Over 40 people showed up for the Town School Board Public Forum ‘Learning in the 21st Century’ to participate in discussion and contribute ideas. When all was said and done, the list of improvements alone, if enacted, would make the Brattleboro Public Schools cooler than most, and probably more effective, which says something about the ideals of those involved. But as was reflected in the discussion, this is an era of standardization and assessment, data and budgets.
Attendees included members of the Town School Board; Principals Paciulli and Reid, of Academy and Green Street Schools respectively; an assistant principal; Lyle Holiday and Ron Stahley of WSESU; a number of teachers, including high school teachers; some parents; and members of the public and press.
The meeting began with a welcome from Chair Margaret Atkinson and School Board member Jill Stahl Tyler. Tyler explained that the board had been planning public outreach since June 2013, and this forum was a product of that plan. She said that as this was the first of a series of public forums, the questions asked were intentionally broad.
The forum began with a short clip from educator Sir Kenneth Robinson, who gave a TED talk on 21st century education not long ago. This was followed by a short discussion among people seated around one of the dozen or so tables in the room, which was then shared with the group. After that, people then broke into three groups to discuss and contribute ideas the three agenda questions: What’s working? What would you like to see more of? Given budget constraints, what should we focus on?
Much material was generated in the hour and a half given to the process.
Sir Kenneth and the State of Modern Education
The clip selected to start the forum presented the views of Sir Kenneth Robinson and was appropriately titled Changing Education Paradigms. To summarize, Sir Kenneth believes that education as it is practiced today has two goals: to prepare young people to “take their place in the 21st century economy” and to educate them in their own culture while still acknowledging globalization. On the economic goal, he says our schools are failing, as many students no longer believe that a good education is the route to a good job.
Our education system is outmoded, he said, and runs on a factory model more suited to the time of the industrial revolution, when it was invented. Children are shuttled through by age group, and taught in a compartmentalized (subject-driven) fashion.
His most controversial contention, at least for those living on the East Coast, is that ADHD is a myth, even going so far as to show a map which indicates that medicating children for ADHD is much more prevalent east of the Mississippi than elsewhere in the country. ADHD drugs deaden students, Robinson contends. The arts enliven them.
He concluded with the bald statement that standardized testing is about making all kids the same.
When the clip ended, attendees chatted about it amongst themselves before sharing the group’s conversation with the room at large. A common response was that schools are working with students who have big issues at home, including homelessness, poverty, and heroin addiction, and that the numbers of students dealing with such problems is growing. One group focused on ADHD and labeling, and the fact that a child labeled with behavior problems in math class might be completely engaged in an art session. Another table talked about standardized tests and why they might not be the best way to assess students’ learning.
Addressing The Questions
After the warm-up session above, the room split into three groups to talk about the questions on the agenda. Two large tables formed around the question “What do you want more of?” while a smaller table met to discuss “What’s working?” Another smaller group discussed budget issues.
Going in the order presented, the first group to offer feedback was on the question “What do you want more of?” This group actually consisted of two groups working separately.
The first group said they would like more regular and proactive involvement between teachers and parents, more experiential learning, and more teaching of social problem solving and getting along with others. On academics, people wanted more emphasis on critical thinking, fiction, poetry and the memorization thereof, science and U.S. history. People thought that education should build on the strengths and interests of students, provide avenues for personal expression, and that enrichment (i.e., supplemental art programs and the like) should be for all students, not just advanced students.
The second group to speak to the question “What do we want more of?” said that students should not be regarded as “data points,” arguing that the data model causes schools to spend more time on test subjects, to the detriment of student engagement. Teachers are funneled into the data model, they said, and as a result, we’re losing the richness of the classroom experience. We need to appreciate veteran teachers and what they offer, rather than just “Test – React. Test – React.” They said also that students needed more opportunities to explore creativity and collaboration, with a curriculum that inspires.
Another group tackled the question “What’s working?” They cited music, the Arts, phys ed, before and after school enrichment programs, strong school communities, and theme based learning as strengths of the current system. In addition, they noted that parent volunteers and community members have helped bring good programs to the schools.
The budget group was of two minds. Mark Truhan, school board member, talked harsh budget realities, and said that the primary concern right now is getting the new budget passed. It’s all but level funded at less than a half percent increase, he said, but it’s still $15 million. What can we do when people show up at Town Meeting and propose million dollar cuts, Truhan asked? He wanted people to know that such cuts would cost people and programs.
Tristan Toleno presented the kinder, gentler side of budget politics, by noting that many of the ideas presented that evening could be implemented for little or no money, and that we could still make changes toward our goals as a community despite the budget crunch.
Teacher Andy Davis commented as well, summing up an ongoing problem for Vermont schools in general. Vermont, he said, has a good educational system that produces good outcomes, but then, every year, the test scores come out, and the stories in the news are all about how our local schools failed, once again, to make Adequate Yearly Progress. The education community, he said, needs to sell the value of the public education system and convey its success to the public.
But he said, we also need to trust, respect, and empower our teachers to teach creatively, rather than worry about how we’re doing on standardized tests.
