The sleep needs of adolescents

HISD is considering moving HS start times EARLIER next year (look down toward the middle). But recent research implies that high school students do better later in the day; apparently puberty shifts the 'chronotype' of adolescents to an 'evening preference'. Some districts have shown improvement in student participation and behavior with later times. Other studies have shown a correlation between sleep deficit and reduced creativity and performance.

Of course changing start times for high school students also impacts school faculty and staff, and parents and families. Students may find it difficult to have after-school jobs, long extra-curricular activities, or away-games against schools in other districts. Nevertheless, it appears that with enough planning, the overall effects can be positive for all involved.

I recommend you read the article from the March 2011 issue of "Educational Researcher." Some of the references in the article may be available online if you can't get the link above; please see below.

• Black, S. (2000). A wake-up call on high-school starting times. Education Digest, 66(4), 33–38.
• Blatter, K., & Cajochen, C. (2007). Circadian rhythms in cognitive performance: Methodological constraints, protocols, theoretical underpinnings. Physiology and Behavior, 90, 196–208.
• Bonnet, M. H. (2000). Sleep deprivation. In W. C. Dement (Ed.), Principles and practice of sleep medicine (3rd ed., pp. 53–71). Philadelphia: Saunders.
• Cajochen, C., Blatter, K., & Wallach, D. (2004). Circadian and sleep-wake dependent impact on neurobehavioral function. Psychologica Belgica, 44, 59–80.
• Cajochen, C., Khalsa, S. B., Wyatt, J. K., Czeisler, C. A., & Dijk, D. J. (1999). EEG and ocular correlates of circadian melatonin phase and human performance decrements during sleep loss. American Journal of Physiology, 277, 640–649.
• Carskadon, M. (1999). When worlds collide: Adolescent need for sleep versus societal demands. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(5), 348–353.
• Carskadon, M. (2002). Adolescent sleep patterns: Biological, social, and psychological influences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Carskadon, M. A., & Acebo, C. (2005). Intrinsic circadian period in adolescents versus adults from forced desynchrony. Sleep, 28(Abstract supplement):A71.
• Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. (1998a). School start time study. Final report summary.
• Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. (1998b). School start time study. Technical report: Vol. II. Analysis of student survey data.
• Chandler, M. A. (2009, January 6). Fairfax plan would delay high school start at no cost. Washington Post.
• Crowley, S. J., Acebo, C., & Carskadon, M. A. (2007). Sleep, circadian rhythms, and delayed phase in adolescence. Sleep Medicine, 8, 602–612.
• Dahl, R. E. (1999). The consequences of insufficient sleep for adolescents: Links between sleep and emotional regulation. Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 354–359.
• De Gennaro, L., Ferrara, M., Curcio, G., & Bertini, M. (2001). Visual search performance across 40 h of continuous wakefulness: Measures of speed and accuracy and relation with oculomotor performance. Physiology and Behavior, 74, 194–204.
• Dement, W. C., & Vaughan, C. (1999). The promise of sleep: A pioneer in sleep medicine explores the vital connection between health, happiness, and a good night’s sleep. New York: Delacourt.
• Dinges, D. F., & Kribbs, N. B. (1991). Performing while sleepy: Effects of experimentally-induced sleepiness. In T. H. Monk (Ed.), Sleep, sleepiness and performance. Human performance and cognition (pp. 97–128). Oxford, UK: John Wiley.
• Edgar, D. M., Dement, W. C., & Fuller, C. A. (1993). Effect of SCN lesions on sleep in squirrel monkeys: Evidence for opponent processes in sleep–wake regulation. Journal of Neuroscience, 13, 1065–1079.
• Fischer, F. M., Radosevic-Vidacek, B., Koscec, A., Teixeira, L. R., Moreno, C. R., & Lowden, A. (2008). Internal and external time conflicts in adolescents: Sleep characteristics and interventions. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2, 17–23.
• Giannotti, F., Cortesi, F., Sebastiani, T., & Ottaviano, S. (2002). Circadian preference, sleep and daytime behaviour in adolescence. Journal of Sleep Research, 11, 191–199.
• Kirby, M., & D’Angiulli, A. (2009). Timing (not just amount) of sleep makes the difference: Event-related potential correlates of delayed sleep phase in adolescent female students. In N. A. Taatgen & H. van Rijn (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
• Kryger, M. H., Roth, T., & Dement, W. C. (Eds.). (2000). Principles and practice of sleep medicine (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.
• Kubow, P. K., Wahlstrom, K. L., & Bemis, A. E. (1999). Starting time and school life: Reflections from educators and students. Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 366–371.
• May, C. P. (1999). Synchrony effects in cognition: The costs and a benefit. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 6, 142–147.
• May, C. P., Hasher, L., & Foong, N. (2005). Implicit memory, age, and time of day: Paradoxical priming effects. Psychological Sciences, 16, 96–100.
• Millman, R. P., Working Group on Sleepiness in Adolescents/Young Adults, & AAP Committee on Adolescence. (2005). Excessive sleepiness in adolescents and young adults: Causes, consequences, and treatment strategies. Pediatrics, 115, 1774–1786.
• Mitru, G., Millrood, D. L., & Mateika, J. H. (2002). The impact of sleep on learning and behavior in adolescents. Teachers College Record, 104, 704–726.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005a). Changing school start times: Arlington, Virginia.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005b). Changing school start times: Denver, Colorado.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005c). Changing school start times: Fayette County, Kentucky.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005d). Changing school start times: Jessamine County, Kentucky.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005e). Changing school start times: Wilton, Connecticut.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2006). Sleep in America Poll.
• Noland, H., Price, J. H., Dake, J., & Telljohann, S. K. (2009). Adolescents’ sleep behaviors and perceptions of sleep. Journal of School Health, 79, 224–230.
• Owens, J. A., Belon, K., & Moss, P. (2010). Impact of delaying school start time on adolescent sleep, mood, and behavior. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 164, 608–614.
• Petros, T. V., Beckwith, B. E., & Anderson, M. (1990). Individual differences in the effects of time of day and passage difficulty on prose memory in adults. British Journal of Psychology, 81, 63–72.
• Schmidt, C., Collette, F., Cajochen, C., & Peigneux, P. (2007). A time to think: Circadian rhythms in human cognition. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 24, 755–789.
• Taylor, D. J., Jenni, O. G., Acebo, C., & Carskadon, M. A. (2005). Sleep tendency during extended wakefulness: Insights into adolescent sleep regulation and behavior. Journal of Sleep Research, 14, 239–244.
• Wahlstrom, K. (2002). Changing times: Findings from the first longitudinal study of later high school start times. NASSP Bulletin, 86(633), 3–21.
• Wahlstrom, K. (2010). School start time and sleepy teens. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 164, 676–677.
• W.A.K.E.: Worried About Keeping Extra-curriculars. (n.d.). Disruptions.
• Wright, K. P., Jr., Gronfier, C., Duffy, J. F., & Czeisler, C. A. (2005). Intrinsic period and light intensity determine the phase relationship between melatonin and sleep in humans. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 20, 168–177.
• Wrobel, G. D. (1999). The impact of school starting time on family life. Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 360–364.
• Yoon, C., May, C. P., & Hasher, L. (1999). Aging, circadian arousal patterns, and cognition. In D. Park & N. Schwartz (Eds.), Cognitive aging: A primer (pp. 151–170). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

