How is it that a school system with so many excellent schools—including nine of the top schools in America—finds itself operating a school that is rated among the worst in the state?
That question is just one of many that come to mind as I research an article for the November issue of ASBJ, tentatively titled, “We Know What Works in Education, So Why Aren’t We Doing It?”
My eye recently turned to Palm Beach County, Fla., where nine schools recently were recognized by Newsweek magazine as among the top 5 percent in the nation. This year, 109 county schools received an A grade and 31 received a B grade under the state’s school accountability system.
What’s interesting, however, is that four schools received an F rating. Or, as the Palm Beach Post put it, these schools “flunked.”
How can that be? With so many successful schools, how is it that officials in Palm Beach County find themselves with low-performing schools?
A look at Glades Central Community High School provides a partial answer: Nine out of 10 students at the school live in poverty. It’s proving difficult to recruit high-quality teachers to the school. There have been four principals in six years. And the high school is hurt by the number of students who arrive unprepared. Notes the Post, “only 18 percent of the school’s freshmen and 9 percent of sophomores are reading on grade level.”
And school officials have responded to the problem. A new online curriculum was introduced “to help students catch up in math and reading.” Officials added an extra period each day for tutorials. This coming year, all students will be enrolled in a remedial reading course.
Will it be enough? Or will Glades Central prove an example of a school that, despite all the expertise of local officials, continues to struggle academically? And, if so, what does that say about the ability of educators to fix educational problems that are solved every day in other schools?
I hope you’re interested in answers to these questions. I only hope I have some answers by the time the November ASBJ is published.
Del Stover, Senior Editor