Once
upon a time, there was a land called Stoney AAKers. It was beautifully diverse, and rich in
knowledge. Lord James had been chosen to
govern this land, this honor bestowed upon him after many successful years among
the ranks of the scholarly. Stoney
AAKers was known for its commitment to being developmentally
responsive to the academic, social, and emotional needs of their young,
middle-level apprentices. All their young
apprentices were held in the highest esteem, with expectations set above the norm
on all occasions. Why, Stoney AAKers was
even recognized as an “Institution to Watch” by the State of York’s educational
system, one of only few in that state and one of simply hundreds
country-wide. Newcomers traveled from
reaches unknown simply to experience Stoney AAKers and the impeccable scholars
contained herein to tutor their young.
All
was well within the province. Lord James
was a fortunate leader. For he had master
teachers of the highest degree enriching his youngest subjects the topics of
the utmost importance and world-relevance:
mathematics and reading. The tutelage
of young subjects was successful, with nary a failure to be spoken of. (Of course, there were exceptions, but very
few.)
One
fine day, many years ago, before the rule of Lord James, the king of the
country, King SED, had declared that “All young subjects enrolled in the lands
of York shall be assessed in the utmost important and world-relevant contents
of mathematics and reading, as to compare ourselves with the rest of the State
of York, the entire country and beyond.”
King SED was convinced the assessments would benefit the people of his
kingdoms. And so it began…the tests!
Now,
although Lord James and King SED had not always seen eye-to-eye, and
apprentices had always been subjected to one form of yearly testing or another,
Lord James and his master teachers had confidence in their work, and confidence
in their King SED. How could these
assessments possibly affect the apprentices in anyway but positive? Surely, their work and creative instructing
would pay off, and prove to King SED the high caliber institution Stoney AAKers
had proven itself to be for so many years.
Unfortunately,
Lord James and his master teachers were mistaken. Although most of their young apprentices had
successfully completed the assessments, King SED had other ideas. He decided he needed to change the cut scores of the examinations,
ultimately altering the final scores of Lord James’ young apprentices (done
after the tests were actually given…over the summer). As a result, many of Stoney AAKers’ most needy
students had failed to meet the minimum requirements set forth by King
SED. Alas, Stoney AAKers would now be
labeled a School in Need of Improvement (SINI), much to the dismay of
Lord James and his master teachers.
Upon
receiving the news of Stoney AAKers’ designation as a SINI, Lord James was well
into the next year of apprenticeship. He
was completely unprepared for the news that a small portion of his neediest
students did not perform satisfactorily on King SED’s assessments during the
previous year of apprenticeship. This had never happened during Lord James’
habitation in York or during his tenure as Stoney AAKers’ leader. However, Lord James would soon find out how
costly the cut score shift would
be. To begin, Stoney AAKers was
considered a Title l institution. This
meant each year, Lord James had to complete a Consolidated Application
to receive Title l funding from the State of York. This was usually done in the
summers, when the young subjects of Stoney AAKers were on summer hiatus. Unfortunately, when Lord James was notified
of his institution’s SINI designation, it was well into the fall semester of instruction. This meant he had to redo the entire Consolidation Application, which included
collecting all new information regarding the subpar performance of his neediest
subjects. This process took at least 20
hours to complete. Lord James was
not compensated monetarily for these extra efforts and was still expected to
perform his duties as a loyal servant to King SED in his role as the leader of
Stoney AAKers.
Just
when Lord James thought matters could not get worse, he was informed that due
to the fact Stoney AAKers was a Title l funded institution and was now on the
dreaded SINI list, his institution was mandated to provide Supplemental
Educational Services (SES) (additional tutoring to needy subjects after school hours – in addition to the
extra tutelage they received during the school day; AIS did not count, nosiree) to any of his poorest
subjects performing at all levels on King SED’s yearly assessments, not
simply those scoring below the king’s standards. As one can imagine, this could be a costly
venture. King SED required Lord James to
set aside monies equaling 20% of his total Title l funds he had received from
his King. Now, those monies were not to
come from the Title l funds themselves, since they had already been designated
to be used elsewhere in the budget. Lord
James would have to be creative and find those funds from somewhere unknown to
him or King SED. For King SED had no
intention to defray the cost of the extra tutoring of SES to Stoney AAKers’ poorest
subjects. King SED simply expected full
cooperation from Lord James and his master teachers, despite what it may cost
them.
In
order to comply with King SED’s expensive and seemingly ruthless commands, Lord
James found himself contacting scholarly tutoring vendors near and far (as far
as the complete opposite side of the country) in multiple ways (this, all
according to King SED’s handy-dandy rule book) including email, phone and snail
mail. In turn, Lord James also had to
inform parents of his young subjects attending Stoney AAKers of the institution’s
SINI designation. (No, it was not like
the “Institution to Watch” distinction…this
was the “bad list”.) Once all vendors
and parents had been initially contacted, again, Lord James found himself
contacting the scholarly tutoring
vendors interested in attending the Scholarly Tutoring Vendor Ball, informing
them of the date of said ball, using the same multiple contacting devices
previously used for initial contacts.
