Alvin
Granowski, Ed. D.
Delivers
Keynote Address
at the
VADE 2003 Conference
Alvin Granowsky, Ed. D., a former Director of Reading and Language Arts
for the public schools of Greensboro, NC, and Dallas, TX, has most recently
served as vice president of Education for World Books, Inc. His readers and texts are used in schools
through the nation.
Dr. Granowsky has served as a consultant
to the North Carolina State Education Agency's Right-to-Read program and the
New York State Education Agency's Reading Department. He has also served on the Board of the
National PTA as reading consultant.
After more than 35 years as a teacher,
author, and educational consultant, Dr. Granowsky believes that the future of
our nation is tied directly to how well we educate our children.
His presentation was entitled "Lighting Eyes and Opening Minds"
He definitely met his objectives. Here’s what the program said he would try to do. It is followed by one teacher’s translation (your humble editor) of what he heard.
“Dr. Granowsky highlights where we have been in
education, burned out; where many are today, off-balance; and where we need
to focus our attention to make education meaningful. With humorous anecdotes, the talk
emphasizes the need for teachers of high self-esteem and enthusiasm who will
be ever watchful that the essence of education and lifetime learning are not
pushed aside, narrowing what is taught to only content measured on a test.”
A Solution
Whose Time Has Come
[One teacher’s
understanding of Dr Granowski’s words]
by
Tom Hargrove
Teachers, at all levels and all disciplines,
have been demoralized for decades. They
want to make a difference
but do not see it happening. Nothing seems to work. Why?
Forced integration in the seventies was intended
to foster equality, to establish equity in education. It did not quite work as promised. So much went wrong that we could easily lose sight of the
positive. As teachers, we know that nurturing pride in self is the key. Helping students gain a real world based
sense of self worth and self-esteem is the true goal of teaching. What went wrong?
Up to the 1970’s, a high school diploma was
considered a terminal degree for 50% of high school students. Those going on to college were the “haves”
in our society. They had all the
‘extra’ help they needed. Then the focus shifted – or the standard was raised
(or watered down)- and 75% of high school students now went on to college. The mastery and preparation levels of
students did not change so the standards were lowered (changed). This was, in turn, unacceptable. [This change might be considered one of the
reasons developmental education evolved into what we have today.]
The solution to this problem was “standardized”
testing and minimum scores. That became, and still is, the problem. Teaching was forced to shift from teaching
the subject to teaching the test. Tests became central and teachers and
students, and their needs, were “pushed aside”. Tests and standards are supposed to be neutral but they are
not. Whatever is tested will be
taught. Whatever can not be tested, no
matter how important, will be ignored. Much of what students need to learn that
is truly meaningful cannot be measured.
And, if it can’t be measured it isn’t …..
Dr Granowsky didn’t offer a magic cure. He did offer some practical advice. Teachers have to strive to nurture pride in
self and a viable sense of self worth in their students. This includes a true understanding of
self-esteem. The first step is for teachers to do this for themselves.
To be somebody you have to be somebody to
somebody else. For teachers this means
doing as “I say” not just doing what “I say”. We have to strive to make
students feel and believe they are capable.
As teachers, we must focus on the positive and guide our students
towards increased fulfillment. Fine,
tell us how.
He asks, in reply, how do you get good at
anything? Practice, practice,
practice. Practice makes perfect. Or, use it or lose it. He then redefines our job as being to enable
our students “to continue learning” when we are not there. Our job is to assist
our students to become lifelong learners.
He asks, what is the point of education if not to help us become
learners for life. What do you think?
His message is ‘shape an attitude and change a
life’. Education is who and what we are
in life and where we are going – as students and as teachers. As educators we must make learning come
alive for ourselves and for our students, learning filled with enthusiasm and
self esteem.
He didn’t say it would be quick or easy. He did say it was worth the effort. Your editor agrees completely. Do you?
So, where do we start? Today, with ourselves and those in our classrooms.
Teachers of the Round Table
How Can You
Say No? You can’t.
And We Are
Glad We Didn’t
As preparations for the conference were being
finalized, some of those involved in ESL teaching requested a Roundtable at the
conference to discuss ESL issues of concern.
It seemed like a good idea so roundtables were set up for each discipline. Your editor attended three (ESL, Reading,
and Writing). They were all different.
They had nothing in common except for the energy of the participants and
their desire to find better ways to help their students. The practical advice, tips, and suggestions
that surfaced had to be worthwhile based on the speed writing of the
participants.
