School Improvement: Recent Episodes
Mark Westerburg
As a long time school administrator, I have been in-servicing schools for 30 years. I have a website called Trimesters.org where I focus on scheduling for secondary schools and some policies that work. This podcast is going to a series of short podcast that center around quality policies and practices for school to use. At this point, I am doing it solo and ask listeners to go to my website and email or call if they wish to talk more.
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If you have state testing the scope and sequence should follow that testing calendar. If not, have government in the senior year and have US Histroy in 9th grade to match up to 8th grade. It is best for students to have US History as a reference to understand other cultures.
This is one of many trimester videos I put together during the Covid lockdown. This was used with a school in New Mexico. These are still very relivant and have lots of information. I have a full complement of videos for each department and admin.
There is more available upon request.
Mark
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
Video Download
Science scope and sequence should be based on the state testing program.
This is one of many trimester videos I put together during the Covid lockdown. This was used with a school in New Mexico. These are still very relivant and have lots of information. I have a full complement of videos for each department and admin.
There is more available upon request.
Mark
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
Download Video
I recommend that you listen to Episode 25 The Math Dilema prior to using this one.
This is the thrid of many trimester videos I put together during the Covid lockdown. This was used with a school in New Mexico. These are still very relivant and have lots of information. I have a full complement of videos for each department and admin.
There is more available upon request.
Mark
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
Video Download
This is the thrid of many trimester videos I put together during the Covid lockdown. This was used with a school in New Mexico. These are still very relivant and have lots of information. I have a full complement of videos for each department and admin.
There is more available upon request.
Mark
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
Video Download
This is the second of many trimester video I put together during the Covid lockdown. This was used with a school in New Mexico. These are still very relivant and have lots of information. I have a full complement of videos for each department and admin.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
Video Download
This is the first of many trimester video I put together during the Covid lockdown. This was used with a school in New Mexico. These are still very relivant and have lots of information. I have a full complement of videos for each department and admin.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
I have listed the 12 things legislators could do to really help schools. These items are big in scope but don't require money.
1. Prohibited Rules of Bargaining
2. Stop doing Grants
3. School Improvement Team
4. Cell Phones
5. Minimum wage
6. Work permits and driver's licenses
7. Local Control Focus ( #1)
8. Stop doing state made testing in secondary
9. State graduation standards for CTE diploma and College Ready Diploma
10. All public employees in the same health insurance program
11. Allow a European style of college to exist
12. Set a % cap on special education, encourage 504
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is a podcast dedicated to understanding and working with Transportation, Food Service and Maintenance/Custodial Services. It is critical for an admin to know about how these work and what they cost. This is the area where lots of people want to cut funding from first, but it's not that easy. I know this one is a little longer than normal but before you cut services, you might want to listen to this one.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This podcast focuses on the growing trend of not requiring testing and complaints about it does mean anything. The other issue is that teachers are teaching to the test. Spoiler alert, I hope so. Does anyone give a test they don't teach to and if so why. It is about accountability for the 810 Billion a year spent on K-12 education. I explain some changes that should be make and one of those is to embrace it and expect performance testing.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This episode is about rethinking the high school diploma process for students. Differentiated diplomas make sense and say something about the students work in high school. How about a Scholarship / College Ready Diploma, Career Ready / CTE Endorsed Diploma and a standard diploma as an option. Set criteria for them and make transcript so it show attendance, suspensions, college course taken, and test scores. Maybe an employer might ask for high school information if it was useful. The states have make the number of kids graduating the target and we spend all our time helping students to met the minimum standard instead of being able to set a standard and have them come back next fall should not be considered a district failure.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This podcast is devoted to CLEP testing. CLEP is one of the least used but most effective and efficient ways to get student college credits. CLEP testing allows any high school teacher in the core classes, business and foreign languages to teach a college credit course. Tests are scored 20-80 with 50 being the passing score. CLEP gives credits not grades so it does help or hurt GPA's. I have attached my notes from the podcast below.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is a pitch to schools to make the ASVAB test a more important part of their program. There are few tests that have more of an impact on students than the ASVAB will on their military tenure. It is a great test for IEP's and a check on the CTE programs to see if students are getting the basic skills. In short, a student should never take the ASVAB without preparation. I have some notes available in the bottom of this presentation.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This episode is a response to the growing number of educator who are concerned about AI. I focused on ChatGPT which I view as the new wave in technology we should embrace. It is not going away and has some very useful purposes. This is not about Robots who are taking over human interaction, it is a wonderful new tool in the ELA box for writing.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is an episode dedicated to the growing trend of parents wanting books to be banned at school. The other side of this issue is parents and staff who want to have everything be available. This is a suggestion on a policy and some ideas of how to mange the growing issue.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is a short podcast on things to prepare for next school year. I call it Summer Food for Thought.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is a brief background on the science and history of the English Language. It is very important to know what the elementary does to teach reading. I refer to an expert named Trish Martin ( Unlocking the Reading Code ). I also refer to a book used in high school for a long time that is great for struggling reader called Word Clues as well as SRA Laboratory products and Read Naturally.
