Teachers learn about mental health to help their students
Deedra Finch watched several years ago as a close family friend battled mental health issues — depression, bipolar disorder and addiction.
“That’s when I started to think about what mental health looked like among my students,” said Finch, a Metro Nashville Public Schools educator with 19 years of experience.
School districts and educators are on the front line of meeting most youths’ needs, but like many teachers, Finch had only a basic knowledge of how to handle student mental health. It wasn’t until she sought opportunities to learn in Nashville public schools that she saw how much she didn’t know.
Her eyes were opened, she said. “When it comes to mental health, it is evident at all socio-economic statuses, it is evident in all neighborhoods, not just in Nashville, but all over the world,” Finch said. “It doesn’t always look a certain way, and mental health issues are not always in your face.”
Tennessee requires educators to attend suicide prevention training and a mental health first aid class, which provides an overview of student mental health, according to Tennessee Department of Education spokeswoman Sara Gast.
Teachers and a school’s athletic coaches — many who are also educators — are in an ideal position to identify when their students and athletes are having difficulty because they spend so much quality time with them. They often can notice social withdrawal, a decrease in academic or social performance, mood swings or lack of motivation before others do. They also have considerable influence on a student’s life, which can increase the likelihood students will receive timely and effective treatment. But not all teachers and coaches faced with teenagers who have eating disorders or anxiety know how to act.
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, which is the governing body for high school athletics in Tennessee, recognizes the growing need for training coaches on understanding and supporting athletes’ mental health issues. But the TSSAA currently does not offer any mental health education to its statewide membership of more than 6,000 coaches at 426 schools.
To get further skills, many teachers have to seek out other opportunities. Some districts in recent years, such as Metro Nashville Public Schools, are doing more.
Metro Schools provides opportunities to learn about how childhood experiences affect student learning, and it has focused heavily on what is known as social-emotional learning. “We are having more open dialogues in schools about where our students are and where adults are with mental health,” said Kyla Krengel, social-emotional learning director.
Some Nashville schools specialize in addressing student mental health. Fall Hamilton Elementary, for example, is a pilot in trauma-informed student services. In those schools, special attention is paid to students who are subject to traumatic experiences.
Principal Mathew Portell said research proves that mental health affects academics. Because of the research, he said, the opportunities for educators to address mental health in students are growing. The work is difficult, he said, but rewarding. “It’s about meeting the kids where they are and it depends on their circumstances,” Portell said. “One size does not fit all depending on the student’s individualized needs.”
For Finch this year, she said she is finally in a position to be on the forefront of taking her skills to a new height, addressing student mental health and teaching. She was hired this school year as a special education teacher at Fall Hamilton.
“Everyone here at Fall Hamilton is teaching me to do better,” Finch said. “Everyone in this building is a firm supporter.”
And although some schools aren’t quite to the level of Fall Hamilton in its mental health services, Finch said teachers are ready and willing.
[Read more at The Tennessean] Read MoreExtra duties limited school counselors’ face time with students. A new rule is changing that.
Middle school counselor Denise Owens previously closed her door to students during one of the most stressful periods of the academic year — exam days — when anxious students often need to talk to a trusted adult.
Counselors across Tennessee, including Owens, are tapped to help coordinate statewide testing at schools and are unavailable to meet with children for weeks at a time.
It is one of many extra duties — cafeteria monitoring, clerical work and classroom substitute teaching — that school counselors have to do at the state’s chronically understaffed public schools.
“We’ve been thought of as just an extra body, but our training is in mental health counseling, group counseling, helping students,” said Owens, one of two counselors who serve nearly 800 children at E.A. Cox Middle School in Columbia, Tennessee. Extra duties “take us out of our realm. We just can’t do the kind of counseling we needed to do,” she said.
Starting this school year, however, a new Tennessee rule requires all public school counselors to do what they were trained to do: spend most of their time meeting with students experiencing academic, social or emotional problems and getting the kids the help they need.
The new rules require counselors — who by law must possess a master’s degree in school counseling — to spend at least 80 percent of their time working directly with kids. School counselors like Owens often are the first responders to children experiencing a mental health crisis.
