HALLSVILLE SCHOOLS ALTERS TEACHING AS PART OF REFORM

HALLSVILLE -- Controversial changes in the Hallsville School District, located north of Columbia in Boone County, are more a matter of how material is presented than they were actual curriculum revisions, says the superintendent.

"We moved from a passive to a more active learning model," says Dr. Ralph Powell. "We know that students retain more and are better learners in active learning than in the old passive learning model. We retained the key skills and competencies that the Missouri Mastery and Achievement Test is based on. Our committee had recommended that we have more cooperative learning."

Powell explains that the changes flowed from a broad-based community process that began more than three years ago. The Hallsville Board of Education appointed a committee charged with the task of recommending "what a graduate should look like and what graduates should know."

The committee met twice a month for several months and interviewed business and industry leaders. It made recommendations to the school board that resulted in the establishment, among other changes, of a pilot program that mixed fourth and fifth graders for most, but not all, of the school day. A high school program, featuring combined groups of ninth and 10th graders was also part of the changes.

"The pilot program featured team-teaching by six teachers," Powell says. "The focus of the team teachers was to determine how best to accomplish the recommendations of the committee and board. This was all going on at the same time as the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was working on what is now called the academic performance standards."

Language arts and mathematics were kept as separate courses for each grade in the morning instead of being incorporated into the block learning model.

Were the changes controversial? "I'm aware that there are some parents who object, who prefer the old way," says Powell. "There are also great numbers of people who think we're doing great with the new methods. There have been no large groups of parents protesting at school board meetings."

Powell stresses a balanced approach: "We're attempting to get a balance between facts and knowledge on the one hand, and the ability to use that knowledge on the other. In the past, we have paid a lot of attention to facts, but not much on how to use them. We need a balance between rote learning of the facts and applying them."

Under the trial program, a quarter of the school year is spent under the team teaching approach on the topic of air. This portion includes an integrated approach to the study of the earth's air and powered flight by aircraft and space travel as well as environmental concerns pertaining to air quality. The next quarter focuses on water with a similar approach.

Homework remains a component, Powell says. "My reaction is there is going to be more. But it isn't going to be `Read Chapter 23 and answer the entire list of questions at the end.' The amount of homework will be about the same, but there will be more hands-on projects, more active learning."

As for spelling, Powell says, "We adhere to the Missouri Writing Project. We're using some of the ideas that say, `Put your ideas down in your own words, and later you can write to a more finished form.' We're probably stricter about spelling than some" who don't push students in the lower primary grades to spell correctly.