News to You

NORFOLK PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The mission of the Norfolk Public Schools is to equip all students to success in a complex changing world.

Volume XXXIX-7

March 2007

FROM THE DESK OF THE SUPERINTENDENT. . .

THE VALUE OF CONNECTIONS

School connection is the belief by students that adults in the school care about their learning and about them as individuals.  Students are more likely to succeed when they feel connected to school.  Critical requirements for feeling connected include high academic rigor and expectations, coupled with support for learning; positive adult-student relationships; and physical and emotional safety.

Increasing the number of students connected to school is likely to improve critical accountability measures.  Strong scientific evidence demonstrates that increased student connection to school decreases absenteeism, fighting, bullying, and vandalism.  At the same time it promotes educational motivation, classroom engagement, academic performance, school attendance, and completion rates.  Likewise, research has shown that students who feel connected to school are less likely to be involved in risky behaviors such as drug use, cigarette smoking, early sex, violence and suicidal thoughts and attempts. 

In order to succeed, students need to feel they “belong” in their school.  The latest research on school/student connectedness identifies seven qualities that seem to influence student’s positive attachment to school: 

1)       Having a sense of belonging and being part of a school

2)       Liking school

3)       Perceiving that teachers are supportive and caring

4)       Having good friends within school

5)       Being engaged in their own current and future academic progress

6)       Believing that discipline is fair and effective

7)       Participating in extracurricular activities 

These factors, measured in different ways, are highly predictive of success in school.  Because each of these seven factors brings with it a sense of connection – to oneself, one’s community or one’s friends – it is clear that school connectedness makes a difference in the lives of American youth. 

My greatest hope is that each and every building in the Norfolk Public School is making the effort to connect with all students.  If we are to see any significant improvement in the learning of all children, each one of us must be intentional about being connected with the students you encounter each day. 

Blum; School Connectedness

Randy Nelson, Superintendent

Building Literate Children, One Family at a Time

Literacy has long been a goal of our nation and is at the heart of nearly every school improvement plan ever written.  Schools across the country are desperate to find that magic formula to help stave off this pattern of illiteracy that does not discriminate between race, age, or socioeconomic status, but is found most predominately in low-income families.  Recent reports have shown that although the percentage of families living in poverty in the U.S. is lower, illiteracy rates continue to rise.  To appreciate the connection between illiteracy and poverty in the U.S., consider the following statistics:

•          There are more than 40 million functionally illiterate adults in the U.S.

•          By age four, children who live in poor families will have heard 32 million fewer words than children living in professional families.

•          One in five, or 20%, of America's children five years old and under live in poverty.

•          43% of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty.

•          70% of people with the lowest literacy skills have no full or part time job.

•          Parental literacy is one of the single most important indicators of a child's success.  The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) has concluded that youngsters whose parents are functionally illiterate are twice as likely to be functionally illiterate themselves. 

As educators, we work tirelessly to improve the literacy of our students, knowing this truly is the “key to success” in school and in life.  Every school year we begin with a classroom full of bright-eyed students, with a wide range of abilities, eager to learn. Yet, after only short amounts of time do we begin to realize the deficiencies in some of our students. Inevitably, we are reminded of the old adage, "Parents are sending the best they have; they’re not leaving them at home."  Though we know this to be true, could schools expect better?  This is not an implication of our parents' ability to raise their children or in any way questioning our parent's aspirations for their children.  On the contrary, parents today are doing the best they can (in most instances) with the resources they have at their disposal.  However, the aforementioned statistics clearly illustrate that our low income families are the ones most likely to become a "statistic of illiteracy."  Unfortunately for these families, children's books, subscriptions to newspapers and magazines, or any other form of literature that could be used to promote and foster literacy in the home are nonexistent.  

Henry J. Kaiser once said, “Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.  ”The “problem” of illiteracy does indeed provide opportunities.  At Grant Elementary, we have taken the opportunity to address this issue.  Over the past few years, we have held Family Reading Nights in our library once a week to promote family literacy.  This fall, we held Nebraska’s first, elementary based “Prime Time Family Reading” program that targets low literacy, low income families.  This free, bilingual program promotes family literacy by bringing families together.  The program reinforces their role in increasing literacy, encourage parents and children to read and to discuss humanities topics, and fosters high academic expectations and achievement for children in low literacy, low income families.  We have also held a “Book Walk” that placed over 150 books into the hands of our students.  In spite of all these activities that focus on building family literacy, this is not an issue that will just go away.  However, with a concerted effort of school and home we can begin to build literate children, one family at a time.

Submitted by:

Chad Boyer, Grant Elementary