EDC+503+Su13+-+Harris+Elementary


 * [[image:rischools/harrisschoolold.jpg width="442" height="297" caption="Old Harris School"]] || [[image:rischools/harrisschoolnew.jpg width="459" height="291" caption="New Harris School"]] ||

School Description
According to the school website, Harris Elementary School in Woonsocket Rhode Island is a school with history (Harris Elementary School, 2013). It was originally built in 1876 after the high school on the same site was destroyed by fire. In 2001 that building was demolished and by January 2003 a new school was opened again on the same site. Harris Elementary has twenty-one classrooms, a cafetorium, a gymnasium, a library, a technology lab, and music and art rooms. The school serves children from kindergarten through grade five and currently student count is at four hundred and thirty one with a92.4% attendance rating. Nearly half the student body is listed as white, 32% are Hispanic, 8% are African American, 6% Asian and 5% are Multiracial. 80% of the student body is eligible for the subsidized lunch program, the statewide average is 46%. 13% of Harris elementary's students receive special education services as compared to 15% statewide and 4% receive ESL services compared to a state average of 6% (Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013a). The Harris School in its mission statement promises to challenge all children to reach their fullest potential and to function successfully as students, citizens, and members of society (Harris Elementary School, 2013a)

Student Achievement
The topic of standardized testing brings with it much controversy and heated discussion but it is currently the method used for assessing effectiveness of our Rhode Island schools. The Harris School is currently at a Warning level according to The Accountability Summary and Classification report for school year 2012 - 2013 (Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013a). The school met 15 of the 16 target areas evaluated in 2013. According to the AMO summary, the school failed to reach the target of 62.1% students reading proficient within the Hispanic student group. Two other student groups fell short of the target for reading proficiency but were described as having made adequate progress. These two groups were the economically disadvantaged students and the minority super-subgroup. As a result of these groups not meeting the target, the entire student body has been labeled as not meeting the target but making adequate progress in reading proficiency. In mathematics, the AMO summary shows that all student groups met and or exceeded the targets for 2013. Despite the fact that students at Harris elementary are meeting AMO targets, their reading, math, science and writing proficiency on the statewide NECAP tests are still below state averages. 2011-12 writing scores for 5th graders show only 35% proficient and this is actually down from 39% in 2008-09. The state average for the same test was 55% in 2011-12 and 58% in 2008-09. Reading scores at Harris in 2011-12 for 3rd grade was 58% proficient, for 4th grade 57% were proficient and in 5th grade only 46% were proficient. Again, the state averages were higher at 73%, 71% and 69% respectively. The 2008-09 report for reading proficiency showed a similar trend both school wide and state wide. In all three grades, the math proficiency improved between 2008-09 and 2011-12 but the Harris students still performed below the state average.

Teaching
As class sizes grow, a teachers ability to reach each and every student can become over extended. Harris Elementary school reports a 1:12 teacher:student ratio which is very close to the reported state average ratio of 1:11 (Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013a). The Harris school website list three teachers each for kindergarten through third grade. Fourth and fifth grade list two teachers each and their is one classroom listed as a fourth and fifth grade mix. The school also list two physical education teachers, an art teacher, a music teacher and a library specialist. Also listed are two self-contained classrooms, primary and intermediate (Harris Elementary School, 2013). According to Info Works, Harris elementary reports no teachers with emergency certification as compared to the state average of 1%. Both Harris and all of Rhode Island report 3% of their teachers are considered not highly qualified. According to Survey Works 2011-2012, the students at Harris school describe their teachers as just as engaging, having as much classroom control, and as effective within the classroom as teachers across the state. The parents at Harris elementary however, do not give the teachers the same high marks as their children. 50% of Harris parents surveyed report that the some of the staff had failed to keep their children interested in what they were learning. Across the state, only 16% of the parents polled made the same claim. At Harris, 29% of parents claimed all staff members kept their students interested versus 42% statewide. Unfortunately, Harris teachers did not respond to Survey Works 2011-2012 (Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013a).

