A4 News Newsbriefs Marching band enrollment drops Blair’s marching band saw a drop in membership this year from 32 students last year to 23 now. According to marching band sponsor Adam Stephens, this decrease is due in large part to the number of seniors in last year’s group. “We had a lot of seniors [in the band] last year, but the drop [in numbers] is not that significant,” said Stephens. The band partially offset the loss of nine seniors this year with the addition of three freshmen. Sophomore trumpet player Julian Bregstone says they are not trying very hard to recruit new members because it is not crucial. “Like Mr. Stephens said, the drop [in numbers] is not that big of a deal,” said Bregstone.
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Club meetings postponed until further notice SGA demands more paperwork before activities are cleared from CLUBS page A1 those forms to the main office, get it approved, and then basically we can have our club back,” said junior Ishaan Parikh, a student leader of Blair’s Model United Nations club. In order to get approved, the club registration forms must
go through a multi-step renewal process. “There is going to be a group of student leaders, as well as administrators and myself, that are going to convene to review applications,” explained SGA coordinator and English teacher Christopher Klein. The call for club renewal is due
Muslims push for holidays off The Maryland chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations and the Equality for Eid Coalition held a press conference on Sept. 23 during which speakers pushed for Montgomery County Public Schools to close on Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, two important religious holidays celebrated by Muslims. One of the speakers advocating for school closures on these days was Northwest High School senior Anhar Karim, who argued that Muslim students in MCPS face a hard decision every year, forced to either miss school or miss the celebration. Montgomery County Board of Education member Philip Kauffman said that the school system can close only when the number of student and staff absences is enough to impact classroom instruction and that studies conducted during the last few years have not shown a “discernible trend” in the number of absences. Currently MCPS recognizes the holidays by declaring that tests cannot be given on those days and that Muslim students can get excused absences.
Common Core now being implemented This year, MCPS began implementing Maryland’s Common Core State Standards in its curriculum. The Common Core initiative, developed by the Obama administration, aims to establish a set of standards for what students are expected to learn regardless of what school system they are in. The ultimate goal is to better prepare students for success in college and the workplace. “It helps students learn how to problem -solve and teaches them how to really think,” said Celita Davis, head of Blair’s math department. Maryland is one of the first states to adopt Obama’s Common Core Standards curriculum. “[We] were the first state to develop indicators. Those are spreading across the nation, making Maryland a leading state with the Common Core,” said science department head Summer Roark Thiero. Newsbriefs compiled by Leslie Chen
October 3, 2013
KYRA SEIGER
NO CLUBS A student looks at the sign for Blair’s Green Club. The club was officially disbanded before the school year and to exist will have to refile several forms including their constitution. Other signs exist around Blair, advertising currently non-existent clubs
D.C. charter schools introduce testing in preschool classes Experts say students are not ready for standardized testing By Alexis Redford D.C. charter schools launched a new standardized testing program in their preschools this September. According to the D.C. Charter School Board, the goal of this new initiative is to track the children’s progress and provide a basis for quantitative comparison of the various preschools in D.C. Sara Needleman, Professor of Teacher Training for the University of Southern Maine and an Educational Specialist for Jump Rope, a national organization that promotes standards-based-evaluation, believes that testing is misplaced for students who should be learning social skills, not academic subjects. “The pre-K years are valuable for teaching social and emotional skills such as learning how to get along, sharing, working in groups, listening, and selfsufficiency,” says Needleman, “not about reading and math”. Needleman explains that learning these skills will ensure the future success of the children. “Testing will make it so there will be less time teaching of social skills, which are necessary so that kids can be effective in later years,” she says. Kate Alcamo, a child psychologist, explains that, due to the quick growth and development of kids three to four years old, testing will not be a good indicator for the children’s progress. “It is difficult to obtain valid assessments for kids in preschool because their
development is so rapid and influenced by experience,” she says. She believes that the tests would be flawed particularly for some demographics. “The tests would not provide very accurate information for kids that young or that come from diverse backgrounds,” she says. The proponents of the program cite the ability of tests to track progress. Both Needleman and Alcamo agree that this is necessary, but feel that the approach the D.C. Charter School Board is taking is not effective. “Students do need to be assessed, “ said Needleman, “but standardized tests have a hard time proving what’s actually been taught in the classroom. With these measures testing is not done effectively.” Alcamo also explains that testing is helpful, but a different approach should be taken to address all students with different backgrounds. “I think it’s beneficial in terms of evaluating school programs as long as the tests are culturally sensitive and take into account how experience influences young children,” says Alcamo. Ally Zevin, a preschool teacher at Takoma Park Elementary School, has not heard any discussion of mandatory standardized testing coming to Maryland. She also explains that she does asses her students, but for different purposes than those of the D.C. School Board. “I administer three tests in math and reading per year, and it’s only for my own purposes and information,” said Zevin.
