors.

The Trustees have developed policy regarding public participation (see Policy 140.15 - Participation by Patrons). This policy outlines the steps an individual should take to have his or her concerns addressed. The Board will never discuss personnel issues in open session. The Board can meet in closed session, under specific circumstances as outlined in Idaho Code 67-2345, but they cannot take any action except as provided by law. The meeting procedures are outlined in Genesee School District Policy 140.3 - Board Meetings.

The draft minutes of all Board meetings are posted on the District web site for two months or are available at the District office. Minutes do not become official until they approved at the next regularly scheduled board meeting.

This is your school district. Public participation is an important and vital ingredient to the success of the operation of the District. Your are always encouraged to contact your child's teacher or an administrator if you have day-to-day concerns. While you may call a trustee and they will listen to your concern, trustees have no legal authority except when they meet as a board.

Staffing a School

The most important controllable factor leading to increased student achievement is the quality of the teaching staff. This is not to say that the support staff members (instructional aides, cooks, custodians, secretaries, bus drivers, technology directors, etc.) are not vital to the proper functioning of the school or that the administration doesn't play a vital role in the overall success of the school operation, but research has proven time and again that teacher quality is paramount in improving achievement.

So how does the administration (Principal and Superintendent, in our case) staff the school with high quality teachers?

Certainly the recruitment and selection process for new teachers is one way. Unfortunately this has become more and more difficult during the past fifteen years. As more opportunities have opened up for women and minorities, as teacher pay has not kept pace with other professions and as the respect teachers once had has withered under intense political criticism, the pool of high quality candidates has shrunk. We are fortunate in Genesee to be within a 25 mile radius of three colleges or universities which enhances our pool of available teachers, but even this factor will not guarantee our ability to hire the top of the class. In the mid-1990's we averaged 150 applications for every elementary position advertised. Now we are lucky to receive twenty. For some hard to fill positions, we might get two or three applications. Hiring the best and brightest will continue to pose a challenge for the district as the "baby boomers" retire from the profession.

Retention of the teaching staff is another important factor in putting a quality teacher at the head of each classroom. Once we hire a quality teacher, we need to retain his or her services for as long as possible. Providing professional development opportunities here or at professional training and conferences out of the District is one way to not only retain quality staff members; it also directly benefits students. Teachers need adequate time to plan individually and with their colleagues in order to provide quality service to students and for professional satisfaction. Giving teachers the opportunity to impact the educational process can enhance job satisfaction.

The mechanics of determining the number of teachers needed to carry out the educational program is a function of many factors including curriculum, class size, training and qualifications, and finance. When do we split an elementary class? While it might be intuitive that a smaller class size would improve student achievement, the research does not bear this out. Certainly there are limits and guidelines; factors which the administration and Board take into account. In most cases, the teacher/student ratio in all classes in Genesee is smaller than it would be in districts like Moscow or Lewiston. Idaho pays for 1.1 certified professional staff member per support unit. A support unit is 19 students at the elementary level and 12 students at the secondary level (based on attendance, not enrollment). This provides for classroom teachers, ancillary staff, counselors, specialists, librarians, etc. Genesee has chosen to hire additional staff which has been supported through the supplemental levy election.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires districts to employ Highly Qualified Teachers in all core subject areas. This poses an interesting challenge because Idaho's licensing requirements and NCLB regulations differ. I am happy to report that all of our teachers meet or exceed both the state and federal regulations for the classes they are assigned to teach.

We have a significant number of Nationally Board Certified teachers and several more working on this designation this year. National Board Certification is a highly structured, time consuming process that benefits both the professional educator and the students he or she teaches. The District supports teachers who choose to work on this level of certification.

We will continue to staff our classrooms with the highest quality individuals we can. We will continue to supervise and evaluate our staff to help them become the best they can be for the benefit of the students we serve. If ever you have a specific concern or question regarding your child's education, please contact the teacher directly. If you continue to have concerns, contact the Principal.

Why Pay for Activities?

During times of falling revenues, people often suggest eliminating extra-curricular activities to save money. Certainly it is reasonable to put everything on the table for discussion. And when cuts are necessary to balance the budget, school officials need to review all programs to insure that core educational goals can be achieved. So what conceivable educational values are there in extra-curricular activities? Why do schools expend taxpayer dollars to pay for programs like sports, music, drama, and other activities?

Extra-curricular programs are an integral part of the educational program. That is not to say that a specific program is necessarily integral, but that the benefits to be derived from participation in extra-curricular activities helps the school achieve its mission.

In my last post I touched on the importance of developing 21st century learning skills in order to successfully compete in a global economy. Many of these important skills are fostered in extra-curricular programs, such as developing leadership skills, working collaboratively in small groups, making appropriate health-related decisions, solving problems, working effectively in a climate of ambiguity and changing priorities, showing initiative, working appropriately and productively with others, meeting high standards and encouraging and guiding others.

It is not that these skills cannot be taught and fostered in traditional academic courses. They are. Extra-curricular activities provide a highly motivating environment to help students refine these skills. And, in the case of many extra-curricular programs, like music and athletics, students are performing these skills in a "real world" environment that puts additional pressure on them to strive for excellence; a quality that we certainly hope to foster in all of our students.

Does it work? Is the expense worth it? Yes. Research has demonstrated time and again, that students who participate in extra-curricular activities maintain higher grades in their academic coursework than do their peers who do not participate. Many accomplished individuals will point to the skills they learned in sports, FFA, BPA, music, drama, etc. as an integral part of their success.

Does society often get caught up in the competition and forget about the values that should be learned? Often yes, but let's not compare college and professionals with public school students. The goal of education-based activities is not to develop professional athletes and musicians, although if a student chooses to pursue such a goal we would not stand in his or her way, but to develop well-rounded, contributing members of our democracy.