Second D grade has North Putnam looking for solution

Thursday, January 16, 2014

ROACHDALE -- Making the grade has been a tough thing for North Putnam Middle School these past two years. The school has received a D grade in consecutive years and the Indiana Department of Education now classifies it as a priority school.

By being classified as a priority school North Putnam Middle School falls into a category where it can work to improve its grade or it could become a state-run school. If it were to become a state-run school, North Putnam Middle School would have all curriculum, employment and activities devised by the state.

"The state can come in and take over the school if things don't change," North Putnam Community School Corporation Superintendent Dan Noel said. "This is not something we want."

He went on to explain how the state can restructure everything about a school if it were to happen. Noel also stated that the school would need to boost its letter grade to at least a C to show measurable improvement to the state.

To avoid the state-run scenario administration has been scrambling to find ways to improve math and reading comprehension scores for this springs ISTEP testing.

With only 30 days until ISTEP, middle school principal Terry Tippin stated that a plan has been enacted to help boost scores. Part of the plan is before and after school study sessions that help focus on curriculum that is lacking, also a word of the day to help expand student's "testing word" vocabulary. The group that will be focused on is the "tweeners," as Noel calls them.

"Tweeners" is the group of the student body that are not remedial students, but not the "gifted" students either. This target group includes those students in the middle who just need a bit of an extra push to change their test scores.

Noel also believes that this should be a large community concern and was anxious by the lack of parents attending the meeting.

"I haven't been doing this (communicating with community) very well," Noel admitted.

He also said he was "very proud" to be at North Putnam and taking this on as a major challenge. Noel stated that the school board, administration and teachers have been working together to come up with long-term goals to continue to improve the grades of the school. One is curriculum plan, which will help make a standard curriculum for each grade.

Those parents and teachers present at the meeting Wednesday night were curious about what they could do to reach the students that needed help. Noel and Tippin let them know that any input and suggestions from parents and the community would be appreciated, and there would also be committees set up to involve teachers, parents and administration.

Noel thinks this is necessary for the future of not just the middle school but also the other schools in the corporation.

"While the immediate problem is at the middle school," he said. "We also need to focus on the other schools."

The other schools in the North Putnam Corporation scored higher than the middle school. Roachdale Elementary upped its grade to an A this year, while the high school maintained its A grade from last year and Bainbridge Elementary received a C grade.

While focus is on the middle school, Noel is wanting to be able to maintain the A's at Roachdale Elementary and the high school and find a way to boost Bainbridge Elementary to the same level.

"While interviewing a candidate for (Bainbridge Elementary) principal one of our questions is how would the get an A grade," Noel explained.

He also stated that the data received from the state on the high school and Roachdale Elementary is being examined to see what is being done differently at these schools and if it can be translated to the middle school to help the grade.

Even middle school students were concerned by the grade the school had received.

"What can the above average students do to help?" a middle schooler in the audience asked.

"Tutoring at the least," Noel commented "And influence other students by what you say and how you act."

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  • I like how the focus is simply to try to get the C students to improve their scores by a few points to sway the average. Who cares about the the kids who are struggling. Why did they extend the contract of this guy before his initial contract was up? There is a lack of leadership from the central office and the middle school administration needs some tweaking if they are going to be successful. Tutoring is not the answer - educating is. Get the teachers off their phones, out of their cars smoking, and back in the classroom with some accountability.

    -- Posted by jorge on Fri, Jan 17, 2014, at 5:30 AM
  • Perhaps it's time for the North Putnam education professionals to seriously evaluate the middle school curriculum and the way that curriculum is delivered to these children. It may be that the "middle school concept" of experiential education has some flaws that need to be analyzed and addressed. There is no time to lose. The future of this corporation is at stake. More importantly, this failure to educate negatively impacts our children.

    -- Posted by LJScott on Fri, Jan 17, 2014, at 8:38 AM
  • What jorge must not understand is that it is the kids that are struggling that is causing the school to get a low grade----and I am not saying that in a bad way for the kids! And you are also wrong when you say tutoring is not the answer! Or maybe you do not realise tutoring is a form of education? And just for the record, I am not a North Putnam teacher, staff member of parent of a NP student. But I am interested in what goes on at NP (my kids all graduated from there) and I don't want the school to be taken over by the state. I also know that Greencastle Middle School had the same problem a few years ago. Maybe Mr. Noel need to talk with Mrs. Puckett and see what they did. I do know for a fact that the Greencastle scores came up and I also know it was a school and community effort. There was "a lot" of tutoring going on too! Good Luck NP Middle School, work hard and you will pull through this. (And I find it interesting that jorge seems to know that the teachers are on their phones, or in their cars smoking!)

    -- Posted by interested party on Fri, Jan 17, 2014, at 8:57 AM
  • I don't think the Middle School and Bainbridge grades are the results of over night teaching. I agree get the teachers off their phones, hold teachers accountable for their own absences, stop relying on movies to educate our kids, and start teaching the fundamentals again. I would be curious to know how the test scores of the Middle Schoolers from Roachdale Elementary compare to those from Bainbridge Elementary.

    -- Posted by NPparent2 on Fri, Jan 17, 2014, at 9:09 AM
  • In reading all the comments posted so far this morning not one person has mentioned the parents. Parents need to be involved in the child's education. Not all can be taught at school some things need to start at home. Parents your children receive report cards 4 times a year and also mid-term updates. Do you sit down with them and go over subjects they are low in and see what can be done to bring up those grades? Or do you praise their academic accomplishments and inspire them to strive higher. Just food for thought...

    -- Posted by NPParent86 on Fri, Jan 17, 2014, at 9:50 AM
  • Not only do parents receive report cards and mid-terms they also should have access to Harmony. This gives them access to information about their student daily. I agree that the students go to school to be educated. And that educators should have plans set forth in their absence so that it is less of a disruption to the students. I also believe that the importance of school and learning must be taught at home. Parent involvement is a key part of success. Pointing fingers and accusations will not fix this only parent involvement can seed the beginning of correction. If the teacher is not teaching and there are facts that contribute to the lack of success of a student or class the administration and/or school board needs details to make changes and/or corrections to prepare our students for college and beyond.

    -- Posted by cougar.proud on Fri, Jan 17, 2014, at 3:36 PM
  • As a NP parent, I would have loved hearing about this meeting. I get emails and voicemails for every sporting event. It would have been nice if the academic meeting was important enough to publicize.

    The middle school has been struggling for a long time and any parent that tries to get involved is shoved out the door if they want better for their child.

    I hope the school board and superintendent listen to that "D" and choose to finally provide leadership in the middle school.

    -- Posted by NPNO on Sat, Jan 18, 2014, at 10:44 PM
  • NPNO I recieved an email from school and a phone call from automated system. There was an additional public meeting at NPMS a couple of weeks ago and I wad notified the same way. I think Mr. Tippin and staff are addressing the problem to the best of their ability and have a solid plan of action in place.

    -- Posted by jlg-33 on Sat, Feb 1, 2014, at 11:55 AM
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