This meeting largely focused on a report of the high school, presented by Principal Mark Jackson. This report focused largely on providing an overview of the current high school framework, and included information on the following topics related to academic achievement: reducing class size, providing better information exchange between faculty and parents, and a greater emphasis on school-wide writing expectations. The report also included a brief summary of the trimester evaluation committee, and specifically that this committee has been unable to achieve consensus and thus that the trimester system will continue.
As a School Committee member, I had a number of questions about this report and about the high school (most of my issues were ones that parents and teachers had brought to my attention). The following questions were asked (in most cases by me) and received the following responses:
1. Could I get a copy of the trimester evaluation committee report, and could that report be placed on the web for interested families/community members? Although this seems like a pretty reasonable question (given that this committee spent 18 months working on evaluating the trimester system), it is not clear to me that a report even exists (I'm doing this entry over a week past the meeting because I was waiting to see a report). I was also surprised that the committee did not examine any data related to learning outcomes (e.g., do kids learn world languages or math better in a trimester versus a semester system?) nor did the committee examine any data related to other districts (e.g., what system is used in high achieving districts in Massachusetts?) nor did the committee examine budget implications of different systems (e.g., is it more or less cost-effective to have students change schedules three times a year versus twice). I don't have a stake in whether our school system uses a trimester versus a semester system, but I do have a stake in whether our district uses a rigorous, thoughtful, and thorough process to evaluate our school programs and policies -- and I don't see this trimester evaluation as an example of such a process. Other members of the School Committee did not seem to share my concerns.
2. Andy Churchill asked a question about the plan for evaluating the new 9th grade science program (this question was sent to me and to Andy by a parent who could not attend the meeting). Apparently a survey was given to all high school students about their science class, and information on their experience will be used to evaluate the new program (although the specific timing and procedures used to measure "success" versus "failure" were not noted). Some data on science classes taken may also be collected, but again, it was quite clear that there is no real plan for evaluating this program. I see the absence of a real evaluation plan for an unprecedented required science program as a real problem, and as very emblematic of our school system's tendency to just rely on gut instinct and intuition to make decisions, as opposed to a careful and thorough evaluation of empirical evidence. But the lack of an evaluation plan is frankly the fault of the School Committee, which approved the new science program without requiring an evaluation of any sort, and not the fault of Mark Jackson. I hope that the School Committee and/or superintendents will develop a real plan for evaluating this new program -- but I'm not hopeful (I've pushed considerably for such an evaluation and have virtually no support).
3. I asked whether the high school underclass awards assembly would continue this year (it was cancelled last year). I was pleased to see that Mark Jackson has made the decision to continue this assembly (which many parents felt was helpful in celebrating achievement and accomplishments from many children).
4. I asked a question about the effectiveness of different approaches to conducting honors work in high school classes. Some high school classes include only students who are interested in doing honors-level work, and this work is then taught during classtime and also given as homework. Other high school classes include mostly students who are doing college preparation (regular, non-honors) work, and then a few students who have the option of doing additional work outside of class as a way of getting honors. I've now heard from several families that some teachers are not very supportive of students who want to do honors work in these classes (perhaps because this requires additional work for teachers), and thus some students feel discouraged about doing honors. I was glad to hear that the high school is planning on investigating these different approaches to earning honors work, and I hope that he will return to the School Committee with a report on his findings later this year.
5. I asked a question about the results of the high school climate survey that was sent home with parents with report cards in June (and parents were told the results would be posted on line). Mark Jackson reported that many surveys have been received, but that results have not yet been tabulated. He hopes that the survey results will be posted this fall sometime.
