2news
Race to the Top
Federal program targets public education
Band awards announced • The Flying Falcon Marching Band won first place overall at the Land of the Sky Marching Band Festival at Enka on Oct.2, taking first place hornline, drumline and music. The colorguard placed third. The band competed at the Knight Tournament of Bands on Oct. 9 at North Henderson, placing second overall. • FCCLA, HOSA and FBLA members will sponsor a CTE cookout on Nov. 5. • Outdoor Club officers for the year are co-presidents Riley Holcombe and Audrey Huff, seniors; and vice president Catherine Swift, junior. • Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps officers are botain commander Devin Quillen, senior; special assistant to the army instructor Sergio Islas, senior; executive officer Rachel Lund, senior; and personnel officer Leah Schnell, junior. The JROTC cadets will participate in the Veterans’ Day Ceremony Nov. 11 in downtown Hendersonville.
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Amy Taylor Asst. News Editor
ace to the Top, the Obama Administration’s education reform program, is turning school performance into cash for states facing drastic budget shortfalls. Starting as early as next year, North Carolina will be implementing reforms in education based on mandates from the new federal program. In return, North Carolina will receive more than $400 million in federal grants. President Barack Obama proposed Race to the Top (RttT) as a part of his 2009 stimulus package passed by Congress. When implemented, the plan will be based on four criteria: attaining effective teachers and principals, turning around low performing schools, embracing college and career ready curricula and integrating technology into schools. “It’s about reform. It is about taking our schools and our school districts to the next level to make them highly effective,” Dr. Kathy Revis, Henderson County assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said. States following RttT’s rigorous requirements had an opportunity to earn points and compete for grant money. North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio racked up enough points to be second-round finalists. North Carolina applied for the first round of RttT funding last year, but only Delaware and Tennessee received funding. “One thing that concerns me more than anything is that the state personnel were saying we’re not going to have enough money through RttT to do everything we’re required to do,” Revis said. “That concerns me a great deal because we are in a budget deficit, and it’s almost like an unfunded mandate at this point. Even though school districts and superintendents were asked last spring to sign a pledge to be supportive of RttT, I think at that point most superintendents didn’t know enough to sign off on anything. Make no mistake, when the federal government gives you money, there are strings attached.” The new federal program created to amend the Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind reform efforts has caused controversy. Several states have refused to apply and teachers’ unions have shown opposition as well. “Education is supposed to be a state thing, and just like No Child Left Behind, the Race to the Top is a federal
• SWAT members will host the Great American Smokeout on Nov. 18 during lunches. Students will be asked to sign pledges agreeing not to use tobacco products.
• DECA officers include senior Sergio Islas, president; senior Jacob Sitton, vice president; senior Cody Ledford, secretary; junior Sebastien Castellanos, treasurer; and senior Ryan Gordon, historian. • Junior Civitan officers include seniors Kayla Martin, Carly Owenby, Torrie Minick and Meredith Cole. The club has received a $1,000 donation to promote Special Olympics. • The literary magazine staff is now accepting poetry, prose, photos and art work for publication. Submissions may be given to to sponsor Betsy Squires in Z-8 or sent to manifestliterarymagazine @gmail.com.
program,” David Minnich, civics and economics teacher, said. “I really don’t think the federal government should dictate how state education is run, so I don’t think there are a lot of positives; the federal government just has more power.” To go along with RttT, Gov. Bev Perdue has intiated the Career and College: Ready, Set, Go! program specifically for North Carolina. Part of the $400 million from North Carolina’s RttT grant will be spent funding Perdue’s program. “I don’t know which came first, but it’s all integrated,” Revis said. “In fact, many of the initiatives that North Carolina had taken on before RttT, they are weaving in to the application, so it’s not like we’re going to have to put the brakes on and take a U-turn. They are just blending that in.” According to Revis, Henderson County’s main focus will be on 21st century technology in each and every classroom. “Because of all the initiatives that require all of our schools to have a wireless platform, we need to get there,” Revis said. “In fact, all of our state assessments are going to have to move to an online assessment format. So you will either have to be sitting in front of a computer screen or have some kind of hand-held device to key in your answers. And of course the new teacher evaluations and principal evaluations are all online.” Out of the $400 million, Henderson County is estimated to receive between $1 and $2 million over the four years. Revis said the money will go quickly when administrators are thinking of spending more than $30,000 on wireless service for each high school. “If we choose to spend it toward that technology, we are going to have to be careful,” Revis said. “We’re going to have to look at all areas, but I feel like we’re a step ahead of some school systems with all the professional development that we’re going to have to roll out to our teachers. We have instructional coaches in our schools, and they can redeliver that, so we already have some things we’re doing that will save us from taking that money from RttT.” The RttT grant means North Carolina schools will face changes, Revis said. “I’m all for moving forward, but let’s do it in a way that is reasonable. I want Henderson County to be seen as, ‘Wow, their implementation plan is great, and it’s reasonable, and teachers are embracing it and parents and students are embracing it.’ That’s what I
At the the homecoming pep rally on Oct. 8, junior Mandi Melton performs a stunt with the varsity cheerleading squad. The cheerleaders, student government representatives and leadership class planned homecoming activities around the “Lights Out” theme. “There was a lot of school spirit at the pep rally. I was scared I was going to fall during the stunt, though, because at the first pep rally they dropped me. My foot was wobbly, but this time it went up well, so I was excited,” Melton said.
