California Continuation Education Association Newsletter:
| Volume: 14 | Number: 1 | Date: October 1999 |
Welcome back! By now you are all well entrenched in curriculum, attendance issues and helping students succeed. Each year comes with new challenges added to the ones with which we are already familiar. This year is no different! Those of us in continuation education are quite used to this and deal with it in an expeditious manner. Each year we are asked to become a little more efficient and a little more effective. Somehow we manage to do this.
This is the 80th Anniversary of the legislation that created continuation education. How far have we come during these 80 years? At times it seems like we are no further down the road than we ever were. At other times, it appears that we have made giant strides in working with at risk youth. Have you ever wondered how many students we "save" from becoming failures and/or dropouts? Every student who enrolls in our schools is a dropout saved and a success eventually returned to the mainstream of life. Multiply your own individual school times 538 continuation schools in the entire state. Former Governor Wilson stated that continuation schools are the primary dropout prevention program in the state of California. What an impact we are making in education!
I reread an article written 30 years ago by Glen Elder, Jr. on the characteristics of Continuation Schools. In it he stated: "Just as IQ tests measure only a limited range of the individual's aptitudes, comprehensive schools as presently designed provide relatively restricted and often damaging schooling for many children." This could have been written today! While more and more of our students come to us by choice, the reasons they make that choice fit nicely into Elder's broad description of our feeder schools. Thus, we are forced to take a raw, unmolded young person, and turn him/her into a finished product of academic knowledge and expertise, with high self-esteem and realistic goals for the future, plus the ability to act in a socially acceptable manner. That sounds like we are being asked to do more than other teachers do, but it's not. The difference is we have set the priorities in the right order. We deal with the students' self-esteem, motivation and socialization issues first and the academic issues second. The majority of traditional programs focus entirely on the academic issues and send the students who don't fit this mold to us. The good news is that we are highly successful and that appears to be a threat to many people in our society because they think of continuation education in such a negative light. What can we do about this? Each and every one of us can make it a personal goal to get the word out to our communities and other educators. Invite them to your schools. Show them what wonderful students we have. Let them see the exciting things we are doing to work with these young people.
As I have talked with many of you I have heard about fantastic, cutting edge curriculum that reaches out to young people in a realistic and relevant manner. School-to-Career programs that are creative and innovative and meet the needs of our students help keep young people in school. Integrated, thematic teaching, which addresses relevant issues and the concerns of today's teenagers, helps to keep their interest in school. Non-graded classrooms with teachers who are willing to risk themselves in order to encourage the very best performance from their students often turns a former student who is failing into a success. Teachers teaming in such non-traditional subjects as science and art, or business and math provide a whole new arena for reaching out to our students. These are only a few of the exciting programs of which I am aware. No wonder we are successful with society's "throwaways!"
When our challenges seem to be more than we can handle remember what a service we are providing to the young people in our communities. Count the successes you have each and every day. They do
come every day! Be proud that you are working in continuation education. Consider yourself among the few lucky educators in the state. Know that you have truly affected the future of our state and nation by the work you are doing. Tell others how lucky you are and how proud you are of your accomplishments. They need to know that continuation education is a viable and successful option for those young people who do not fit the traditional educational mold. Have a great year and I look forward to seeing you throughout the year.
Opportunities for Funding for Continuation High Schools
This year's state budget contained a modest increase in funding for K-12 education. A big difference from the recent past, however, is that several of the new programs included in the budget were focused on high schools. As a result, there are opportunities for educators in continuation high schools to work with their districts to obtain resources for their schools.
School Safety Grants
The state budget included establishment of a new school safety grant program. The program was established by AB 1113 (Florez) and provides funding to school districts based on the number of students in grades 8-12. In addition, the bill guarantees each school district at least $5,000 per school site serving students in any of grades 8-12.