At this point, I was told by the Chair (Michael Hussin) that my time for questions was up, and hence I was not allowed to ask my final question, which was as follows: Is the high school considering adding two AP classes that are commonly found in MSAN districts (AP Statistics, AP Chemsitry)? If I am able to get an answer to this question at a later point, I'll be glad to update my blog with the answer!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
August 5, 2008 Regional Meeting
The bulk of the School Committee action in May and June focused on hiring an interim superintendent, and hence I haven't updated my blog in some time. But now the year is starting again, and this will be a crucial one for the future of the Amherst schools -- with four new principals plus a search for a new superintendent -- and hence I will be blogging regularly after each meeting.
I was on vacation and hence missed the August 5th Regional Meeting -- thus, my entry will reflect the minutes from this meeting, newspaper reports of this meeting, and information I learned from friends who attended the meeting.
First, I was delighted to learn that many parents had attended the meeting and had asked important questions (the School Committee clearly needs to be more responsive to parent/community concerns than they have been at times, and having people attend meetings and ask questions is an important step in the right direction). These questions included concerns about learning about middle school teams prior to the first day of school (which is understandably very anxiety-provoking for kids) and information on math placement procedures used in the middle school. I am delighted to report that Glenda Cresto, the new principal of the middle school, has already tackled each of these issues -- she has sent information home to each family on middle school team assignment and has produced a memo for the School Committee and interested parents on the math placement procedures. (Side note: This type of responsiveness and follow through on the part of a principal who has been on the job for less than two months is impressive -- and I've received several very positive emails from parents already). The math placement issue is one that the district still needs to work on more -- as part of my work on the Math Curriculum Review Committee, I'll try to help with providing more clarity on procedures (and making sure that families all have appropriate information). I was, however, very disturbed to learn that a fellow member of the School Committee said the following: "These are not new (parent) comments ... The math placement has never been clear in my 11 years on this committee. I'm very concerned that it has not been dealt with." I believe that if there is a problem like this in the schools for 11 years, then the School Committee hasn't been doing their job -- this seems like a ridiculously long period of time for such a situation to continue.
Second, the co-superintendents (Al Sprague and Helen Vivian) provided a good update on their transition activities, including their entry plan and work on curriculum guides). Two other issues were raised by Marianne Jorgensen (acting as Chair of the Committee in Michael Hussin's absence) that I see as very important -- an update on the trimester schedule used in the high school (this will be presented at the next meeting) and an update on the website upgrade (this work seems to be on-going, but hopefully can happen soon).
Third, Glenda Cresto presented a report on the middle school. In particular, I think two very important issues were raised in this report.
1. This report included information on the Middle School climate survey, which was sent to all parents in June. The report revealed that only half of parent respondents thinks the school seeks their opinion on important issues and less than half think their children are given challenging homework. I don't see either of these findings as surprising, but I'm delighted that the new principal has created an action plan to try to address them.
2. This report included information on the number of kids (8) who left the Amherst schools for the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School in South Hadley -- which Glenda Cresto thought was a lot (I agree -- especially because many kids who apply aren't accepted, so this probably underestimates the true interest/demand). As I've said before, I'd like the schools to start formally tracking the number of kids who opt out of the public schools at each grade, and where these kids go, and why. Using some type of exit survey when families request their records to be sent elsewhere would be very informative for the district -- if the public schools aren't meeting the needs of all kids, we need to know that, and we need to know why.
Those were the highlights of this meeting -- and my big take from this meeting is how glad we should all be to have Glenda Cresto on board!
I was on vacation and hence missed the August 5th Regional Meeting -- thus, my entry will reflect the minutes from this meeting, newspaper reports of this meeting, and information I learned from friends who attended the meeting.