Online (cont. from Page 1) the college application process. Students can also take it as an extra course and do the online work at home. “For that student who needs that extra AP class to help boost their GPA and give them a better chance on a certain college application, it certainly helps,” Pam Blackwell, career center adviser, said. With an online class, students do not have a teacher available in the same way they do in a classroom setting. “I feel like that is the one downside to online classes because a lot of students like the interaction with the teacher, and they feel like they can go and ask questions with the teacher,” Ciaramitaro said. “We don’t have the teachers or the staff to teach the classes here, and the teachers online aren’t from around here, so it’s a different teaching style.” Students today are more familiar with technology than in the past. Learning in an online setting is more comfortable for some students because of their experience with computers, Ciaramitaro said. Multiple teachers and professors around North Carolina post assignments and homework on a website called Blackboard as part of the N.C. Virtual Public School. Students are then given a username and a password they use to access their assignments, as well as links to tests and quizzes. According to Ciaramitaro, most online classes function by having the students read a selection and do the homework for the given passage. Although taking an online class pulls a student out of the active classroom environment, communication between the student and teacher is still essential to learning the curriculum. “Personally, I think that you’re better off if you can take a class where there is a teacher in front of you,” Blackwell said. “But if it’s your online alternative, you really want to take that class and you know it’s your passion, then go for it.” The online student keeps in touch with the teacher through online posts, e-mails and phone calls. Online students with missing assignments will often receive
Photo by Carly Owenby
• Key Club members are currently collecting money for UNICEF. They will be trick-or-treating for canned goods on Oct. 31. Food items will be donated to Manna Food Bank.
Lifting Spirits
Photo by Haley Glatzer
In Flight
wingspan • october 28, 2010
Site Check Editor-in-Chief Katie King and Web Editor Josh Wentzel explore options on Wingspan’s new website.
Student newspaper adds online edition The Wingspan is adding an online website in addition to its print edition in an effort to better serve readers, Katie King and Brandi Martin, editors-in-chief, have announced. The website, hosted by School Newspapers Online, is currently up and running. The site will feature stories from the regular issues as well as additional information and features. The site will also include daily sports updates, a calendar of events, polls and weekly slideshows of school events. To learn more about Wingspan’s new website, visit www.wingspanonline.net.
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phone calls home to help keep the parents involved. “Some teachers will offer students more than one opportunity to take a quiz or a test, and others will say that you got your one shot and that’s it,” Blackwell said. “Some of the teachers will close off the assignments after a certain time, and they don’t allow students to go back in and redo those assignments or access them, and then others will allow that. It’s like it is here at school, different teachers will allow different sets of rules.” Students who choose to take online classes are given more freedom and time to complete their work than students in an active class, students said. Assignments on Blackboard are posted a week at a time. Consequently, students can complete the work at whatever time best suits them during that week. “One of the positives is that you don’t necessarily have to do it at a certain time every day, so a student can complete the work here, but they can also work on their online class from home,” Blackwell said. “Teachers set deadlines for those assignments, so the students can work within their own timeframe completing those assignments as long as they make the deadlines that those teachers have set up.” The majority of online students take their classes in the Career Center. Technology problems can arise. “You have technology problems, too, that play a part because everything has to be submitted through Blackboard. In an online environment you can run into problems where you’re trying to submit an assignment at the last minute, and you can have technology issues,” Blackwell said. “So that can be a disadvantage as well.” Online classes are funded by the state. Independent online universities such as Nova Southeastern and Regent are also growing in popularity. “They’re just basically running their class like a lot of colleges — they’ll run their class online. They’ll type in the assignments and have conversations back and forth between the students through e-mails or posts and a lot of college classes are fun this way anyway,” Auten said.
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