Family
Good teachers and strong teaching practices are important to a good education but just as important is support and guidance at home. Results from Survey Works 2011-2012 for Harris elementary school like those for the State of Rhode Island indicate that the majority of students feel they have supportive families. 88% of the students surveyed at Harris feel their parents are interested in what they are learning at school and want them to get good grades. Parent responses at Harris indicate a slightly lower but still significant amount of involvement in the school and in their child's education. At Harris and across the state, over 90% of parents surveyed claim they easily communicate with their child's teacher and understand their report cards (Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013a).

Safe Schools
As we discussed in class, one responsibility of our children's schools is to keep them safe. The majority of Harris parents and their children (88% - 91%) report that they feel safe both in school and on the way to school. These numbers are similar across Rhode Island. However, bullying and fighting between students appears more prevalent at Harris according to Survey Works. 57% of Harris students have experienced at least one type of bullying compared to 51% for the state and 45% of the parents report physical fights between students compared to 32% for the state. Again, teachers did not provide any survey responses (Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013a).

Funding and Resources
With a median family income of $38,353, the city of Woonsocket is the third poorest district in Rhode Island and it is fifth from the bottom for dollars spent per student (Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013a). The city of Woonsocket has a District Per Pupil Expenditure of $13,485 compared to $15,173 statewide on average according to the summary for 2010-2011. Unfortunately, teachers at the Harris school did not respond to Survey Works but 97% of the students that responded agreed that their school had sufficient textbooks, appropriate desks and that their school "looked nice". Family responses indicated that there are not enough classroom supplies, including textbooks, or computers but Harris family responses were very similar to statewide responses. In his book, Kozol explains that we do not need to tell students of low SES what they are missing because they already know "About injustice, most poor children in American cannot be fooled" (Kozol, 1991). Based on their family's responses, students at the Harris school apparently have not had enough exposure to know what constitutes enough.

Changes over the past decade...






These graphs are copied from the Infoworks website and they give us a snapshot of Harris Elementary for the school year 2001-2002 (Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013b). For this year and the previous year, this school was labeled as Low performing meaning 33% or more of the school population had tested not proficient. Recall that this past year the Harris school was labeled at a Warning level and one can begin to wonder what has been going on within these walls. The percentage of students that feel safe at this school has increased over the last ten years from 72% to 88%. Parental involvement in the school has also increased from 50% to 88%. Math NECAPs in 2011 show a mean of 51% proficient, but in 2002 the school reported 38% proficient. In 2011 Harris reported a mean of 53% proficient in reading, in 2002 about 60% proficient. However, in 2002 Harris students were closely aligned with the rest of Rhode Island but in 2011, as I explained earlier, Harris students have fallen behind their peers across the state. In a SALT report on the Harris school released in 2001, recommendations to teachers included the use of a "full range of strategies to support effective reading instruction" and more consistent feedback on student writing Wilson, 2001). The report also noted that teachers at Harris "do not require the use of multiple solutions or employ questioning techniques that develop higher order thinking skills. Teachers miss opportunities to clarify operational procedures through analysis of student errors. These findings help to explain why few students are able to meet or exceed the standard on statewide mathematics concepts and problem-solving assessments". Based on the data I have reviewed for this report I can only conclude that the recommendations provided within the Salt Report have yet to come to fruition. After further thought though, perhaps this school is working towards change but is not necessarily teaching to the test. Perhaps instead they are teaching higher-order thinking skills and using problem solving approaches in the classroom. Perhaps these teachers are teaching in context. Perhaps these teachers are instilling life skills and developing responsible citizens. None of these are measured by standardized testing but they do all take into account each child's individuality and each child's potential.

Harris Elementary School. (2013). Retrieved July 5, 2013, from http://harriselementary.weebly.com/index.html Kozol,J. (1991). //Savage Inqualities Children in America’s Schools//. New York: Broadway Paperbacks Rhode Island Department of Education. (2013a). Info Works! Retrieved July 5, 2013, from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/harris-school Rhode Island Department of Education. (2013b). Information Works. Retrieved July 5, 2013, from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/reports/school.asp Wilson, T. (2001, February 10). Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Information Sevices. Retrieved July 6, 2013, from http://www.eride.ri.gov/salt/ .