Teacher training

By Thomas B. Pfankuch
Times-Union staff writer

When she took her first teaching job in a low-income Jacksonville neighborhood eight years ago, Karen Dahlin wasn't fully prepared to teach kids who sometimes disrupted her class, had little experience with computers and had trouble reading.

Dahlin, 51, had a college degree and was ready to teach. But she said neither her education nor the Duval County school system adequately prepared her for the challenges and complexities of reaching and teaching kids from low-income or troubled neighborhoods.

The Duval County school system spent $8.6 million to train its teachers last year, which averages to about $1,200 per teacher. But critics say the district didn't do enough to help teachers like Dahlin, who teach at-risk students.

National research shows that at-risk students, many from low-income families or troubled backgrounds, start more slowly in school and need more intense teaching attention.

When the Ohio-based consulting firm SchoolMatch audited the Duval County schools in the spring, it found the same trend.

The firm found students in low-income neighborhoods did not perform as well on basic skills tests as students in higher-income neighborhoods, especially in reading.

Improved teacher training and an expanded training budget would help those students perform better, SchoolMatch consultants said.

Interim Superintendent Donald

SUBHEAD:Training for teachers to be changed; more sessions in schools

Van Fleet said he agrees with SchoolMatch's training recommendations. He plans sweeping changes to the district's teacher training program this fall.

Van Fleet wants to move away from group training sessions at the district office and focus more of the training money in the schools where he said it can do most good.

Dahlin, a third-grade teacher at North Shore Elementary School, said the district must ensure she and other inner-city teachers are getting the kind of training they need most.

''If they're going to offer training to teachers, then offer us the training that's really going to work with these kids,'' she said.

Targeting the training

SchoolMatch, hired by The Florida Times-Union this spring, said the Duval County school system must better train its teachers in two critical areas: reaching at-risk kids and teaching elementary reading.

Training and retraining of teachers is key to educational success, said lead SchoolMatch consultant M. Donald Thomas.

''I would, in some cases, rather cut materials or staff than reduce the level of training,'' Thomas said.

Part of the problem with Duval County's teaching staff is many have been out of college a long time, SchoolMatch consultants found.

About half of Duval County's 7,000 teachers have 18 or more years teaching experience, the consultants said.

Research developed in the mid-1980s showed that at-risk students need more guidance, personal attention and help with reading, Thomas said. Teachers who went to college decades ago did not receive training developed to reach at-risk students, and the school system must compensate, Thomas said.

But Duval County officials said they already are helping teachers help those students.

Administrators have hired math and science specialists who work in low-achieving schools, said Barbara Vandervort, a principal on special curriculum assignment.

Through the Professional Development Department, the district offers workshops in line with SchoolMatch recommendations.

Titles from last year include ''Teaching Reading in the Middle Grades,'' ''Modeling Effective Literacy Development'' and ''Motivating At-risk Students.''

Thomas also said the district hurts itself by sending its newest teachers to inner-city schools where teaching is most difficult, he said.

School Board Chairwoman Gwen Gibson said the district needs to staff inner-city schools with teachers who have a blend of new training techniques and experience.

District officials said new teachers are sent to inner-city schools because that's where jobs tend to open up first.

But Gibson said the district must create policies that encourage quality teachers to stay in inner-city schools where teaching challenges are greatest.

SchoolMatch also recommended the district increase assistance for reading teachers.

''The ability to read is the key to learning everything,'' Thomas said.

Duval County officials said they already are trying to improve.

The school system is participating in a ''Success for All'' program developed by Johns Hopkins University that uses technology to teach reading. Long Branch and George Washington Carver elementary schools are using it, Vandervort said.

The district also has begun placing college interns in inner-city schools to prepare them for the challenges ahead.

Expensive proposition

Last year, Duval County spent $5.1 million of local money on professional development programs, which is less than 1 percent of the district budget.

Effective school systems typically spend between 2 and 4 percent of their annual budgets on staff development, SchoolMatch's Thomas said.

''With 1 percent, you're just piddling around,'' Thomas said. ''It's not sufficient to make a change in the behavior of the people.''

Jacksonville schools also receive about $3.5 million a year in federal funding to help educate teachers, Van Fleet said.

In the current climate of belt-tightening in Duval County schools - all departments were told to cut 10 percent - it's impossible for the district to spend as much as SchoolMatch advocates, Van Fleet said.

But the training budget has increased the last two years and will jump again this year, district figures show.

Including federal money, the district spent $7.9 million in 1995-96, $8.6 million in 1996-97, and expects to spend $9.6 million in the coming school year.

But that additional money won't help much, Thomas said, if the district isn't spending it wisely. In many areas, including training, Duval County schools suffer because the district spends too much on salaries and benefits and not enough in the classroom, he said.

