Student Generation Factor

I learned a fun new term this week: Student Generation Factor. This is the number that the LCPS planning department uses to predict the number of students that will come out of a future residential development.

Single Family: .83 students per home
Townhome: .47 students per home
Multi Family: .28 students per home

Let's say a future development has 100 single family homes. LCPS would predict that 83 students would come from that development. Where does LCPS get that number? From the triennial census.

But wait, there's more! How old are those students? According to LCPS Planning, 51% will be Elementary age, 22% will be Middle Schoolers and the remaining 27% will be High School Students. Here's what else I know... under the current plans, LCPS will build High Schools to house 1,850 students each, Middle Schools at 1,350 students each and Elementary Schools with capacity for 875 students.

Let's have some fun with our new math today. If I understand this correctly, according to the Approved Residential Projects list, there were 41,712 units in approved or by-right developments which have yet to be permitted in Loudoun County as of January 1, 2008. So without further approvals that's another 41,712 homes on the way (more than that actually, because it only lists developments of 20 or more homes, but let's stick with what we know).

Housing Type	# Units	SGF	# Students
Single Family	11,161	0.83	9,264
Townhouses	12,468	0.47	5,860
Multifamily	41,712	0.28	11,679

That's a total of 26,803 kids who have yet to arrive (to provide a sense of scale, one year ago our student population was about 54,000). So how many new schools does that call for?

School Type	% of Students	# Students	School Capacity	# Schools
Elementary	51%	13,670	875	16
Middle	22%	5,897	1,350	4
High	27%	7,237	1,850	4

So that's a total of 24 new schools. Most of them will be south of the Greenway (Rt. 267) or West of Rt. 15. Again for scale, we currently have 75 schools, most of them with smaller capacity than the models listed here.

There are a number of caveats to this. There are factors will bring the number down. Not every approved or by-right unit will ultimately be built, for instance. There are other factors that will send the number higher, such as newly approved densities and developments under 20 units that didn't make onto the report. And then there is the question of how soon these various developments will be built.

There's also the caveat that I may be interpreting something incorrectly so feel free to check my math, correct my logic or provide me with different documents. I'd be happy to post updates.

New High School North of Leesburg

Fall 2009 will see another new high school open in Loudoun County, just four years after the opening of Freedom HS in South Riding. The new school, currently code-named HS-5, will be located just north of Leesburg(see exact location) across from Smart's Mill Middle School.

You may be interested in the HS-5 Site overview presentation developed by the LCPS Construction Department. There is a particular emphasis in the presentation on energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact.

This week there is also attention on a possible name for the new High School, particularly since the naming committee deadlocked after several weeks of consideration. There are now three potential names on the table:

• Tuscarora High School, after the Tuscarora Indian Tribe which lived in this region. Advantages: Regional, Historical, Distinctive. Disadvantages: Tuscarora means "hemp gatherers." Confusion with Tuscarora Mill Restaurant. Neighboring Frederick County MD already has a Tuscarora High School. Can't use native American symbols for mascots.
• Old George Town High School, after the original name for Leesburg. Advantages: Local, Historical. Disadvantages: Too many words. Confusion with present-day Georgetown. Just doesn't strike me well.
  
• Leesburg High School. Advantages: Obvious name. Resurrects the name of the old Leesburg High School on North Street (1925-1970). First choice of a certain man who has dedicated 40 years of his life to LCPS and whose opinion is universally respected. Disadvantages: Leesburg has two other High Schools (County, Heritage). Second choice of naming committee.
  

Smart's Mill Sixth Grader Chiarra Solitario was a member of the naming committee, and spoke from the podium at Tuesday's meeting:

When I did the survey for my whole school they gave recommendations and we went through them and to the tally of the top 12. The highest was Tuscarora, and it came up the most often when I would talk to my friends about the names.

I'm going to experiment with a poll on this blog to see what my readers think. I won't vote based on this poll, but I am interested in your opinions. I'll try to support the preference of the representatives of the kids who will attend the new High School, Leesburg's Tom Marshall and Catoctin's Jennifer Bergel, but in the event that they can't agree I'll be developing a preference.

The Board votes on the new name on September 9th.

Mercer Middle School Overflows

See the front page of the LCPS website today and you'll see a sign of the growth that we aren't keeping up with...

