Deepest thanks to those of you who have proposed restoring the two TAG
positions to next year's budget -- i.e., Carol, Ruth, Bill C, and
Johnny. We're sure you can imagine the degree of relief and
gratitude currently being felt out here. We are hoping that the
other three of you -- Bill K, Juan and Shwaw -- are inclined in the
same direction and simply did not feel strongly enough about the issue
to propose an amendment.
An additional "hats off" to Johnny for understanding that the TAG staff
and classroom teachers need that additional $70,000 in support (only
$1500 per school) in order to function effectively and best serve the
needs of the District's "high end" students. Those are the
dollars that support teacher training, collaborative planning between
TAG staff and classroom teachers, and the purchase of materials
required by teachers in order to deliver a differentiated curriculum
within the regular classroom. In practice, most of the money goes
for substitutes so that the regular classroom teachers can meet with
TAG staff for purposes of training and curriculum development.
Since differentiation within the regular classroom has become -- far
and away -- the District's primary delivery system for TAG services,
supporting classroom teachers so that they have the time, training and
materials to learn how to effectively differentiate at the high end,
and to then implement their newly acquired skills, is critical.
Even the Administration understands that "in the long run, students
would be negatively impacted [by this cut] by teachers having less time
and resources to design differentiated curriculum."
Here's what one of the TAG staff wrote to us about the support money:
"The $70,000 goes to sub time for teams
of teachers to work along with a TAG Resource Teacher in planning,
developing, and writing differentiated curriculum that consciously
supports the high-end learners in the classroom. Some phenomenal
awareness/mindset changes and structural/curriculum changes have begun
to occur because of this time and money. Some of the power of these
changes is because several teachers in a school are planning and making
these changes, rather than one lone person who may give up without the
ongoing support of colleagues.
Without this money, the only avenues for change and progress that the
TAG Team can access with teachers is one-on-one work, which is
painfully slow, and often not as effective because of the lack of
collegial support. The only other mechanism available are classes held
after school, which are attended voluntarily by teachers, so often only
those teachers who are already most likely to make changes attend."
The $70,000 in support money is therefore crucial to the successful
development of the District's explicit model for delivering TAG
services -- having well-trained TAG professionals who, in turn, train
regular classroom teachers in order to help them develop and teach a
differentiated curriculum that offers the appropriate "next level of
challenge" learning opportunities to their high end students.
Please try to understand: it is far too early in the development of the
District model for the delivery of TAG services to take away the
program's support and training money. It's like paying for a
coach, but not for equipment. Like having a strong skeleton, but
one stripped of the connective and muscle tissue necessary to hold it
up and make it functional. Like giving a child a toy without
batteries. It is, perhaps, a cut that can come later on down the
road, once most of the District's classroom teachers are trained and
"on board" with the plan; but not now, when the program is just
beginning to gather momentum and have a positive impact for students.
Thanks to Johnny for understanding all of that. We trust the rest
of you will reconsider.
Laurie and Jeff