Houston ISD Magnet Program survey - admissions criteria

I wrote earlier about Houston ISD's questionnaire about its magnet programs; in particular about the survey question on funding. Another such question asked about how students should be admitted to magnet programs.

The magnet programs at HISD exist both to cluster students with similar interests, skills, and abilities, and to allow students from under-performing schools to attend programs outside their HISD zone. In a perfect world, every student who wanted to attend a magnet program would; however, there are a limited number of programs, and a limited number of students the programs can admit. Therefore there needs to be some way for a program to admit a fraction of its applicants.

One thing that makes this a little more complicated is that HISD has a parallel program called "Vanguard" which targets a subset of the children who are identified as "gifted and talented." I think the idea is generally sound - it's easier to provide a centralized accelerated academic program in a small number of schools than it is to have a separate such program in each of schools. I'll address each program (Vanguard, magnet) for each grade level (elementary, middle, high school).

Elementary school

• Vanguard

  HISD uses a battery of tests to determine which students are identified as "gifted and talented"; within that population, a further set of tests determine which students qualify for the "Vanguard" program. I'm not sure the data convince me these second tests are effective - it's not clear that all the students chosen for the programs end up thriving in them, nor is it clear that the students excluded from such programs would not have done better as participants. If the second battery of tests does not effectively differentiate between those populations, then perhaps admission to a Vanguard program at this level should be by lottery from the pool of "gifted and talented" applicants.
  

• Magnet

  I believe most magnet programs at this level accept applicants by lottery. This seems pretty fair.
  

Middle school

• Vanguard

  At this level HISD has more data about its students, based on grades, test scores, and teacher evaluations. It may have enough information to be able to tell which students would benefit from accelerated Vanguard programs. If so, selection based on these criteria would be appropriate. If the data are not enough to be able to rank students, then perhaps a threshold to apply plus a lottery among the qualified would be better and would allow more students to participate. Some students might not thrive in such an environment and may choose to leave it; programs should actively recruit new students for open spots in 7th and 8th grades to replace them.
  

• Magnet

The Magnet schools at this level are impressive - foreign language, performing and visual arts, etc. Students are likely to self-select at this point, so it may be that a lottery is reasonable as a selection process. On the other hand, it may be better to use the screening processes that high school programs use, below. Students can further be clustered in the school by aptitude for acceleration, if appropriate.

High school

• Vanguard

  By high school, the district should have enough data to be able to determine which students will do well in a Vanguard/accelerated program. Students will also self-select at this level, since these programs will typically include an expectation that students take a decent number of IB or AP courses and exams. The pressure to have a high GPA may convince students not to attend unless they're sure they'll succeed. Therefore, at this level the schools should probably have open admissions or a lottery of all candidates who qualify based on grades and test scores.
  

