Amherst Bulletin
September 10, 2009
By Steve Rivkin & Catherine Sanderson
When discussing education in the Amherst Regional Public Schools, one often hears about the uniqueness of our town, such as our special mix of students, progressive environment, and strong commitment to social justice and diversity and, in turn, how this uniqueness means that we have little to learn from other districts.
Although we agree that Amherst is a wonderful community, we disagree that the challenges we face in providing an intellectually engaging, progressive and supportive education differ from those faced in other communities. Schools across the state and country must educate children who arrive at school with a range of interests and family circumstances on increasingly tight budgets. More important, we strongly disagree with the notion that we have little to learn from the experiences of these schools: a resistance to or simply a lack of interest in looking to the experiences of other districts when designing curriculum or examining programs handicaps our efforts to provide the type of education we aspire to provide for all of our children.
Outsiders provide invaluable perspectives and ideas, and schools that operate in isolation bypass opportunities to learn from others with similar goals tackling similar problems. As Amherst College faculty in departments that recently underwent external reviews, we experienced first-hand both the benefits and anxiety of having a small number of noted professors from prestigious colleges and universities review our respective programs. The reviewers read our descriptions of our respective departments and then came to campus and met with students, faculty and administrators. Several weeks after their visits, the external committees submitted reports and recommendations. The process and feedback provoked some dissatisfaction, but we believe that these reviews provide the type of perspective and evaluation that is crucial to improving curriculum, the quality of instruction and the intellectual life of a department.
Comparison with peer institutions and external reviews are certainly not unique to colleges and universities. In fact, the Brookline Public Schools conduct reviews of each program and curriculum area on a regular basis, with the goal of improving »student achievement through a comprehensive and rigorous examination of our programs.« These reviews, which are conducted by committees including teachers, administrators, parents and community members, have four distinct phases: assessing the current state of the program, determining what is necessary for improvement, implementing a plan for improvement and reviewing the effectiveness of the plan. In some cases, these reviews may involve hiring outside consultants to assist with data collection and/or provide objective information about strengths and areas of improvements.
Similarly, some districts regularly evaluate their own progress by engaging in comparison with other similar districts. The Newton Public Schools, for example, have selected a group of seven benchmark districts in the Boston area that share their strong commitment to education and have similar demographic compositions. Curricular and program evaluations in Newton use information on these other districts in judging performance and deciding whether to continue, modify, add or terminate programs. Similarly, the Worcester Public Schools have studied how students in their schools compare on various measures, including attendance and drop out rates, post-graduate placement, and MCAS scores, to those in other similar districts.
Looking outside Amherst for ideas, comparisons and feedback has not been central to the operation of the Amherst public schools in recent years, though we see signs that this may be changing.
Assistant Superintendent Maria Geryk is currently working on soliciting proposals for an outside review of our special education programs, Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez began his tenure in Amherst by commissioning an outside review of our district by an independent consultant, and the Regional School Committee recently selected a set of 11 districts to use as comparisons when evaluating our school curricula, programs, and outcomes.
Gathering and processing data and paying outside reviewers are costly in terms of both time and money, and some may balk at these efforts. However, if they lead to more effective instruction, better outcomes for students, and a more efficient use of resources, it would be well worth the cost.
Catherine Sanderson and Steve Rivkin are Amherst College professors and members of the Amherst School Committee.
Monday, September 14, 2009
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7 comments:
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation makes a similar argument about the need for data in measuring success:
"Data: We need better data to tell us if we are making progress. Without better data, educators, students, and the public lack the information needed to make good decisions and midcourse corrections when appropriate. We know something about what it takes to be college-ready, but not enough to tell us if each student is on track toward that goal. We know how crucial effective teaching is for student success, but not enough about how to identify, develop, reward, and retain excellent teachers, especially for the students who need them most. We need evidence, and we need to go where it takes us.
Advocacy: Our nation will not achieve big improvements in college readiness or teacher effectiveness without a sense of urgency and the public and political will to take on tough problems in public education, confront the barriers that we’ve skirted in the past, and demand that doing things the way we have always done them is not acceptable. PDF
I agree with the artcile. I don’t understand “uniqueness means that we have little to learn from other districts” if that is a sentiment that is in fact being expressed. Just because something is unique doesn’t mean something can’t be learned by looking elsewhere – obviously. Data is good. “Looking outside Amherst for ideas, comparisons and feedback” is also good.
Maybe people think that just looking at other schools means we want to be like them. I would be careful not to do this: “ABC School does it this way and gets good results so we should do it like ABC School does it”. I don’t think anyone is saying to do that is a good idea.
My only problem with data is that you have to make sure it’s accurate and/or relevant before using it to make decisions. And it’s not always easy to tell if this is the case.
Also there may be very little data that spans all schools. In Massachusetts, MCAS would be one thing, and SATs are another, but not all kids take them. Therefore I think the best kind of data is relative internal data on whether things are getting better or worse, not absolute external data (because not enough exists).
I like this: “Brookline Public Schools conduct reviews of each program and curriculum area on a regular basis, with the goal of improving student achievement through a comprehensive and rigorous examination of our programs. These reviews, which are conducted by committees including teachers, administrators, parents and community members…etc…” That not really looking “outside”, but rather it’s an intense look inside. I like that.
I assume ARPS does this to some extent, no? Can that be improved at ARPS and if so how?
Tom G: thanks for the link to that PDF that’s great.
"We need better data" apparently means Gates thinks good data does not exist yet to measure how we are doing. I’d like to know more about what specific ideas there are out there to plug that hole.
This was also pretty interesting:
“Research shows that teachers matter most to student learning. Of all the educational interventions to serve poor and minority children, the one with the strongest evidence behind it is effective teaching.
The importance of effective teaching is so powerful that researchers studying high schools in North Carolina found having a class with a strong teacher had an impact 14 times greater than having a class with five fewer students.”
I see that this quote in the Gates report “We know how crucial effective teaching is for student success, but not enough about how to identify, develop, reward, and retain excellent teachers, especially for the students who need them most.” cites a paper co-authored by Steve Rivken. I think it’s this one.
Link didn't work:
http://edpro.stanford.edu/hanushek/admin/pages/files/uploads/w12651.pdf
You're welcome Rick. Thanks for digging into it and sharing the more interesting bits.
Here is a powerful reader. ONLY CONNECT The superintendent's old boss is the author! =)
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