BY Joe Parrino, NEW ERA STAFF WRITER

Heritage Christian Academy and University Heights Academy use the same stick to get students to take exams for college-credit. HCA also uses a carrot to motivate students to excel on the exam.

Both private high schools require students in Advanced Placement (AP) courses to take the corresponding exam.

“The test is the only measurable proof of the product,” said UHA upper school director Marvin Denison.

Denison said UHA teachers use the AP exam to gauge whether a particular course is challenging enough.

All AP courses at both schools have been audited by the College Board, the national organization that oversees the exam that awards college credit to students who score a passing grade.

This semester UHA has a total of 23 juniors and seniors enrolled in five AP courses: biology, calculus, chemistry, English literature and U.S. government. The academy’s AP program has been in place since 1994.

HCA has 20 AP students in two AP courses — U.S. history and AP European history courses.

Guidance counselor Lee Embry said HCA has fewer AP offerings because the program is younger — kicked off in 2004 — and because most of the college-level classes do not fulfill core credit.

Every HCA student must complete 27 credit hours of academic coursework to graduate.

Only one AP class can substitute for any of those credits. AP European History and AP Chemistry — not offered this year — are treated as electives, and students’ schedules only allow for one elective per year.

AP U.S. History is the exception.

Michael Ruess, a history teacher who moved from The Clarksville Academy to HCA last spring, is now in his fifth year of teaching AP classes.

Ruess spent Thursday’s second period class lecturing 16 students about the territory grab that characterized colonial North America. The lesson covered economic theories like mercantilism, colonial battle strategy and vignettes of historic figures like George Washington.

“How did Big George start the (French and Indian) War?” Ruess asked students.

Ruess said his AP class delves deeper into the how’s and why’s of history. An entire class will be devoted to the role Washington played in the founding of the nation.

A high school level U.S. history course skims over subjects and is mostly concerned with what happened, Ruess said.

Students in his class must read the chapter of a college-level textbook before class and come prepared to define key terms. There is a quiz every Thursday and a test on Friday.

Ruess said he prepares his class for the exam by giving them weekly writing practice. Students learn how to write a complete response to question about historical documents as well as how to answer more open-ended questions.

Students are often assigned an essay over the weekend.

Ruess said his experience with AP courses makes him confident that some HCA students will score a perfect 5 on the 2008 exam.

After a lackluster performance on last year’s AP exams, HCA has been trying to add incentive to test excellence. Formerly, grades for AP classes at HCA were weighted regardless of how the student scored on the exam.

But in 2007, two of seven students passed the AP U.S. History exam. None passed the AP Chemistry exam.

So the HCA board decided to weight grades only if a student achieves a passing score — a 3 or above — on the national exam. This prevents students from taking the course just to bump up their grade point average and then “bombing out” on the exam, Ruess said.

Ruess said his class also emphasizes the exam’s other opportunities — including saving hundreds and thousands of dollars in tuition payments. He believes some students understand while others are more concerned with GPA.

At UHA, Denison sees many of GPA-conscious students. The school grades AP courses on a college scale. While regular classes require a 93 percent for an “A,” AP courses set the minimum at 90 percent.

“That allows them to take the course without their GPA suffering too much,” Denison said.

At UHA, however, grade weighting is not tied to exam performance. It hasn’t seemed to hurt scores.

Last year’s UHA seniors average passing scores on seven different AP exams: biology (3.3), calculus BC (3.6), chemistry (3.6), English language/composition (3.2), English literature (3.5), U.S. government (4.2) and U.S. history (4).

The AP programs at the county’s two public high schools recently have been criticized, in part because of low scores earned on the national AP exams. Hopkinsville High School requires its students to take the AP exams but Christian County High School does not.

At an Aug. 23 school board meeting, board member Dr. Karen Dougherty said, “I think this speaks in a very troubling way to really low expectations of our best students.”

The principals of HHS and CCHS told school board members they are working on ways to improve their AP programs.

Denison said he reiterates the value of earning college credit in his classes. Denison said most college and university programs accept these scores as college-credit but not universally.

Students should investigate the institution’s policy on AP exams closely before applying, Denison cautioned.

JOE PARRINO can be reached at 887-3239 or jparrino@kentuckynewera.com.