• Magnet

  The Magnet schools at this level are really incredible - foreign language, performing and visual arts, science/medical, engineering, even a school with a flight program. If the program has some minimum ability requirements it should test for them (language fluency or aptitude, science/math scores or grades, performing ability, etc.) Like the Vanguard programs above, students will likely self-select at this point, so programs should probably have open admissions or a lottery among all who qualify. The assumption is that anyone applying to such a school will be interested enough to succeed if they have the skills to do so.
  

Since one of the goals of the magnet program is to allow students to "escape" an under-performing they're zoned to, perhaps at each level some preference should be given to an applicant who is zoned to such a school. There also, frankly, should be more magnet programs!

Houston ISD Magnet Program survey - funding magnet programs

Houston ISD is conducting a survey of parents and teachers about its magnet program, sending out questionnaires and holding town hall meetings around the city. The survey they sent out asks a number of thought-provoking questions; I'm curious to know how they collate and respond to the submissions they receive. I wonder if they will hold a subsequent round of discussions so we can react to each others' responses.

One question asked how you would recommend funding the programs at magnet schools; they give three suggestions: (1) equal funding by school; (2) funding by pupil; (3) differential funding by type of program. They give only a small box for the response, so I thought I'd elaborate on my submission here:

Each paradigm has its merits and demerits.

• Funding by pupil has the problem that programs with few pupils, especially starting programs, may not have enough baseline funding to hire the personnel necessary to get established.
  
• Funding "by program type" implies differential funding - do STEM schools get more than music/arts schools? How about Vanguard/Gifted schools? Do we decide there are a small number of "types" and assign funding amounts to them? How would an innovative new "type" of program get established and funded?
  
• Finally, while equal funding per school sounds fair, it can be attacked as providing inordinate funding to schools with small magnet populations. It might also under-fund popular programs with a large number of applicants.
  

Perhaps a "tiered" system makes sense. Schools with 1 - 100 magnet students would receive some baseline amount; schools with 101 - 200 get more; and perhaps a per-capita allowance for every student over 200. That might be supplemented by service-based funding for things like after-school programs, or grants of initial capital to do things like purchasing art supplies and tools, musical instruments, gymnastics or dance items, etc.

Healthy School Lunches

My family has really enjoyed Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, a television show centered on changing the food available for school lunches in an American town, Henderson West Virginia. As much as I appreciate our Houston Independent School District, the food vendor we've been acquainted with, Aramark, has provided absolutely unpalatable food for the student lunches. My kids pack a lunch every day, so they don't have to eat school food.

I'd love to find a group of like-minded parents at my kids' schools, who would be willing to work on changing the food in HISD. My kids would benefit greatly from a warm, healthy lunch, especially one with a vegetarian option. I'm worried, though, that HISD is too huge for a small group of parents to move; it would take a very dedicated set of individuals to take on this effort. In the mean time, maybe what we need to do is help pass federal legislation to provide incentives to schools to experiment with providing healthier meal choices to students.

If any parent or group is interested in coordinating a district-wide effort to improve school lunches at HISD, please let me know; I'd be willing to be a liaison to the schools my kids attend.

Being thankful

I attended a workshop this weekend (13 Feb 2010) which was focused on the parents and teachers of advanced students. There were interesting discussions, and it was impressive to see the groups of parents organized to provide or procure academic services for their children.

Most of all, I came away pretty grateful for the infrastructure Houston ISD has put in place to serve gifted and talented children. It's not perfect, and I've written before about at least one way they can improve. In general, HISD can now get better by implementing routine assessments of gifted students and supporting their curricular needs on an individual basis, especially in the middle schools. They should also consider soliciting more feedback from parents, and implementing an assessment/feedback loop to improve their programs.

That said, we as parents in HISD are starting well ahead of the pack compared to some of the other nearby school districts. We have large clusters of gifted students and at least moderately accelerated curricula. Parents from smaller districts have a harder time; their children learn with fewer peers in their group, and their districts may not have the resources or desire to provide services adequate for their advanced children. From some of the comments I heard, I feel I've had an easier time keeping my kids academically challenged because of the support I've had from our school district.

HOWTO: Houston Flu

The City of Houston has a resource dedicated to information about the H1N1 and seasonal flu viruses, including a list of places where the vaccines (shot and spray) are available at no charge. Google has a map facility where you can put in your zip code and find commercial sites which have stocked, are stocking, and will stock the various vaccines. Houston ISD is opening campuses to provide vaccines this weekend; check back because they're likely to continue the program for a while.

And finally, Google Trends is predicting flu severity by tracking geographically-identified searches for flu related terms. Their methodology is interesting; they basically look for search terms whose temporal frequency matched historical outbreak data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) for particular locations, and then use those terms to predict forward what CDC trends will be based on current searches. It's an interesting approach, especially since CDC data is only available after a lag of two weeks or so. It's just a correlation, and may be useful to provide earlier warning of outbreak. But it all depends on how well current and future search terms match ones used in the past, and depends on how representative Google searchers are of the population, etc. YMMV.

Stay healthy and safe this flu season!

