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Schools Hope FCAT Work Pays Off In Higher Grades

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

Jahquez Simmons, 6, second from left, joins other first-graders in an FCAT cheer on the morning show at Broward Elementary School in Tampa on March 6. The “FCAT Achievers” did a call-and-response with Academic Intervention Specialist Shanathia Alston, right.

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 15, 2009

TAMPA - It is still dark an hour before school starts, when 30 Sulphur Springs Elementary students sit down in front of computers or gather in groups to work on math and science.

Pancakes help.

Math Resource Teacher Lynne Glasure cooks pancakes every other week for "Brain Boosters" members who attend two weeks in a row. The hot breakfast keeps attendance steady, but she said the students seem to enjoy the academics, too, served in a casual manner.

They spend an hour with Glasure or science teacher Deborah Hussey, working on computers or breaking into small groups or one-on-one sessions. They can wear their booster T-shirts and do hands-on activities, so the lessons feel more like fun than work.

"It's exciting for me when I see students who didn't care for math, and all of a sudden they love it," Glasure said. "This is the way it's supposed to be done."

The pressure is high at Sulphur Springs this year as the school fights to shed the failing grade the state has given it the past two years. Sulphur Springs, Broward Elementary and USF/Patel Partnership Elementary were the only Hillsborough County schools to receive F's last year. Aside from the stigma, "F" schools miss out on bonus money that pays for educational supplies and staff bonuses.

The schools are wrapping up FCAT testing this week. Students took the writing exam last month, and most took reading, math and science tests last week, armed with new approaches they hope make a difference when grades are announced this summer. Schools are graded based on students' performance and improvement on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

There's a lot riding on the FCAT, for schools and for students. Low scores can prevent third-graders from being promoted or high school students from graduating, while low-performing schools can face federal sanctions, such as losing students or having to provide private tutors.

Schools have ramped up teacher training, brought in resource teachers, dissected data and added academic clubs and tutoring sessions before and after school and on Saturdays.

USF/Patel, a charter school the University of South Florida started, underwent a management shake-up. Charter board members turned over control to the Hillsborough County School District after grades came out in July, saying they did not have the resources to turn around the school.

The school added new teachers and a new principal, an administrator brought in temporarily from retirement and replaced by Lynn Roberts in October. The district also realigned the charter school's curriculum to more closely follow other county public schools.

At Sulphur Springs, Principal Christi Buell arrived less than a month before grades were released and was warned the school would likely fail. Her first step was to sift through test data to identify weak areas.

She allocated resources toward the subjects suffering the most and uncovered some surprises. "Number sense" — or understanding, for example, that four times three is three groups of four — popped up as a trouble spot in math, so the staff considered better ways to introduce those concepts to students.

The school also maximized time before, after and during school. In addition to Brain Boosters, a computer club and math group began meeting before school. "Lunch Bunches" formed, with small groups getting together during lunch for a book club or other informal work with teachers.

After school, a partnership with the YMCA allows students to stay until 6 p.m. They have time to play, and teachers can pull them for tutoring.

Buell said teachers encourage students who are on the edge of making improvements, no matter what their academic level, to attend. They stress to parents that the goals are within their children's reach.
"We show them with a little more time and intensive instruction that they can be more successful," Buell said. "If they can be more successful, then the parents are more willing to make sure they're there."

Broward Elementary Principal Kathy Moore said including students of all levels can motivate children as well. Children who score in the middle of the pack might feel better about themselves when they work along some of the top test-takers.

Broward Elementary added enrichment programs to go beyond the basics. Rather than limit lessons to remedial writing, teachers might hold a class to show students who scored well on writing how they can boost their skills and land higher scores.

The F-school label has been stressful for the faculty and students, but the extra resources the school district provided to help boost test scores were welcome, Moore said. Broward Elementary got math, science and writing resource teachers and has used them not only with students but also to help teachers improve their skills, so they can take over when the resource teachers — specialists not assigned to classrooms — leave.

"I see a lot of my teachers strengthening their skills," Moore said. "I'm really proud of them."

Weekly, teachers look at student progress and determine how to adjust lessons accordingly. They discuss what skills students might need to tackle trouble areas.

Before last week's test, Broward fourth-grader Tyrana McMillian, 10, said her only worry was failing math. She said if she got nervous, she could suck on a peppermint because teachers told her it would help her think.

Her classmate Odessa Churchill, 9, said she closes her eyes to try to relax. But she felt fine about taking the reading and math tests.

"I'm not scared, because it's stuff that we've been learning all the year," she said.

Their younger peers provided them with a motivational break. The first-grade "FCAT Achievers" appeared on the school's morning show with a cheer written by Academic Intervention Specialist Shanathia Alston.

The achievers did a call-and-response, complete with dance moves.

Alston came to Broward last year from Potter Elementary, which moved from an F in 2007 to a C in 2008. Her job as an intervention specialist links her with kindergartners and first-graders who need reading help. In addition to tutoring the younger students, Alston wrote songs at both schools to motivate the older students taking the FCAT.

Her songs emphasize achievement.

"They need to think about it in a more positive way — this is something you can do to get a high score," Alston said.

Broward and Sulphur Springs also offer incentives for good behavior and attendance. Broward children can get recognized on the school's morning TV show or invited to special celebrations if they meet certain goals. Sulphur Springs offers field trips locally with the YMCA's help if students attend four Saturday tutoring academies in a row.

The school also has worked with Mimi's Café to reward classes with high attendance or fourth-graders who took the FCAT writing test. Whether it's lunch or something else, the results are encouraging, Buell said. Attendance is up, and scores climbed on practice tests.

"We're really pleased with the growth our students are making this year," she said. "We're in a three- to five-year change cycle here. We'll do everything we can to move forward this year but realize all change can't happen this year."

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503.

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