BFA Fairfax Sharpens Its Focus

[Henry]

Written By:
MICHELLE MONROE
School pulling out all stops to improve yearly progress

FAIRFAX — As with other Franklin County schools, being identified as a school needing to improve has brought changes to the middle and elementary schools at Bellows Free Academy- Fairfax (BFA).

http://www.samessenger.com/node/450

[Dick Brown]

As a former administrator at BFA , I have to agree with the actions and comments by the current Principals and Superintendent at our school as described by Ms. Moore from the Messenger. Her article articulated some of the strengths of the NCLB Act , but , more importantly , what BFA Teachers and Staff , supported by funds from the communities it serves , are doing to meet the questionable Federal Mandates imposed on this District by the test scores which , as computed , remain possibly the most glaring weakness of NCLB. As one reads behind the lines , the only unsatisfactory finding of this school system is the perception passed to the public that BFA is not doing an acceptable , if not superior, job in its classrooms.
No matter what advocates for a K-12 feel about its benefit to a town like Fairfax ( and count me as one of those ) , and to the groups it educates and serves, submitting combined scores for its Elementary , Middle and High School Disadvantaged and Special Needs students ( as dictated by the NCLB rules ) puts it at a severe disadvantage when the tote board is tallied up in educational la-la land. Teaching tactics which make BFA such a fine school by intergrating curriculum's , sharing ideas and materials , and developing strong student minds with feelings of respect for both their younger and older peers ( the ideal family model ) are judged as less important then a score on a test administered under questionable conditions , as set up by NCLB.
As one can see, I remain a strong supporter of local schools and less impressed by the results fostered in an attempt to set national standards , and I remain an advocate for BFA and the population it serves.         

[Doyle78]

lamoille union, where my daughter just graduated from did not fair well on these tests either. my opinion is that students are not machines. they all learn differently and at different speeds. i also think this testing can put alot of stress on some students who may have learning disabilities. my daughter, who is a very smart young lady did not learn things as quickly as some and was always stressed out when these tests came about. we did not have these tests when i was in school, thank god. how would we have done on them ? i don't know. we had some of the best teachers in the state at BFA but would we have done any better ? first you have your very smart kids who learn easily, they breeze through second you got kids like my daughter who get stressed and may or may not do well then you got the ones who would rather be any where but school say nothing about taking a "stupid" test who really don't give a care how they do. by the way my daughter was accepted into lyndon state college, but couldn't get enough funding to go. she is now attending ccv in winooski and hopes to be a high school english teacher some day.