Letters.Absent Staff Cynthia Price's article, "Missing Top Staff in Bottom Schools" (August 2002), reminded me of a significant finding in my own doctoral dissertation on teacher absenteeism: There is a high correlation between teacher attendance and student achievement. Schools where students performed poorly were the same schools in which teachers were absent the most. How unfortunate that the students who needed continuity of instruction the most got it the least. In my study, it was more than the "top staff" who were missing in "bottom schools." It was staff in general who were regularly missing from the bottom-performing schools. Unfortunately, this still goes on in many of our nation's failing schools. Teacher attendance improves when teachers feel a sense of achievement in their work. We must do more, especially in failing schools, to ensure that teachers have the resources and support to be successful. This in turn should lead to better teacher attendance, continuity of instruction and greater pupil achievement. EVAN EVAN Expandable Van PITKOFF Superintendent, Newtown Public Schools, Newtown, Conn. Spousal Support spousal support n. payment for support of an ex-spouse (or a spouse while a divorce is pending) ordered by the court. More commonly called alimony, spousal support is the term used in California and a few other states as part of new non-confrontational language (such As I read the guest column by Beth Bruno ("Marriage to a Superintendent: Not for Faint-Hearted," August 2002), I couldn't help but reflect on the 25 years I served as superintendent and the pressure endured by my wife and five children. My wife was the glue that kept everything together. DON LANGLOIS New Harbor, Maine New Harbor is a small coastal village located in the town of Bristol, in Lincoln County in the US state of Maine. It is the home of Pemaquid Lighthouse. The town's lobster fisherman and "Back Cove" were featured on an episode of the Discovery Channel's "Sunrise Earth". My wife Ruby and I were pleased to read Beth Bruno's commentary on the impact of the superintendency Su`per`in`tend´en`cy n. 1. The act of superintending; superintendence. on family members. We thought it was right on the money!. Over the many years I was a school administrator in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Arizona, Ruby had the savvy to handle the very situations Bruno related in her article. Our four daughters also were pros, except for the youngest. Following a local teachers' strike, some teachers took out their anger on her when she was a high school senior. We had to pull her out of school and enroll her in a neighboring state. My father was the district superintendent District Superintendent may be:
I've been retired from the superintendency since 1979, but Bruno's column brought back lots of memories. JOHN B. VERMILYA Palm Springs Cathedral City, Calif. Root of the Gap Ronald Thomas's article, "Getting to the Root of the Gap" (August 2002), really has caused me to think critically about where my school is in the school improvement process. Recently our school has shown a positive achievement trend, but we continue to ask repeatedly those tough "why" questions that he poses. I appreciated his message and will share it with my staff as well as my school improvement team. KELLY M. HALL Principal, Leonardtown Elementary School elementary school: see school. , Leonardtown, Md. Ron Thomas's discussion of the kinds of thinking and connections school improvement teams need to do and make to improve student achievement is on target. He encourages these teams to understand that data analysis means much more than "unpacking" test scores and to undertake conversations about the "actions of the adults in the school" as possible root causes for what may inhibit student learning. While this view offers school teams serious opportunities for thoughtful analysis and ongoing strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. , it compels us to discuss and define roles. Who has control over which root causes? Teacher contract negotiations? The team? The district? His work also raises these questions in my mind: What can districts and states do to address root causes identified by school improvement teams? What can we do to help schools build their capacity to apply systems thinking and to support professional development that encourages school-level problem solving problem solving Process involved in finding a solution to a problem. Many animals routinely solve problems of locomotion, food finding, and shelter through trial and error. ? What can states and districts do to create rewards, incentives and assistance, and what can schools, districts and states do together to build consensus around our student achievement goals? COLLEEN SEREMET Assistant Superintendent Assistant Superintendent, or Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was a rank used by police forces in the British Empire. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held by a European officer, most of whom joined the police at this rank. for Instruction, Maryland State Department of Education, Baltimore, Md. Tech Outsourcing I wanted to compliment Kate Beem on her "Tech Support" article (June 2002). It gives a good overview of what various school districts throughout the country are doing regarding information technology outsourcing Information Technology Outsoucing or ITO is a company's outsourcing of computer or Internet related work, such as programming, to other companies. It is used in refence to Business Process Outsourcing or BPO, which is the outsourcing of the work that does not require so much . KAYLA WHITE Corporate Communications Corporate communications is the process of facilitating information and knowledge exchanges with internal and key external groups and individuals that have a direct relationship with an enterprise. , Campuware Corp., Farmington Hills Far·ming·ton Hills A city of southeast Michigan, an industrial suburb of Detroit. Population: 81,400. , Mich. Appreciation of the Press After reading the guest column by Kathleen Klink, the superintendent in Lakota, Ohio ("Freeing the Student Press for Their Good and Ours," April 2002), how I wish that administrators at the local and district levels could take phone calls from irate callers and advise them to (1) call the adviser, (2) talk to the writer or (3) write a letter to the editor--instead of calling the adviser on the carpet, reprimanding him or her and possibly relieving the adviser of the position. Kathleen Klink needs to know that what she wrote is appreciated and will be shared with many. ELLEN KERSEY kersey coarse, narrow cloth used for leg bandages in horses. President, Southern California Journalism, Education Association, Camarillo, Calif. |
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