By Mercedes Thomas, New Era Staff Writer

The Millbrooke Kiwanis Kids Club kicked off its new year Thursday with a meeting at the Millbrooke Elementary School’s library. The K-Kids decorated placemats and pumpkins to give to local nursing homes for their service project of the day.

Indiana resident Don Canaday, the president-elect for Kiwanis International, attended the meeting to install officers and present a speech. Canaday was in Hopkinsville to attend a banquet for the installation of new officers of the Hopkinsville Kiwanis Club that evening.

The new officers for the Millbrooke K-Kids club this year are: Marley Joiner, president; Chad Cessna, vice president; Caroline Pinson, secretary; Karson Field, treasurer.

The Kiwanis Kids Club is a student-led community service organization for elementary students. It gives students the opportunity to develop self esteem and teaches them leadership skills, morals and standards, and respect for others.

Last year’s Millbrooke K-Kids club collected more than 600 books for the local Boys and Girls Club and more than 170 chocolate bunnies for Easter baskets that were distributed throughout the community.

The club’s current project is the Food Pantry Closet, which helps to collect non-perishable food items to give to families around the community who are in need.

Upcoming projects for this year include: Trick or Treat for UNICEF, which helps to raise money for the UNICEF organization, and bell ringing for the Salvation Army in November.

Mercedes Thomas can be reached at 887-3226 or at mthomas@kentuckynewera.com.

BY Joe Parrino
NEW ERA STAFF WRITER
As local middle schools face the toughest possible sanctions of any schools in the district, teachers are keeping the faith in key programs.
Hopkinsville Middle School began its second year of implementing Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) and the instructional approach known as Thoughtful Classroom.
“We’re off to a great start,” said practical living teacher Pam Bush.
The start had its rough spots, too.
One month after classes began, teachers and administrators learned that HMS — along with Christian County Middle School and North Drive Middle School — failed to meet federal achievement standards for the fifth straight year.
HMS met 12 out of 16 No Child Left Behind targets in 2006-07. Though the performance was a slight improvement, the school’s consistent shortcomings put it on the brink of major consequences.
Unless HMS reaches all federal goals this year, state law calls for reorganization of school personnel — possibly even leadership.
It’s too early to know how the state might handle a school like HMS, which already underwent a change at the top.
Wendy Duvall took over the helm at HMS this summer after Mark Page resigned.
Teachers like Bush and science teacher Debbie Milburn said the looming consequences do not overwhelm them.
“I know what’s coming,” said HMS science teacher Debbie Milburn. “But I can’t think about the worst case scenario.”
Milburn says she conserves her mental energy for reaching learners. Weekly meetings train teams of HMS teachers on the instructional strategies behind the Thoughtful Classroom curriculum.
Recently, Milburn and her colleagues were encouraged to make their lesson repertoire more inclusive.
The research supporting Thoughtful Classroom shows that 87 percent of students who struggle academically learn more during group activities and creative activities than during lecture.
Milburn said her own self-expressive personality makes it natural to design science lessons around non-lecture learners. One of her Tuesday seventh-grade classes pushed aside tables and chairs to learn the concept of momentum through a Matchbox car experiment on the floor.
If Milburn was distracted by anything in recent weeks, it was her anticipation of statewide test scores. While schools received their NCLB report in early September, the actual scores in reading, math and other academic categories won’t be made public until this week.
When Superintendent Dr. Bob Lovingood visited HMS recently, Milburn caught him in the hall to ask, “When are we getting our scores?”
The Kentucky Department of Education is scheduled to release its data for the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) on Tuesday.
Milburn said she works relentlessly with her students to improve their written responses on CATS. Students with weaker literacy skills frequently skipped open-ended questions.
“Those zeroes kill us,” Milburn said.
To get students to take the written portion of CATS more seriously, Milburn made writing short answers central to her classroom. Students were taught the components of a written answer, given plenty of practice and rewarded for a complete response.
Bush, also an experienced educator, added plenty to her “bag of tricks” during the past two years.
The practical living teacher makes a conscious effort to commend good behavior, one of the guiding principles behind the discipline system PBS.
“It seems like we’re always talking to the kids getting in trouble,” Bush said.” When I recognize students who are doing things positive, things go a lot smoother.”
Bush’s and every other HMS classroom is decorated with a poster that reads CHAMPS. The acronym represents different PBS rules.
“C” , for example, stands for conversation level. Bush tunes her students’ voice level up and down many times over the course of her class. A “0” volume is demanded whenever the bell rings and students set to work on a starter activity. A “1” is permitted for activities that call for whispering between group members and higher levels for more spirited activities.
CHAMPS principles are reinforced every morning during Principal Duvall’s announcement over the loud speaker and every lunch period through a slideshow in the cafeteria.
Ingraining acceptable behavior is critical for the transition most HMS students experience, Bush said. Middle schoolers enter a high school-like environment with lockers and switching classrooms. Emotionally, though, many have not matured from an elementary school level.
Math teacher Ashlee Grace said her sympathies for the middle school age group make her wish “she could take every student home for a week.”
“I don’t have enough time to help all the students I know need it,” Grace said.
Algebra is challenging for many students. But sometimes the biggest barrier is work ethic, Grace said.
Last year, HMS met federal goals in math for all students except those with disabilities. Grace has six special needs students in her first period class.
“It’s not their intelligence,” Grace said. “They need to believe in themselves.”