Geometry software

One of my children is taking Geometry this year, which is turning out to be a lot of fun. We have a nice compass and a good ruler, but even with these good tools construction can be a little tedious, especially for complicated problems. Geometry software is a good compromise because it can take some tedious compound operations and do them in one click; these are things you pick up early on (construct a perpendicular to a line, perpendicular bisector to a segment, parallel lines, reflection about a line, etc.) and do them later as a single step.

UPDATED to add:This article from Science Daily talks about how using Geometry software helps students play with construction concepts more readily than with paper and tools. It also suggests that the software is helpful to teachers, and that it's important to students to learn to use both the software and the physical tools.

I've heard that Geometer's Sketchpad is well regarded by math teachers. I love Key Curriculum Press textbooks; their materials and problem sets are compelling and fun. However, this piece of software doesn't work for our family for two reasons:

1. It won't run on Linux (only Mac OSX or MS Windows), and
2. it's not free software.

Luckily, there are good alternatives!

• C.a.R. and C.a.R.metal. C.a.R. stands for "Compass and Ruler"; it's a program which lets you perform all kinds of constructions using those tools. The array of available options is initially a bit daunting; it's very helpful to go through the tutorials first. You can set up a problem and have a second person solve it; the software will report if you get the right answer. The software will also allow graph a function for you; it's more intuitive in C.a.R. than in C.a.R.metal, but it's possible in both.
• Another interesting piece of software is Geometria. It's designed specifically around the presentation and solution of construction problems. To use it you must create a problem to be solved, then convey the problem to a student. As the student works on the problem, each step is recorded in a history log on the left side; this is useful for documenting a proof based on the construction steps. This program is not as free-form as the others, so I've not played with it much; still, I can see this being very useful for a teacher, who can create one problem and hand it out to the class. I also expect it won't be long before there's a collection of problems you can download for your class. You can try a demo online; I'd keep another tab with the documentation open while you're using it.
• Finally there's GeoGebra, a slick tool which does a good job of both geometry and algebra. It can be used on the web here if you want to try it out. It's got the best support for plotting functions and equations of the three; unfortunately, it's not entirely free software (the software/program is free, released under the GNU Public License, but the on-screen messages, which are translated into different languages, are not).

I like Key Curriculum Press; if you do too, want to support them financially, and have MS Windows or Mac OSX, go ahead and get a copy of Geometer's Sketchpad. Even so, you might want to play with the software packages above. They're all well written, and it's fun to play with a compass and ruler and see what you can construct.

Kudos to the Lanier Middle School Debate team

The Houston Chronicle has an article about the success of the debate team from Houston's Lanier Middle School, a public school in the Houston Independent School District. Because one of my children is on the team, I traveled with them to the 2009 National Junior Forensics League competition and was a volunteer judge for a number of events.

The experience was really enjoyable for a number of reasons. The competitors in all the different events were accomplished speakers; a number of schools stood out with impressive performances from their various team members, and it was a treat to observe them as a judge or in the audience. The Lanier group was of course one of the impressive groups, strong in both the speech/interp and debate tracks; this breadth of expertise served them well and ensured their 7th straight first-place national ranking, for although other schools were also very good in one or the other area, none were as good in both.

The other compelling reason to go again next year was the behavior of the team itself. They exhibited a welcome camaraderie with each other; for example, members would attend performances of their teammates when they were not competing themselves. As far as I saw, they were always respectful of the judges and other competitors and schools, thanking the judges after every round and congratulating the other competitors in the round when appropriate. When together, they played games or shared impressions and notes, and recognized the strengths of the other competitors. I think it was a good experience for my child to be part of such a large and supportive team.

As the team's coach Mr. Hill pointed out in the press conference, their success was due to their own hard work, but also in large part to the contributions of the alumni who returned to mentor and challenge the team, the parents who support the students, the school who value the team and treat them as champions (not just geeks!), and of course the coach, without whose guidance the students would not improve as much as they do over the years they're on the team.

HISD Random Search Statistics

I received this Open Records Request information via email yesterday. The response is interesting; I certainly remember a lot more news reports last year about teachers being found with drugs in their possession. I guess I have to assume those detections were from actual tips and not from the random searches. Which implies to me that the random searches were even more of a waste than I'd suspected. I wish I'd asked how much it had cost to implement those searches!

Bai B030909 Statistics on HISD random drug searches
From: "Kaiser, Pamela" 

Full report:

As of March 11, 2009 we completed 261 Random Sweeps of HISD facilities during the 2008 - 2009 
school year.  Only 3 employees have been arrested as the result of the Random K-9 Sweeps.  
These employees are:

December 15, 2008                  Harper Alternative                  Sharon Vean arrested for Possession of Marijuana

January 5, 2009                         Walnut Bend El.                      Perla Sanchez arrested for Possession of a Firearm

January 13, 2009                       Roberts Elementary               Melinda Herrick arrested for Possession of Controlled Substance (Xanax)


All three of these individuals were arrested and criminal charges were accepted by the Harris 
County District Attorney's Office.  The Harris County D.A.'s Office would be the ones to provide 
the disposition of the criminal charges.  Sharon Vean and Perla Sanchez are no longer employed 
with HISD. Ms. Herrick's appeals process has not been finalized.

