This story appeared in the Knoxville News-Sentinel

LOUDON - Just days after members of the Loudon County school board hotly debated the effectiveness of pricey pre-kindergarten education programs, several parents and teachers took advantage of their chance to weigh in on the topic Thursday night.

Rachel Boals, a teacher at Philadelphia Elementary School, spoke in support of continuing the pre-K programs, despite a recently released study that some say shows the programs are not effective in the long term.

Boals, who has taught first-graders as well as pre-K students, said she can see the difference in educational achievement and urged doubters to visit the pre-K classrooms and speak with the teachers.

“I know there is learning going on,” Boals said. “The children I am sending to kindergarten are better prepared than the children that were coming to me in the first grade.”

Studies such as the one recently conducted by the state have significant flaws in the way the data was collected, Boals said. More studies are needed to accurately judge the long-term effects of pre-K programs, she said.

Sarah Daily, a Loudon parent and founder of the Loudon County Schools Solutions Web site, said she would urge the board to consider adding space for more pre-K programs when discussing the school building program.

Board member and University of Tennessee professor of education Gary Ubben brought several pre-K handouts for the board to read, including the text of a February 2008 address to the state Legislature by Dr. Steve Barnett, a Rutgers University professor. The report outlined the benefits of the pre-K programs.

Ubben said he expects the debate over pre-K to continue, and he wants to make sure the board has access to information from multiple sources.

Want to boost kids’ grades? Get them moving

Want to help your kids do better in school this fall? Get them moving. That’s the message from a growing field of research linking physical activity with better academic performance.

At a time when many schools have reduced or eliminated gym classes and recess, experts say the worry goes beyond the childhood obesity epidemic.

“It’s not only Johnny’s getting fat, and heart disease down the road — all that’s true. But it’s also that he might not do as well in school,” says James Pivarnik, president-elect of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and a professor of kinesiology at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

In one of the latest studies in this field, Pivarnik and colleagues found that middle-school students who performed best on fitness tests — which gauged aerobic capacity, strength, endurance, flexibility and body composition — performed better academically as well.

Results from the study, which included 317 students in grades six through eight, showed that the fittest group of students scored almost 30 percent higher on standardized tests than the least fit group. And the least fit students had grades in four core classes that were 13 percent to 20 percent lower than all other kids, according to findings presented at a recent ACSM meeting.

Experts speculate that exercise may boost academic performance in various ways, including: burning off pent-up energy and allowing kids to pay attention better and focus on their work; boosting self-esteem and mood; and increasing blood flow to the brain, helping with memory and concentration.

Studies in older people have found that cognitive function is significantly better among those who are active, Pivarnik notes. “This is the other end,” he says. “This is the developmental end.”

Teri Coha, a Chicago-area mother, says physical activity is essential for keeping her 9-year-old son, Cody, on track in school. He has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and although he takes medication for it, he needs daily exercise to help him focus, she says.

“We use exercise as a tool for studying because we would never get through it” otherwise, she says. “He just needs that outlet.”

Besides allowing for short exercise breaks during study sessions, sometimes Coha combines exercise and academics, practicing spelling words with her son while the two of them take a walk.

Some educators say they notice a difference, too.

Ken Endris, the principal at Fouke Elementary in Arkansas, where state law requires elementary students to get 150 minutes of physical activity (including physical education and recess) each week, says most kids enjoy activity breaks — and their teachers appreciate them as well.

“Teachers say the kids are more alert when they come to the classroom,” says Endris, a former PE teacher.

Organized sports not always the best answer
So if your child’s school is lacking in PE and recess, should you hurry to sign your kid up for sports this fall? Not necessarily. While sports certainly can help kids to shape up, regular free play — at the playground or your backyard — may work just as well, or even better.

In another study presented at the meeting, researchers found that kids engaged in more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during non-competitive play than during competitive elimination games.

The research involved 29 children in grades four to six whose physical activity levels were assessed during two sessions of elimination games (such as tag, in which a tagged child had to sit out the rest of the game) and two sessions of non-elimination games (such as a modified version of tag, in which a tagged child could come back into the game after doing five jumping jacks).