These funds go to the school district, so there is no requirement that the funds be spent at continuation high schools. However, continuation high school students and schools help generate the funding received by the district. Thus, it is important that educators in continuation high schools are aware of the funding and make their needs known.
The funding for this program will be allocated as an equal amount per pupil in grades 8-12. We estimate this will equal about $40 per pupil. The bill also requires that the funding allocation provide each school district, which serves any of grades 8 through 12, with a minimum total grant of $10,000 or $5,000 per school site, whichever is greater. The funding may be used for any of the following purposes:
1. Providing schools with certificated personnel, including, but not limited to licensed or certificated school counselors, school social workers, school nurses, and school psychologists, who are trained in conflict resolution. Any law enforcement personnel hired pursuant to this article shall be trained and sworn peace officers.
2. Providing effective and accessible on-campus communication devices and other school safety infrastructure needs related to the implementation of school safety plans.
3. Establishing an in-service training program for school staff to learn to identify at-risk pupils, to communicate effectively with those pupils, and to refer those pupils to appropriate counseling.
4. Establishing cooperative arrangements with local law enforcement agencies for appropriate school-community relationships.
5. For any other purpose that the school or school district determines that would materially contribute to meeting the goals and objectives of current law in providing for safe schools and preventing violence among pupils."
Instructional Materials/ Staff Development
The budget also contained additional one-time funding for staff development and instructional materials. The Legislature focused most of this money on high schools. As with the school safety grants, the funding goes to the school district.
The language approved by the Legislature allocates $134 million on a one-time basis for instructional materials and staff development. The funds are divided $40.2 million for grades K-8 (slightly less than $10 per pupil) and $93.8 million for grades 9-12 (about $57 per pupil). These funds may be used for "any of the following purposes, to assist them in implementing the new statewide accountability system: (a) instructional materials, including sheltered English materials and types of materials specifically designed for English learners, (b) Staff Development Buyout Program, or (c) other staff development activities."
Parent Involvement Grants
As this newsletter goes to print, the Legislature is nearing the end of its 1999 legislative session. One bill of interest to continuation high schools which appears likely to become law is AB 33 (Soto). This measure would make grants of $25,000 (for schools of fewer than 1,000 students) available for school site parent involvement programs. Given the specific requirements of the grants, continuation high schools may be among the schools best able to apply for these funds.
AB 33 would appropriate $15 million for grants that reflect the Governor's desire that schools focus on teachers making visits to students' homes. Specifically, the bill provides one-time grants to schools in which a majority of teachers and parents agree to strengthen communication between schools and parents, and that establish a Parent/Teacher Involvement Program that meets the following criteria:
· At least 50% of the teachers at the school voluntarily agree to participate in visits to the homes of pupils or community meetings that are convenient to parents.
· At least 50% of the parents at a school have voluntarily signed parent/teacher/pupil contracts that require parental participation in home visits or community meetings.
· Teachers shall be compensated for their participating in home visits or community meetings at an hourly rate comparable to their regular base salary.
· Certification that teachers or teachers paired with instructional aides will conduct home visits to a substantial percentage of the pupils annually, or in the case of high schools, will hold at least monthly community-based meetings.
Short-Term Independent Study
It is important that continuation high school educators are aware of a change to independent study that was enacted as part of the state budget agreement. AB 1115 (Strom-Martin) was enacted and includes a provision to no longer allow school districts and county offices of education to receive funding for ADA generated through independent study of less than five consecutive days. This was an issue raised in the Governor's January budget proposal, where he proposed to disallow independent study of less than 10 days. This proposal was rejected by both budget subcommittees.
During the final two days of deliberations on the budget, this issue was raised again in the budget conference committee by the Department of Finance. The committee agreed on a compromise of disallowing funding for independent study of less than five days, rather than the original proposal of ten day exclusions.
