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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > February > 01 > Entry
Spelling Bee: A sign of something good happening?
(Third grader Adrian Jones Jr. with his parents, Adrian Sr. and Janelle, after winning the city spelling bee Thursday.)
Let me start this post out by saying last night I watched a city spelling bee that was the best I’ve witnessed in eight years. First of all, it was the biggest crowd I’ve seen at a spelling bee. The Meadowdale High School auditorium was mostly full.
And secondly, it was a great competition. The last nine spellers were all top notch and Jones had to hold off two challengers for eight nail-biting rounds. These last three — Valerie Elementary School’s Jones, Conner Jordan from the Lutheran School and Daniel Kidd from Orville Wright Elementary School — were remarkable, ripping off very difficult words without hesitation for round after round.
After a Dayton Public Schools student won last year, I pointed out that the city school district had won three in a row now after several years of mostly private school champions in this competition. This sparked a big debate here about whether this new success suggested the district was doing better academically.
So I pose the question again. DPS has now won four straight spelling bees. Does this mean the district’s kids are stronger academically? There seems to be some evidence this might be true.
For one thing, last night’s winner Adrian Jones was stunningly good in the bee and he was one of the youngest students in the competition. In fact Jones, Jordan and Kidd were all under seventh grade in a competition that allows students up to eighth grade. Two of these young boys, who attend the district, came from pre-school into district schools in the Littlejohn/Mack era. And they were crushing much older kids, both public and private.
When the district was losing the bee every year, the correlation between that lack of success and the district’s bad academic performance seemed to make sense. Today, the district is doing somewhat better on state tests and its students are winning the bee all the time. Does this make sense too?
Permalink | Comments (15) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By joe mamma
February 6, 2008 9:16 AM | Link to this
LOL. Yeah I get it Old Prof. I just think you’re argument was misleading, puerile and outlandish. You boiled it down to their weren’t charters, vouchers or competition in the Dayton Public Schools when Orville and Wilbur Wright attended. Orville and Wilbur Wright invented the airplane. Therefore there doesn’t need to be charters, vouchers or competition in the Dayton Public Schools. The only problem is almost nothing from the Dayton Public Schools of the 1880’s remotely resembles the Dayton Public Schools of 2008. Yeah I get the argument that DPS had good schools in the past and they can be again without vouchers or charters. But statements like that are so bizarre and offbase that it actually hurts the debate.By Oldprof
February 5, 2008 9:12 PM | Link to this
OK, Joemama doesn’t want to get it. Happy Homeschooler, I have no doubt that the home environment is more important than the school—and that’s why it’s entirely unfair to judge the quality of a teacher based on the educational attainment of students. Indeed, the best thing we can do for education is to utterly reject and denigrate stupidity, unfortunately, our mass media has chosen to celebrate it with TV shows like “Earl”, video games like Grand Theft Auto, and pop music that’s characterized as “gangsta”. (I am so ready for popular culture to decide that mis-spellings are not a sign of trendiness.)By joe mamma
February 5, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this
Red herring? Come on. Be serious here. Who’s basing an argument against vouchers and charter schools by comparing the public education system of Dayton in the 1880s to the education system in 2008? And I’m weary of over the top pronouncements. Keep it within reason man.By Happy Homeschooler
February 5, 2008 2:03 PM | Link to this
Well, the Wright brothers were also homeschooled (I am unsure of how many years homeschooled versus public school), so maybe that’s what helped them become great inventors? Okay, that was tongue-in-cheek, but honestly, I think that true genius can be found in ALL educational circumstances. This boy had a lot more going for him than the average DPS student, you know? Supportive parents and an obvious giftedness are the 2 biggest contributing factors to him doing so well.By Oldprof
February 5, 2008 9:24 AM | Link to this
Joemamma, quit running that red herring. These and other Dayton-area inventors and innovators were educated at public schools (OK, they didn’t all graduate—but they WERE educated) in a period when there were no charter schools, vouchers, etc. Those who keep saying that competition is essential for quality education are thus proven wrong. Hope you got that point now because I’m weary of trying to explain it to you.By joe_mamma
February 5, 2008 7:35 AM | Link to this
Or you could say they dropped out because they were bored and learned more at home. They did have two libraries at their disposal at home. I think you picked a bad example. If you are trying to make an argument about how great public schools are you probably shouldn’t pick two people who didn’t complete their studies.By Oldprof
February 4, 2008 10:59 PM | Link to this
Yes, Joe-Mama, and they were public schools, weren’t they? And there was no charter or voucher or other competition for them then. My point stands.By joe_mamma
February 4, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
Neither Orville nor Wilbur graduated from High School. Wilbur actually went to H.S. in Richmond IN.By Oldprof
February 2, 2008 8:11 PM | Link to this
Rick, if your faith in competition was supported by evidence, then DPS would have been unable, in an era of zero competition, to produce Orville and Wilbur Wright and the other great innovators of that generation. Gosh, it’s tough when history disagrees with you, isn’t it?By Concerned Mom of 3
February 2, 2008 4:09 PM | Link to this
Congradulations Adrian and family! What a wonderful accomplishment- and at such a young age!!! I think the picture shows something that can’t be ignored… Adrian’s family values education- and they stand behind him… Imagine what awesome things could be happening in Dayton Pubic Schools if all children had the support that Adrian has! There are many great things happening in Dayton Public Schools- if you poke around enough, you are sure to find them.By Rick
February 2, 2008 3:53 PM | Link to this
Oldprof, I am an advocate of charter schools and of good public schools. I am delighted that Dayton students are winning spelling bees. I am confident, that the improvement in the DPS would not have occurred without competition. I hope this improvent continues on and on.By mil_mom
February 2, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this
I agree with Mary, DPS should be looking at what happens with these gifted individuals during every day. Scott, the Cleveland Plain Dealer did a couple articles on this a week ago. Maybe you could look into it as well?By Barb
February 2, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this
I can not imagine that anyone would give the district credit for Adrian winning the Spelling Bee. I am sure the credit goes to his parents who by the age of 9 have instilled in him a background of education. The state only requires schools to identify gifted students according to one test score. DPS is not required to meet their needs in other ways as a matter of fact we only have a couple of schools who have gifted programs and then it is very minimal. We spend far more money helping lower achievers. Let’s face it the game from the state is pass the OAT. Gifted students can do that so we do not do more than acknowledge them and throw some extra work at them. Congratulations to Adrian and his family.By Oldprof
February 2, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this
Add to that the district’s greatly improved graduation rates, and any reasonable person must concede that Percy Mack, with the help of the school board and especially the teachers, has been at the helm during a great period of improvement. These facts must disquiet the Charter School crowd, having insisted that their pet projects would yield great advances in learning, only to find Charters running in place (if not losing ground) while the public schools go forward.By Mary
February 2, 2008 8:30 AM | Link to this
In your article, Adrian’s first grade teacher commented he was the mmost advanced first grade reader she had ever seen. So in the last two years has he been challenged enough in his curriculum beyond spelling bees. Students and families can almost prep for spelling bees on their own. It appears Adrian has some involved and supportive parents who might be smart readers themselves. However, there is more to Adrian’s curriculum than spelling bees. My son won his school spelling bee one year by beating out two higher grades. That happy event did not solve his school problems. There is a possibility Adrian is also gifted/superior cognitive and should be in more challenging classes, not just spelling bees. That is what inquiring reporters should be asking the school district. What is being done for the Adrian’s of DPS on a day to day basis in the classroom.