Pamela Kaiser
Public Information Coordinator
Public Information Office


-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 9:23 AM
To: Kaiser, Pamela
Subject: OPEN RECORDS REQUEST: Statistics on HISD random drug searches

Hi Ms. Kaiser,

I'd like to submit an open records request for the following information. I'd like to know how 
many random drug searches HISD made since June 2008; if a campus was searched twice, that'd count 
as two. For only those random searches, I'd like to know how many employees were disciplined by 
HISD (any action - suspension, reassignment, termination, etc.), and how many of those cases were 
referred to the DA. If you can provide the names in the last case (I think those are public 
record?) then I can track the resolution of those cases via the courts.

Thanks;

Luigi Bai

Coda

We finally have closure on the charges against Roberts Elementary School art teacher Mindy Herrick: the District Attorney has dropped all charges against her. The Roberts community stepped up to raise funds and write character letters in her defense, which I'm sure only made it easier to look at the evidence and decide there's no credible case.

If we can count on the termination of the random search policy, then we'll have accomplished all we wanted with our efforts.

Getting ahead in HISD

In general - if you feel your child can handle a curriculum more challenging than their current grade level, you should consider having them 'skip' a grade to have access to the advanced material. The problem is that it gets much harder the older your child is; I'd guess it's exponentially difficult after 4th grade, unless you're supplementing their school experience with material at home. The main issue would be skipping too much important material - a year of science, or of history, for example. But if your child is older by the time you think they can handle more challenge at school, you can still play to their strengths - see if you can get them access to one or more advanced classes, instead of skipping the entire grade.

One of my children was ready to take Algebra for her 7th grade math course, but her middle school didn't offer that option. We were pretty sure she'd mastered the curriculum being offered, but weren't sure how to go about demonstrating that and getting the advanced class. We did a lot of research, and consulted with various administrators within HISD, and after a few months over the summer, got what she needed.

Getting credit for content mastery

We were encouraged to find, in the HISD guidelines (the documents are under the "School Guidelines" menu option on the left, or see section XII), that there was no longer a provision restricting pre-AP Algebra to 8th grade students; what we'd need to do, then was to demonstrate that our child had mastered the pre-requisite materials. Fortunately, that was not difficult; the middle school math curriculum in Texas is basically a tight spiral around learning decimals, fractions, percents, area, and volume. We spent a few weeks testing our child with the previously released TAKS exams, available by statute from the Texas Education Agency (if that link stops working, you can visit their home page and search for TAKS). Her performance on those was encouraging, so we contacted our school and then HISD administrators to find out what to do next. At HISD, we spoke with the Manager of the Gifted and Talented Department who was extremely helpful, and who in turn discussed the issue with the Manager of the Mathmatics Secondary Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment. Thanks to those administrators, we became aware of an option known as Credit By Exam.

Credit By Exam (CBE) is a statutory mandate from the Texas Legislature, embodied in the Texas Education Code which is available online. We were particularly interested in Title 19 (Education), Part 2 (Texas Education Agency), Chapter 74 (Curriculum Requirements), Subchapter C (Other provisions), Rule 74.24 (Credit By Exam). This provision reads (rather drily) as follows:

    (a) General provisions.
    
    (1) A school district must provide at least three days between January 1 and 
    June 30 and three days between July 1 and December 31 annually when 
    examinations for acceleration for each primary school grade level and for 
    credit for secondary school academic subjects required under Texas Education 
    Code, §28.023, shall be administered in Grades 1-12. The days do not need to 
    be consecutive but must be designed to meet the needs of all students. The 
    dates must be publicized in the community.
    
    (2) A school district shall not charge for an exam for acceleration for each 
    primary school grade level or for credit for secondary school academic 
    subjects. If a parent requests an alternative examination, the district may 
    administer and recognize results of a test purchased by the parent or student 
    from Texas Tech University or The University of Texas at Austin.
    
    (3) A school district must have the approval of the district board of 
    trustees to develop its own tests or to purchase examinations that thoroughly 
    test the essential knowledge and skills in the applicable grade level or 
    subject area.
    
    (4) A school district may allow a student to accelerate at a time other than 
    one required in paragraph (1) of this subsection by developing a cost-free 
    option approved by the district board of trustees that allows students to 
    demonstrate academic achievement or proficiency in a subject or grade level.
    
    
    (c) Assessment for course credit in Grades 6-12.
    
    (1) A student in any of Grades 6-12 must be given credit for an academic 
    subject in which he or she has had no prior instruction if the student scores 
    90% on a criterion-referenced test for the applicable course.
    
    (2) If a student is given credit in a subject on the basis of an 
    examination, the school district must enter the examination score on the 
    student's transcript.
    
    (3) In accordance with local school district policy, a student in any of 
    Grades 6-12 may be given credit for an academic subject in which he or she 
    had some prior instruction, if the student scores 70% on a 
    criterion-referenced test for the applicable course.

