We should begin by acknowledging that we’re doing a lot of things right and so we should be careful about messing with success. However, there are several areas where we need to strive for improvement, especially: social emotional learning, academic performance at Congress Park, academic performance at Park Jr. High. We should also move to address problems that were identified in a recent study commissioned by the Board.
By some measures, Congress Park lags significantly behind the other K-6 schools in academic achievement. Many parents also express concerns about the quality of our programs at Park Jr. High. As a Board member, I would make it a priority to improve performance at both. As to Congress Park, I would begin by separately soliciting the opinions of staff, faculty and parents on: 1. what are the top 5 issue or problems, and 2. what could be done to improve them. As to Park Jr. High, I would build on the work being done by the Parents Advisory Committee and the 6-8 Task Force. These groups are in the process of considering Park Jr. High in detail.
Social emotional learning (SEL) is the part of our curriculum that teaches how to interact and make good decisions. In a recent study commissioned by the Board, SEL was identified as a District weakness and has also been identified as an area of focus by the Parent Advisory Committee. While other parts of the curriculum operate on a three tiered system, SEL has only one Tier. This one size fits all approach has not worked well and we need a fully developed approach. Further, it is not clear that the single approach we’re currently using is the best one. For instance, some classrooms use collective punishment, disciplining a group for the actions of an individual. Not only does this unfairly penalize those who have done nothing wrong, it disproportionately punishes kids who step out of line. Peer interactions are hard enough to manage without turning our kids against one another. I also believe this kind of approach unreasonably puts the burden of policing kids on the students. Instead, we should focus on kids taking responsibility for their own actions with teachers enforcing discipline. Similarly, the District’s math curriculum operates on a single Tier. We should develop and implement second and third tiers to help those whose needs are not being met.
Differentiation is another important aspect of our curriculum and a key part of the District’s Strategic Plan. Adjusting the lesson to meet the individual needs of the child follows my own belief that each student should be given the best possible chance to meet his potential. However, it is not clear how well the District is actually implementing its policy of differentiation. A recent study recommended that the District examine this question, and as a Board Member I would push to do that.
Finally, I remain concerned that we, as a District are overly-concerned with “metrics.” There is no doubt that we should make use of numbers where they exist. We also have to confront the reality that accepting federal funds means complying with standards set under the No Child Left Behind Act. However, we must also keep in mind that not everything worth learning lends itself to being measured easily. Good writing, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, group dynamics and leadership, none of these are easily tested and yet all are important to teach our children. Because of the valuable time taken from instruction, we should make it a policy to minimize duplicative testing (different tests that measure the same skill). We must also ensure we don’t “teach to the test” to the exclusion of other important skills.