What should schooling look like?

By:  Michael Duncan, Superintendent

This question was posed to over 400 stakeholders over the course of the past year.  Interestingly, parents and guardians, school system staff, the business community, elected representatives, and faith-leaders all shared a relatively common vision for the kind schooling that children need in order to be contributing members of the community and to the ever-changing global economy.

Many of you have probably read a vision statement or been on a team establishing a vision for your business or church.  Often times, vision statements are a vague attempt at inspiration and do little to guide the culture or work of the organization.  Envision your perfect vacation.  Can you see it? What do you hear? As Dwayne Johnson (A.K.A The Rock) says, “Can you smell it?” How do you feel?  The vision should transport you to a different place and describe where you want to go- a road map for a journey.

Our journey begins and ends in the classroom and the dynamic interaction between the teacher and student.  As I write this my mind keeps taking me back to Disney’s Epcot and the Tomorrow Land attraction, where a computer allows you to look into the future.  Let us take a look at what future schooling will look like in Pike County.

As I enter the school, my attention is drawn to three students walking down the hall to the Media Center.  They are so engrossed in their conversation I have to step aside to avoid them.  I turn and follow.  They quickly dump their book bags at a work station, revealing tablet computers, which they quickly activate and navigate to the school’s Wi-Fi.  The computer screens are filled with text, images, video and applications.  The students inquire if the conference room is available; they have a SKYPE session scheduled with a group of students from Miami.  They mumble something about pythons.

My curiosity is peeked, so I follow them to the conference room and peer into the window as three smiling faces appear on the monitor, alternating between boardroom seriousness and silliness.  They all start to talk at once, and then laugh at the garbled mess they created.  Next, an agenda and a flow chart appear in adjacent windows on the monitor.  The students alternate speaking, addressing topics such as progress updates, timelines, references, drafts and deadlines.  Another group of students enter the Media Center, so I take my cue to stop my surveillance and ask the Media Specialist to direct me to the students' classroom.

Walking through the hallways, I am struck by the hum of activity I see in each classroom.  Teachers and students deeply engaged with one another- whole group, small group, and individually.  I reach my destination and knock on the door.  The teacher greets me warmly and welcomes me to the room.   After a few moments of conferencing with a small group of students, the teacher comes along side me as I listen to students discussing the dietary habits of the armadillo.

“What are they working on”, I ask. 

 “They are investigating the rate of geographical expansion of the armadillo and its impact on local agriculture and native species”, shares the Teacher.

 I learn the students are building on the knowledge they gained from the teacher’s lessons to develop a model to predict the future impact of uninhibited expansion of the armadillo’s habitat and possible solutions to curb the pace of habitat expansion.  Once completed, the students will present their findings to the local farmer’s association.

 “A team is down the hall on a conference call with a biologist from Texas A&M”, says the Teacher. 

“Wow!” I exclaim.  “They must be having a blast.” 

“They are, but the key is using the information we teach them as a vehicle to enhance skills such as critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and digital literacy. Of course, this type of learning requires a great deal of personal responsibility in order to self-monitor and reflect on learning goals.  But, perhaps the key ingredient is a clear understanding of what we are trying to accomplish with specific feedback for improvement every step of the way”, the Teacher added.

I approached a group of students in the corner who were drawing a graph on a large Post-It® easel pad. I asked them what they thought about the school.  A young man wearing a lime green graphic tee-shirt bellows from the back, “It’s not all about the stupid test. I feel like we’re doing something really important.”

“You are”, the Teacher responded.  “You are learning how to learn and so are your teachers”.

I wanted a little more clarification on this thought of teachers as learners, so I dropped by the principal’s office on my way out.  After hearing a recap of my visit, the Principal smiled and said, “Learning for All:  That’s what we are about!  If we aspire to be a learning organization, learners must be teachers and teachers must be learners. We must encourage a culture that rewards trial and error.”

As I started my car to leave, I couldn’t help but think the armadillo didn't stand a chance.

Budget: Beyond the Numbers

By:  Ken Carter, Finance Director

 

Our annual budget is a picture of all the school district’s duties and responsibilities which, by extension, is ours individually – for we are the school district. We, you and I, exist in the district context for a sole purpose – the education of our young people. The annual budget provides, in many and various ways, the resources for that purpose.

Our district’s largest resource is people. People who teach and support our children.  People who provide good nutrition and safe transportation for those children.  People who lead and people who follow that leadership for the benefit of children. So you should not be surprised to learn that 83% of our budget is dedicated to personnel salaries and benefits. Three quarters of that total provides for the wonderful people who have direct interaction with our students.  We can conclude from the allocation of these precious resources that our district’s lifeblood is our people.

But our lifeblood must be protected, sustained and furnished with an environment in which to flourish. That’s where the “operations” portion of your budget comes in. Operations as people resource support provides buildings, climate control, technology, security, transportation, payroll and a host of other functions on a daily basis. It is the goal of operations to provide a safe, comfortable and effective environment to facilitate the magic of the classroom. A large and complicated tack indeed! Think of it - our campuses daily become the largest population center in Pike County. A population which must be housed, moved and protected moment by moment.

For the Finance office staff, our ongoing involvement in budget management is the core of our tasks. We strive to manage processes which enable good stewardship of all our citizens have entrusted to us. Thanks for allowing us to work for you – our best and most precious resource!