What this says is that if you've had prior instruction in a course, you are eligible to receive credit for that academic subject by taking a CBE exam and passing with a 70%. Crucial is the requirement that an administrator approve the application; all the CBE programs we saw had that as an application pre-requisite. Even better is the provision that you can receive credit, and a transcript grade, if you pass with 90% - even if you've not had any "prior instruction" in the subject. The latter is sometimes called "Exam for Acceleration". The middle school exams are available from Texas Tech and University of Texas at Austin; the 8th grade math is split into two semester tests, 8A and 8B. Students can also receive credit for High School courses through the HISD Virtual School (more on that later). We went with the Texas Tech program and were happy with it. They require a proctor, who was our middle school assistant principal; the materials are sent directly to the school, and the exam is given under normal conditions (each exam can take up to three hours). The completed work is sent back to Texas Tech, who typically takes about a week to respond with the grade.

Once that was done, our middle school had a last hurdle, which was to pass an assessment of our child's readiness for abstract concepts via the Iowa Algebra Aptitude Test. Once that was out of the way, she was ready to take the school's Algebra class in 7th grade.

Looking forward to High School

Texas, like any other state, has a set of required courses for each High School student to take. Among the requirements are two semester-long courses of life skills: Communication Applications (or, how to write a resumé and get a job!), and Health (more songs about sex and nutrition). Fortunately, these courses are offered online at the HISD Virtual School, and I'm strongly tempted to have my kids take them there so they can take other courses and/or electives during high school.

You might also consider having your HS student (or prospective student) attend courses at Rice University over the summer. The first alternative, Rice for HS students, is really quite expensive, but provides a "college experience". The second is a set of full day (8am - 3pm) classes for credit (or enrichment) at Rice Summer School.

If you're thinking of trying to help HISD tailor their curriculum to meet your student's needs, please let me know. Leave me a comment, and I'll follow up as best I'm able. Please also let me know about any errors or changes in the information above, if you're from HISD.

Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance

Today, Roberts Elementary art teacher Mindy Herrick returned to the classroom. This is a wonderful event for both the school and for Ms. Herrick. The students, staff, and parents have learned that people, when organized, can bring about positive change; and Ms. Herrick has been shown decisively that the events of the past few months have not damaged her reputation at all. With all the staff, teachers, and a large number of parents watching, Ms. Herrick came to the outdoor stage from inside the school while the speakers played the theme from "Rocky". People were feeling happy, relieved, and triumphant.

The next step is to change the policy of performing random drug searches in teacher parking lots. Of course, none of us want to have teachers or staff whose performance at work is impacted by drug use, and we don't want anyone on campus distributing drugs on campus to anyone else. But random searches in general, and demonstrably so at HISD, are not affecting either population. It seems that adding random searches is not an improvement over searches involving probable cause.

The concept of the probable cause requirement for a search/seizure is rooted in the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. The amendment requires the Executive (the police) in most cases to have more than a reasonable suspicion they'll find something before they can search a private area. As the link to reasonable suspicion points out, there are cases (such as a search for firearms) which have a lower threshold, but a drug search isn't one of them.

I'm not a lawyer, so this is all untrained speculation. It seems the Supreme Court has recognized that certain employers can institute random tests in Skinner v. Railway Labor Assn., 489 U.S. 602 (1989). Since then, it seems the number and types of employers instituting random searches has grown; I think that "safety-sensitive" has been more and more loosely construed, and more and more people are being searched by their employers. Clearly, HISD has decided they are comfortable their employees fit the definition.

I'm not sure that's reasonable. Of course, we want our kids to be safe; it's just not clear that random drug searches are preventing HISD employees from bringing drugs to school. (It may help prevent students from doing that though - they may not be as rational, nor do they have jobs to lose). Instead, in addition to paying our teachers poorly, and putting pressure on them to "teach to a test", the district is accusing them of being guilty until proven innocent of having drugs. Should they always work under that suspicion?

I have no sympathy for HISD employees selling or sharing drugs on campus. If there's reason to suspect that's happening, please, call in the dogs, and submit the evidence to the District Attorney. On the other hand, if you suspect someone of taking drugs they don't have a prescription for, maybe the right reaction is to figure out how to help them overcome the problem. If there is a problem (and the discovery was not a false positive) and they're an exemplary or even just an effective employee, especially if they've a long history of dedication to their job, maybe the first thing to do is treat them as a valuable person, and see if you can preserve the good in them by helping them overcome a weakness. If as an employer HISD were to find evidence of such a problem, I suggest it should first offer counseling before turning the issue over to the police.

The district should also determine if the drug use constitutes a potential danger to the students; that's a harder call, and of course it's just so much easier to automatically suspend or reassign anyone in such a situation. "Zero Tolerance" is a policy that potentially protects the district from lawsuits in the situation something unfortunate happens - but it's also potentially devastating to the employee, and that public vote of "no confidence" by their employer can make it difficult for them to return to their job. A friend of mine said Zero Tolerance means zero thinking, which can be an appealing approach if you want to implement what looks like an even-handed policy. But does a policy ultimately even protect the students, at such a cost? And what about all the other dangers adults pose to children?

Ultimately, it's my opinion that random drug searches, coupled with a "zero tolerance" policy, do not protect our children any better than a policy of vigilance and understanding. Vigilance will protect our kids from more than just danger from drugs; and understanding will be consistent with the concepts of rehabilitation and forgiveness found in most moral systems and religions.

