WARREN CITY SCHOOLS Initial report card shows improvement in district

Parental involvement is the key to continued success, the superintendent said.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Administrators and educators in the city school district are zeroing in on their goals.
And if the upcoming state report card is any indication, the payoff will come in the form of more well-rounded, educated pupils.
On Tuesday, Superintendent Betty J. English released preliminary results of the 2001 state report card due out in February. She was joined by Bill Mullane, Harding High School principal and Janne Hurrelbrink-Bias, director of elementary curriculum.
Emergency state: Warren schools are considered by the state to be in academic emergency, but findings show there has been progress in past years.
The district met five of 27 performance standards for the 2000-2001 school year. It needs nine to get out of academic emergency.
This compares to three standards met in 1999-2000 and one standard in 1998-1999.
English came to the district in 1998 as associate superintendent. She was hired as superintendent in November 1999.
"We challenge anyone to put their curriculum up against ours," she said Tuesday.
Examples given of courses that work well include the international baccalaureate program, where students get to take college courses; the media lab, where students produce their own news show; lab courses that offer hands-on training; and the robotics program, which won the district a national championship a few years back.
Parents: The superintendent talked about the importance of parental involvement as the key to success in education.
"I really do believe our urban children are an untapped resource," English added. "Our children are worth everything we can give them."
Improving parental input, academics and the school climate are among educators' top priorities.
Through strategic planning, Hurrelbrink-Bias said, educators, staff and administrators are working together to ensure that goals, technology, curriculums and course offerings are uniform throughout the district.
All five of the standards met were for performances measured at Harding. Mullane said parents and leaders from business and industry are asked to evaluate the school's strengths and weaknesses. "It opens the school to the whole community," he said.
Public schools: In the age of charter and electronic schools, public institutions need to be able to better market themselves and provide the kind of instruction communities, parents and industry are looking for, he explained.
This also means the power structure will have to shift.
Instead of administrators and bureaucrats determining what education should be, Mullane said, it will come from the community and pupils themselves.
Though he knows such changes aren't going to be immediate, the principal said, they'd work better in Warren schools than any district he knows because of teamwork, similar visions, common goals and the belief that change is good.
The three talked of changes down the road that are needed to produce better pupils. They include restructuring the number of years a student is in high school to allow more advanced students to get out early and those needing more instruction and direction to stay beyond four years.
Measuring progress: Also, Mullane talked of measuring achievement through competency levels instead of grade letters.
Schools throughout the country will have a hard time adopting such radical changes, he said, adding, "I'm telling you we're the district that can do it."
English looked at Mullane and nodded her head. "We can do anything."
davis@vindy.com