Students face tests in, out of classroom

Before the FCAT writing test, teacher Steve Francis sent a note home with his fourth-graders, reminding them to arrive on time and well-rested on test day.

It's a common request from teachers at most schools, but educators at the Metropolitan Ministries Partnership School don't take a good night's sleep for granted.

More than half of their students are homeless, coping with instability and distractions as they prepare for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. They took the writing portion last month and will be tested in reading, math and science next week.

Many live at the Metropolitan Ministries shelter, a short walk from the school, where they bunk in dorm-style rooms with their parents, brothers and sisters.

Crowded rooms make it tough to study and keep track of school assignments, and many homeless children don't sleep well in noisy shelters or motel rooms, said Myrna Hogue, who directs social work services for the Hillsborough County school district. Suspensions can be high among these students, who may act out because they're worried about their parents, she said.

"There are a lot of stressors," Hogue said.

At school, though, they are expected to be on their game, just like every other student.

Performance has been a problem at the Metropolitan Ministries school, which the social service agency opened in 1998. With only 82 students, the elementary school is too small to earn passing or failing grades from the state. Poor test scores put the school in danger of closing last year, when the school district shut down other charter schools that did not meet expectations.

School district takes over

Instead, at the request of Metropolitan Ministries, the school district took over the charter school, which had been run privately with taxpayer dollars. The agency and district now are waiting to see how students do on tests this year and whether their combined efforts have made a difference.

They hope the school district will see the same kinds of results as when it overhauled the USF Patel school. The district took over that failing charter school in 2008, and by 2009, its grade had jumped from an F to an A.

Tim Marks, Metropolitan Ministries' chief operating officer, said the agency wanted to do whatever was necessary to ensure students did well academically. Only a quarter of students were meeting high standards in reading and math last year, and fewer than half were showing improvement in those subjects.

Students need to succeed on the FCAT, which is a requirement to graduate from high school.

"They need to learn to take that test at an early age and be successful," Marks said. "I can't compete with the full resources of the school district."

The district's first step after assuming control last summer was to hire a new principal and interview all the teachers. It replaced three of the six who had been there. Barbara Hancock, the district's general director of elementary education, said all of the charter school teachers impressed her with their compassion. However, she needed an experienced staff that could hit the ground running.

"We knew we had a job to do academically," Hancock said. "We felt there was not one minute to waste with these students."

Training and tutoring

The district has provided ongoing training for teachers. Francis meets with the writing team regularly to review students' work, and school district employees sit in on classes. Teachers meet at the school regularly to discuss students and track individual progress on practice tests.

A reading coach visits two and a half days a week to work with students and teachers, and tutors work with the children.

The district also updated the curriculum and added new technology. Every classroom offers computers for the students, and each teacher has access to a Smart Board, an interactive white board linked to a computer, allowing teachers to more easily update lesson plans and to make them interactive.

Teacher Taylor Beard, in her third year at the school, said the staff used to jokingly wonder, "What would the district do?" when they couldn't figure out how to tackle a problem. Now they can turn to the district or use district-approved lessons or software.

"We didn't have to search around to figure out what we needed," she said.

Attendance is up slightly, from 92 percent to 93 percent, and suspensions have dropped so far, said Principal Todd Connolly.

The student population is also stabilizing, with about 33 percent of the children changing schools, down from previous years. That consistency helps keep students at grade level, because they don't miss out on material when they move or have to adjust to new teachers and classmates.

Students stick around here more than you might think - in part because Metropolitan Ministries enrolls families in a program that provides housing, counseling and life-skills education for as long as 18 months. Even if families move out of the neighborhood, students can keep attending Metropolitan Ministries' school because the school district allows homeless children to remain at their original schools and provides transportation in such circumstances.

Parent Michelle Miller, 36, is completing the Metropolitan Ministries program and recently landed a job at a nursing home after three years of unemployment. She and her two youngest children live at the shelter. Nine-year-old Maddison attends the partnership school. The extra attention has helped Maddison, who had to repeat second grade after falling behind.

"I like the school," Miller said. "It's a smaller classroom, and I've been in contact with her teacher pretty regularly because of us being in this program. ... She's now on track, and she's doing wonderful."

Miller said she hopes to find a place nearby to keep Maddison at the partnership school next year.

Focusing on their strength

Turning the academics over to the school district allowed Metropolitan Ministries to focus on its strength: providing social services. The nonprofit agency offers an after-school program, where Maddison does her homework, and has a Head Start program for younger children and a teen lounge. Families get counseling, and counselors can let the school know why a child might be acting out, Marks said.

Before classes started, Metropolitan Ministries invited the school's new staff members to visit to better understand their students' backgrounds.

"It was a real eye-opener for us," said Connolly, the principal. "As a teacher, you're wanting your kids to do their homework and stay focused on instruction and things like that, but when you go over and see their living environment - I equate it to like a dorm room, and it could be a family of six living in a small room - you can understand why it might be difficult for a child to be able to do their homework."

None of those stressors are evident in the school, with its large, bright classrooms and hallways decorated with student artwork and writing.

Like students at other schools, the children here take art, physical education and music classes, including ballet through the Patel Conservatory.

Students take field trips at no expense to the parents, and Metropolitan Ministries picks up the tab for transportation.

The Plant High School Parent-Teacher Association even adopted the staff and showers teachers with goodies during Teacher Appreciation Week.

The students do what they can, too. A jar on the front desk collects change for Haiti earthquake relief.

"Though our kids have a lot of needs, there are other people who have even great needs," Connolly said. "So even if it was bringing in pennies, we wanted to have them be able to help out others."