Mindy Herrick Returns

Roberts Elementary School teacher Mindy Herrick will be returning to work Monday morning at 7:30am. The staff at Roberts plan to have a big welcome back party at 8am. If you can, be there!

I don't think HISD has yet said why she's being allowed back. The Roberts parents were in touch with both Dr. Saavedra's office and Dr. Adriana Tamez (Central Region Superintendent), and didn't seem to get a detailed answer from either. We'll have to monitor the news to see why she's returning, and perhaps the status of other teachers caught in this drug sweep policy.

About the best you can say about HISD's policy regarding teachers and drugs is that it's confusing.

Paying your superintendent

In an article by the Houston Chronicle's Ericka Mellon, the issue of compensation for the HISD superintendent was discussed. I collected another 10 seconds on my cumulative fifteen minutes of fame, and wanted to clarify a few points.

• First, I said I'd be willing to "spot him the driver" in our 7th largest school district. Yes, I pay taxes too. But I grew up in NJ, and spent four years going to high school in Manhattan, which was only possible because of mass transit. I spent the travel time doing homework, reading, goofing with friends, or just chilling out. Dr. Saavedra probably travels a lot of miles in our huge sprawling city; any time he can prep for a meeting, work on a proposal or policy, etc. is bonus time to us, I think. Honestly, we should make Metro pay for the driver; it's really a shame we don't have a decent mass transit system in the fourth largest US city. I guess we can thank Tom DeLay for that.
• One of my biggest concerns is that the compensation package is almost strictly accretive. The next candidate isn't going to come in and say "I'll take less than my predecessor"; the trend is to ask for all that, and more. I think the Board should spend a little time discussing the package up front, then look for supers who are willing to work within those boundaries. If we need to shave back compensation or perks, we should take advantage of this opportunity to do so.
• I also said the Board should consider putting a cap on the compensated vacation/personal days. That's pretty normal for us plebes, who at best can carry a single year's worth of days over to next year. As an employer, you don't want your employees working for two years then taking a long vacation in the middle of your project the next year (though of course that'd be so nice). You also don't want to get socked with a big payout at termination, which is what we're seeing now with Dr. Saavedra. A cap just makes sense; use it or lose it.
• The salary part of the compensation doesn't faze me much. It's a big job, and a big district. Can we get equally qualified personnel to run it for less? I don't know. The bonus, on the other hand, is obscene; an $80,000 bonus is two average teacher salaries (I think). Wouldn't we be better served having the extra teacher(s)? Since it's tied (in large part?) to the performance on standardized tests, it aligns his compensation with what I consider to be a flawed metric. It also is of probably dubious value; at the end of the day it's the teachers and principals who are making that happen, not him.

In the end, as a taxpayer, I'd like to see us pay the super less if we can. As a citizen and parent of HISD students, I want a person in the job who can make sure the system works for our children. It's the Board's job to try to make those both happen, and I wish them luck.

This could be big

According to KHOU, HISD Superintendent Dr. Saavedra is planning to stop the random drug searches in campus parking lots. Of the 261 searches this year, only 12 were a result of a tip or request.

Even better is the suggestion that if Roberts Elementary Art Teacher Mindy Herrick is no-billed by her grand jury (for possession of drugs on a school campus) and tests "clean" (reportedly this is already the case), then she can return to the classroom.

I'd be thrilled to see both those happen.

Rally at Roberts Elementary for Mindy Herrick

By now, if you've read Lisa Gray's column in the Chronicle or Ericka Mellon's article, you've heard of Mindy Herrick, the Roberts art teacher who was put on administrative leave and is currently facing charges for "having possession" of two Xanax pills in a baggie in her car. There will be a rally in support of her as detailed below.

We hope to have radio, TV, and print media out in force. I'd like you to consider coming, if not for our particular teacher, to express disappointment and displeasure with HISD's "Zero Tolerance" drug policy.

Join us FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20TH AT 5:00 at the Greenbriar entrance to Roberts Elementary as we RALLY IN SUPPORT OF MINDY HERRICK.   Bring your family, your friends and your neighbors to provide the biggest show of support we can for our beloved teacher and friend. Let's show everyone we want Ms Herrick back at Roberts, now!   We'll hear from Ms Herrick's attorney, Kent Schaffer as well as Roberts students who love Ms Herrick and miss her very much.   Posters and signs are welcomed.  

HISD - College Ready?

Ericka Mellon wrote an article about the performance of high school students at HISD schools on a "college ready" assessment in the Houston Chronicle.

The article describes advances HISD has made in the number of "college ready" students on the TAKS Exit Level exam. This is defined (as far as I can tell) by a student receiving a scale score of 2200 in each of the Math and Reading sections of the exam. My first two questions are:

• Do these scale scores correlate with any future success, such as college performance or acceptance?
• Scale scores are a way of applying a "fudge factor" to try to normalize score reporting across different years' tests (just like the SAT scores, for example); are we sure they represent something meaningful? Can they easily be adjusted year to year to affect the numbers?