Mercer Middle School to Overflow New Students to Stone Hill in 2008-2009 School Year

The bottom line:

Students who seek registration for Mercer Middle School after the last day of school this year (June 17th) will be assigned to Stone Hill Middle School beginning with the 2008-2009 school year.

Stone Hill MS is 13 miles from Mercer MS.

US News Rankings

The Washington Post reports today on US News' ranking of America's Best High Schools, including the #1 ranking of Fairfax's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. I have a couple of bones to pick with this study, and not just because Loudoun's schools are not included in the list.

First gripe: The only way that it is possible to rank High Schools nationally is by relying on test scores, which are helpful tools to evaluate but when used for rankings in this way they become the only criteria that people use to judge the schools. Rankings such as these motivate communities to push test scores above all else, constricting efforts to transform our schools into models for 21st century flexible learning.

Second gripe: TJ and other magnet high schools should not be ranked. Consider this quote:

"Public high schools have a mission to educate a range of students. It's not enough to just focus on the best kids or to just focus on remediation for the worst kids. You have to do both," said Brian Kelly, editor of U.S. News. "This methodology is set up to allow a fair comparison of that."

Pardon me for saying so, but Brian Kelly needs to wake up and smell what he's shoveling. TJ, while a great school doing a great job, doesn't do "remediation for the worst kids." TJ selects the most academically gifted students out of nearly a half million of the most affluent high school students in one of the most educated metropolitan areas in the entire world. The TJ administration could let those kids watch Cartoon Network all day, they'd still have high test scores.

US News needs to take this week's issue, put it in the trash, and start over again.

LCPS Gifted Programs

There is an interesting conversation about Gifted programs in LCPS over on Loudoun Schools Feedback. This is a blog that I read regularly for a critical parent's view of the system. I'm not going to respond directly to the points made on that blog because I don't want to undercut those views and because I'm not the LCPS PR department. I do want to add my thoughts to the blogosphere though.

First, for more information about our Gifted programs, see the Gifted Programs page on the LCPS website. You might be particularly interested in the Gifted Programs FAQ. Second, if this is an area that really concerns you, please get involved with the Gifted Advisory Committee, which meets next on November 15th.

LCPS and all other districts are required to issue a local plan for the gifted to the state every five years, and our report was issued just this past June. The Gifted Advisory Committee worked together on the report, which is on the LCPS website as Proposed Local Plan for the Education of the Gifted. When this plan was put forward I needed extra time to read and understand it, and it was held from the board agenda until I was able to sit down with Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Sharon Ackerman, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Peter Hughes and Gifted Program Supervisor Julie Kelly. We talked for over an hour about the LCPS approach to gifted programs.

I think that they are the best folks to represent to you what the program philosophy and execution is, so I refer you again to the LCPS website and the Gifted Advisory Committee if you want to learn more. For my part, I am satisfied that this is an area of considerable emphasis for LCPS and that at the administrative level we have the best people available working with the best available knowledge on the subject. As with many areas, other school districts come here to learn how to run a successful gifted program.

One note of interest is that our programs are different than in Fairfax County Public Schools, where kids are labled "Gifted & Talented" and then pulled into separate classrooms from their peers. I have friends with "GT" kids in the Fairfax system who find this to be a problem for a number of reasons. One is that gifted kids are not gifted in all areas. Another, that a kid who shows gifts at one age may have gotten ahead of peers who may well catch up in a few years. Most importantly, isolating kids as gifted apart from their peers in Fairfax has a tendency to create enormous pressure to get into Thomas Jefferson HS among that group, and no encouragement among students who aren't in it. Finally, the whole concept of separating these kids almost entirely from their peers is just elitist.

LCPS is also developing programs for kids who are "Twice Exceptional," meaning that while in one area they are gifted, in another they need special education services. This is leading-edge in public schools, and illustrates directly the incredible complexity surrounding kids' intellectual abilities.

One final note, especially for those of you who champion the SOLs and NCLB standardized testing. When every kid must pass the same test at the end of the year, every teacher must teach from the same text and our schools are judged entirely on how many kids pass and not on how many kids excel, the emphasis will be on the bottom line and not on the leading edge. This was the design of NCLB... to not allow schools to ignore the kids who are struggling while trumpeting the kids who are soaring by basing evaluations entirely on the kids who are struggling. I think there is plenty of room to argue in favor of this approach, but there is no room to deny that it is a shift in our emphasis in which some kids will win and some will lose.