First, I was delighted to learn that many parents had attended the meeting and had asked important questions (the School Committee clearly needs to be more responsive to parent/community concerns than they have been at times, and having people attend meetings and ask questions is an important step in the right direction). These questions included concerns about learning about middle school teams prior to the first day of school (which is understandably very anxiety-provoking for kids) and information on math placement procedures used in the middle school. I am delighted to report that Glenda Cresto, the new principal of the middle school, has already tackled each of these issues -- she has sent information home to each family on middle school team assignment and has produced a memo for the School Committee and interested parents on the math placement procedures. (Side note: This type of responsiveness and follow through on the part of a principal who has been on the job for less than two months is impressive -- and I've received several very positive emails from parents already). The math placement issue is one that the district still needs to work on more -- as part of my work on the Math Curriculum Review Committee, I'll try to help with providing more clarity on procedures (and making sure that families all have appropriate information). I was, however, very disturbed to learn that a fellow member of the School Committee said the following: "These are not new (parent) comments ... The math placement has never been clear in my 11 years on this committee. I'm very concerned that it has not been dealt with." I believe that if there is a problem like this in the schools for 11 years, then the School Committee hasn't been doing their job -- this seems like a ridiculously long period of time for such a situation to continue.
Second, the co-superintendents (Al Sprague and Helen Vivian) provided a good update on their transition activities, including their entry plan and work on curriculum guides). Two other issues were raised by Marianne Jorgensen (acting as Chair of the Committee in Michael Hussin's absence) that I see as very important -- an update on the trimester schedule used in the high school (this will be presented at the next meeting) and an update on the website upgrade (this work seems to be on-going, but hopefully can happen soon).
Third, Glenda Cresto presented a report on the middle school. In particular, I think two very important issues were raised in this report.
1. This report included information on the Middle School climate survey, which was sent to all parents in June. The report revealed that only half of parent respondents thinks the school seeks their opinion on important issues and less than half think their children are given challenging homework. I don't see either of these findings as surprising, but I'm delighted that the new principal has created an action plan to try to address them.
2. This report included information on the number of kids (8) who left the Amherst schools for the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School in South Hadley -- which Glenda Cresto thought was a lot (I agree -- especially because many kids who apply aren't accepted, so this probably underestimates the true interest/demand). As I've said before, I'd like the schools to start formally tracking the number of kids who opt out of the public schools at each grade, and where these kids go, and why. Using some type of exit survey when families request their records to be sent elsewhere would be very informative for the district -- if the public schools aren't meeting the needs of all kids, we need to know that, and we need to know why.
Those were the highlights of this meeting -- and my big take from this meeting is how glad we should all be to have Glenda Cresto on board!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Thoughts on the Achievement Gap
Throughout my campaign for School Committee (and before that, in my work as co-founder of ACE), people have accused me (and/or ACE) of being racist, and have assumed that I'm trying to move the schools to meet only the needs of white (or wealthy, or white and wealthy) kids. And I am continually amazed that for so many people in this educated and liberal town, speaking about academic excellence seems to be speaking ONLY about white, wealthy kids. So, let me say on the record, that I think ALL kids benefit from schools that emphasize academic challenge and rigor. (As expressed eloquently by a person of color who called me after last week's Hampshire Gazette article came out, "academic excellence does not have a color or an economic class.").
I also believe that my emphasis on evaluating what we are doing and examining what other districts are doing can be extremely useful in closing the achievement gap that exists in the Amherst schools. In particular, we should look to other districts, like Amherst, that are a part of the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN -- there's a link on my blog to their home page). The Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) is a group of multiracial, suburban-urban school districts across that country (with student populations between approximately 3,000 and 30,000, and typically with a history of high academic achievement and some connections to major research universities) that have come together to study achievement gaps that exist in their districts.
One of the things I like best about MSAN is their focus on research -- here's a quote from their website:
The Minority Student Achievement Network conducts collaborative research that informs school practices, engages in and evaluates evidence-based instructional interventions, and provides learning opportunities for teachers. The ultimate goal of the research is to increase our knowledge of the processes that contribute to the achievement gap in order to inform policies and practices that will enhance the academic performance of African American and Latino/a students.