Their role has grown even more crucial as some Tennessee school districts have cut the number of in-school psychologists. Unlike psychologists who typically spend most of their time evaluating and monitoring special education students, school counselors deal with the entire school population. At the same time, schools are seeing an increasing number of children experiencing mental health problems.
Mental health disorders now affect more than 265,500 kids ages 2 to 17 in Tennessee. “Right now more children are coming to us than ever before with mental health problems,” Owens said. “We’re dealing with bipolar, ODD (oppositional defiant disorder), kids already on medication. And sometimes this starts in middle school.”
Tennessee is now one of only two states — North Carolina is the other — that have such a requirement for counselors, according to the American School Counselor Association, which recommended the guidelines.
E.A. Cox Middle School got ahead of the new state rules, freeing up school counselors last year to spend more time with students. Despite the change, the school’s two counselors still face steep challenges in providing support to the fifth- through eighth-graders.
Counselors can provide one-on-one support but often have to find mental health professionals to intervene. There aren’t enough, said Kim Johnson, the school’s other counselor. “I don’t think mental health resources have kept up with the need,” Owens said.
Outside therapists have long waiting lists. Students on TennCare are often the easiest to find services for, she said. Students whose parents have private insurance or are uninsured have far fewer options. Mental health counselors with Centerstone, a mental health treatment agency, come to the school to meet with students who are enrolled in TennCare but cannot serve those who are not, Johnson said. And in an immediate crisis, counselors often have to wait hours for a mobile crisis team to arrive to assess the student for hospitalization.
About a year and a half ago, Johnson was meeting with a female student who said she had thoughts of suicide. A mobile crisis unit would not be able to reach the school for five hours, unless the school had a webcam to do an assessment remotely.
Robb Killen, supervisor of counseling and mental health for Maury County Public Schools, happened to be at the school with his laptop, which had webcam capabilities. The girl was able to speak with a crisis counselor immediately. Killen has since installed webcams at each of the county’s 20 public schools.
School counselors vs. school psychologists
School psychologists typically spend the majority of their time evaluating students who have been identified as potentially qualifying for special services and monitoring their progress.
School counselors serve the entire student population to help students overcome emotional and academic challenges and offer academic and college counseling.
Both are required to possess a special license in Tennessee. There is some overlap in duties. Professionals with either license may spend some time counseling students one on one, and both have some role in preventing and responding to mental health crises.
[Read more at The Tennessean] Read MoreMetro Schools Lays Blueprint for Driving Literacy Achievement
National literacy data indicates that 37 percent of fourth-grade students and 36 percent of eighth-grade students are not scoring at- or above-proficiency (source: 2017 NAEP). In Nashville, two out of three third graders aren’t reading on grade level by 3rd grade – an indicator which can pre-determine a student’s future successes many years into the future. These sobering statistics are the reasons literacy instruction is a priority in Metro Schools.
Enter Metro Nashville Public Schools’ Comprehensive Literacy Plan – the district’s blueprint to improving student achievement, specifically literacy. This plan was developed with input from multiple groups and is now being rolled-out district-wide. Review the entire plan from cover-to-cover here.
“This is an open invitation to our entire community to learn more about what literacy is, what it can and should look like within classrooms and how each of us can help develop our students,” said Chief Academic Officer Dr. Monique Felder, chair of the literacy advisory council. “We believe with a shared vision and equal dedication, our laser-focused literacy efforts will shift student achievement.”
The literacy plan is built on the foundation of advanced literacy, which emphasizes critical thinking, knowledge building and communication to provide students with skills that increase their access to opportunities and foster a lifelong interest in reading and writing. Through a collection of seven hallmarks, educators, families and community members alike are encouraged to help students build the skills they need to tap into academic opportunities.
Literacy goes beyond reading and writing. A strategic, interdisciplinary approach to advanced literacy works to encourage knowledge building across all content instruction, a sentiment that Dr. Paula Pendergrass, an advanced academics resource teacher, echoed.
“Literacy is the foundation that connects all disciplines of study,” said Pendergrass. “It connects reading to mathematics, mathematics to science, science to the arts, etc. Most importantly, it has the power to open doors of opportunities for all of our students.”