So as you think and talk about Gifted programs in LCPS remember that this is a complex issue, that our folks are doing their very best for every child, and that there is an opportunity for you to get involved and make it better.

Report #4 from Conference

Session IV: Designing High Schools for the 21st Century
Presented by Dr. Kevin Castner, VP of Educational Services, SHW Group LLP. Dr. Castner is a former Virginia schools superintendent and plays golf on occasion with our own Dr. Hatrick and Mr. Waterhouse.

Presentation:
The presentation focused on integrating modern instructional ideals into construction planning. A powerpoint presentation was provided and referenced books, reports and articles about education in a modern digital world. The principles covered were Student-centered learning, digital delivery, interdisciplinary learning and improved methods of assessment. In essence, the case was made that our schools are still built on a 1950s architectural model, which was appropriate for a 1950s economy.

Reference Materials:
The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman
Don’t Bother Me Mom – I’m Learning, Mark Prensky
Report from the National Summit on School Design
Results that Matter: 21st Century Skills and High School Reform
A Whole Mind – Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, Daniel Pink

Recommendation:
Because Loudoun County will build three new high schools in the next six years and because of our wealth as a community, we are uniquely positioned to take advantage of this kind of thinking and new design. Unfortunately we won’t. The financial pressure brought on by constantly building new schools makes major innovation beyond our reach given our low-tax priorities. Innovation will be seen first in Montgomery, Arlington and Fairfax counties, which have the resources but also a stable student population.

LCPS should still take steps toward innovation with each new building design. Many will not be realized in brick & mortar during our political lifetimes, but progress in Virginia is made step by step, not in leaps & bounds.

How do you measure?

There is an interesting story in yesterday's Washington Post regarding school rankings. It offhandedly states "Graduation rates in smaller local systems ranged from 58.2 percent in the District to 92.5 percent in Loudoun County." The story goes on to talk about how extremely important it is to have a high graduation rate.

You might also look at the 2007 Challenge Index, the only national ranking of High Schools which uses only one criteria... what percentage of students take an International Baccalaureate program or at least one AP course. On this index, Loudoun High Schools are ranked from #182 to #694, nationally.

And of course you'll see news about how our kids fared on this May's SOL tests later in the summer.

And armed with all of that, you’re going to hear ambitious candidates this year talking about problems with the schools. Fair enough, there is room for improvement and campaigns are for new ideas about how to address these challenges.

When you read about these rankings or hear someone talking about reforming the schools, particularly if they call the schools mediocre or over-funded, ask yourself a simple question: How has your own experience with the schools been? Think about your kid’s teacher, your principal, your school. Think about the bus driver, the counselor, the librarian, the coach and the cafeteria lady. More than anything else, ask yourself: is my child getting a good education?

Let your own experience be your guide, and if it has been a good experience then trust your instincts.

If not, tell me about it. Let’s see if we can get it straightened out.

Recycling Update

I'm providing a link here to the recycling presentation that I referenced in the previous post, for those of you who want detailed information:

Loudoun County Public Schools Recycling Program

Of note:

• LCPS recycled 238 tons of paper, 21.6 tons of cans and bottles and 7,400 fluorescent tubes in FY2006. This is greater than the combined amounts recycled in the 10 years from 1993-2002.
  
• LCPS also recycles Toner Cartridges, Computer monitors, anti freeze and motor oil
• The net cost for the program in FY2006 was $5,500.
  

I visited Hamilton Elementary this morning and learned that by working together with parents to recycle toner cartridges and cell phones, they were able to raise enough money to buy two smart boards for the school! I hope other schools will contact Hamilton's TRT (Mrs. Neville), to learn how to implement the program.

Recycling in Schools

The Board received a presentation on Tuesday evening regarding recycling in Loudoun's schools. With nearly 60,000 students and personnel, LCPS is a major consumer of resources and collectively we can have a tremendous impact on the amount of waste sent to the county's Landfill. The presentation was made by Mr. Bill Kolster, who is the Director of Facilities Services. Mr. Kolster manages the recycling program, coordinating the effort among our 68 schools and various other facilities.