“As you might expect, when you eliminate children from games, they’re less active because they’re sitting on the sidelines,” says study author David Dzewaltowski, head of the department of kinesiology at Kansas State University.

The same can happen with organized youth sports, he says, where kids may spend a lot of time on the bench, particularly if they aren’t among the star players. And some sports, such as soccer, generally involve more overall activity than others, such as baseball.

But even kids who don’t get much game time can get a lot of physical activity during well structured practices. Dzewaltowski urges parents to observe a couple practice sessions before signing a child up to make sure players aren’t standing around much of the time. A good coach, he says, keeps the kids moving with multiple training stations so they aren’t waiting in line to kick or hit a single ball.

Dodge ball doesn’t keep kids moving
Parents also can talk with gym teachers about incorporating different types of activities into class. Dodge ball, while a perennial PE favorite, is a classic elimination game that rewards the most skilled, often the jocks who are already fit.

Still, some exercise is better than none, which is why health and fitness experts are so concerned about kids getting less physical activity during the school day.

“You’re cutting off your nose to spite your face here,” says Pivarnik. “It’s pretty short-sighted.” The ACSM is pushing for more physical activity in schools, as is fitness guru Richard Simmons.

As a 268-pound high schooler who sat on the sidelines during sports and ate other students’ lunches, Simmons knows all too well about the challenges of being “the fat kid.” So when he testified before Congress recently about the need for more physical activity in schools, he said that like him, all kids can’t make the cut in sports, but all children can — and need — to move.

“Everyone is not a jock,” he told Congress. “Everyone cannot play sports. Everyone cannot run. But everyone can be fit.”

Jacqueline Stenson is a freelance writer in Los Angeles. A former senior health producer for msnbc.com, her work also has appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times, Health, Shape, Women’s Health, Fit Pregnancy and Reuters Health.

Currently, our PTO is in the midst of its annual membership drive.  You can join for just $4/per family member.  As many of you know, PTO supplies Eaton with many resources including instructional supplies, the latest technology, and playground equipment.  So, join with us to help our Eaton Rockets Soar!

There has been talk that there are too many teachers in our schools.  I challenge anyone who believes that to come spend a day with us.  Just try to find one person in a school not working hard each and every day.  Unfunded federal legislation (No Child Left Behind) demands that local school systems show equal academic gains among all subgroups of their student populations.  This is a lofty goal and well-intended.  No one in this profession wants to short change a child when it comes to education.  With little federal monies forthcoming, this lofty goal has placed an enormous economic burden at the local level.  School systems across the country are wrestling with the same issues as Loudon County, but many of these systems have a “leg up” because they have been incrementally increasing the school funding stream over an extended period of time.  Not so in Loudon County. 

It is quite depressing to those of us who spend 10-12 hours every day in our schools to hear some local pundits and politicians say we are overstaffed and undeserving of the money needed to run our school system.  Yes, every budget has room to trim, and each year we do this.  That is why most schools do not have art and music, why air conditioning systems have been put on hold, and why all student subgroups are not performing at the same levels.  We have cut our budget.  Can the same be said for the County? 

For those of you interested, take a comparative look at per pupil expenditures across East Tennessee.  Loudon County spends $7,145/per student in a state where the average is $7,794.  Remember, that the state average ranks in the bottom 10% of funding on a national level.  Lenoir City spends $7,569, Blount County $7,336, Anderson County $7,724, Monroe County $7,246, Roane County $7,578, Sevier County $7,787, and Knox County $7,732.  Even Hancock County spends $8,599 on students!  We would be thrilled to just receive the average per pupil expenditures!  How about this — can we just have funding equal to Lenoir City? 

As a Loudon County resident, I sympathize at the thought of higher property taxes; however, I also know we have had it much better than the majority of Tennesseans over the past several years.  It is time for us to pay our fair share.  Our educators are working long hours and getting remarkable results.  Based on test scores (www.education-consumers.org) Eaton is ranked 17th in the state and Highland Park is 32nd.  Taxpayers and students are getting A+ results for D funding. 

