Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott Hosts District Meeting

By JOHN MILLER

Arkansas's Crusade Systemic Initiatives was touted as one of the best programs to have come along in years.

The program was touted at the Arkansas School Board Association meeting, held Tuesday, Oct. 29 at the Prescott Elementary School.

The crusade was discussed by coordinator Janie Troutline, who said it is operated from a $10 million grant for five years, with the state to match on a 1:1 basis. However, she said Arkansas has been matching the grant at a level of about 8:1.

The crusade, she said, is an effort to improve math and science skills in Arkansas schools, though a total of 28 states are participating in the program.

There is a two-fold vision involved, Troutline told the audience, composed of school administrators and school board members. First is economic development by providing a good work force for tomorrow's jobs.

The second phase is to provide effective citizens for future leadership.

To achieve these visions, she said, attitudes have to be changed. These include the attitudes of teachers and their methods as well as those of students.

Troutline said there are teachers who believe some students can't learn. This is not the case, however, as all students, according to the program, are capable of learning, though at different speeds and levels.

Some parents have the same attitude, remembering problems they may have had with math and science, and not pushing their children to learn these skills.

According to Troutline, most students love math and science in elementary school, but something happens as they near high school.

Part of the problem could be the method used in teaching -- rote memorization of facts.

"We don't need to just retrain teachers," Troutline said, but to change students' attitudes. If we do this, they will willingly take higher level courses."

She said the program has been in place in Arkansas for three years, with the state divided into five regions. It also involved nine graduate level courses for teachers who participate, and is available at any college in the state.

The third component of the crusades is to teach math and science on a K-4 level, while the primary program is for grades five through college.

The K-4 level is basically a reading component, Troutline said, with superintendents and principals having to agree to purchase the necessary equipment for the program before it can be implemented.

This is to insure the program is taught with the same tools in the same manner in all schools across the state.

An important component in the K-4 program is getting families involved. Troutline said by bringing the families in and making the learning fun, the students can do better in these subjects.

Two Prescott instructors discussed using the program in their classes, with Joyce Westmoreland, a science teacher speaking first.

She said her sixth grade science class began the crusade in Jan. '95 to help get equipment for the classroom.

She implemented the K-4 program in her classes because, as she said, the fifth and sixth grade students are caught in between grade levels. They are ahead of K-4, but below the higher courses.

By combining the programs, she achieved a "happy medium" with the students enjoying the learning process now, especially with the microscopes and balance scales.

Teresa Ragsdale, who teaches math at Prescott High School, got involved with the crusade in the summer of 1992 when the program was new to the region.

Its purpose, she said, is to stress problem solving skills. The teaching method is hands-on incorporating writing with the mathematics by the students.

Ragsdale said calculators are useful, but not something the students get dependent on. The calculators, she continued, help the classes move faster, though the students are also taught how to work problems without them.

According to Ragsdale, the crusade goes from the concrete to the manipulative to the abstract in teaching, while students, some who believe they aren't learning, pick up on the concept without realizing it.

Students use algebra tiles, color cubes, house plans and mobiles to learn math skills.

The color cubes, she said, teach volume, area and perimeter. In Geometry, she continued, they learn about similar polygons by drawing their "dream houses."

These house plans also teach the students about dimension.

Mobiles are used by the students to learn how the different symbols are tied together.

Her Algebra II class found itself with a five page report to write, while the classes utilize reading to develop math skills as well.

Bobby Aldridge, the superintendent of Texarkana schools, said in 1985 his district began looking at programs used by more effective schools.

The first he found was site based management, something implemented in Texarkana schools, which gives the instructors more leeway and freedom in their instruction.

He said they also utilized the crusade K-4 program as soon as it became available, with all teachers retrained in this method.

The two programs, coupled, give the teachers almost total control of how money is spent in their areas, as a team of teachers are involved in the decision-making.

One of the major things Aldridge has seen, he said, is the faculty coming together and taking more responsibility for what they do because they are in control of the finances.

He said his teaching staff feels an ownership of the programs and have accepted the responsibility and accountability which comes with it. The results, he said, are better performances by teachers and students.

"Students," he said, "will reach the level expected of them, as will teachers and administrators. With higher expectations, the results will rise. We're sold on the K-4 Crusade in Texarkana. We've seen immediate results along with a pyramid of results.

"The qualities we looked for in the first year are rising in the third year. The knowledge accumulates," he said.

Dr. Tom Venters, ASBA president, talked to the audience on the areas of concern for the upcoming legislative session.

In 1988, he said, public school funding was 51 percent of the state's tax revenue. This year schools received 46.8 percent. Each percent, he said, means $28 million.

"We have an underfunded education budget in Arkansas this year," he said. "This is where the surplus has come from. We need to be moved up to the 50 percent level. We're spending $54 a day to house prisoners, I wish we could do the same (spend $54 per day) for the students."

One of the problems, Venters said, is unfunded mandates from the state and federal level. He said when a mandate is passed down, it starts by being funded, but the money gets taken away, making the districts responsible for maintaining the laws and/or programs.

The ASBA will also be working with the general assembly on fine tuni