We believe that in order to reach these goals a comprehensive approach is necessary. Therefore, we combine research, instructional interventions, and learning opportunities for teachers into an integrated approach. We believe that students will excel when academic rigor and high expectations are combined with caring, supportive school environments that include positive family involvement. Therefore, our research focuses on improving teaching and learning (particularly in mathematics, science, and literacy), building stronger relationships between teachers and students, and enhancing parents' educational participation.
Only two of these districts (other than Amherst) are in Massachusetts (Brookline and Cambridge). However, the level of academic challenge provided in these others districts is clearly greater than that provided in our district (at least at the high school level). For example, both Brookline and Cambridge require an identical set of THREE years of high school science courses: physics for all 9th graders, chemistry for all 10th graders, and biology for all 11th graders. In contrast, Amherst Regional High School requires ecology/environmental science for all 9th graders and then only one other science course (likely biology or chemistry), for a total of TWO years of science. Thus, students in Brookline and Cambridge, regardless of race/class/gender, all graduate having had physics, chemistry, and biology in high school. Students at Amherst High can now graduate having had a class in only ONE of these three core sciences. These schools also both offer AP Chemistry, a class that is an important gateway class to studying chemistry in college (and an important class for aspiring doctors), whereas Amherst Regional High School does not offer this class.
A final note -- although as noted in my first post, I was criticized during the School Committee meeting for suggesting we compare ourselves to Brookline, a recent report by the Boston Black Parents Alliance on reducing the math achievement gap stated the following: "An example of a school district with a seemingly urgent approach to closing their achievement gap is the Brookline School District. District leaders and school level leaders have identified closing the achievement gap as a top priority of the district and, most importantly, they have developed and outlined a specific action plan for closing the gap." This plan (which can be seen at: http://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/TEACHING+AND+LEARNING/The+Equity+Project/) includes extensive exploration of data to determine their progress in closing the achievement gap as well as looking to other districts for programs that have worked to reduce the achievement gap. And once again, I hope other members of the School Committee will join me in pushing the district to analyze the effectiveness of our programs and compare what we are doing with what other districts are doing across all areas of our curriculum and for all our students.
I also believe that my emphasis on evaluating what we are doing and examining what other districts are doing can be extremely useful in closing the achievement gap that exists in the Amherst schools. In particular, we should look to other districts, like Amherst, that are a part of the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN -- there's a link on my blog to their home page). The Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) is a group of multiracial, suburban-urban school districts across that country (with student populations between approximately 3,000 and 30,000, and typically with a history of high academic achievement and some connections to major research universities) that have come together to study achievement gaps that exist in their districts.
One of the things I like best about MSAN is their focus on research -- here's a quote from their website:
The Minority Student Achievement Network conducts collaborative research that informs school practices, engages in and evaluates evidence-based instructional interventions, and provides learning opportunities for teachers. The ultimate goal of the research is to increase our knowledge of the processes that contribute to the achievement gap in order to inform policies and practices that will enhance the academic performance of African American and Latino/a students.
We believe that in order to reach these goals a comprehensive approach is necessary. Therefore, we combine research, instructional interventions, and learning opportunities for teachers into an integrated approach. We believe that students will excel when academic rigor and high expectations are combined with caring, supportive school environments that include positive family involvement. Therefore, our research focuses on improving teaching and learning (particularly in mathematics, science, and literacy), building stronger relationships between teachers and students, and enhancing parents' educational participation.
Only two of these districts (other than Amherst) are in Massachusetts (Brookline and Cambridge). However, the level of academic challenge provided in these others districts is clearly greater than that provided in our district (at least at the high school level). For example, both Brookline and Cambridge require an identical set of THREE years of high school science courses: physics for all 9th graders, chemistry for all 10th graders, and biology for all 11th graders. In contrast, Amherst Regional High School requires ecology/environmental science for all 9th graders and then only one other science course (likely biology or chemistry), for a total of TWO years of science. Thus, students in Brookline and Cambridge, regardless of race/class/gender, all graduate having had physics, chemistry, and biology in high school. Students at Amherst High can now graduate having had a class in only ONE of these three core sciences. These schools also both offer AP Chemistry, a class that is an important gateway class to studying chemistry in college (and an important class for aspiring doctors), whereas Amherst Regional High School does not offer this class.