VADE
Membership Climbs at Peer Group Conference
By Patricia Parker
Many Developmental Educators throughout the
state took advantage of the opportunity to join VADE at the February Peer Group
Conference. Below are the total numbers of VADE members for each
college. In the next month, Patricia Parker will be mailing out VADE
membership pins to all those members not in attendance at the conference.
We are currently working on a system in which you will receive an email from
Patricia Parker when your membership dues have been verified. This email
will serve as your receipt as well as verification that we have you correctly
entered into our VADE database. This process will begin during the next
membership cycle, details will follow in the first reminder to pay annual dues.
College Memberships
BRCC 2 NVCC 9
CVCC 2 RCC 1
DCC 4 NSU 1
GCC 3 SVCC 6
JSRCC 1 TCC 13
JTCC 3 TNCC 9
LFCC 1 VHCC 5
NRCC 2 VWC 1
VADE Moves
Forward with Regional Workshops
By Glenda Lowery,
President
The
first fully-funded VCCS Developmental Education Peer Group Conference was an
unqualified success. Despite the winter
storm that struck Virginia the weekend before, 90 participants traveled to
Virginia Beach for professional development and camaraderie. The sessions and
roundtable discussions offered various opportunities for educators to recognize
and react to issues involving developmental education in the state. But we
cannot bask in the glow of our successes for long. It is time to move forward and start planning activities for
2003-2004.
Becoming
a peer group has given VADE some new options but has forced us to make some
choices. One, we could continue to have
a conference every year, but it would only be partially funded. Or two, we could have a fully-funded peer
conference every other year, except one of the stipulations of being a NADE
affiliate is having a yearly conference. The Executive Board discussed this
dilemma
and came up with the idea of having five regional workshops in even years and
the peer conference in odd years. The
regional conferences will be a collaboration between VADE and the Regional
Centers for Teaching Excellence. The
regions include Midcentral in Richmond, Northern Virginia, Tidewater in Newport
News, Southwest in Abingdon, and Central Virginia in Danville.
Each
planning committee will consist of members of the executive board plus other
interested educators. They will determine the location, date, time, and topic
of that particular event. The workshops
will be held at various times during the 2003-2004 academic year and will allow
participants in that region to drive to and from the event in the same day. The
cost, including registration and lunch, will be minimal and may even be free
for VADE members.
At
the business meeting on Friday morning during the February conference, this
idea of regional workshops was presented to the VADE membership and was
positively received. Of course, at this point these ideas are still on the
drawing board. I contacted the regional directors and planned to meet with them
at the New Horizons Conference April 3-5 in Roanoke, but I didn’t get there in
time. But Rick Dollieslager, one of the directors and a member of VADE’s
executive board, came to the rescue. He
and Ann Bartholomay pitched the idea to the directors and they have promised
their support.
Another
idea that we brought forward at the business meeting was the possibility of
having VADE officers elected for two-year terms. But during the March 17 executive board meeting, we decided that
would require changing the constitution and getting permission from NADE which
requires that officers be elected every year. During even years, elections will
have to take place electronically.
I
will let you know more about the progress of the regional workshops next fall.
In the meantime, if you would like to help, please contact me or any other
member of the executive board. Executive board members will be recruiting VADE
members in their regions to help with the development of each event, so we may
be calling on you for assistance.
A Program
that Works
And Now an
Award to Show for It
By Chris Jennings
The National
Council of Teachers of English/Two Year College Association, in partnership with College Composition and
Communication Conference (CCCC), has awarded Tidewater Community College (TCC)
the 2003 Outstanding Program in English award. Responding to national concerns
about the educational system's failure to prepare high school seniors for
college, TCC has created a focused approach for collaboration between high
schools and colleges.
Directed by
Chris Jennings, Associate Professor of English, TCC, the Consortium for
Innovative Instruction: Aligning Writing Instruction in Secondary and
Postsecondary Institutions was selected as the Exemplary Program in the
category of Enhancing Developmental English.
This model is currently being used throughout the Virginia Beach City
Public School System (VBCPS) to create high school writing centers and sponsor
professional workshops for college and high school faculties. Thanks to a grant
award of $600,000 from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the
Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), this program offers a creative
response to the challenges of educating two-year college students. It demonstrates the power of institutional
partnerships and provides a reform movement that supports teachers who identify
and employ solutions to problems.
As a result
of project activities at Salem, Landstown, and Kellam High Schools, graduating
seniors' writing performances have improved.
Students enrolling at TCC have also demonstrated greater success in
college writing. Over the course of the
project, VBCPS students enrolling in developmental writing courses at TCC fell
from 49.2% in 1998 to 38.5% in 2001. Writing samples from project students
showed an overall improvement of 60%, with readiness levels increasing from 11%
to 51% over the 2001 –2002 academic year.
