(Vol. 1, No. 2 - Spring 1997)

The SECOND issue of Changing Schools in Long Beach
-- a tabloid newspaper published by the Focused Reporting Project --
is now available on paper and here on MiddleWeb.

If you'd like a paper copy, here's how you can get one.

Here are the stories published in
the paper version of Volume 1, Number 2:


Scenes of progress and struggle along the road to school reform -- Snapshots of events, large and small , on the long trip toward middle grades reform.


Teacher Content Knowledge
Getting to Know -- Students will not meet higher academic standards without teachers who have a deep understanding of their subjects -- and many do not. But in Long Beach, good professional development programs and a "seamless" community partnership are beginning to make a difference.


Standards-Based Reform
Building Standards-Based Schools -- Many teachers in LBUSD's middle schools are looking more deeply into their own classroom practice and coming out of their classrooms to work together on standards-based teaching.

What issues do schools face as they grapple with standards? -- When teachers begin to open up to each other and talk about using academic standards as the foundation for teaching and learning, what issues confront them? According to principals and teachers, these are some of the basic concerns they have to work through.

Practicing the Impossible -- As teachers rush like Alice's rabbit from one demand to another, many see the Long Beach school district's new emphasis on a standards-based curriculum at the edge of their vision and think: "It will just have to wait its turn" or "Prove to me it's more important than all the other pulls on my time." Anne Lewis tries.


Authentic/Classroom Assessment

New ways of testing and grading can "help students learn and teachers teach" -- As the Long Beach Unified School District expands its testing and assessment program to support standards-based reform, teachers are expected to learn new ways to test and grade in their own classrooms.

Why test scores can't be the only score -- Critics claim that the current way we judge school performance and hold educators accountable to basic skills test score results just doesn't work well enough. Here's why.

Just what IS a rubric? -- If you're the parent of an elementary or middle school child, you may have heard the word "rubric" and wondered what it means.

A "Problem of the Week" rubric -- Karen Maine, a 7th grade mathematics teacher at Cubberly School, provides a rubric to guide her students in completing a math "problem of the week." It's a word problem that requires students to pick out important information and use a variety of math skills to find the solution.


Cultural Diversity

Kids at Marshall Middle School believe "It's up to us to end the racism." -- A group of youngsters who call themselves the "Diversity Ambassadors" have accepted personal responsibility for easing racial tensions at a California middle school where diversity is the norm. An interview with four 8th graders.

A sensitive teacher and a misplaced essay help bridge one school's racial divide -- Francine Curtis, a history teacher at John Marshall Middle School in Long Beach (CA), describes the development of the school's "Diversity Ambassadors" program and the progress students have made in building racial harmony in the school.

Connecting Parents to Middle School Reform -- Schools need parent and community support to make standards-based reform work. To build that support, they'll have to overcome traditional barriers of communication between home and school.


Parents and the Community

Finding a Common Language -- School-home communication is doubly difficult when parents speak more than 40 different languages. "There are parents who feel if you don't know the word for 'standards' in Spanish, don't talk to me."

LBUSD "is hearing what business is saying" -- Wilma Powell is Chief Wharfinger of the Port of Long Beach and chair of the advisory board for the Youth Development and Resource Center at Stanford Middle School. She talked with Changing Schools about the business role in school reform.

Find out about LBUSD's "recipe" for middle grades reform -- A new report from the Long Beach school system documents the district's campaign to raise middle school school achievement through standards-based reform.



Here are some additional materials that will be available only on MiddleWeb:

7th Grade Students at Cubberly Middle School Talk about Rubrics -- Cubberly teachers Karen Maine and Lorrie LaCroix asked their 7th graders to discuss the pro's and con's of using rubrics -- from a kids-eye point of view.

Francine Curtis Describes the Diversity Ambassador Program -- Here's the complete interview with Francine Curtis, a history teacher at John Marshall Middle School in Long Beach (CA), who has helped her students develop a program to reduce racial tensions in their school.

An Evaluation of Standards-Based Reform in Long Beach -- Consultant Barbara Berns offers an evalution of the school district's middle school reform efforts thusfar.

A long-term assessment plan for the Long Beach schools -- Memorandum by Lynn Winters, assistant superintendent for research and evaluation, describing LBUSD's assessment strategies.


Stories from the first issue of Changing Schools in Long Beachare also available on MiddleWeb.



ORDER THE NEWSPRINT EDITION

To receive a copy of the newsprint version of Changing Schools, send a self-addressed envelope with $1.28 postage to Kevin Kirkwood, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 250 Park Avenue, Suite 900, New York, NY 10177. Ask for "Changing Schools in Long Beach, No. 2, Spring 1997."
Back to the Index for Changing Schools in Long Beach #2

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