A final note -- although as noted in my first post, I was criticized during the School Committee meeting for suggesting we compare ourselves to Brookline, a recent report by the Boston Black Parents Alliance on reducing the math achievement gap stated the following: "An example of a school district with a seemingly urgent approach to closing their achievement gap is the Brookline School District. District leaders and school level leaders have identified closing the achievement gap as a top priority of the district and, most importantly, they have developed and outlined a specific action plan for closing the gap." This plan (which can be seen at: http://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/TEACHING+AND+LEARNING/The+Equity+Project/) includes extensive exploration of data to determine their progress in closing the achievement gap as well as looking to other districts for programs that have worked to reduce the achievement gap. And once again, I hope other members of the School Committee will join me in pushing the district to analyze the effectiveness of our programs and compare what we are doing with what other districts are doing across all areas of our curriculum and for all our students.
Friday, May 2, 2008
April 29, 2008 Regional Meeting
First, Superintendent Jere Hochman announced that a committee is working on selecting math textbooks for 6th to 8th graders. I asked whether parents were included in this committee, but was told that parents were not part of this committee (only teachers). I also asked whether the committee was gathering information on books used by high achieving districts in Massachusetts, and was told that they were not (although this information might eventually be used). I've written a textbook, and I know that the level of book can vary considerably -- I had hoped that at a minimum, the textbook selection committee would have gathered information on the books used by public schools in high achieving Massachusetts districts (what are these? See links on my website to the Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report lists of public high schools). Perhaps these books won't work for Amherst for some reason, but at least having this information seems like a good idea (and I'm going to continue to push for this).
Second, we discussed a new "enrichment policy" -- here's the exact wording:
The Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, the Amherst Public Schools, and the Pelham Elementary School are committed to providing educational programs and support to meet the needs of all children. Programs should support each child's growth and development by providing him/her with an appropriately challenging educational program. The School Districts will utilize a model for enrichment and enhancement of students' experiences in the educational program in order to meet the needs, interests, and talents of students. The schools and staff will have high academic expectations for every students, will actively encourage achievement, and will encourage students to become independent learns and critical thinkers.
Apparently this policy used to be the "gifted and talented policy," which describes a different sort of a program (that is, a pull out program in which just some kids could receive this additional support). The new enrichment policy is designed to be able to offer extra challenge to kids who need it but in a more flexible way (that is, it is not identifying only SOME kids who need enrichment). I'm delighted with this policy and think it could make a real difference for ALL kids. I was quite surprised, however, that when Superintendent Hochman was describing this policy, Kathleen Anderson (another School Committee member from Amherst) turned to me and said "This is the program for the rich white kids." It strikes me as extremely offensive (and entirely inaccurate) to assume that poor and/or kids of color couldn't benefit from enrichment.
Third, we discussed the district's "goals of instructional program". Many of these are very good -- and place a heavy emphasis on academic achievement, including:
1. To challenge all students to achieve academically at an internationally competitive level ...,
6. To employ best practices of differentiated instruction to ensure that every student is learning, and
7. To maximize each student's achievement directed by district curriculum standards and objective or, as agreed upon,
individualized goals.
I particularly liked #5: "To utilize appropriate, effective, research-based practices and innovative course plans, units of study, lesson plans, pedagogy and assessment practices." However, I ended up abstaining on the vote on these goals (all other members voted in favor) because I'm just not convinced that the district truly intends to follow through on this fifth goal -- I see little evidence of the use of research-based practices or assessment, although I hope this is changing.