English levels are important in secondary schools to work on issues not just water down the content.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This episode is about how to use special education paraprofessionals in a different way in the building to be more efficient and effective. There is a growing need in trying to find and retain paras in schools. The job market has tighten and wages and benefits are high for schools to afford. This is an option to consider when making the para assignments for next year.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This episode is about how to help motivate students to perform on standardized tests that they are required to take. The episode is for secondary schools to use on state and national tests. (State Exams, SAT, ACT, ASVAB, etc.)
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This podcast is about the graduation rate that schools are held accountable to. All of the rating system use it but it does not give any real information. Special Ed., colleges and most post secondary training don't use a timeline, they use standards. It would open a whole world of options to schools for alternative education, CTE, reducing special education numbers and severing the kids better.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is mostly an Op-Ed on my part about what we did well and poorly during the pandemic. I made an effort to go back and forth with good things and things that did not go well. As usual please feel free to disagree and let me know.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This episode talks about the 3 problems in teaching secondary math. The scope and sequence of the courses is critical for students. Problem 1, When to the students take Geometry. Geometry on standardized tests only include plane and coordinate geometry and is about 7 questions on the ACT out of 60 questions. Problem 2, When and where do you teach statistics and probability? A small part of the tests, but it does not fit into Algebra or Geometry. Problem 3, What do you do with the students who do poorly in 8th grade math when they get to high school? The easy solution to these issues are implementing a trimester schedule and require 3 blocks of math in the junior year. (9th Algebra Concepts - less than a B in 8th grade - 10th Grade Algebra 2 - teach all part A in the Fall and require a "B" to go to Part B or Algebra Essentials in the Winter - Junior Year - Advanced Algebra, ACT Math, Geometry A - Senior Year - Geometry B and Personal Finance). In semesters, 9th grade must be Algebra Concepts, 10th grade is Algebra 2, 11th grade is Integrated Alg/Geometry, 12th grade is Personal Finance and elective or even better College Algebra. Statistics and Probability have to be bell work in the classrooms during grades 9-11.
Remember algebra skills are the deal breaker for students in college. As long as college degree in social work requires College Algebra, we need to give the students in high school the Willy Wonka Gold Ticket to a BS degree.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is an overview of what quality instruction should look like in the classroom. There are multiple models to use and some work for teachers and some don't. The bottom line is that engagement and purposeful organization are the key. I have attached a document on the 12 ways how to use homework in your classroom. The art of teaching is figuring out how to use your personality in front of students to engage them.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This episode talks about how to evaluate what literature should be used in ELA classes. Although other classes my require novel reading, it is mostly ELA courses where we get issues from. There are 4 levels of books. Level one is where every student has to read the book and has it attached to their grade. Level two is where there is a set of books to choose from and they pick one to do the graded assignment. Level three is a choice book not graded in anyway and is similar to a library book. Level four are books that are controversial and only designed to change opinions (Op-Ed) and should be seldom used in school. The key concept on level 1-3 is reading level which if it varies use the highest level. Does the public library have the book? Have a process in place to appeal a book that is questioned. In rare cases have an alternate book for a student to use if there is a compelling reason to do so. In conclusion, in our current Left/Right American culture this problem is only going to grow, be prepared.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is a podcast designed to help people evaluate what they have for a schedule and how to consider changing it. As usual this podcast involves lots of my opinions and observations. This episode is a process to follow and all the things to consider when you look at your current schedule and other options.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is an overview of the setup and issues surrounding special education in the public schools. This one is full of opinions of mine but based on my experiences. Special Education is ahead of regular education in many areas but has huge issues of their own. Please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns or opinions.
mwesterburg@gmail.com
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This episode helps people to understand the difference between a Middle School and a Junior High. There is no research that says one is better than the other. A middle school focuses on the whole student and most commonly has an SEL program like Character Counts in a homeroom, and core classes run for longer times than electives and students get lots of elective choices. A junior high is a high school preparation program that focuses on preparing students for high school as its primary goal. Often students are moved up a grade level based on performance and high school credit classes are offered in 8th grade using a schedule which the same as the high school.
