When It’s All Over

During the summer of 2016 I was struck by a very short event that I have witnessed a number of times during my lifetime, but for some reason I paid more attention to it and reflected quite a bit on what I saw and heard.  The event was the last game that three young ladies played in their high school career, specifically the last high school softball game played by Kim Rounds, Madison Monroe, and Megan Gavin.  Kim had a number of “last games” over the course of her senior season as she played volleyball, basketball, and ran track.  At the end of each season she dealt with the “last one.”  Tears and sadness marked each event for her, as well as her senior teammates in each sport.  The players get hugs from teammate, and perhaps a hug or handshake from their coach.  They go home at night and have the support of their parents.  They also deal with that emotions of a loss, because in most sports in Iowa, unless you are a state champion, your last game happens because your team gets beat.  But then a funny thing happens after those games during the school year: they go back to school, hang out with their friends, and for some, start practice for a new season.  You see, for some that really wasn’t the end.  

 

Softball is a little different.  It takes place in the summer and once it is over, it is over.  One of the unique things about Iowa is that for those kids that play softball and baseball, they get about a two month extension on high school.  At practice, on bus rides, and at games they still interact with classmates and other students, and in a way prolonging that phase of their life.  And then for every senior player except those on four baseball teams and five softball teams, they get beat and their season is over.  For the girls that play softball at NFV, many times those painful losses have taken place on the road, but they had a very cool tradition for those who minutes earlier just finished their career — the hug line.  I have no idea when it started, but when Coach Lape started coaching softball again, after he said a few words to the girls after the loss — made a special point to thank the seniors — the girls on the team formed a line along side the bus and the senior(s) hugged their way down the line.  Yep, tears and laughs and a few words were spoken, as they moved from one teammate to the next.  It seemed to lessen the sting of the loss a bit, and maybe it also cushioned the reality that the senior would not take the field again for NFVHS.  

The other thing about softball and baseball is that for those ending their career on the diamond, there was not school to go to the next Monday.  There was not practice for the next sport as the seasons changed.  Perhaps there was a team supper or something to hand out letters and awards, but those moments truly defined that an athlete’s high school career was over.  One night they are scratching the dirt in the batter’s box with their cleats or sliding head first into second base and the next next day they go on with the rest of their life.  I have to believe that’s tougher than ending things on the wrestling mat or the basketball court.  

In the case of our three ladies on the 2016 TigerHawk softball team, Madison would play more softball  in college as she went off to Ellsworth as a member of their team.  And Megan would continue playing softball at Upper Iowa.  So the game goes on for those two, but they are the exception rather than the rule.  Most high school athletes never compete again once they walk off the playing field for the last time.  I remember a particularly close-knit bunch group of high school football players about a dozen years ago who camped out on their home football field on a Thursday night before the last game they would ever play on that field again.  Most of them played another sport later in their senior year, but they had formed such close bonds as players on that team that they wanted to savor that last time.  

I am biased as baseball and softball are very important to me and my family.  In my case I played my last high school baseball game and watched movers pack a truck the next day as my mom, brother, and I filled up our pickup with suitcases to join my dad in our move from my hometown of Oakland to Lincoln, Nebraska.  Maybe that is why I am a little more sentimental because it was really over for me!  There are people that I was close to that I never saw again after that last game!  I hope that as long as Coach Lape coaches the softball team that he keeps that “hug line” in place for the girls who really do give up a lot by dedicating their summer to playing the game because it’s over before you know it and it’s kind of nice to have that shoulder to cry on.

Chronic Absenteeism: Do We Have a Problem?

At the start of the 2016-17 school year a national report from the Department of Education was released on student attendance, and shortly after, responses were published from a number of different entities, including one from Governor Terry Branstad regarding the issue in Iowa schools.  We have had a few students over the past few years that miss a lot of school, and quite a few students that miss more school that we think they should.  However, not until this report came out did we have a measuring stick or a standard to compare to that indicated what was too many absences.  In this first ever report issued by the Department of Education, the number that indicated “chronic” was missing 10% or 15 days in a school year.  That is missing school for any reason.  Using that, in late July we took a closer look at the attendance of our students in the 2015-16 school year and found a higher percentage of our students that I would have expected.

On a national level, during the 2013-14 school year, over 6.5 million students fell into the category of chronic, which is about 13% of students who were missing at least three weeks of school.  We have had the occasional student who missed significantly more than that, despite all of our efforts to get them to come to school.  Those students are the ones that were in the front of our minds, so when we applied the 15 day standard to all students, we found that we had 66 students in the high school that missed three weeks or more of school over the course of the year.  That is far too many days to miss school!  A couple of months later, the Iowa Department of Education released a report on all districts in Iowa that showed our district had 7.1% of our students in grades kindergarten through 12th chronically absent.  That skews higher as kids get older and at our high school it was a little over 19%!

