OETA Story on Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grant for Tulsa Public Schools? aired on 07/07/09

This is a story that aired on OETA Public Television's The Oklahoma News Report in Tulsa Oklahoma as reported by Cathy Tatom and photojournalist Edwin Wilson. For more information or to contact us, please go to www.oeta.tv

The verbatim script follows below...
TULSA PUBLIC SCHOOLS IS ON THE SHORT LIST NATIONALLY TO WIN A MULTI-MILLION DOLLARS GRANT FROM THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION. MONEY TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN THE BEST TEACHERS... WHILE AT THE SAME TIME SIGNIFICANTLY LOWERING ITS DROP OUT RATE. OETA'S CATHY TATOM REPORTS, THE DISTRICT IS AGGRESSIVELY PURSUING THE GATES GRANT TO MAKE FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES IN TEACHER PAY AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE. BRITTNEY JONES JUST FINISHED HER FRESHMAN HIGH SCHOOL YEAR.




Brittney Jones/Struggling Student: "(sigh) High school is hard." SHE'S STRUGGLING BUT DOESN'T WANT TO DROP OUT LIKE SO MANY OTHER TULSA PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.




H.J. Green/Tulsa Public Schools: "32% of our students are not graduating and when you look at those students who come from high poverty or minority students its even greater than 32%." JONES IS TAKING SUMMER SCHOOL COURSES TO MAKE UP FOR CLASSES SHE FAILED.




Brittney Jones/Struggling Student: "I didn't really do good in my biology class at school, didn't understand the teacher at lot, wouldn't turn in work a lot so I kinda failed it."




Levi Brown/Rogers High School: "The way the kids are learning now is different than you know say for instance me or you when we went to school, we would go to class they just write on the board and do it that way now these kids area learning everything from computers." MAYBE NOT EVERYTHING. EFFECTIVE AND MOTIVATED CLASSROOM TEACHERS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR LOWERING DROP OUT RATES ... AND GETTING MORE STUDENTS PREPARED FOR COLLEGE. THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION HAS RECOGNIZED THAT NEED BY LAUNCHING WHAT IT CALLS THE COLLEGE READINESS INITIATIVE. THE GATES FOUNDATION WILL BE GIVING FIVE $17-MILLION DOLLAR GRANTS TO URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS ACROSS THE NATION TO HELP THEM IDENTIFY AND REWARD HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TEACHERS.... WHILE AT THE SAME TIME LOWERING DROP OUT RATES. TULSA PUBLIC IS ONE 10-DISTRICTS NATIONALLY VYING FOR THE GRANTS. DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT, H.J. GREEN SAYS GETTING ONE WILL FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE THE STATE'S LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICT.




H.J. Green: "We will have a new salary schedule based on performance." TEACHERS WHOSE STUDENTS DEMOSTRATE THEY HAVE ATTAINED A YEAR'S ACADEMIC GROWTH OR MORE EACH YEAR WILL MAKE MORE MONEY. ITS CALLED PERFORMANCE PAY.




H.J. Green: "It's not been traditionally built into salary schedules." THE DISTRICT HAS JUST A COUPLE WEEKS TO FINISH THIS MOUNTAIN OF PAPER WORK DETAILING HOW IT WOULD USE A GATES GRANT TO RECRUIT AND RETAIN HIGH QUALITY TEACHERS. HOW IT WILL ASSESS INNOVATIVE AND EFFECTIVE TEACHING METHODS. AND, PREPARE MORE AND BETTER TEACHERS FOR URBAN AND HIGH NEED SCHOOLS. THE GATES FOUNDATION WILL ANNOUNCE WINNER OF THE GRANTS IN AUGUST. IF TULSA PUBLIC IS CHOSEN, PERFORMANCE PAY COULD BE A PART OF TEACHER'S PAYCHECKS JUST ONE YEAR. AND STUDENTS LIKE BRITTNEY JONES WILL LIKELY HAVE A BETTER SHOT AT GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL AND BEING PREPARED TO GO TO COLLEGE. IN TULSA, I'M CATHY TATOM, THE OKLAHOMA NEWS REPORT.

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