Here's an example of the scale score issue: One year, a student can get 23 of 36 questions correct, and receive a scale score of 2100. The next year, the test is determined to be "easier", so a student needs 26 of 37 correct for the same scale score. What's not clear to me is that the composition of the 23 or 26 correct affects the student's scale score. On the first test, if a student shows complete mastery of a most topics, and gets 13 wrong representing a 0% mastery of two core topics, can that be the same as a student who misses 13 questions, some here and there, but with a decent grasp of all the concepts? Can you compare two students who get 23 correct - one who gets 23 of the 24 "easy" questions right, and none of the 12 "hard" ones, and a student who gets 23 correct, a mix of hard and easy questions? Does it make sense to map a scale score to just a raw score, or should the questions or their distributions be weighted? You should refer to the TEA web site documenting the conversion of raw scores to scaled scores on the TAKS.

Never mind. Let's say students who meet the scale score test are all equally "ready for college". One of the documents Ms. Mellon attaches at the bottom of her article shows the achievement levels per high school in HISD. The numbers are interesting. DeBakey has an impressive record of preparing their students for the TAKS exit, the best in town. Almost all their kids score at least proficient in Math and Reading. Bellaire last year saw 82% of their kids "pass" in Math, 76% in Reading. Carnegie, 95%/94%, and that's way up from 87%/72% (!!) in 2007. I love the HSPVA numbers, which kind of buck the trend of doing better in math than reading: 84%/96%. Lamar's numbers are 65%/63%.

What does this mean for a parent trying to decide which HS is right for their kid? On the one hand, if you are not worried about your kids passing these standards, maybe these aggregate numbers aren't that important to your individual case. On the other hand, I worry that schools have been or will be looking at these numbers, setting campus goals, and then expending a large number of resources trying to get those numbers up. Although that's not a bad reaction (again, assuming these metrics actually measure something meaningful), in practice, I fear this means that fewer or no resources at those schools will be focused on the students who are in no danger of missing these goals - the advanced kids who could also use more attention to better develop their own skills and interests. I worry more and more that campus educational resources are a zero-sum game, and when the balance shifts inordinately to focusing on bringing the bottom students up, the top students get less attention. What should that balance be?

As parents, should we focus on sending our kids to schools with the best records, assuming their staff already feels confident in their students' performance and can focus on deeper or broader curricula? Or should we worry that schools at the top are there because they're focusing so many resources on passing these tests, and our children may languish?

Houston Chronicle - loose reporting

Mike Glenn of the Houston Chronicle reported yesterday about an HISD teacher who was escorted off campus because a drug-sniffing dog identified her vehicle. Inside, there were some unidentified pills, for which the teacher could not immediately produce a prescription. Students were in tears as they heard of her being taken into custody by district officials.

I'm disappointed by this article. This isn't reporting; it's repeating an unsubstantiated allegation against an HISD teacher. Until there's proven wrongdoing, this event should be treated as discretely as possible. The paper should only publish this kind of information when it turns out to be an example of an employee who is under performing, is dangerous to students, or who will be disciplined by the district. I would be encouraged if the Chronicle were to adopt such a policy going forward.

To compound this particular affront, Roberts is a small enough school that its identification of the teacher, while attempting to walk the line between descriptive and anonymous, is in fact sufficient to let everyone know who it is. We all hope this will turn out to be a misunderstanding, quickly resolved; however, the publicity the Chronicle has afforded this case has served to add damage to the reputation of a long serving and much beloved teacher, who we hope to see back in the classroom soon.

Another fun map

Here's another fun map, showing how many students travel 10+mi at various magnet programs. Larger boxes mean more students.

I'm not sure how useful this one is; it's just a fun one to look at.

Where do the 10+mi riders live?

I got an early holiday present on Thursday: a response to my open records request to HISD for data on the magnet students riding 10+ miles to their programs. I was pleasantly surprised; I'd not received an acknowledgment, and was about to send a "snail mail" follow up to my original email request.

Part of what I found out can be seen graphically here at Geocommons.com, a web site that lets you upload geo-coded data and see it plotted on a Google (or Yahoo or Open Street Maps) map. You can have several "overlays" if you like, each corresponding to a data set. The data on that map shows how many students travel 10+ miles from each zip code - it's their home code, not the destination. I also received a long list of every school and the number of 10+ mile riders, and I got a small table explaining the racial breakdown of the same group:

Race	Percentage of 10+mi riders	Percentage of District
White	10%	8%
African American	48%	28%
Hispanic	34%	60%
Asian	8%	3%
Native American	<1%	<1%

In my request, I asked for income level bands, which they don't have; but I did get the response that 84% of the 10+ riders qualify for free/reduced lunches (this was also reported in the Houston Chronicle today). I also asked for the same distribution information for the magnet program as a whole, and for the district; I got the district racial breakdown from a different source, which also pointed out that district-wide, 79% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunches.

I worry that reducing or eliminating services for the 10+mi riders will make magnet attendance difficult for 84% of them (2822 students). They are likely to have the least flexibility in their schedules or access to transportation.

Resouces:

• geocommons.com
• batchgeocode.com calculates lat/long coordinates for a batch of addresses
• swivel.com lets you graph various data sets, but I didn't really get the hang of it. Looks cool though.