The grade configuration of the building plays a role in this decision. In a 7-8 building most people use a junior high concept. When a building is 6-8 you can be either with a transition program for 6th grade as a junior high but as a middle school 6th grade would be the same as 7-8. When a building has 5th grade involved a middle school is almost always the choice based on high school readiness is to soon in 5th grade. However, very effective building who are big enough can and should run a 5-6 middle school and a 7-8 junior high in the same building. In this case the 5-6 teachers use the elementary contract rules and the 7-8 use the high school rules.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This is an overview on evaluating master schedules for a secondary school. The staffing needs and other issues that a schedule can address. The schedule used is only second to the quality of staff you hire in importance. The demographics, size, grade levels and non-curricular issues you want to address are directly tied to the schedule chosen. There is lots more information available on Trimesters.org.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies
Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091
This some common sense practice to use when you get transfer students. The key is to have a practice written down for your schedule. There is an example on the trimesters.org website on how to do it. They have to take as many required classes as possible but be given some room for failures based on the potential credit they can gain in your schedule. Students who come from a schedule with more credits available should be held accountable to a policy you have in place for not having any part time students. For example, "All students must take at least 6 classes per semester to be considered a full time student". When you get a trimester student in the Winter (usually mid January when their semester ends) you place them in the same courses but their grades determine if they go in the A or B section of the class. If a student has an A or B in the semester class, put them in the B section of the trimester. If they have less than a B put them in the A section of the class assuming they need some extra time.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay
This is a simple explanation of what district fund balances mean and why it is important to know. 17% represents 2 months of operational cost and should be the goal of all district to achieve and maintain. Don't systematically spend more than you take in. It is important to know the difference between "Need to Do" and "Nice to Do". Staff expenses range normally between 60-80 percent of a budget. The closer your district is to 80% the more difficult it is to have a fund balance at 17%. Fund Balance is a snap shot at the end of a year to give you the starting point for next year and it's like GPA, easy to lower and hard to increase.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay
This episode talks about the different types of work experiences a student can get in high school. For example; Work Experience - no credit usually 1 period per day for a senior in good standing and on track to graduate. Co-op is usually 2 periods or more a day and the student gets high school elective or CTE credit based on monitoring from the school. The student should have completed the high school pre-reg courses in the CTE area. Apprentice or Intern position are half the day or more where the student is getting not only work experience but licensing or endorsements for the career.
I highly recommend districts look at the ACT Workkeys program and have student take and complete Reading for Information, Applied Math and Locating Information. This is another area where special education is way ahead of the rest of the school. Every student should have a post secondary plan with an A and B option.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay
This is a very simplistic policy on weekly checks on students to make sure they are passing all their classes. A student with a failing grade, sits out until they are passing all their classes. The student still attends practice and games but does not participate in the events. This grade check should be after the second week of each marking period and be done weekly on all students. Band and Choir are co-curricular and do not follow this policy. The goal is to keep them engaged in the activity and use it to motivate them to get their work done.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - ...
How to do merit pay for teachers. Simple formula; decide on a total dollar amount, put a point sheet together, divide the total points earned into the amount, write out checks to teachers.
Key items: 1. Must have a satisfactory evaluation. 2. Building academic goals are set. 3 Attendance is rewarded. 4 PD and committee work on non-paid time is included. 5. Attendance at school events is rewarded.
Here is a sample to look at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vZdkg0FNgVw39hM5zebvkS6kQPAV9HeDdG5NSgIsHF8/edit?usp=sharing
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - ...
This is a review of what the role of social studies should be in high school. Social Studies is 4th in importance of the required core curricular, however is usually more required than math or science. Very few states have a secondary social studies test for students and therefore it becomes a state by state mandate issue. The key to a quality program is to; create critical thinking, enhance language arts in reading and writing, do charts and graphs for ACT prep, and most of all to give student historical and geographical knowledge. Obviously, like most of the episodes this is my perspective on social studies in high school.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell
This episode is about high school honor courses. HS honors class create academic Darwinism. Taking the top students in a grade and having them compete is not a good practice especially in smaller districts. The honors class deludes the quality of the regular classes and in small school the delusion is much greater. The best solution is to set criteria for a student in the previous class to jump up a grade. For example, an A in the 8th grade English class and passing the state assessment could be criteria to allow me to go to 10th grade English by choice not forced. The other option is to make any course available to be called Honors based on getting an "A" and creating a culminating experience in addition to the regular work to give honors distinction. It can be a video, addition test, presentation, or a project.
