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By JUSTIN PEEPER
In a time when almost everyone is being more sparing with spending, Bluffton taxpayers can rest assured that their children are receiving a quality education and the best return on their money.
For the seventh year in a row, Bluffton High School has been honored as an Indiana Best Buy school. Out of 350 public high schools, Bluffton High School came in 51st on the list, putting it in the top 15 percent.
“This report is basically letting the community know which schools are performing and getting the most out of taxpayers’ money,” said Steve Baker, principal of Bluffton High School.
“I really appreciate this report because I want the people in Bluffton to know that we may not be ... one of the wealthier communities across the state, but we are getting the job done.”
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce has published a Best Buy list for the past nine years, and Bluffton High School has made the report for the last seven.
The study looked at 350 public schools, as well as charter schools for the first time, to compile data.
The study looks at a school’s ISTEP+ pass rates, ISTEP+ Pass+ rates, graduation rates, SAT participation rates and average composite scores, and Advanced Placement (AP) passing scores.
Using these six criteria, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce created a total school performance index for each of the 350 schools across the state.
That number was then compared to each school’s total expenditures per student to compile the list of Best Buy schools, according to the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s Web site.
“The purpose of this report is to recognize those public high schools that are providing exceptional educational value for the tax dollars they receive,” Baker told the school board in January. “Best Buy schools are those that offer us as taxpayers the greatest returns in terms of student achievement for our educational dollars.”
Statewide, 136 public high schools were honored as Best Buys in 2007, including Norwell and Southern Wells. Schools were named to the list if they had a quality index above the state median and expenditures below the statewide median of $10,196 per student, according to the Chamber Web site.
When officials evaluated Bluffton High School, they noted that 67 percent of student passed the ISTEP+ and that the school had a graduation rate of 88 percent. Those figures, along with four others, produced a quality index of .5596, which put Bluffton High School above the state average of .079294 and led to the seventh consecutive Best Buy honor.
The credit for the award goes to the high school staff and quality teachers, Baker said.
But he also said much credit also goes to the Bluffton community.
“I think we have a great community that believes in family values and supports schools and education,” Baker said. “The community gets behind what we are all about.”
The release of the ninth annual report came out one day after the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform published findings that suggested recommendations for schools, among other units of government.
The report recommended reorganizing school districts to achieve a minimum student population of 2,000.
Baker, however, strongly disagrees with this recommendation.
“I think they are just looking at the bottom dollar and not looking at other things,” he said. “From what I have read, the ideal size of a school for student achievement across the United States of America ... is 500 students. We are at about 485.”
Baker pointed out to the school board in January that many schools all across Indiana similar in size to Bluffton that made the Best Buy list this year. In fact, five of the top six schools on the list had less than 2,000 students, Baker said.
“Unfortunately, I think they are looking at the bottom dollar when they make those recommendations,” Baker said. “They are not looking at academic achievement ... because smaller schools are doing better than marketable corporations.”
More BHS Progress
Making the Best Buy list for the seventh year in a row, however, was not the only sign of progress at the high school this year.
Baker reported that the high school’s graduation rate for the 2006-2007 school year was 94 percent — much higher than the state average of 76.5 percent.
He also said the school received an exemplary rating under Public Law 221 — Indiana’s student improvement and accountability law — and that this year the school earned a commendable rating.
Exchange Program
This year alone, 11 students from Germany, Thailand, Brazil, Denmark, Vietnam, Colombia, Italy and Sweden lived with Bluffton families and attended classes at #1 Tiger Trail — the highest number in one year to ever participate in the program.
Baker said coordinating the program is a lot of work for guidance counselor Ken Ballinger, the guidance department staff, and teachers, but he said the benefits to students and the community are priceless.
“I absolutely love this program because Bluffton has had its eyes opened to different cultures and different people,” he said. “I just absolutely love having the opportunity of bringing that many students to Bluffton.”
Four exchange students are expected to live with Bluffton families next year and attend Bluffton High School, but Baker believes that number will increase over the summer.
“We are happy to host foreign exchange students,” he said. “Overall it has been a great experience. My teachers have welcomed it and have embraced it. It’s a little more work but I think it has been well worth it.”
Bluffton High School began its EF Foundation for Foreign Study student experience in 2005 by accepting four students. In 2006, five students came, and in 2007 there were six. Eleven students have called Bluffton home this year.
“Many students who have made their exchange experience in Bluffton have not only returned for visits with their adopted community and families but for university study also,” wrote Doug Fletcher, an exchange coordinator with EF Foundation for Foreign Study.
“These ambassadors and their natural families have also entertained their Bluffton friends and host family members in their home countries. This level of global hospitality truly makes Bluffton an international community.”
Bluffton High School has received the EF Foundation School of the Year Award in the past for hosting foreign-exchange students.
The school was nominated for the award again this year and received it.
Ruby Payne Visit
Finally, Baker said one of the biggest ongoing indicators of progress this year has been the school and district’s work with author Ruby Payne.
Wells’ schools have a three-year plan in place to get more training, to better understand students who live in poverty, and eventually, be better prepared to educate them on how to get out.
Payne visited Bluffton in September as part of one of the main initiatives in the ongoing effort to build a more inclusive community in Bluffton and Wells County.
Bluffton schools are seeing a change in demographics, as the percentage of students on free and reduced-price lunches has increased.
Baker and others from the district have read books by Payne and attended training to learn how to better work with students who come from different backgrounds.
As more staff members in the district become trained in Payne’s teachings, Baker foresees a positive change in student achievement.
“It is really going to help our at-risk students who learn differently, who use a different way of learning,” he said. “We are not going to lower our standards; we are not going to water it down.
“It will just help us meet the learning needs of certain students better, whether it be by using mental models or hands-on strategies or using a language that is better understood. I really think it is going to help some of our struggling students do better.”