Over the next year, we’ll continue to unpack the district’s literacy efforts as we march towards the same goal: all students reading on grade level by 3rd grade by the year 2025.
[Read More at Children First] Read MoreIt’s been six years since Tennessee took over its first low-performing schools. How are they doing?
Six years after the state took over six of Tennessee’s lowest-performing schools, all of those schools continue to struggle, new state test results show.
The state’s ambitious goal with the Achievement School District was to transform the schools that tested in the bottom 5 percent into top-performers within five years. Though the district’s founder later acknowledged the goal was too lofty, the new test results shed light on the massive challenge ahead for the schools and for Sharon Griffin, who became the district’s new leader in June.
Of the schools in the original state-run district, four of the six had fewer than 10 percent of students testing at or above grade level in math or English during the 2017-2018 academic year, according to TNReady test results released last week. Meanwhile, Cornerstone Prep Lester Elementary School in Memphis performed better than its counterparts with 11.5 percent of students at grade level in English and 20 percent of students at grade level in math. Frayser Achievement Elementary had 12 percent of students at grade level in English, but just 9 percent at grade level in math.
As a point of comparison, statewide averages for grades 3-8 had 33.9 percent of Tennessee students at grade level in English and 37.3 percent at grade level in math.
In taking over these schools back in 2012, the state handed them over to charter organizations. Five were launched in Memphis, and Brick Church College Prep was opened in Nashville. The state-run district now has 30 schools, the majority of which are in Memphis.
The idea for the state district was originally based on the Recovery School District in Louisiana. But while the New Orleans charter-led district has seen success in boosting academic achievement, the Tennessee district was never set up for the same success, said Douglas Harris, a Tulane Professor of Economics and founder of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans.
The Achievement School District requires its charter schools to enroll 75 percent of students from the surrounding neighborhoods. The New Orleans recovery district was open enrollment, which drives schools to compete for students, Harris told Chalkbeat. He also noted that the Tennessee state district has yet to close charter schools that aren’t rising to the challenge of transforming underperforming schools.
Tennessee teachers lag in diversity as more minority students enter schools
While Tennessee’s population of students continues to grow more racially diverse, the state’s workforce of teachers is nowhere close to reflecting the same degree of diversity.
A report released by the Tennessee Department of Education quantifies the gap: while 37 percent of the state’s students are students of color, 13 percent of teachers are teachers of color.
In some districts, teachers of color have very little representation, if any at all. In the last school year, teachers in half of the state’s 147 districts swayed at least 95 percent white, the report stated.
While 40 districts contained no African-American teachers, 50 districts had no Hispanic teachers.
Problem not exclusive to Tennessee
The absence of diversity among educators isn’t a problem exclusive to Tennessee, according to the report, which cited national figures. Students of color represent 51 percent of students in the United States at the same time that teachers of color account for 18 percent of the population.
A lack of diversity is an issue for students, regardless of their race or ethnicity, the report emphasized.
For kids of color, several studies have shown that having a teacher of the same race can result in higher academic achievement for students, better attendance, and a drop in suspensions and expulsions, the report noted.
Those students’ risk of dropping out of high school is also reduced while they experience “more favorable teacher perceptions,” the report stated.
Additionally, for students of low-income households, having at least one African-American teacher in grades 3-5 boosts students’ self-reported intention to go onto higher education for a bachelor’s degree.
White students also benefit from learning from a diversity of teachers, as studies suggest that better preps students to live “in a multicultural society,” the report stated.
A persistent gap
Over the last seven school years, the overall percentage of teachers and administrators of color in Tennessee has remained mostly level while the state’s makeup of students has become more diverse.
During the 2011-12 school year, 30 percent of students in public schools were students of color. As of the last academic year, it had increased 7 percent. Within that segment, the percentage of African American students fell slightly while the percentage of Hispanic students jumped notably, as detailed by the report.
Hispanic students increased from 68,051 in 2011-12, when they accounted for 6 percent of the student population, to 98,690 in 2017-18, representing 10 percent of students, the reported stated.
