Scot Graden's Blog

A few years ago, The Economist stated that “Innovation is now recognized as the single most important ingredient in any modern economy.”  This statement has held true as our own local economy has struggled to adjust from the manufacturing base to a combination of health/human services, alternative energy and technology.  What does this mean for Saline Area Schools?

Can we teach our students to be innovative?  Are we innovative enough as a school district to encourage this skill in our students?  The Partnership for 21st Century Skills noted the following as strategies to encourage creativity and innovation.

Think Creatively
* Use a wide range of idea creation techniques (such as brainstorming)
* Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts)
* Elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate their own ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts

Work Creatively with Others
* Develop, implement and communicate new ideas to others effectively
* Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback into the work
* Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real world limits to adopting new ideas
* View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes

Implement Innovations
* Act on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the field in which the innovation will occur

As a district, our challenge is to develop projects that continue to focus on the State mandated curriculum expectations, while at the same time pushing our students to analyze and evaluate their own ideas about the subject area.  Clearly, we need to work together as a staff to develop these instructional practices.  Summer is coming, time for us to get to work.

Over the past several weeks I have been discussing ideas regarding instructional practices and curriculum at the high school.   I have been using a presentation that includes the statement that I want our community and staff to “define and develop 21st century skills”.  I quickly follow that up with a joke about the overuse of the term.  So, what are 21st century skills?

A recent study of 500 human resource managers conducted by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills asked the question about what skills they thought were essential for success at their company.  The answer at the top – collaboration.  Take my situation – I want to create a culture within Saline Area Schools that embraces technology, willingly accepts change and is resilient in the face of daunting challenges.  Can I accomplish this by myself?  No…. We need to collaboration between the Board of Education, staff, parents, students, community members, business partners and government officials from Lansing to Washington D.C.

Many of you are saying to yourself, “collaboration is just a good skill and has little to do with the 21st century” and in large part you are correct.  For me, the 21st century part enters the picture with the process we use to collaborate.  I need to use social networks (yes, we have an internal professional social network for Saline Area Schools), blogs, wikis, video sharing, Google Docs, etc.  These tools allow for users to be participants.

Showing our current students how to effectively use these tools and equally as important – how to use them in collaboration with others is key.  Many of these “new” tools to encourage collaboration are simply updated versions of classic classroom activities.  For example, earlier this year I was in Ms. McMaster’s 1st grade classroom at Harvest to watch her and her students start the day with an English activity using an interactive whiteboard called a “Smartboard.”  She had written several sentences that had missing punctuation on the board.  She was able to do this the day before based on the concepts the students had demonstrated that still needed to be reinforced.  She called on students to come to the board and choose what was missing – students were asked if they thought the answer was correct, etc.  The class worked together to answer the questions and add the proper punctuation.  When the activity was done, she saved the file for her records and turned the board into an activity center for the next language arts activity.

There are many other examples of collaboration between staff and students that are enhancing their skills in this area.  Continuing to encourage collaboration among students and staff  along with activities that teach this skill will be a focus moving forward.

Some of you may have heard about the changes we are making at Heritage regarding teaching technology.  Earlier this year we chose to add World Language as an elective for our 5th and 6th grade students at Heritage.  For the schedule to work, we replaced the current “technology” elective.  Our vision for technology at Heritage is now focused on intergrating technology skills into the classroom in the form of content driven technology projects.

At this stage of the development process, Ms. Kellstrom and Ms. Patton are looking for input from 5th & 6th Grade staff members who are interested in helping create rubrics for large scale tech projects that include Podcasts, iMovies or Enhanced Powerpoint Presentations.  They are looking at creating tech integration projects that:

• take classroom learning to the next level and not just a regurgitation of content previously learned
• have a rubric created to support the researching, writing and product creation components
• involve detailed research using a variety of traditional and non-traditional sources as well as classroom lectures/presentations/learning experiences
• incorporate strong note taking skills
• use solid and creative writing skills
• use a variety of media for the project, i.e., video, images, music, software & hardware
• a majority of the work is personally created by the student(s) and not copied and pasted from the web
• the work is published on a teacher’s website, Hornet Tube and/or an ePortfolio
• fosters teamwork and collaboration whenever possible
• includes some type of presenting

I am excited with where we are heading with integrating technology into the classroom.  Heritage will be an exciting place for students and staff next year!

We have added a new blog to the Saline Area School website called the Budget Blog. The purpose of this blog is to share information and answer questions regarding our budget.  We will be posting information about the current budget issues and budget projections for next year.  Check it out and post your questions.

Over the past 10 weeks, many of you have read about or heard me talking about the goals of the CARES and Sinking Fund proposals and their importance to the future of our community.  I am pleased to report that both of these proposals were approved on May 5th.  It is my opinion they passed because Saline is a community that values the quality of their school district.  As the superintendent, it is humbling to serve where the citizens are willing to support their district – even in these difficult economic times.

Thank you for your continued support of Saline Area Schools.

During the last few weeks since the Ann Arbor News announced their general demise set for this July I have been wondering about how I will be able to get information out to the Saline community.  We still have the Saline Reporter, the school website, notes home with students, etc.  However, how am I going to be able to engage community members who do not have kids in school (65%+ of our district residents do not) and inform them about their school system?

Using Twitter, I was able to ask the new AnnArbor.com folks about whether or not Saline or other “out county” communities would be covered.  New “Content Director”, Mr. Tony Dearing replied back that the coverage would likely not be in-depth.

Any suggestions?