What is the Common Core?

by Kevin Huffstetler, Pike Elementary School Principal

The Common Core is an initiative by the United States Department of Education that seeks to align the curricula of the states into one unified set of learning guidlines.  These “guidelines,” which we call standards, establish consistent learning expectations for all students, no matter the state in which the student is educated.  This helps to ensure students receive the same rigor, concepts, and educational outcomes across the country.  The Common Core shifts the focus of education from memorization of rote facts to critical thinking and the application of knowledge.  Students are now required to not only know concepts, but apply them in a problem-solving context .  Each grade level builds on previously taught standards, so as a student moves from kindergarten to high school the student develops a deeper understanding of what they have been taught.

What does this mean for our students?  In years past, students were asked to memorize random facts without applying them.  For example, we memorized the Preamble to the United States Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, or the Bill of Rights.  In many cases, the learning stopped with the memorization.  Now, under the Common Core, students are required to think about how these documents are related, the actions that caused each documents’ creation, and how they still shape our society.  The same approach is applied to each content area, whether it is math, science, or English/ Language Arts. 

The Common Core serves as the basis of each state’s curricula.  States have the freedom to add to the standards to create a unique set of learning outcomes for their state, such as Georgia History.  Individual school districts can add to the curriculum to support local initiatives, such as how the history, landscape and geographic location of Pike County dictate the career choices of residents.

 

Some major changes with the implementation of the Common Core:

·         Increase in Career Awareness by applying skills needed to be successful after high school;

·         Increase in writing across the curriculum;

·         Increase in rigor, or depth of understanding;

·         Increase in expectation of student communication goals;

·         Changing the make-up of state tests.

The Technology Dilemma

by Mike Duncan, Superintendent



My IPhone and I are in a relationship, rarely apart and mutually dependent. I was thinking the other day how it all began. Simply enough, it all started so I could be reached anywhere and anytime by telephone in case of an emergency; then, it was a way to organize my calendar on the go; soon, it was my primary professional and social tool-a 24/7 connection blurring the lines between work and play, an ever-present reminder that someone needed something right now all the time.

Digital devices such as, IPhones, Androids, IPads, Tablets, IPods, Netbooks, laptops, desktops (anyone have these anymore?), and E-Readers, are the pen and paper of our time. In a recent survey at Pike High, Over 65% of students had a device that was capable of accessing the World Wide Web and 80% used a digital device for social media. This is a game changer for education. Students have, at their finger-tips, access to the library of human knowledge. As one Florida High School student stated in an article on how technology is impacting education, "The need to know the capital of Florida died when my cell phone knew the answer."

The concept of educators pouring knowledge into the open minds of our youth is an outdated metaphor. Digital devices allow students to consume vast amounts of information relatively easy. But the new economy doesn't want a digital consumer, it wants a digital creator, a digital problem solver, a digital collaborator, a digital communicator.

Last week, a team of parents and educators visited Forysth County Public Schools in north metro Atlanta. They are widely considered to be one of the State's most forward thinking school districts with technology integration. We witnessed students in every classroom using digital devices in a variety of ways. Cell phones, tablets, and laptop computers were as ever-present as one would think a calculator and a textbook would be in an Algebra class. The level of engagement was amazing-students of all ages were using a variety of applications and websites collaboratively with classmates to work toward meeting the curriculum standards.

I left Forsyth County energized about the possibilities, but utterly demoralized when I thought about the competitive advantage the Forsyth students had on our students. I began to compartmentalize a couple of the issues: 1) Infrastructure-even after our million-dollar upgrade, Forsyth Central High School has ten times the bandwidth we do for our entire school system; 2) Support-each school in Forsyth has a dedicated Instructional Technology Specialist planning professional development and supporting technology integration in the classrooms. For us, the journey is indeed a long one, but as a famous Chinese philosopher said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

 We have taken one step with upgrades to our infrastructure and WI-FI capability at our middle and high school. Next month, we will pilot Bring Your Own Device with a small group of Pike Middle and Pike High students. The lessons we learn will help us "go to scale" at both schools. The journey will become more challenging as we address the need for greater amounts of bandwidth to access digital content, convert to digital textbooks, and provide an environment of support for our teachers. For our students, technology must become the primary tool in which they make meaning of the curriculum to develop the habits of the mind necessary to be successful in a digital world. I would love to know your thoughts. 

 

District Announces Opening of Agriculture STEM Academy

The Pike County School System is dedicated to preparing students for 21st Century careers by providing high quality educational opportunities in STEM. STEM represents the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM education encourages a curriculum that is driven by problem solving, discovery, exploratory learning, and student-centered development of ideas and solutions. The saturation of technology in most fields means that all students – not just those who plan to pursue a STEM profession – will require a solid foundation in STEM to be productive members of the workforce.

Pike County High School will welcome students to the first STEM Academy in the fall of 2013.  The high school’s approach to STEM education will integrate Geometry and Biology with Agriculture.  All three will be Gifted/Honors courses scheduled during first through third periods.  Three sections of students in the STEM Academy will take these three courses to start each school day. This schedule will provide the opportunity for flexible grouping, multi-period labs, guest speakers, field trips, and common planning for STEM Academy teachers.

While the Science and Mathematics components of the academy are self-evident, you may have some questions about the rest of the STEM Academy.  Where are technology and engineering? What does Agriculture have to do with STEM?

Agriculture is the vehicle providing technology and engineering to the STEM Academy.  Agriculture is also the perfect subject matter to bring relevance to the STEM Academy in Pike County.  The school system is located in the heart of Georgia’s agricultural economy, and it is within minutes of the University of Georgia’s Agriculture experiment station at the Griffin campus.   These resources will provide outstanding resources for students to experience firsthand how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics impact agriculture and everyday life.  This academy isn't just for students pursuing careers in agriculture, but for students wishing to engage in a rigorous course of study in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.