“The changes in student racial and ethnic diversity without a substantial change in teacher or administrator diversity mean that fewer students of color are learning from teachers of color,” the report stated.
Most districts in the state have less than 10 percent teachers of color, according to the report, which also said that many of those districts contain between 20 percent and 50 percent students of color.
That means that those districts have a lot of students of color who don’t have much exposure to teachers of color.
Only seven of Tennessee’s districts have an educator workforce in which teachers of color account for more than 20 percent, according to the report, which noted that most teachers of color are concentrated in districts with significant numbers of students of color.
When it comes to new teachers, the percentage of those who are Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, and multi-racial has increased, but the percentage of new African-American teachers has not jumped, the report noted.
Educators who have more than 30 years of experience include 14 percent African American, but African American teachers account for 11 percent of teachers with five years of experience or less, the report stated.
That means that fewer African American teachers have entered and stayed in the classroom in the past five years than in previous years.
Should that continue, the report warned, “it would lead to a net loss in the African American portion of the workforce.”
TNReady score released: Search to see how your school did on Tennessee’s statewide test
The Tennessee Department of Education released on Thursday the school-level TNReady scores.
Search the statewide database at the Tennessean to see results for individual schools.
TNReady problems in 2018
The superintendents of the state’s two largest school districts declared in a Friday letter “no confidence” in TNReady after numerous years of problems.
Shelby County Schools Director Dorsey Hopson and Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Shawn Joseph issued the letter to call for the state to halt the standardized assessment and convene a statewide educator working group to sort out the challenges.
The letter from Hopson and Joseph comes after yet another year of TNReady problems.
Hopson said of the testing snafus that “there’s just such a level of dejection” from teachers and administrators.
This year, after initially believing there was a “deliberate attack” against the state’s vendor, it was revealed that Questar Assessment made unauthorized changes to the online test that caused issues for students.
Lawmakers intervened as the test was being administered statewide, ensuring TNReady results didn’t hurt students, teachers or districts.
Last year, the state’s vendor incorrectly graded some paper tests, causing widespread questions from teachers and lawmakers.
And in 2016, under the state’s first vendor, the online test was canceled entirely, with high school students taking a paper version of the test. Measurement Inc., the vendor, wasn’t able to deliver paper tests on time to elementary and middle schools.
[Read more at The Tennessean]Read More
Metro Nashville Public schools open school year with about 60 vacancies
Nashville public schools has about 60 vacancies at the start of the school year that started on Tuesday, with the district covering those positions with substitutes.
Most of the teaching roles needed by the district are in hard to fill such as English Language learner, special education, math, and science teachers, said district spokeswoman Dawn Rutledge.
The district is continuing its search to hire teachers, Rutledge said, and added the district is “in a better position than last year.”
Teacher turnover: Nashville schools lose half of newest teachers within three years on the job
A month ago, the district had 189 vacancies, with those mixed among various administrative and teaching positions. At the same time last year, the district had about 266 vacancies.
The struggle to find teachers in the hard to fill positions is a multiyear problem for the district. Other Tennessee districts have suffered from the same issue.
[Read more at The Tennessean] Read MoreTennessee Announces 2018-19 Principal District Supervisor of the Year Finalists
“We know that strong leadership plays a key role in the ultimate success of our students, schools, and state, and these 18 finalists represent some of the best leaders in Tennessee,” McQueen said. “It is an honor to recognize them for their years of dedication to our students and their track records of success.”
The Tennessee Principal of the Year award is given annually to a school leader for outstanding service in education and exceptional leadership that drives overall improvements in his or her school. To qualify, candidates must have a minimum of three years’ experience as a principal and a minimum of five years’ experience in Tennessee public schools. In addition, all nominees must have a proven track record of exceptional gains in student learning.