JOE PARRINO can be reached at 887-3239 or jparrino@kentuckynewera.com.

BY Joe Parrino, NEW ERA STAFF WRITER

Board of Education members commended local schools for their progress toward No Child Left Behind goals and passed an $85.2 million budget.

“We are certainly moving in the right direction,” said board chairman Barry Cornelius at the end of the Thursday regular meeting.

Earlier, district officials Cathy Henderson and Paula Yoakum gave a 20-minute analysis of the district’s 2006-07 NCLB performance.

The NCLB Act of 2002 requires all states to test in math and reading from third grade through high school. Kentucky assesses its schools through the statewide test known as the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS). CATS data is due for release on Oct. 2.

Henderson highlighted numerous gains. The district had met 82 percent of its NLCB targets, 3 more goals than the previous year. Math scores for African American students reached targets for the first time and the low income category showed yes’s as well.

In the breakdown of individual school performances, Henderson found more evidence of progress. For the first time, half the schools in the district made all their goals. Two other schools missed a perfect score by one goal.

Four elementary schools that didn’t make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals in 2005-06, did rise to the standard last year.

The middle schools and high schools also drew praise. Christian County High School increased its met goals from eight to 12 in one year. Christian County Middle School improved from 11 goals to 13.

Hopkinsville High School and Hopkinsville Middle School each scored one goal better than in the 2006-07 school year.

Henderson also acknowledged shortcomings such as the district’s failure in reading and math categories for students with disabilities.

Holiday, Sinking Fork and Indian Hills elementary schools missed AYP in 2006-07 after making the grade the year before.

North Drive Middle School’s slipped to meeting 53 percent of its targets.

Because the three middle schools have now fallen short of 100 percent for five years in a row, Henderson discussed looming consequences.

The schools are required to make plans for reorganizing personnel and, possibly, leadership. Unless the schools reach 100 percent proficiency this year, the reorganization plan must be implemented.

State law does allow for removal of leadership at chronically failing schools.

But Henderson said the state is more likely to work with existing principals and administrators than dispose of them. The district is still waiting for guidance on its reorganization plan from the Kentucky Department of Education, Henderson said.

Board members seemed to receive the report favorably.

“I don’t think any of us think that is where we want to be,” said board member Dr. Karen Dougherty. “But who doesn’t celebrate moving where you want to go, especially some of the big leaps that we’ve taken.”

Cornelius said there was more positive in the report than negative.

None of the other board members — Sheila Cottrell, Mary DeBow or Darryl Lynch — made comments supportive or critical of the district’s performance.

Superintendent Dr. Bob Lovingood acknowledged the efforts of teachers and staff.

“There is room for improvement, we all know that,” Lovingood said. “But there’s great things happening.”

The board also approved a close-to-final version of the 2007-08 budget.

“We had a very good year financially,” said Terry Minuth, the district’s chief financial officer.

Minuth said the district expects to spend a total of about $85.2 million this school year, an increase of nearly $4 million over last year’s budget. Most of the jump is due to a state-mandated pay raise for all certified teachers and classified staff.

Minuth expected the state to fund 90 percent of the raise.

The district’s contingency or reserve fund climbed from $5.5 to $6.2 million. Minuth attributed the district’s financial health to a growing tax base and investment of reserve funds.

JOE PARRINO can be reached at 887-3239 or jparrino@kentuckynewera.com.