In order to acknowledge outstanding projects and programs, the Exemplary Programs recognition was developed in conjunction with the C.C.E.A. and the Department of Education under the leadership of Bob Ehlers. This two-year old recognition honors curricular and instructional activities that assist students and teachers. These programs and projects are honored for being creative and in-line with current educational thinking and practices. They must also be easily replicated so all alternative and continuation schools may benefit from the hard work of others.
Any current professional member of the California Continuation Education Association or an employee of a school which has school membership is eligible to submit an application for this honor. Each school is limited to a single submission per year.
The 1999 Exemplary Programs were: from District I, Tutoring Program from San Hendrin High School and School -To-Career Program from W.C. Carle High School; from District II, Infant Care Center at Argus High School, Food Service/Culinary Arts at Estrellita High School and the JROTC Program at Pacific High School; from District III, Health Occupations Program at Sem Yeto High School; from District IV, Growing a Modern Business Education Program at Mount Toro High School; from District V, Community Classroom from George M. DeWolf High School, Vocational Agriculture from Pershing High School, and the Mediator Program at Sequoia High School; from District VI, Construction Technology from Leffingwell High School; from District VII, Character and Work Ethic Preparedness Education from Somerset High School; from District VIII, Business Education from Sierra High School; from District IX, Landscape Construction Program from Montecito High School; and from District XII, Self-esteem Program from Jim Beckwourth High School.
To read more about these programs and other information pertaining to continuation education, please visit the CCEA web site at cceanet.org.
Congratulations are in order for the hard-working staff members of the following schools for being recognized as model continuation high schools for 1999. From District 2, Estrellita High School in Galt. From District 3, Laguna High School in Sebastopol and Temescal High School in Napa. This is the second time that Laguna High School has received this honor. From District 4, Alta Vista High School in Mountain View, Central Coast High School in Marina and Pinnacles High School in Soledad. From District 5, Mountain View High School in Madera, Nueva High School in Lamont, Sequoia High School in Visalia and Yosemite High School in Merced. From District 6, Leffingwell High School in Cambria, Lopez High School in Arroyo Grande, and Maple High School at Vanderberg Air Force Base. From District 8, Creekside High School in Murrieta, and Mountain View High School in Lucerne Valley. And from District 12, Fair View High School from Chico.
The process for being selected a Model Continuation High School requires the completion of an application matching a school's curriculum, management, instruction, climate and counseling services with rigorous quality indicators. It also requires narrative statements from the site administrator, a staff member, a student, a community member and a parent. Once a school has completed this process, a selection committee determines whether or not a school meets the quality indicators. After the committee makes this determination, a validation visit take place. The validation team is composed of staff members from schools within the applying school's C.C.E.A. District.
Congratulations to Mr. Ronald F. Zito, the 1999 California Continuation Teacher of they Year. Mr. Zito teaches industrial technology and math at George M. DeWolf High School in the Fresno Unified School District. Ron has been a teacher for twenty-four years; thirteen of those at DeWolf.
Ron's instructional emphasis is based on student projects which are continuously monitored. He stresses a structured and safe environment because of the "hands on" use of tools and equipment in his classes. He gives every student individual attention when they are working on skills such as woodworking, ceramics, photography, welding and computer technology.
Ron's students are able to assess themselves through their portfolios. Students also show mastery of projects by designing, constructing and demonstrating finished projects.
Mr. Zito's technology curriculum is based on modules that he created. His modules include: aerospace, lasers and fiber optics, research and development, electronics, computer-aided drafting, robotics, audio/video and engineering design. Ron has also designed a math construction class to help students improve their math skills through "real world" experiences. His students designed and built a building to house and serve breakfast and lunch to DeWolf students. They also built a school storage shed, a greenhouse, and converted a storage room into a mini-computer lab.
Ron also serves the DeWolf community by acting as an advisor for field trips, school-sponsored dances, and serving on the school site council. He organizes his students and chaperones while they clean graffiti and trash in the local neighborhood. He serves on the Fresno County Fair Board, is the Director of Project Adventure and is the President of the Project Adventure Committee.