LCPS does not mandate recycling, and the level of participation is largely up to the staff at each individual school. That makes it remarkable that we now recycle more than 90% of the 8,000 fluorescent lights that burn out each year. In fact, the practice of recycling has grown so quickly that in the 2005-06 school year, we recycled more paper, bottles, lights and other materials than in the previous 10 years combined.

Many high schools have recycling clubs which encourage and manage the program at their own locations. Students who want to see their school do more should contact Mr. Kolster through their school's recycling club to get materials and support.

Recycling is largely a practice implemented by the staff, in particular the school custodians. The students, faculty and staff and Park View High School are particularly aggressive about their recycling and were recognized last fall for those efforts by Keep Loudoun Beautiful.

After applauding the progress and accomplishments already made in any are of our schools, a Board member must ask: What's the next step? What are the hurdles? How can we do better? The key to improving this program lie first in realizing that it has been implemented on the initiative of Mr. Kolster, school-based staff and students and the folks from the transportation department who provide extensive help along the way. This was not a Board initiative with policies and paperwork and unfunded mandates. This was not a new front office position paid for with taxpayer funds. This is just people making something happen, and a smart Board won't get in their way.

That said, I would like to see a plan to track how much recycling each school does of each commodity it recycles. Knowing how much we recycle allows us to set goals for annual improvement and test new ways of encouraging higher levels of recycling. One method of encouragement I would like to see is a competition between schools. I can envision an end-of-year "green school" awards ceremony for those schools with the highest rates or greatest improvement in recycling and energy savings.

I won't initiate a new top-down process, because the grass-roots process has worked so well, but ensuring that we don't plateau at our current level may require a budget allocation to be used for monitoring, for greater visibility, for cash awards to the principals funds and conservation clubs of schools who lead the way. I hope to see that in Dr. Hatrick's proposed budget this fall. I encourage local groups such as Keep Loudoun Beautiful, the Loudoun County Committee for a Sustainable Society and others to join in as well to ensure our success at improving upon this already great achievement.

Park View High School

I had a very good visit at Park View High School yesterday morning. I met for nearly an hour with Principal Dr. Ginger Minshew and Assistant Principals Jeff Adam & John Gabriel. I was very impressed with the commitment to excellence that I saw from Dr. Minshew, Jeff & John. They expect a lot from the teachers and students at Park View and the results show. The Washington Post recently ranked Park View among the top 1,000 High Schools in the nation and top 100 High Schools in the area, along with seven other Loudoun High Schools.

After the meeting I got a full tour of Park View from Dr. Minshew as the first block classes got rolling. I was especially pleased to see a pervasive emphasis on recycling at the school. It was Chemistry SOL day and many students were preparing to take the test. There were free snacks and drinks outside the library for those students who were taking the SOLs.

It is an older building, originally built in 1975 and though it has been refurbished and is well cared for, there is no escaping the small, fluorescent-lit enclosed cinderblock feeling. It just emphasizes the need to do our best in building schools to maximize the use of windows and natural lighting to make the environment better for everyone working and learning within. In a county growing so fast and striving to keep taxes low, we can barely keep up with the need to build new high schools but I aspire to a day when we can replace Park View's outdated design with a new building showcasing green design principals.

I'd like to hear from students, parents and teachers at Park View... what's your perspective?

Sterling Elementary

I took a tour of Sterling Elementary School this morning with principal Terri Finn and Assistant Principal Andrew Davis. Each of them positively gushed with praise for the teachers, students and parents of the Sterling Elementary community. There are many challenges at SES... many non-english-speaking families, an older building, many kids whose families are struggling to get by. But there is an tremendous spirit within the school and strong support from the rest of the LCPS system.

If you are the parent of a Sterling Elementary student, I want to hear from you about your child's experience there. Heck if you're a parent with a kid in any school and a story to tell, I want to hear it!

So far, I have toured Potowmac, Algonkian and Guilford Elementary schools (and of course I'm intimately familiar with Countryside Elementary). I have also toured River Bend Middle School and Potomac Falls High School. Each time I have had an excellent conversation with the principal, opening a dialogue to help me be better informed as I make decisions on the Board.

Tomorrow I'll be visiting Park View High School, and Horizon Elementary is June 7th.