Clippard School Principal earns Doctorate in Education

Although her wall is already crowded with diplomas for Specialist, Master and Bachelor degrees, Clippard Elementary School Principal Dr. Sydney Herbst is making room for one more--a Doctorate in Education from the University of Missouri -- Columbia. The mother of five children and the wife of Cape Girardeau city councilman Charlie Herbst, Dr. Herbst somehow found time to write a dissertation titled "Elementary Teacher Perceptions of Poverty and Student Achievement", and was awarded her Doctorate in May.

During research for her dissertation she surveyed public school teachers from Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, and Scott Counties. She said the purpose of the study was "to determine teachers' perceptions about students living in poverty and their academic achievement using the independent variable of the schools' free or reduced lunch population."

Responses to the survey were separated into two groups: those from schools with 51% or more of students receiving free or reduced lunch, and schools with 50% or less of students receiving free or reduced lunch. Teachers' perceptions were the same on 36 of 47 survey responses. While differences did exist for 11 of 47 responses, the overall rankings and opinions were similar as high importance was given to parenting techniques, student behavior, and class sizes. Responses with significant differences pertained to mentoring, class size, ability grouping, parenting, and standardized testing. Of the four issues on the survey, the achievement gap ranked highest.

Dr. Herbst has been employed with Cape Public Schools since 1987 when she was hired as a kindergarten assistant at Washington Elementary. She taught nine years at Alma Schrader and two years at May Greene, all in the fourth grade. During the 1998-99 school year she served as a half-time assistant principal at Alma Schrader Elementary and a half-time remedial math teacher at Jefferson Elementary. Dr. Herbst was named principal at Clippard Elementary in August 1999.