In the coming school year, 77 percent of the $9.6 million training budget will be spent on salaries and benefits for professional development administrators, teachers who are certified trainers and on stipends for teachers who attend district-mandated programs.

As part of his initiative, Van Fleet cut $1 million from the Professional Development Department that coordinates in-house training. The cuts there, he said, have enabled him to move the money and training out of the central office and into the classrooms.

''It's a refocus and a new direction,'' Van Fleet said. ''I believe we can get a bigger bang for our buck by doing it differently, and I believe it will occur better in the schools.''

Thomas said national research supports Van Fleet's concept.

Other school districts have had success with similar programs. In Oklahoma City, the district spends most of its training budget to certify its top teachers to instruct other teachers, said Guy Sconzo, development coordinator for the district.

To date, the Oklahoma City district has certified 250 teachers, about three for each of the district's 84 schools, to give hands-on help to other teachers in the classroom, Sconzo said.

The program's biggest benefit, Sconzo said, is that training occurs where teachers are teaching, and there is constant follow-up assistance for teachers.

If Duval County wants to increase the impact of its programs, it must do a better job of following up on training programs, said Monica McAleer, a Duval County training coordinator.

McAleer said follow-up helps teachers put into use the techniques they've learned or the new materials they've received.

Teachers teach teachers

Follow-up shouldn't be a problem under Duval County's new in-school focus on training, said Bill Fryar, director of academic programs.

In the new school-based effort, teachers who have strong skills - in computers, or teaching reading or writing, for example - will be asked to teach their methods to their peers.

The benefits of the new program will be threefold, Fryar said. They include:

Size. Training will be given to only a few teachers at a time, sometimes one on one. Teachers may sit in on each other's classes or discuss techniques over lunch.

Location. The majority of training will occur at school where it can be put to immediate use, and teachers can quickly get feedback.

Time. This should help address the biggest barrier teachers say they face in training. Most training will happen informally during the school day, making it easier for teachers to get the help they need, Fryar said.

''The idea is that there's a wealth of information and expertise that resides in the teaching population of our district,'' Fryar said. ''We want to put that to use.''

Gibson said she is concerned the district's new focus won't work if the people doing the training aren't adequately trained themselves.

''It doesn't do a bit of good to go to a workshop and the presenter is not prepared,'' she said.

Though he said he's excited about the school system's new direction, Van Fleet said his dream would be to have someone assigned full time to each of the 148 Duval County schools to work only with teachers.

In Orlando, administrators have already accomplished that.

In each of the district's 140 schools, a teacher has been pulled out of the classroom to focus solely on educating teachers, said Wilfred Still, director of professional development in Orange County.

Duval has its own mentoring program organized by the district and the University of North Florida. The program is entering its fifth and final year.

But unlike Orange County, the mentors are full-time teachers who help other teachers on the side.

Van Fleet said the Duval County school system can't afford to duplicate the Orange County program. For now, however, he said the district will place a full-time trainer in each of the district's five new school administration regions.

Not enough time

But even if teacher training opportunities are increased, it may be difficult for teachers to find the time to improve, teachers and union officials said.

Landmark Middle School teacher Kelly Coker-Daniel said teachers must take some responsibility for receiving training or getting help when they need it.

''I feel like I've gotten all the training I need, but I am one of those people who seeks out what I need,'' said Coker-Daniel, who teaches gifted students.

Though she would like more assistance to reach at-risk students, Dahlin said she considers herself lucky to have received some solid training at North Shore.

Dahlin has been trained in computer technology, and she's been taught to help students with attention deficit disorder.

Dahlin said she and other teachers often share ideas about new techniques they have read about or studied.

But even in an environment conducive to learning, Dahlin said she often doesn't have time to get the help she needs.

''There's training out there, but you're not always able to go to all of it,'' she said.

Dahlin's lament is common among Duval County teachers: They don't have time to train.

Throughout the school year, the school system schedules six days when students are sent home at lunch and teachers are given the afternoon to train.

Other than that, however, teachers must train on their own time and aren't paid, said Andy Ford, president of the Duval County teachers union.

Florida is one of 41 states that require periodic recertification of teachers. Every five years, teachers must obtain 120 in-service points in order to renew their state teaching certificate, and some must earn more points if they teach multiple subjects.

Points can be earned through approved college classwork, in-service programs offered by the school system or union, or independent study.

Ford said most teachers have to train after school, on weekends or during the summer.

''Time is the biggest obstacle that we face,'' Ford said. ''Physically you don't have the time to train.''

But Ford said teachers who desire more training sometimes complain that some of the training offered by the district is irrelevant.

Forrest High School history teacher Vincent Stubbs, 61, said he loved a multicultural workshop he attended this summer. But Stubbs said much of the assistance he's received in his 34 years in the district has had little value.

''They didn't really tell me anything I don't already know,'' Stubbs said. ''They show you the same things over and over.''