Three of Lancaster County’s retired school superintendents are working in the state’s Distinguished Educator program, helping school districts erase their No Child Left Behind deficiencies.
Steven Iovino (second from left), a participant in the the Pennsylvania Distinguished Educators program, meets with administrators from the School District of Lancaster and Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13.
By Robyn Meadows
Published Jan 04, 2007 17:16
One year ago, the state created the program as a way to assist struggling school districts.
Educators such as Iovino travel to schools in need. Some drive long distances.
Iovino works with a team at the School District of Lancaster. He pours over the data from assessment tests and recommends strategies to boost student achievement. He works side by side with school administrators.
“This is an opportunity to help students who are having difficulty achieve,” Iovino said. “I think that’s something that an educator carries with them throughout their career, and it’s why they are in this business.”
Iovino is one of 62 retired teachers, principals and superintendents participating in the statewide program.
In all, a handful of the educators are from Lancaster County, including Larry Burkhart, former superintendent of the Eastern Lancaster County School District, and John Bonfield, also a former superintendent of Warwick.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has 17 teams of educators who travel to 18 school districts across the state.
“These are former (educators) who have a record of demonstrating that they can work in difficult situations,” Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak said.
The schools they visit are those that are failing to meet the yearly standards set forth by the federal No Child Left Behind legislation, which are measured annually by the state.
The state, however, is not sending the educators to the districts to tell them what to do.
Zahorchak said the men and women on the teams are “an extra pair of trained hands on deck.”
Iovino is one of four educators assisting the School District of Lancaster, which is in its second year of facing consequences for missing state targets on the state test and with its graduation rate.
This district’s superintendent is glad to have them.
“The distinguished educators have become a welcome part of our team,” Rita Bishop said. “They have worked side by side with us to improve instruction throughout the district, and they are another set of hands and minds working for our children.”
In a state where local control issues can be divisive, Iovino said that the team has felt a warm welcome by the local school district.
“We’ve had a very positive relationship,” he said.
The state provides the distinguished educators with training before they venture out into various districts.
These educators are not considered state employees but contractors, and the state pays them $400 a day, up to 200 days a year, according to a spokesman at the state Department of Education.
Iovino said he didn’t retire to take this job. He planned to retire, and this opportunity came along.
“You are out to help children, and you don’t lose that when you retire,” he said.
Some of the distinguished educators work part time, but Iovino works full time leading a Lancaster team of four. The other three educators working with him are from around the state and have backgrounds in teaching and English as a second language.
The Lancaster team assists administrators in the development of school improvement plans (part of the requirement if a school misses yearly targets) and examines “all sorts of data” to “judge how well students are progressing,” Iovino said.
Team members also look at how the schools are using curriculum: Does it have the basics of what students need to know? Is there a focus in its delivery?
Also, the team is examining what’s taught and “when it’s being taught to make sure the students are ready for the state test...” Iovino said.
Another local educator, John Bonfield, has nearly 50 years experience in education — including his 20-year tenure as head of Warwick before Iovino and 10 years as an administrator in the School District of Lancaster.
He’s a newcomer to the distinguished educator program. Bonfield more recently was serving as the acting director of special education for the Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13.
Bonfield, however is not assigned to one district. The state has asked him to be on call, to travel to various districts around the state as needed, he said.
Bonfield thinks the state Department of Education’s program can make a difference because it “deals with data and proven information to effect changes,” he said.
“I have an interest in trying to help improve education,” he said. “I think we have a long way to go in terms of improving our education programs, and I just want to be part of this new initiative.”
Burkhart, who is assigned to the Harrisburg School District and has 35 years experience, said the state program uses data — test scores — as tools to target individual student needs.
The educators, such as himself, then share that information with building principals who take it to the teachers.
In a Harrisburg school, for example, Burkhart can determine how a fourth-grade student has performed in math for the past three years.
“By exploring that, I could see what parts of math they did well at and what parts they did not do well at,” Burkhart said.
“You can help the school district make a plan to address that need,” Burkhart said.
CONTACT US: rmeadows@LNPnews.com or 481-6025
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