One more note from this meeting: I was very concerned by Kathleen Anderson's question to me (following my request that the School Committee begin to consider the policies and programs that are used in other districts) "Why don't you move to Brookline?" After I looked at her blankly, believing that I must have misheard the comment, she repeated it. At this point, I stopped the meeting and asked Elaine Brighty to request that Kathleen stop muttering comments to me. I'm still pondering how best to react to this comment (and specifically whether to have it stated for the record at the next meeting), but it strikes me both as very inappropriate and very unfortunate (does she really mean to imply that a School Committee member who wants to see what high achieving districts are doing should leave Amherst?). Amherst has to find its own way and choose programs that work best for our kids, and I don't believe our goal should be to "become Brookline" (or any district). But that doesn't mean we can't, and shouldn't, learn from what other school districts are doing and at least consider implementing some of the policies and programs that have worked well in other places. When there are districts who are succeeding in some way (e.g., raising achievement levels in traditionally underperforming subgroups, increasing math/science/writing proficiency, and so on), we should clearly try to learn what these districts are doing, and I intend to continue to push for this type of research.
Second, we discussed a new "enrichment policy" -- here's the exact wording:
The Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, the Amherst Public Schools, and the Pelham Elementary School are committed to providing educational programs and support to meet the needs of all children. Programs should support each child's growth and development by providing him/her with an appropriately challenging educational program. The School Districts will utilize a model for enrichment and enhancement of students' experiences in the educational program in order to meet the needs, interests, and talents of students. The schools and staff will have high academic expectations for every students, will actively encourage achievement, and will encourage students to become independent learns and critical thinkers.
Apparently this policy used to be the "gifted and talented policy," which describes a different sort of a program (that is, a pull out program in which just some kids could receive this additional support). The new enrichment policy is designed to be able to offer extra challenge to kids who need it but in a more flexible way (that is, it is not identifying only SOME kids who need enrichment). I'm delighted with this policy and think it could make a real difference for ALL kids. I was quite surprised, however, that when Superintendent Hochman was describing this policy, Kathleen Anderson (another School Committee member from Amherst) turned to me and said "This is the program for the rich white kids." It strikes me as extremely offensive (and entirely inaccurate) to assume that poor and/or kids of color couldn't benefit from enrichment.
Third, we discussed the district's "goals of instructional program". Many of these are very good -- and place a heavy emphasis on academic achievement, including:
1. To challenge all students to achieve academically at an internationally competitive level ...,
6. To employ best practices of differentiated instruction to ensure that every student is learning, and
7. To maximize each student's achievement directed by district curriculum standards and objective or, as agreed upon,
individualized goals.
I particularly liked #5: "To utilize appropriate, effective, research-based practices and innovative course plans, units of study, lesson plans, pedagogy and assessment practices." However, I ended up abstaining on the vote on these goals (all other members voted in favor) because I'm just not convinced that the district truly intends to follow through on this fifth goal -- I see little evidence of the use of research-based practices or assessment, although I hope this is changing.
One more note from this meeting: I was very concerned by Kathleen Anderson's question to me (following my request that the School Committee begin to consider the policies and programs that are used in other districts) "Why don't you move to Brookline?" After I looked at her blankly, believing that I must have misheard the comment, she repeated it. At this point, I stopped the meeting and asked Elaine Brighty to request that Kathleen stop muttering comments to me. I'm still pondering how best to react to this comment (and specifically whether to have it stated for the record at the next meeting), but it strikes me both as very inappropriate and very unfortunate (does she really mean to imply that a School Committee member who wants to see what high achieving districts are doing should leave Amherst?). Amherst has to find its own way and choose programs that work best for our kids, and I don't believe our goal should be to "become Brookline" (or any district). But that doesn't mean we can't, and shouldn't, learn from what other school districts are doing and at least consider implementing some of the policies and programs that have worked well in other places. When there are districts who are succeeding in some way (e.g., raising achievement levels in traditionally underperforming subgroups, increasing math/science/writing proficiency, and so on), we should clearly try to learn what these districts are doing, and I intend to continue to push for this type of research.
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