A recent study compared the performance of students who attended a lecture in person and those who viewed a podcast of the lecture.  It was conducted at a university in an introductory psychology course – the final score…. Podcast 71, Lecture 62.  According to the researchers, note taking had the biggest impact. The podcast students were able to go back and review material and take notes.  Additionally, those who simply listened multiple times to the lecture performed slightly better on the exam than those who sat at the lecture.  However, it should be noted that on average those who took notes from the podcast did the best.

Those of you who follow the blogs here on the SAS site know we have been “podcasting” a fair amount of student work recently.  We have only begun to provide work to students in similar formats, with Ms. Jen Denzin leading the way into the virtual content delivery world at the high school.  Ms. Staci Nazareth is pushing the envelope on that front at the middle school level.

Personally, I still have a lot to learn about best practices in providing content in a podcast format.  While the study shows the positive impact at the university level – the implications for K-12 are clear – our students learn using readily accessible technology in ways many of us don’t yet embrace.

It should not come as a surprise to you that I am very comfortable in front of a laptop.  I spend much of my day communicating on a computer or cell phone (iPhone) to both staff and community members.  I write and answer emails, post information on our website, link messages to Twitter, prepare presentations, send text messages, schedule meetings, create & edit documents, and more.  This type of activity defines working in the early 21st century.

Our students do the same thing, only more so… reading a book while listening to music, watching TV, sending text messages, eating a sandwich all while doing homework.  For instance, a recent study indicated that 46 percent of teenagers had sent text messages while driving.

The question is… Is this really multitasking?  Or is it being distracted and unfocused?

Both.  In my mind, it is simply the new reality.  As educators we must be ready to engage our students in a manner that prepares them for future.  They are digital natives. Multitasking is not going to disappear.  Current neurological research indicates that the loss of attention and the time spent switching from task to task may have an adverse effect on learning complex concepts. Given this research, we must develop strategies to help our students manage the overwhelming stream of information they are faced with each day. Exercise, breaks before moving on, and alternating tasks are all proven ways to combat “techno-brain burnout.” Students need to be prepared to be in control of their learning in the digital age.

Last week I was at a meeting that included a presentation from Tony VanDerworp, the Director of Washtenaw County Planning & Environment.  He was discussing the project underway called, Ann Arbor Region Success. This project is led by various leaders in Washtenaw County and is focused on developing the Ann Arbor region as a hub for economic development over the next 10 years.

As he began, I planned on hearing how we needed good roads, communication systems, access to the airport, available warehouses, etc.  However, the leading issue noted for making this area one of the most exciting in the Midwest was a quality K-12 education system!  It is wonderful to hear planners and economic leaders discuss the virtues of investing in education.  The premise is that 21st century businesses that thrive on innovation need a talented workforce.  The ability to attract and retain this workforce requires a high quality of life – which begins with strong public schools.

We are fortunate to already have high achieving schools in the region.  I am very proud of Saline Area Schools and feel it is one of the best school districts in the State of Michigan.  It is great to know that not only are we helping the students in our community, we are also helping drive the economic future of the region.

As I have stated here before, I do not like to talk a great deal about the budget as it distracts from the conversations about what should be our main focus – improving student achievement.  However, it is now “budget season” and I will be communicating the budget issues we are addressing for the 2009-2010 school year. Below is a breakdown of where the process stands and some of the variables we are considering as we plan for next year’s (July 2009-June 2010) budget.

Federal Funds & Foundation Allowance
As we all know, the federal stimulus package will mean some revenue for public schools in Michigan. There are a few ways we see this impacting Saline.  First, it appears that the State’s ability to access the funds will preserve our Foundation allowance at the 2008-2009 level.  This is a far cry from the original $200 per pupil annual increase that Proposal A was built upon, and not the $100 per pupil increase we have averaged over the last 6 years.  However, it is better than the Governor’s initial budget that proposed a reduction of $59 per pupil.  This would have meant a $324,000 reduction in funding.

In addition, it appears we will get some funds to develop new programs related to our Special Education program.  It is still not clear how much, or to what extent these dollars can be used for existing programs.  In almost every case with federal funds, districts are expected to fund programs that begin with federal dollars after the funding ends.  This means we will need to critically review any new programs to ensure they can be funded once the federal stimulus dollars are gone.

Enrollment
Our enrollment for the 2009-2010 school year multiplied by the foundation grant from the State makes up 84% of our budget.  As you can imagine, during this time of economic turmoil predicting enrollment numbers from year to year is difficult.  Thankfully, for the 2008-2009 school year, we had almost the same number of students as the previous year.  Given that Washtenaw County alone lost almost 1,100 school aged children – holding steady compares to the growth we saw in the early part of this decade.  For next year, we are again planning on flat enrollment.

Sinking Fund & CARES
On May 5th, voters will decide on two proposals that will have an impact on the budget and planning.  The CARES ballot proposal would preserve current programs and services related to Cultural Arts, Recreation, Enrichment and Senior Citizens.  The Sinking Fund would address needed building repairs, updating and renovations. Neither the Sinking Fund or CARES can go directly to the general fund, however, the Sinking Fund would address building needs that will otherwise come from the general fund.

Operational Costs
On the operational side, over the last two years we have cut approximately $2.5 million from our general fund.  This has allowed us maintain a balanced budget and to purchase needed textbooks and technology for our students and staff.  Like all districts, we face rising employee expenditure including health care and retirement costs.

Current Planning
The Board of Education Budget Committee has met twice since January to discuss the basics of the 2009-2010 budget and begin to review assumptions for next school year.  Based on the current information and the assumptions for next year – we are looking to address an $800,000 budget shortfall.  We have already taken steps to trim this number by not replacing 2 staff members who have left since March 1st.

Next Steps
The first draft of our 2009-2010 budget is due to the Board of Education by April 30th.