I received this letter from a parent who spoke at the prior night's school committee meeting. I was saddened to read (and listen) to some of his remarks - particularly the one about cross-pollinating teachers from his present school (Cumberland Hill) to his potential new school (Ashton). Certainly I can respect the worry that moving to a former choice school would raise questions and concerns - that said- given the fact that the achievement profile of the subcategory of non-SES (disadvantaged) students at both schools is nearly identical in both math and ELA, the assurances of similar achievement for non SES students is there - I believe the data should ameliorate the concern.
Our goal as a district is to improve achievement for every student. We must be relentless in that pursuit. Every day.
School Committee Members,
Thank you for the opportunity to address my concerns regarding the Full Day Kindergarten/Redistricting proposal at last night's school committee meeting.
I also would like to thank Dr. Thornton for meeting with concerned parents from my neighborhood before the holidays. During our meeting, Dr. Thornton presented the existing proposal, his future vision for the Cumberland School System and insight into changes he is already making. The honest and open dialogue was greatly appreciated by my neighbors and I.
Under the current proposal, my neighborhood would be moving from Cumberland Hill to the Ashton School District. As I shared last night and with Dr. Thornton in previous conversations, my main concerns are (in no particular order):
• Middle School:
◦ The current proposal does not address the future district alignment of the middle schools, leaving fear, uncertainty and doubt with where our children will go if we were redistricted to Ashton. Once we are part of the Ashton district we will have very little say in where we attend middle school if further adjustments are needed to be made. I would like to see the middle school boundaries address and documented as part of this proposal.
◦ It is my understanding there is currently a 23% testing difference between McCourt and North Cumberland Middle School. There is a great amount of concern about being redistricted from a performing school to a low performing one, especially since NCMS is 5 minutes away from our homes.
• Social Impact:
◦ Studies have shown there is an impact on a student’s performance when they move from school to school. For some of our children, the plan is asking them to attend their 3rd school in 3 or 4 years, and for others, we would be having them change schools in the final year of elementary school before they head to Middle School.
◦ In addition to adjusting to new schools, teachers and routines, many of the children that are being redistricted to Ashton will have to adjust to making new friends in Ashton and then again when they attend middle school. This too could affect their academic performance.
• Redistricted to Ashton:
◦ We are currently at one of the top two performing schools in Cumberland, but in this plan, according to a school committee member I spoke to last night, we would be redistricted to one of the bottom two performing schools in town.
◦ There are several questions around Ashton:
■ Why is it underperforming relative to Cumberland Hill and Community?
■ What is the plan to bring it in line with the two schools stated above?
■ What is your plan for cross pollinating teachers from Cumberland Hill to Ashton if the plan is approved?
■ Why can’t we improve the test scores of the other schools first, and then propose any new/potential changes?
■ How many students would be moving to and from Ashton in the new proposal?
◦ Bus schedule: Our children already spend too much time on the bus, and this proposal would only increase the amount of time they spend traveling to and from school each day.
• Community (not the school):
◦ Many parents bought their homes specifically to be part of the North Cumberland School System and to be part of the community they live in. This proposal will be taking many of us away from the area we bought our homes in.
◦ There is a tremendous amount of pride in the Cumberland Hill School and what has been accomplished there over the past several years. Many parents who are being affected by this proposal have volunteered their time to the school and their children’s classroom to help better the school, form relationships with the teachers and with one and other.
While I support the vision of elevating the performance of all Cumberland Schools and agree to the benefits of full day kindergarten, I am not in support of the current proposal if it means we will be redistricted to receive it. Outside of offering full day kindergarten, I am struggling to see the benefit of the current proposal for my children in grades 1-5, as classrooms sizes are remaining largely the same, they are being redistricted to a lower performing school and they will have to spend more time on a bus to get to there.
Thank you in advance for your consideration to my feedback above. Please feel free to reach out to me with any additional questions or feedback.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Full Day Kindergarten and Redistricting
A parent sent me an email expressing concerns about the increase in class sizes K-5 throughout our district should a proposal for full day kindergarten with redistricting be approved and funded. Here was my response:
Unfortunately there is no perfect solution - not enough classes, not enough funds, greater expectations, a wider lens of the competitive global educational environment. Looking at all of the contributing factors, we have to work to make the best possible decision that will have the greatest educational impact.
You are correct, based on the projection in the presentation, we would be increasing the number of classrooms with overages by approximately 50% of present. We could solve some of that with the original sister school proposal, but that too has tradeoffs. That proposal allows us to more efficiently balance enrollment. There are a number of hybrids from Dr. Thornton's original proposal - (clustering grades, leasing portable classrooms, outside rentals, etc.) that will likely have some consideration. A benefit to FDK is that there is a long-term budgetary savings in that fewer remedial resources are required for each student - so perhaps that will allow us to redirect funds to solve more of the identified issues moving forward.
Increased class sizes have been a result of declining revenue and population fluctuations where schools like Cumberland Hill are growing or elsewhere where changes vs. budget force squeezing more students into a class. Basically we've had the same bottom line number for the budget for five years. But within that budget there have been increased demands - like RTI requirements at all levels, increased accountability, and significant increases of tuition paid to charters. We've worked to realize funds and contain costs within our budget (like the structural savings in the ICSE healthcare piece and the elimination of buybacks (buybacks alone is an approximate $100K annual savings)) - that accumlated savings, however, is insufficient in order to build a better program.
Maybe the funding authority will see both FDK AND lower class sizes as a priority. I know when Chairman Mutter was on the council we worked with him to identify a means to "progress monitor" student achievement, hence the purchase of Aimsweb. It wasn't in the budget - it was added by then chairman of finance - now Chairman Mutter.