to the county’s concerns about the legitimacy of some clubs and the supervision of the adults sponsoring them. “The way it was posed to me by the administration, is that every so often we need to know which teachers are in our classrooms with which students,” said Klein, “that way we can tell which clubs still exist, and which clubs may not exist because [they were] sponsored by a previous staff member.” Any uncertainty on whether a club has a staff member supervising them could pose legal problems. “If there is a student group that does not have a staff member, that’s a liability issue for the school,” said Klein. “We live in litigious times.” The biggest priority is student safety, and by making sure there are certified teacher sponsors for each club, the school aims to ensure that clubs are a secure environment. “If everyone has to go through this process of submitting their constitutions, then we’ll know who’s in our classrooms with our students,” Klein said. “It’s not to be a pain in
anyone’s posterior, it’s to ensure student safety and I think people understand that.” Even so, club leaders have said that the renewal process has been an inconvenience for many clubs trying to get started. Model UN is one of many clubs that plan events early in the year, and need time to prepare for them. “It’s kind of frustrating because we have a big conference coming up in November and now this issue comes where we can’t meet for a couple weeks,” expressed Parikh. Klein is sympathetic to the club leaders’ exasperation and assured that efforts are being made to make the ordeal as quick as possible. “We have recognized the need that certain clubs have events that are very soon and need to meet, and due to that we are trying to be as responsive and quick with the application process as possible,” he said. Still, he maintained that student safety presides over all interests. “We’ve had some grumblings but I think overall people recognize that student safety is the priority,” he said.
Tutoring program plans to pay interns Interns receive course credit or compensation for volunteering from BLISS page A1 well. “We’re trying to see if it works out well and trying to expand it,” said senior Mekdes Sisay, BLISS liaison and extracurricular activities coordinator. Cauley also hopes to employ students to be paid tutors in the Media Center after school, although the Media Center expansion is yet to occur. “We’re just trying to get everything started,” he said. According to Cauley, much of the new program’s potential for success lies in whether it can convince students in need of tutoring to stay after school to receive help, and whether these students have conflicting obligations that would interfere. “It depends on how much the students want to work after school,” said Cauley. “Some students need to go home to support their families.” Even though a few tutors will
receive a paycheck, most BLISS tutors will continue to provide academic support to their fellow classmates for free. “I don’t think [payment] will ever be the intent of the program,” said senior Brieanna Iyomahan, co-director of BLISS. According to both Iyomahan and Sisay, the idea of peer-to-peer tutoring is to allow students to develop a trusting relationship with their tutors, making it easier to ask questions when needed. “We’re trying to form a connection between students who are struggling and students who are more advanced,” said Sisay. If you are a student interested in tutoring other Blazers in math, science, social studies, English or a foreign language, see Mr. Cauley in the main office for more information on how to get involved in the BLISS program.
ZEKE WAPNER
BLISS Student tutors assist their peers with classwork through the student-run internship program.