Ron's principal writes, "I found him to be very dedicated and hard working, always keeping the students' needs at the forefront of his thinking. He always had a great relationship with his students, especially the tougher kids who may not have gotten along with anyone else." One of Ron's students writes, "Mr. Zito always treats his students with respect and fairness. He awards us with verbal communication, which raises our self-esteem."
Ron's philosophy is best stated in his application where he wrote, "As an educator and mentor, I am obliged to explore the deeply hidden talents of my students and aid them in the discovery of their aptitudes. Though they are seldom aware, each has something of value to offer to themselves and to others. I may not reach every student, but if I am able to assist only one in discovering a special trait that can be developed into a worthwhile venture, I have done my job. If I can influence even more in a useful skill, my rewards are limitless."
Ron was selected for this honor from among several exceptional candidates from every C.C.E.A. District. Last year's other District finalists were: M.J. Muldoon from Sunset High School representing District I; Scott Durham from Argus High School representing District II; Richard Rossini from Sem Yeto High School representing District III; Michael Ahern from Alta Vista High School representing District IV; James Tiedt from Frontier High School representing District VII; Dawn Anderson from Eric Birch High School representing District VIII; Robert Ostmann from Laurel High School representing District X; Barb Jenpson from Aliso High School representing District XI and Barbara Thomas from Salisbury High School representing District XII.
A team of continuation leaders advanced on Sacramento with a two-pronged effort to provide a presence for CCEA and our schools on alternative education issues and legislation. The team was headed by Janet Knoeppel, president and included Jim Caswell, vice president; Mike Madalinski, secretary; Bob Werner, treasurer; Joe Stits, past president; Ross Bauer, from District V, and Gerry Catanzarite, webmaster and fiscal expert. Our team was guided by Peter Birdsall, CCEA lobbyist, coordinated our meetings and guided our discussions as we met with those important to our issues. Our focus was on the status of the high school exit exam and accountability for alternative education programs and the ever-present issue of adequately funding our schools.
The California Department of Education (CDE) seems to be in an almost constant state of reorganization and it means that CCEA representatives have the opportunity to make new friends while pursing our issues. We met with Pat Ainsworth, Associate Superintendent in the secondary schools office along with his assistant, Ed King in an effort to present our case for being involved in the development of alternative education assessment standards. We were able to increase understanding of the circumstances that face continuation schools regarding entry of our students and the problems inherent with a single test to measure student or school performance. This meeting was very productive and will result in future contacts as the state moves toward alternative assessment standards. The second meeting was with Sherry Griffith, Executive Director for the Curriculum Commission. Sherry is an old friend of CCEA and alternative schools who truly understands the circumstances our student face. She has had a primary role in the development of the guidelines for the State Board of Education's efforts to adopt accountability standards. She was very helpful in recommending how to harness our resources for greatest impact as we work on these issues during this year. Mike Ricketts, Deputy Secretary for Fiscal Policy in the Governor's Office of Education, met with our team about our concerns regarding accountability for our schools but more importantly, about improvement in funding for our schools. We were able to communicate the problems with the present funding and he was able to give us guidance on how to approach the budget process under this governor. We will be following up on this meeting once we have our funding proposal formulated.
Our second day of meetings focused on the Honda Bill which is currently under consideration in the legislature as a broad, comprehensive approach to dropout programs. We met with Danny Alvarez who is from Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa's Office. We were delighted to know that the Speaker is a product of continuation education and has a high commitment to our students and programs. Also in our meeting was Jennifer Van Der Heide who is the legislative aide for Assemblyman Mike Honda. This meeting
was very important in regard to the contact with these offices and for the information on how to proceed in this legislative year. The last meeting we had was with Sue Bennett of the CDE Youth Options office. We gained a great deal of information from this meeting regarding the progress of the department on performance measures for alternative education and models on the same topic in other states.
Your team will be going back to Sacrament on your behalf early in November to pursue our goals.