Nationally, almost 20% of high school students are chronically absent and minority groups have higher percentages than average.  Because of our low minority population, the impact is negligible on our data.  While we are below the national average, we are still too high, in large part because few of our absences are due to long-term illness or injury.  Yes, each year we have a student or two that have a significant injury, surgery, or debilitating illness that causes them to miss school, but more often than not, the reasons given by many parents for their child are not at that level.  

Why is this important?  It is not surprising that these students perform much lower on tests and do worse in college.  When looking at our list of students a number of them are off to college or plan to be, and many of them are unequipped because they missed out on important learning or they have yet to develop the self-discipline to get to school each day, or both.  Some of the research that accompanied the report suggests that even missing 15 days a year results in a student being significantly behind his/her peers in terms of what they have learned.  When looking at the way we structure our classes at the high school missing seven to ten days in a semester can result in a permanent loss of learning because that instruction is not going to take place elsewhere.  

When the people putting the report together looked at why students were missing school, there are some very serious reasons that for the most part we do not have to worry about at NFVHS.  Many report that they are afraid for their safety, either due to having to travel through dangerous neighborhoods or the threat of physical harm in school from other students.  Concerns about being bullied or harassed also fall into this category.  While at first blush one would associate these reasons being more prevalent in inner cities, bullying and harassment can happen anywhere.  We are fortunate that our community is safe and that our children can walk to school without fear, and we are also fortunate that the bullying and harassment that does take place has been dealt with or has not risen to the level that students are afraid to come to school. 

When looking at the other two categories of excuses for not going to school, illness is one of those major reasons, paired with students having to work, or because of involvement in the juvenile court system.  The third category is parents and students not placing a value on being in school.  Of those students who are chronically absent at our school, the reasons given for their absence would fall into these categories.  We do have the occasional student who has a legitimate illness that causes them to miss a large number of days.  Those cannot be prevented and we recognize that.  On the flip side, we have those that are called in sick or run to the doctor when they are not felling good for a day here and a day there that end up accumulating a large number of absences.  These students are the more worrisome because they also fall into the third category of not placing a high value on school, and they make little effort to “catch up” on what they missed.  Unfortunately, when assessing our kids that have missed 15 or more days of school, the highest percentage of them do fall into the third category of not valuing school.  What is particularly frustrating is that this is generational and we can talk until we are blue in the face and not present a strong enough case to get them to school on a more regular basis.  An obvious tool we have at our disposal is Iowa Code and mandatory attendance provisions, and the county attorney whose job it is to enforce truancy laws.  However, in all three of my stops as a high school administrator, getting the county attorney to help has been a great chore, and more often than not, has not helped.

There is a saying that came about when the Iowa Lottery started a number of years ago: You can’t win if you don’t play!  The same can be said in regard to a child’s education: You can’t learn if you don't attend!  I will be the first to say — and I have many times — don’t let school get in the way of your education.  There are fantastic learning experiences beyond the walls of our school.  However, that is not the reason kids are missing school.  When one actually carves out the actual time that students are in class over the course of the 180 days of the school year, every minute is important.  Missing a day or two over the course of the semester is one thing, but when one considers 19% of our kids missed more than 10 days, school must be a higher priority in their life!

When The Tide Comes In All Boats Should Rise!

Nothing explains what we attempt to do with students with special needs better than the title of this article — When the tide comes in all boats should rise.  In fact, I believe it should be the philosophy that guides us with each and every student we work with, and should be the guiding principle as we attempt to meet individual learning needs for all students.

Let’s look a little closer at the quote.  While I have not done it many times in my life I have had opportunity to sit on a beach or a dock, or near the shore, and watch the tide come in.  Quite honestly, I have found that to be somewhat magical and relaxing, which is a reason that I would love to have a place where I could do that each and every day!  We all can imagine seeing boats rise a little bit, and it certainly makes sense that all of them would.  So how does this relate to education?

First of all, there is a shift going on to personalize education as much as possible for each student and their learning needs.  This is a tough prospect, but one that is emerging with practices in schools and classrooms.  It is a further shift away from the one-size-fits-all, assembly line education that many of us experienced in our high school days.  Back then, the teachers taught what they taught, assessed everyone the same, and basically as a student you learned what you learned.  Some of the more serious and bright students might learn quite a bit, and those that were not interested or struggled did not get much out of a particular lesson or course.  Common belief was that was just fine as not everyone was supposed to be college bound.  Public education was a sorting process designed to move the best and brightest forward into the most important careers.  Then a funny thing happened . . . some parents said that’s not right!  In essence they said that just because their child may not be the best or brightest, or may have some learning disability that prevents them from learning the same as others or as fast at others, does not mean they shouldn’t get the same opportunity as others.