The nine finalists for 2018-19 Principal of the Year are:
CORE Region | Principal | School | District |
---|---|---|---|
Shelby/Municipals | Barbara Harmon | Germantown High | Shelby County |
Southwest | Vicki Shipley | Munford Middle | Tipton County |
Northwest | Jared Foust | Crockett County High | Crockett County |
CORE Region | Principal | School | District |
---|---|---|---|
Mid Cumberland | Monica Fox | Gladeville Elementary | Wilson County |
South Central | Velena Newton | Richland Elementary | Giles County |
Upper Cumberland | Angela Cossey | Woodland Elementary | Cannon County |
CORE Region | Principal | School | District |
---|---|---|---|
Southeast | Dr. Marthel Young | East Brainerd Elementary | Hamilton County |
East Tennessee | Sydney Upton | Sunnyview Primary | Knox County |
First Tennessee | Joseph Ely | Lincoln Heights Middle | Hamblen County |
Each year an outstanding public school supervisor earns distinction as the Tennessee Supervisor of the Year. To qualify, candidates must demonstrate a record of implementing innovative programs and managing and motivating students and faculties. Additionally, the nominees must have a minimum of three years’ experience as an administrator and a minimum of five years’ experience in Tennessee public schools.
Nashville and Shelby County schools superintendents declare ‘no confidence’ in TNReady
The superintendents of the state’s two largest school districts declared in a Friday letter “no confidence” in TNReady after numerous years of problems.
Shelby County Schools Director Dorsey Hopson and Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Shawn Joseph issued the letter to call for the state to halt the standardized assessment and convene a statewide educator working group to sort out the challenges.
“We believe educator and public trust in TNReady has fallen to irretrievably low levels,” says the letter addressed to Gov. Bill Haslam and Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen. “We are challenged to explain to teachers, parents and students why they must accept the results of a test that has not been effectively deployed.”
Both superintendents said on Tuesday that they want to see the state to succeed in its testing efforts. Neither said the state needs to go backward, but instead, it needs to take time to ensure everything runs smoothly.
“It shouldn’t be that hard,” Hopson said.
Joseph added: “We have an opportunity here to ensure we get testing right.”
Lawmakers also warn against low confidence in the test
Meanwhile, lawmakers met once again on Tuesday to grill Tennessee Department of Education officials over the problems in the last year. Questions focused on how the department plans to ensure problems don’t persist in the 2018-19 school year.
The Tennessee Department of Education plans to proceed with the test next year, but won’t require online testing statewide. It is also searching for another vendor to administer the test in 2019 and beyond.
Both Democrats and Republicans warned of poor perception among parents and teachers of the test.
“There is very low morale across the state,” said Rep. Debra Moody, R-Covington.
And Rep. Joe Pitts, D-Clarksville, said there is plenty of public angst and fear about the test after multiple years of issues tied to the test in some form or another.
“There is no confidence in the results,” he said, “because teachers have PTSD.”
The letter says districts have spent big to prepare for the test
The letter from Hopson and Joseph also says that districts have spent millions of dollars over the last few years on technology to prepare for TNReady when the assessment itself hasn’t functioned correctly. Those have effectively been unfunded mandates, the letter says.
And those investments, it says, could have been spent on teacher salaries, professional development and other needs.
“By the time the state achieves a fully functioning online assessment system, our original investments will have been rendered obsolete — and we will be forced to send another large technology bill to our mayors, county commission and Metro council,” the two said in the letter.
Education department responds to the letter
A spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education said neither Haslam or McQueen have received the letter.
“We’ve engaged educators extensively in the development of TNReady, and for the past several months we had educators from Metro Nashville Public Schools and Shelby County Schools serving on our Assessment Task Force to advise our next steps with TNReady,” spokeswoman Sara Gast said.
The state is also bringing in 37 new educators to serve as TNReady ambassadors to further improve our assessment, Gast said, to “make sure educators inform and are involved with each aspect of our testing program.”
And the state, she said, has invested $1.5 billion new dollars in education since 2011, which includes doubling the amount of annual, recurring technology funding to schools.
“We believe technology is a critical aspect of teaching and learning to prepare students for the jobs that are available today,” Gast said. “And our hope is that teachers are using technology in their everyday teaching — not just to administer a test.”
TNReady’s history of problems
The letter from Hopson and Joseph comes after yet another year of TNReady problems.
Hopson said of the testing snafus that “there’s just such a level of dejection” from teachers and administrators.