Enrollment disparities cause concern

New Era File Photo Dylan Phipps, a seventh-grader, works on an assignment in Alivia Littleton's math class recently at North Drive Middle School.

By Joe Parrino, New Era Staff Writer

Lopsided enrollment figures between middle schools have the Christian County Board of Education searching for solutions.

A Tuesday planning session tackled the impact of School of Choice on enrollment in addition to down-the-road issues, such as preschool expansion and the replacement of the superintendent in 2009.

Director of Pupil Personnel Sarah Kranz reported that attendance at North Drive Middle School was far below attendance at Hopkinsville Middle School and Christian County Middle School.

Monday’s attendance figures showed NDMS with 505 students, Hopkinsville Middle School with 659 and CCMS with 862. Attendance figures are representative of the differences in actual enrollment numbers.

Kranz attributed the inequity to School of Choice, a 16-year-old program that allows parents to request their child attend a different school from the one they are zoned to attend.

Over the past five years, 296 students zoned for NDMS successfully applied to a different middle school. Only 72 students invoked School of Choice to come to NDMS.

CCMS absorbed 220 of students leaving NDMS’s district. HMS took 61.

Board member Shelia Cottrell called the trend “disturbing.” Cottrell represents the NDMS district and sent her son Nicholas Cottrell to the school.

Cottrell was particularly disturbed by parents’ comments on their School of Choice applications. The report listed such reasons as “the school is a family preference”, “my child would feel more comfortable” and “the baby-sitter lives in the HMS district.”

The School of Choice criteria ought to be stricter, Cottrell said.

The existing School of Choice policy allows students to jump schools for any reason so long as the principal of the destination school signed off on the application.

Leaving NDMS because of a difficult commute or a particular program was more legitimate than many of the stated reasons, Cottrell said.

Superintendent Dr. Bob Lovingood said the data might justify closing School of Choice for the middle schools. In early 2006, the board discontinued the program for elementary schools after it was determined School of Choice skewed minority percentages.

“When you have a balanced school that mirrors our community, that’s what we’re seeking,” Lovingood said.

Board member Karen Dougherty suggested magnet programs as another solution to the inequity. Giving NDMS a focus in the arts or science might attract parents and students to the school.

“I would rather invite people than force them,” Dougherty said.

Board member Mary DeBow proposed turning NDMS into a sixth-grade center. That would not only strengthen NDMS’s numbers but relieve overcrowding at HMS at CCMS, DeBow said.

Another benefit could be more balanced test scores. The 2006-07 No Child Left Behind report put all three middle schools in a Tier 4 status, a designation for schools that fail federal standards five years consecutively.

NDMS’s performance was the lowest among local middle schools, meeting nine of 15 goals for reading and math. CCMS met 13 of 15 targets and HMS 11 of 15.

Lovingood voiced concerns about a sixth-grade center. The arrangement created more transition for students at a critical point in their education and the center’s test scores depended entirely on the proficiency of one age group.

Board members did not rally behind any one solution, but said the middle school disparity could be addressed in future meetings.

The board also sought direction for its preschool programs. Expansion of preschool services has been a hot topic across the state. In Christian County, interest is particularly strong because of the possibility of converting the now empty Morningside Elementary School into a preschool center.

Currently, the district’s eight preschool programs accommodate about 350 children. Admission is guaranteed for 3- and 4-year-olds with an identified disability as well as all 4-year-olds from families at or below 150 percent of poverty level income.

Were the district to open the doors to all 4-year-olds, the annual cost would be roughly $1 million, said Chief Financial Officer Terry Minuth. Transportation and teacher costs would be the biggest expenses.

Charging tuition of $4 per day would offset the cost about $160,000, Minuth said.

Besides a preschool center, board members also considered sending its preschool teachers into private daycare centers. Some preschool advocates call this approach more community-friendly because it doesn’t create more competition between public and private facilities.

The meeting finished with discussion about replacing Lovingood after he steps down at the end of the 2008-09 school year.

The board agreed to set up a screening committee by January. Plans were also laid for a survey of the district’s employees about the criteria that should be used in hiring the next superintendent.

Board members want a successor found before the end of Lovingood’s term to allow for a smooth transition.

JOE PARRINO can be reached at 887-3239 or jparrino@kentuckynewera.com.