Our students are our greatest resource.  Our teachers help our students develop into responsible, learned citizens.  We need to show both groups we recognize their value and adequately fund our school system. 

I had the opportunity to attend the National Elementary School Principals Association national conference in Nashville April 4-7.  One of the keynote speakers, Daniel Pink who authored A Whole New Mind, expounds on the theory that the world economy is moving from the Information Age to a new Conceptual Age.  We are moving from a society that rewards pure knowledge to one that requires knowledge in addition to creative right-brain thinking.  He told the story of the GM CEO addressing shareholders and leading with this statement — “We are in the design business.”  Not the car business, not the engineering business — the DESIGN BUSINESS. 

What better way for students to develop and hone their inate creativity than through art and music classes?   We are fortunate at Eaton to have wonderful art and music teachers.  They take classrroom content and weave strands of art and music.  These teachers have the ability to bring out the best in even our most reluctant classroom learners. 

Eaton qualifies for art and music teachers because of our size.  This begs the question — don’t all students deserve a chance to showcase their creativity through art and music no matter the size of the school?  I’m interested to hear parent comments on this issue. 

 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation enacted in 2002 changed the face of education.  Despite a lack of federal funding, this law requires states to establish stringent curriculum standards for reading/language, math, science, and social studies to be tested annually.  The goal of NCLB is that all students are academically proficient in these subjects by 2014.  School districts are measured on their ability to move toward that goal by showing each year a greater percentage of its students meet proficiency standards.  Each state must use the same standards for all school districts, and all public school students are required to take the annual tests.  Yearly state report cards will separate achievement data into subgroups.  Consequently, each subgroup must show the same gains as required for groups as a whole.  For instance, students who are economically disadvantaged must make the same gains as their non-economically disadvantaged peers.  This holds true for different genders, ethnicity, English langauge learners, and special education students. 

NCLB requires states to establish stringent annual improvements for each school.  This measurement is called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).  AYP is determined by each state, and again, all subgroups must reach these expectations. 

Schools who fail to make AYP for two or more consecutive years in the same subject or subgroup face consequences which include school choice, supplemental educational services (to be paid for at the local level), and restructuring. 

To meet AYP 95% of all students must take TCAP, students in all subgroups must show proficiency in math, reading/language, science, and social studies, and the school must maintain a 93% attendance rate (thus the new emphasis on attendance and the increase in truancy referrals). 

Here at Eaton we test all students in grades 1-4; however, for state report card purposes, only the results from grades 3-4 are used.  The state uses two different types of tests depending on the grade level of the child. 

Students in grades 1-2 take what is called a “Norm Referenced Test” (NRT).  This instrument gives a comparison of student performance in five content areas agains a national norm group.  The expectation is that the average score for a school or school system will be at the national average. 

Students in grades 3-8 take “Criterion Referenced Tests” (CRT).  CRTs measure an individual student’s performance against a predetermined set of standards which are established based on the curriculum.  The state determines  “cut scores” that put children into three different groups — advanced, proficient, or not proficient. 

How has NCLB changed education and what does it mean for Eaton and my child?  Having been in this business for 17 years, I think the greatest change is that the state curriculum standards absolutely drive all instruction.  Teachers no longer have the time or freedom to teach topics that fall outside the grade level curriculum.   Time also becomes a factor because of the sheer number of the curriculum standards required for each grade level.  Curriculum continues to get tougher at each grade level with more expected at a younger age.  Data analysis now drives School Improvement Planning as we look at all subgroups to make sure all our students are making the same gains.  We have had to “toughen up” on absenteeism and there has been an increase in truacy referrals due to the 93% attendance rule of NCLB.  Even if a school meets all academic benchmarks but fails to reach attendance rate, they do not make AYP. 

If you are not dizzy from all this information, I would be happy to answer any questions or clear up any misunderstandings.  Just post a comment.