This year, after initially believing there was a “deliberate attack” against the state’s vendor, it was revealed that Questar Assessment made unauthorized changes to the online test that caused issues for students.
► Tennessee seeking a new vendor: Tennessee won’t require every student to take TNReady online next year, will allow competition for a new test vendor
► 2018 Tennessee Educator Survey: Perception of standardized testing low after TNReady issues
Lawmakers intervened as the test was being administered statewide, ensuring TNReady results didn’t hurt students, teachers or districts.
Last year, the state’s vendor incorrectly graded some paper tests, causing widespread questions from teachers and lawmakers.
And in 2016, under the state’s first vendor, the online test was canceled entirely, with high school students taking a paper version of the test. Measurement Inc., the vendor, wasn’t able to deliver paper tests on time to elementary and middle schools.
► 2017-18 statewide TNReady results: TNReady testing scores mostly flat, but results dip in high school English
[Read More at The Tennessean]
Read More"Good, bad, or ugly- the numbers matter. We urge every Nashvillian to learn about their local school board district, get to know the candidates for elected office, and be equipped and empowered to engage with key decision makers- including our Metro Nashville Board of Education."
Tara Scarlett Op-Ed: Nashville school board district data empowers local voters
By Tara Scarlett
Data empowers sound decision-making. That is true for parents, teachers, and school leaders, and importantly, elected officials.
Even while a lot of media and attention is paid to state and federal races this election season, public engagement in local school board elections is just as significant.
On August 2, along with the statewide primaries, Nashville will decide on four of the nine school board seats— Districts 2, 4, 6, and 8.
School board members have a major impact on education in Nashville, and this election will set the direction for Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and the 85,000+ students it serves.
And while voters should certainly learn about candidates for the Metro Nashville school board, they should also learn about the school district, the students served, and the teachers and principals it seeks to attract and retain.
The Scarlett Family Foundation is invested in helping more Middle Tennessee students get a quality education. There are many partners in this work, and we support school, nonprofit and community efforts focused on making improvements and increasing success at the K-12 level.
When our middle Tennessee students are ready to go to college, we continue investing in them. The Scarlett Family Foundation has awarded over 500 scholarships to eligible students, helping them pursue a higher education and graduate towards good-paying jobs.
We are also focused on providing data resources to equip the Nashville community with important information as we work together to ensure every child receives a high-quality education.
Approaching the August school board elections, we compiled data from the 2016-2017 school year to create a new community resource. Our School Board District Profiles give a clear picture of our education landscape at the most local level, and bring this data together to result in some important findings.
What the data says about the district
First, we need to understand the student population MNPS serves. Twenty percent of the student population qualify as English Language Learners— four times the state number. Additionally, half of the students are economically disadvantaged, compared to 35 percent statewide.
When looking at student and school culture data—important factors in the outcome of student achievement and growth– some concerning trends emerge. MNPS continues to have high chronic absenteeism, with 17 percent of students missing a tenth or more of a school year.
Diving into district-specific data, we even see places where that number tops 20 percent. This means almost one in five students are missing a large chunk of instruction every year.
Recruiting and retaining great teachers and school leaders is also a known challenge and the most recent data affirms it. The teacher retention rate over a two-year average was 76 percent for MNPS traditional schools and 75 percent for charter schools. The average principal has served in their role only four years.
Finally, while MNPS lags behind the state in student achievement, there is a difference in achievement levels for different types of schools. When comparing traditional MNPS schools to charter schools, charters show near equivalent or higher achievement scores and surpass the state in growth scores.
We have joined so many other community partners in taking responsibility to do all we can to help our students, education leaders, and schools be successful.
In a couple weeks, all voters will have a chance to do their part.
Good, bad, or ugly– the numbers matter. We urge every Nashvillian to learn about their local school board district, get to know the candidates for elected office, and be equipped and empowered to engage with key decision makers— including our Metro Nashville Board of Education.
Tara Scarlett is president & CEO of the Scarlett Family Foundation, which provides grants to non-profit organizations supporting education, and merit- and need-based scholarships to Middle Tennessee students. For more information, visit scarlettfoundation.org.