Following the progress of students from high school to college revealed
more accuracy in placements using portfolios (73%) than with traditional
methods (58%). Moreover, students placed with portfolios achieved greater
success in their coursework and higher retention levels at TCC than those who
were placed traditionally.
TCC has created a model for partnership
that has been shared with colleges in seven states. Nine postsecondary dissemination sites include J. Sargeant
Reynolds Community College, Richmond, Virginia; John Tyler Community College,
Midlothian, Virginia; Forsyth Technical College, Winston-Salem, North Carolina;
Greenville Technical College, Greenville, South Carolina; Florida Community
College, Jacksonville, Florida; Southwest Michigan College, Dowagiac, Michigan;
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona; and California State University,
Fullerton, California. Working in a hub
and spokes approach, each of these sites has adapted the TCC model to collaborate
with high schools to improve student success in college.
COMPASS
Review Task Force Report Topic of Conference Session
By
Glenda Lowery
One of the hot topics of discussion across the
state has been COMPASS placement scores and how they are working. The VCCS has
been using COMPASS for placement since 2000 as recommended by the Developmental
Studies Implementation Task Force. In the fall of 2002, the system office
appointed the COMPASS Review Task Force “to evaluate the effectiveness of the
COMPASS and ASSET placement score ranges that were established by the original
task force.” Dr. Charles White, vice president of Instruction and student
services at New River Community, was the chair of the group. In January 2003
the task force released its report.
Dr. White was at the Developmental Education
Peer Group Conference in February to explain the group’s recommendations. Here
is a summary of the report.
Overall, the task force “agreed that the
guidelines appear to be placing students appropriately most of the time,” but
encouraged colleges to use multiple measures. In addition, since the cut-off
scores were not identified for different levels (for example, ENG 01 and 03),
“colleges with multiple levels of developmental and college-level courses have
established more detailed placement guidelines” with the existing guidelines.
Specifically the task force made eight
recommendations:
- Each
college should continue to set its own cut-off scores with the established
system-wide ranges, but they should be the same for transfer and
occupation/technical students.
- Each
college should identify “reading/writing intensive” courses and prohibit
students who need developmental reading and writing from taking those
courses until they successfully complete those developmental requirements.
- Colleges
should use multiple measures to place students if the institution offers
more than one level of developmental reading and writing.
- Colleges
should determine appropriate policies for students whose scores in
reading, writing, and math fall below Ability to Benefit guidelines.
- Colleges
will collect ACT/SAT scores and can use them for placement purposes if the
scores are less than three years old.
- The
VCCS will revise the common application to provide a field to record
ACT/SAT scores.
- Each
college will collect scores for ACT and SAT tests to possibly exempt
students from taking COMPASS/ASSET tests.
- Each
college will work with its local school divisions to examine relationships
between upper level Standards of Learning and college placement.
Dr. Antonette
"Toni" Cleveland, Vice Chancellor of Academic Services & Research
at the System Office, sent out an email the beginning of March that announced
that the recommendations had been approved by the presidents.
Virginia Community College System
Guidelines for
Preparation of Academic Faculty
FYI
By Rick Dollieslager
Of concern to many at the
Spring Conference was VCCS-29. The
critical section discussed was a change in qualifications for teaching
developmental courses. The text
follows. The strikeovers indicate where
there is a change.
For
foundations and developmental preparatory programs:
To
teach courses in the foundations and developmental preparatory programs, a
person is (a) usually expected to possess a masters degree with a
major in the teaching field, or (b) in special cases a person may teach in the
foundations and developmental programs with a baccalaureate degree with a
major in the teaching field and related
occupational and/ or teaching experiences., but such persons
are expected to be working on their masters degree.
Dr. Antonette "Toni"
Cleveland, Vice Chancellor of Academic Services & Research at the System
Office in an email response to my request to clarify the status of this change
said “Rick: I
am copying Marian Hassell and asking her to send you the "official"
response. However, the State Board did approve the change in minimum requirement
for developmental faculty. They will now fall in column 3 of the
"29" and can teach with a bachelor's degree. John Dever should
have a
copy of the change as well. Remember this is a MINIMUM and a college can
set the bar higher.”
________________________________________________________________
VADE Seeking
Regional Workshop Volunteers
The VADE Execute Board is seeking
volunteers to help with the Regional Workshops now in the planning stages for
next spring. VADE and the Centers for Teaching Excellence are sponsoring the
events.
So far, no volunteers are designated to help
with the Southwest and Northern regions. If you would like to volunteer for
those two regions, or any of the others, please contact one of the Executive
Board members.