Don't allow honors classes to get you back into the GPA game and skew grade points. Just adjust the transcript to read Honors as the course name.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell
Guided Academics is a Tier 2 RTI intervention. The class is added to a teacher's assignment during the school day. The class can be taught by anyone, it is considered an other in the coursebook. I would keep the class at 15 or less and make sure that students who are attendance and discipline problems are not put in there. Everyday they get a 10 to 15 minute mini lesson on study skills and the rest of the time they work on their core classes. Sound familiar, yes this is resource room for regular ed. kids.
Here is the guy I would look at for study material. He is the real deal and an awesome presenter, his name is Larry Bell. Check out his store on the website. If you have any other questions you can contact me at trimesters.org or mwesterburg@gmail.com.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell
I briefly explain the four options for students to get college credit in high school. The first is to simply go to the college campus and sit in on a college course. This option is the most authentic for content and atmosphere. However, the timing of the course and the travel can greatly effect there high school schedule. The second option is to take a course online. This provides the greatest access to courses and the easiest to put in a student schedule. However, this option is also where student tend to get only 3 grades, A,B and F. The issue is being self motivated and being able to learn is this fashion on their own. I highly recommend that they have a content teacher as a tutor. The third option is AP testing offered by the College Board. This is the most rigorous of all college credit options and takes the most instructional time from your high school staff. The test is graded 1-5 with 3 being a passing score. The downside is that student get a one time test and all colleges treat AP scores a little different. The majority of students in AP don't take the test or get less than a 3. The core AP courses require a full year of instruction, some of the lesser AP can be done in a semester or two trimesters. The under used option is CLEP testing which allows for all of the common college requirements to be taken on a schedule that works for high school. High school honors classes can be easily designed to cover the CLEP requirements and the student sets up the test date and time. Any student can take CLEP if they have the knowledge and a retest is an option three months later. In short, are you close enough to a college to go their, a self motivated learner to go online, want to be challenged as much as possible and have a nationally standardized test to show, or finally just want to jump start yourself for college by taking as many requirements as you can in high school.
Compare CLEP to AP
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell
This is about the importance of taking College Algebra in High School. College Algebra is far more important than calculus at the high school level. About 70% of college degrees require 1 math class usually called college algebra. A high school student with college algebra done is 70% more likely to get a four year degree. It has always been the gate keeper for getting a post secondary degree. We don't have enough time to talk about why a social work degree needs to be able to do college algebra. I talked about CLEP testing and click on the link to learn more. CLEP testing can be done for almost all of the basic college requirements and is universally accepted.
Trimesters.org andCLEP testing
This is about helping to improvement secondary parent / teacher conferences. Make a policy of no grades less than a C- can be given without parental contact. No text message, voice call, zoom or in person.
This is about changing the community access and perception of the school. Fill the stands and let the concession stands boom. 70% of your gate fees are home crowd, stop charging admission.
This episode does have some of my personal opinions about the need to prepare students for these tests. This preparation goes with creating a senior scholars program and college prep for students. Much more on the trimesters.org website.
This is an important step in changing graduation from singling out students to recognizing the class. Check the website at trimesters.org for more information.
This is a very simple policy to help students and encourage them to retake failed or low grade Classes. By the way, we do not allow students who have a B- or better to retake classes to build their GPA. The second policy is on seniors taking their final final exams. Seniors should have the option to take them if they are in good standing on it can only help them basis. Good Standing means under the attendance limit, no major discipline issues, and passing the class. They can earn days off at the end and help their final grades if needed.
The third episode is about creating and using a common set of classroom expectations. This is a major policy for schools to create the culture of learning and respect. This policy also uses the process of the teachers coming together and voting on a policy they create and are obligated to support. Annually buildings should review their common classroom expectations, late homework policy and extracurricular participation policy. If you want more information and examples please go to trimesters.org.
This is my second podcast on Progressive Honor Roll. The concept it to find and reward students who go up .5 on their term GPA compared to their cumulative GPA. This can be done at any secondary level and rewards a group of students who generally never get recognized for academic performance. Additional information is available at Trimesters.org. If you have questions please contact me at mwesterburg@gmail.com
This is my introduction to the audience. The first policy I do is on Student Attendance. An example can be found at https://www.trimesters.org/uploads/3/4/7/1/34719762/attendance.pdf