The Individual with Disabilities Education Act, first referred to as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, became law in 1975 and was reauthorized in 1990 by the United States Congress under the current name.  The fundamental goal is to provide children with disabilities the same opportunity for education as those students who do not have a disability.  In public schools our obligation is to “level the playing field” by accommodating and modifying for these students, so at that point they can rise with every other student.  The extent of the disability determines the services that need to be provided.  Many examples of students who have excelled because of this support exist, including a number of graduates from our school.

Another “tide” that came in a little over ten years ago was what is commonly referred to as NCLB, or No Child Left Behind legislation.  This act targeted all students with the goal of “1oo% of students in our country becoming proficient in reading and math, a utopian goal that while not met, certainly forced a number of states, school districts, schools, and teachers to change how students were taught.  In retrospect some very important changes took place in a number of schools, including attention given to changes to address the individual learning needs of each student.  This is a tremendous challenge, and a huge responsibility.  But when one breaks it down a bit, we have to realize that we cannot afford to have students slip through the cracks, nor can education in this country continue to be modeled after the factory model of producing thousands of identical products each year.  The demands of the changing economy will not allow that.  Thus, we look at each student and work to figure out how he or she can rise to meet their potential.  Some of the ways this can be done is through broad strokes, but we also have to look at each student as an individual too.

So, how are we doing that?  Our advisory program continues to evolve, which is a key to “shrinking our school” so that relationships are built and people know the individual student.  We have integrated a very successful job shadow program during the junior year that helps individual student’s better understand their academic needs.  Our career management requirements are changing so that we give more of our kids a chance to learn more about themselves and what their educational program should look like.  We continue to evaluate our course offering and curriculum, adding and changing classes to better meet the current and individual needs of our students.  A recent example is the addition of PLTW courses and a variety of language arts courses.  Job shadowing during the junior year gives students a chance to explore an area of personal interest, and programs like I Have A Plan Iowa allows us to get a better perspective of each student and their future path.  The changes we are making in grading are really focused on making sure that students know specific content and can demonstrate specific skills to that we have proof of what they know and can do.  

When the tide comes in we want all of our students to rise.  We have worked hard to put things in place for that to happen.  Hopefully the crew is ready for this journey!

What Stands In The Way of Productivity?

A strong opinion exists among the staff at the high school that smart phones have become a much bigger negative than they are a positive.  Tim Elmore, author, speaker, and youth leadership expert, agrees.  In fact, he considers the smart phone to be the “killer of productivity,” not just among students, but among adults as well.  While I am not an expert, I believe that we have some students that are absolutely addicted to their phones. More specific, they are addicted to “having to know what is going on,” which is provided to them through the texts, snaps, and posts on their smart phone.  A common question that I receive is “Why don’t you ban the phones from the building?”  That is a lot easier said than done, but certainly not something I can arbitrarily dismiss out of hand.  We will have more conversation about this as we look toward future policy.  None the less, here is Elmore’s article on the topic.

The Number One Killer of Productivity

https://growingleaders.com/blog/eliminating-number-one-killer-productivity/?mc_cid=04e23a1c4b&mc_eid=2e5183e691

Is Your Child Stressed? Here’s A Way To Help!

One of the common complaints that we hear from a number of parents is how busy and stressed their high school child is.  This generally comes from parents of students that fall into one of two categories: 1) those that take a full or challenging load of courses and are involved in a number of school activities, and 2) those that are high achievers but have some confidence issues.  There are certainly other reasons teenagers experience negative stress, including relationship issues, problems at home, and myriad of other things that exist in the average life of an adolescent.  In the ten or so years when we have had conversations with parents, and the child, quite often we discover that they have a counselor that they see regularly, and some are on medication for anxiety and other stress related disorders.  Those are the extreme cases, and much more often I have conversations with parents who simply say their child does not have enough time in the day to do all that is expected of them.  There are some that “want it all” and struggle to figure out what they are willing to give up.  There are others that have balance and simply are very busy teens.  

Tim Elmore, recognized author, speaker, and expert in the development of young leaders, has a perspective that you may find helpful in terms of how to help your child deal with stress.  From a personal standpoint, it has worked in our household and I certainly think it is worth consideration.  