It's a tough balancing act - we are trying to be as fair as possible to all students while working to raise the achievement profile for every student. Everyone looks at this through a different lens - my high school parents appreciate the benefit of FDK but would prefer more electives at the high school.
I hopeful that in the end, it will be a solid solution along with the acceleration of the funding formula. It's so alarming to me that the RIDE is willing to shortchange students from a funding perspective on so many levels - and has acknowledged the funding gap. And built a seven year adjustment and called it a solution. Seriously?
The funding authority (both state and local) has the ability to help create a more competitive district. It has to have the will and the passion to do it.
Unfortunately there is no perfect solution - not enough classes, not enough funds, greater expectations, a wider lens of the competitive global educational environment. Looking at all of the contributing factors, we have to work to make the best possible decision that will have the greatest educational impact.
You are correct, based on the projection in the presentation, we would be increasing the number of classrooms with overages by approximately 50% of present. We could solve some of that with the original sister school proposal, but that too has tradeoffs. That proposal allows us to more efficiently balance enrollment. There are a number of hybrids from Dr. Thornton's original proposal - (clustering grades, leasing portable classrooms, outside rentals, etc.) that will likely have some consideration. A benefit to FDK is that there is a long-term budgetary savings in that fewer remedial resources are required for each student - so perhaps that will allow us to redirect funds to solve more of the identified issues moving forward.
Increased class sizes have been a result of declining revenue and population fluctuations where schools like Cumberland Hill are growing or elsewhere where changes vs. budget force squeezing more students into a class. Basically we've had the same bottom line number for the budget for five years. But within that budget there have been increased demands - like RTI requirements at all levels, increased accountability, and significant increases of tuition paid to charters. We've worked to realize funds and contain costs within our budget (like the structural savings in the ICSE healthcare piece and the elimination of buybacks (buybacks alone is an approximate $100K annual savings)) - that accumlated savings, however, is insufficient in order to build a better program.
Maybe the funding authority will see both FDK AND lower class sizes as a priority. I know when Chairman Mutter was on the council we worked with him to identify a means to "progress monitor" student achievement, hence the purchase of Aimsweb. It wasn't in the budget - it was added by then chairman of finance - now Chairman Mutter.
It's a tough balancing act - we are trying to be as fair as possible to all students while working to raise the achievement profile for every student. Everyone looks at this through a different lens - my high school parents appreciate the benefit of FDK but would prefer more electives at the high school.
I hopeful that in the end, it will be a solid solution along with the acceleration of the funding formula. It's so alarming to me that the RIDE is willing to shortchange students from a funding perspective on so many levels - and has acknowledged the funding gap. And built a seven year adjustment and called it a solution. Seriously?
The funding authority (both state and local) has the ability to help create a more competitive district. It has to have the will and the passion to do it.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
2012 - Talking about all the right things
Power Standards, Grading Practices, and full day kindergarten are just a sampling of the numerous conversations here in Cumberland that have been occurring since the arrival of Superintendent Thornton in July.
In Cumberland - New leader sweeps in with promise of better schools
Recently the committee collectively read Results Now by Mike Schmoker with Dr. Thornton. I encourage everyone to read it. The first section describes the reality and illusion occurring in public schools and the stresses the importance of a well-executed, guaranteed and viable curriculum. The author is pretty blunt - in order to move past the mediocrity and accelerate student achievement we need to be vigilant about correcting our educational shortcomings - anything less is criminal. The ASCD link provides a good general summary and a study guide: ASCD Study Guide for Results Now
To have an understanding of where we "truly" are with our instruction, since October the Achievement Subcommittee has met with content area (science, math, ELA, arts, physical education, social studies world language etc) leaders and educators in order to gain a firm understanding of the status of each curricular area and to establish short and long term goals to accelerate achievement for all students. Some of the issues are easily solved - like a course lacking sufficient text books - and have been. Others issues, such as the gaps in K-8 science instruction, have required a more comprehensive series of discussions and action steps. The meetings have also allowed the subcommittee to learn more about successful initiatives such as the K-5 ELA improvements that have resulted in significant short-term gains in reading outcomes for students. In addition, classroom walkthroughs have provided members with a first-hand opportunity to see instruction in action.
Presentations from our discussions can be found here: CPS Presentation Links
Once we complete our initial face-to-face meetings in January we will regroup with each content area to review progress and potential budget impacts.
In Cumberland - New leader sweeps in with promise of better schools
Recently the committee collectively read Results Now by Mike Schmoker with Dr. Thornton. I encourage everyone to read it. The first section describes the reality and illusion occurring in public schools and the stresses the importance of a well-executed, guaranteed and viable curriculum. The author is pretty blunt - in order to move past the mediocrity and accelerate student achievement we need to be vigilant about correcting our educational shortcomings - anything less is criminal. The ASCD link provides a good general summary and a study guide: ASCD Study Guide for Results Now
To have an understanding of where we "truly" are with our instruction, since October the Achievement Subcommittee has met with content area (science, math, ELA, arts, physical education, social studies world language etc) leaders and educators in order to gain a firm understanding of the status of each curricular area and to establish short and long term goals to accelerate achievement for all students. Some of the issues are easily solved - like a course lacking sufficient text books - and have been. Others issues, such as the gaps in K-8 science instruction, have required a more comprehensive series of discussions and action steps. The meetings have also allowed the subcommittee to learn more about successful initiatives such as the K-5 ELA improvements that have resulted in significant short-term gains in reading outcomes for students. In addition, classroom walkthroughs have provided members with a first-hand opportunity to see instruction in action.
Presentations from our discussions can be found here: CPS Presentation Links
Once we complete our initial face-to-face meetings in January we will regroup with each content area to review progress and potential budget impacts.
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