Next, Lord James was mandated to inform all parents in the land (you
guessed it, in MULTIPLE ways – email, phone and snail mail) as to the date of
the Scholarly Tutoring Vendor Ball. Out
of 76 possible vendors (all from King SED’s royal list of vendors), only ONE
vendor agreed to attend this ball, stating Lord James’ Stoney AAKers was too
far off the beaten path for them to travel.
One vendor was within two hours distance, but since parents were
responsible for transporting their offspring to and from SES provided services,
said parents opted out of using that vendor.
(The vendor, by the way, had offered computers for every student. This is against the rules King SED has set
forth pertaining to SES services for the State of York – and the vendor did not
even know it). Luckily, for Lord James
and the young subjects of Stoney AAKers, the local BOCES agreed upon servicing
the neediest students in the land.
Now,
one must understand…Stoney AAKers was mandated to set aside approximately
$75,000 to offset the cost of SES services mandated by the King. Remember, that money could not come from the
Title l monies granted to Stoney AAKers by King SED. So, Lord James found himself scrambling
desperately for coffers to borrow from.
He decided to withdraw money from his Fund Balance to cover the expenses
of SES as mandated by his King. In his
royal rule book set forth upon the SINI designation of Stoney AAKers, King SED
guaranteed that any unused monies from the $75,000 could be reinstated to the
fund it was borrowed from…so long as Lord James fulfilled his duty of preparing
the waiver needed to do so. (Unfortunately,
for Lord James and his subjects, some of the due dates and deadlines for the
waiver process happened to fall BEFORE the SINI designation of his
institution. As a result, any extra
monies from the $75,000 in the first year of SINI designation is, for all
intended purposes….lost to poor Lord James and his subjects.) Since a SINI designation by King SED lasts a
minimum of two years, maybe Lord James and Stoney AAKers will get some monies
back after their second year of the SES implementation, provided they follow
the process for a waiver to move the funds.
The
next challenge Lord James faced was the King’s mandated School Quality Review
(SQR). For this, a Stoney AAKers team
reviewed the entire institution. This
process took almost three solid weeks during the early winter months. While Lord James’ master teachers and their
subjects were on Winter Holiday, Lord James seized the time to complete yet
another step in King SED’s SINI Process called the Comprehensive Educational
Plan (CEP). In order to do so, Lord
James depended on the work he had done for the Consolidated Application, SES
plan, as well as the SQR. This took the
entire week to complete.
Lord
James wished to be certain his efforts and the efforts of his master teachers
were in the best interest of his young subjects. He also wanted to investigate all possible reasons
for the subpar performance of his young subjects on the King’s reading
assessment. In order to do that, Lord
James ordered a Quality Improvement Process (QIP) be completed. This committee process is run by Prince SESIS
(Special Education School Improvement Specialist). Prince SESIS’ task was to lend unbiased,
constructive criticism of Stoney AAKers (as well as Larryland, where the very
youngest subjects begin their fine apprenticeship in the State of York),
offering research-based solutions to the areas of concern based on data and
student outcomes of Stoney AAKers middle level apprentices on the King SED’s
reading assessment. It is Lord James’ hope
the QIP will afford all young subjects of York the opportunity for a
comprehensive and consistent educational plan district-wide (in Larryland,
Stoney AAKers and The Chambers – where the eldest apprentices are instructed). The majority of Lord James’ young subjects had
met or exceeded King SED’s expectations and Annual Yearly Progress (AYP). So long as the subgroup of special needs
subjects continues to make AYP (as seen fit by King SED) for two consecutive
years, Lord James and Stoney AAKers will no longer be designated a SINI school.
If
Stoney AAKers does not make AYP (as seen fit by King SED – who knows where
those cut scores will go next?), Lord James and his master teachers will
continue to have their work cut out for them to prove that, despite the subpar
performance of only the neediest of middle level subjects, Stoney AAKers is
still, indeed an “Institute to Watch.”
It
was now early May. Spring had sprung…along
with King SED’s yearly assessments once again.
Only time will tell if SES efforts at Stoney AAKers will close the gap
of subpar scoring of the neediest subjects attending this fine institution. Lord James was about ¼ of the way through
King SED’s lengthy two-year process and found himself questioning: Is it worth it to Stoney AAKers to be subject
to all the extra unfunded efforts of SES mandated by King SED in order to
receive his Title l funding? After little
deliberation, however, Lord James had to admit, despite the exhausting SINI
process, King SED’s Title l funds were well worth the extra time and
effort. Where else would he find almost
$400,000 in the tough economic times of the day to hire extra master teachers
to enlighten his young subjects in the content areas of mathematics and
reading? (And he was going to need them
more than ever now.)
As
fairytales go, this one is fractured, I know. However, Stoney AAKers remains beautifully
diverse and rich in knowledge, just as it had always been. Lord James and his band of dedicated, master
teachers remain steadfast in their mission to being developmentally responsive
to the academic, social and emotional needs of their middle level apprentices. That is not to say they have not been left
dazed and confused by King SED’s latest decisions. No matter, they will strive for the
excellence they have always sought, improving and changing whatever necessary
to meet their goal. Most fairy tales end
with Happily Ever After…but for Stoney AAKers we must wait and see for
sure.
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