An Antidote for Students’ Stress

https://growingleaders.com/blog/antidote-students-stress/

Some News About Dropouts in the United States

We have been fortunate at North Fayette Valley in that there have not been too many dropouts in recent years, though from my perspective, one dropout is too many.  Our graduation percentage is above the state average and generally speaking, we have been below state averages with dropouts as well.  The issue of dropouts is significant on the national perspective, and in some places, dropout rates have been incredibly high, even approaching 45 to 50%.  When “No Child Left Behind” legislation was passed about fifteen years ago, one of the goals was to sharply reduce the number of students that dropped out of high school, and at the same time, see that all students had a quality education before they graduated from high school.  People can argue all they want about NCLB, but one of the successes has been the issue of reducing dropouts.

There has been a lot of criticism directed toward American education due to the dropout problem, and it served as one of the reasons some opponents piled on about poor performing schools.  In many respects I am of the same notion.  When nearly half of a class drops out before graduation, that is a problem!  Unlike some I do not put this all at the feet of the schools.  There is a direct connection to poverty that cannot be ignored that is as much, if not more so, to blame.  That said, while some public school critics continue to point out the issue of dropouts, there is some very interesting news.

Dropouts have decline across all demographic groups.  Since they started charting dropout data, Hispanic and African-American students have had the highest dropout rates.  When they started specifically recording Hispanic numbers in 1972, over 33% of all Hispanic students dropped out.  While Hispanics still have the highest rate of all ethnic groups, that percentage has dropped to 13.6% today.  African-American kids were dropping out at a rate of 29% in 1967, but today their percentage is down to 7%, which is at the national average.  White students have seen a drop in the same period of time from 15% to 5%.  At NFVHS we do not have a minority population that is large enough to establish trends, though we do pay very close attention to those students as we know some face particular cultural challenges that make them more inclined to leave school before they earn a diploma.

Low-income students are much more likely to drop out than their middle-class peers.  This hasn’t changed as poverty has been a factor for years.  At one time when there was a higher percentage of working poor, students dropped out to help generate income for the family.  At one time, kids living in poverty dropped out at a rate of about five times their high-income peers.  Today that has risen to ten-times high-income kids, and 2.4 times more likely than middle-income kids.  Many teachers will tell you today that the reason is a lack of value placed on education by the family.  The future is not totally grim as the dropout rate for low-income kids in 1975 was 16% and now that number sits below 10%.  However, this is a very troubling statistic as generational poverty has become a standard and expectation for many who depend on entitlement programs.  In our school this is the most at-risk demographic, and we are seeing more students enroll from homes where poverty is a genuine issue.  Poverty is an American problem holding back the education of millions of students.

Students with disabilities are still being left behind by schools.  At a national level, students with learning or physical disabilities drop out at a rate of about 36%.  However, that is not the case in our district.  In fact, we are very proud of the success of our students in our special education programs.  Yes, we have had students who have an IEP drop out, but over the past eight years they make up less than 10% of our special education population, and over half of those that did drop out transferred into our high school, some of them with extreme behavior needs, and did not have the benefit of learning in our system for more than a year.  To the contrary, we are very proud at NFVHS of our programs for students with disabilities.

Men and women drop out at around equal rates.  Most people probably imagine that the typical dropout is male, but in the past forty years, there have only been four years on the national level where male dropouts were significantly greater than females.  Over the past eight years at our high school 58% of the dropouts were boys.  In the past three years, 64% have been girls.

Washington D.C. has the lowest high school graduation rate and Iowa has the highest.  This statistic remains constant, at least with Iowa at the top.  Iowa’s graduation rate has been around 88% for the past few years and just reached 90.8% in 2015.  Our’s has consistently been comfortably above 90% for many years.  We are not perfect, but we have a good track record of students completing their education and earning a diploma.  

The positive thing is that in our country fewer students are dropping out.  That was a fundamental goal of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind policy passed in the early 2000’s.  The consequences of leaving school without a diploma are huge.  Lifetime earnings drop dramatically and the risk of all kinds of negative social implications increase.  Education is still the best path to upward mobility.  We work hard to prevent students from dropping out, but ultimately the individual has the final decision.  All that said, the proudest day we have each year at NFVHS is when we honor those students who complete their education, earn a diploma, and celebrate by walking across the stage in their cap and gown!

What Majors Pay-off With The Big Bucks?

Our guidance counselor, Bill Clark, shared this article with me a while back.  We run across quite a few of these types of things, more so now with the renewed emphasis on career exploration and development being placed at the secondary school level in Iowa.  This one is a very easy to read, straight-forward view of majors and what an estimate would be for entry level salaries and pay.  Take a few minutes and look it over, spend some time with your child looking at it, and keep it handy for future conversations when the topic of “What are you going to do with your life?” come up!  

50 Highest Paying College Majors

https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/50-highest-paying-college-majors/