And on that note, the meeting ended. However, from the energy in the room, it seems likely that more in-depth discussions are to come.
Video: Changing Education Paradigms
At another table
It was nice to see so many people there, and interesting that so many participants had multiple roles – a teacher and a parent of a student, for example. Or a parent and a volunteer in a classroom. (The crowd that was most missing in my view were those who were simply parents of students. They may have felt they expressed themselves with the survey, or had to take care of dinner for kids, or were working.)
The part I found most useful wasn’t even advertised as part of the program: the intro video you can watch above (we were shown about the first 8 minutes of it) and the discussion that followed. It came close to hitting the question of values that I had had hoped would be included.
(Play along at home. Watch the video (at least the first 8 minutes) then take a few minutes to write down your impressions and what made the biggest impression on you. Add them below.)
Lise and I went to different tables. After watching, our group latched on to the testing aspect, and how standardized tests didn’t seem to be as useful as presented. Most of the suggestions came from one person who worked in the schools. We could have used more time to get more information from others around the table. I served as note-taker, and was nominated to present our list to the room.
Our table also asked if a local assessment of schools, teachers, and students could replace the nationalized system.
In round two, I headed over to the table discussing what was working well, and again mostly listened. This group had more teachers, admins, and volunteers with the school. It was useful to hear what insiders though was working best – music topped the list, but some were thinking of the High School music program.
Many of the positives seemed to be things on the edge of the “core” – parents filling in and hosting a nature program for the younger grades, physical activity, music, going outside to build things based on reading assignments, after school programs, and so on. A few of the praises were more structural – liking the in service training days, the ability to solve problems quickly, enjoying the activities that frame the day for students.
There was little mention at the “what’s working” table of the administration, Common Core, testing, the school buildings, collaboration, or students, but again, time was limited for the exercise.
We did have an interesting moment when a principal reprimanded our table for being too negative. (I was told after the meeting that it happened at another table, too.)
All in all, there were interesting discussions, some good information was gathered, and most everyone had opportunities to contribute if they wanted..
I’m still not entirely clear on what the Brattleboro Town School Board plans to do with the information. The next forum wasn’t announced, nor was any schedule to collate and share the results of the forum and surveys. I’d imagine this will be used to help soothe Town Meeting representatives, and perhaps guide future board discussions.
Thanks to David and Jill for organizing the event.
I wasn't able to make this
I wasn’t able to make this meeting last night but was struck by the comment below. Wasn’t part of the structure of this meeting to have a discussion on what’s working vs what’s not working or what needs to be improved? How can participants have an open and comprehensive dialog about those 2 things if they’re being chastised for “being too negative”? This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of principals (not sure which one made this comment at the meeting)
who get ‘testy’ if people express less than positive views of the schools. Obviously if everything were working and everyone was happy and satisfied with the schools these kinds of meetings wouldn’t be necessary. And wasn’t this supposed to be the first of a series of public meetings about the schools?
Chris/Lise: do you feel like people were being heard by the school/education officials present regardless of whether their comments were positive or not?
“We did have an interesting moment when a principal reprimanded our table for being too negative. (I was told after the meeting that it happened at another table, too.)”
School Board Forum
I was all ready to attend the forum last night when my car wouldn’t start and it was too darn cold to walk so I appreciate the detailed summary of last night’s meeting. I wonder why the principal at Oak Grove school has not attended any of these meetings? She has specifically said that “thematic instruction is no longer supported by the administration since 2010″ Yet it sounds like this is what the participants want more of as well as other things…that we used to have.
The second group to speak to the question “What do we want more of?” said that students should not be regarded as “data points,” arguing that the data model causes schools to spend more time on test subjects, to the detriment of student engagement. Teachers are funneled into the data model, they said, and as a result, we’re losing the richness of the classroom experience. We need to appreciate veteran teachers and what they offer, rather than just “Test – React. Test – React.” They said also that students needed more opportunities to explore creativity and collaboration, with a curriculum that inspires.
INSPIRES is an important word here! Thematic curriculum not only integrates reading and writing with science and social studies but includes many opportunities for collaborative learning and problem solving. And it is not time fragmented…”we’re leaving math, now we’re going to do phonics”
What is not appreciated by a data-driven curriculum is that a student who has struggled and worked hard to “almost meet the standard” might just as well might have “not met the standard” without the support and inspiration of the teacher. Yet because the student is not meeting the standard yet, it lowers the data score of the classroom/teacher. Just recently I met a former student as we stood in line to honor a classmate who had recently died. He reminded me of how hard he had worked at the number of words he read correctly (part of the AIMS/WEB testing program). For each word, he got a grape. (You use what works with a kid and prior to my discovering he loved grapes, he didn’t give a hoot how many words he could read correctly!) He reminded me of the day he got a whole bag of grapes. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter that the number of words correctly read increased. If he didn’t meet the goal the testing program wanted, his score was lowered. But he knew he’d improved! And I knew he improved.
I really don’t think what people want is going to cost more. The data testing must be costing quite a bit and all the new data-driven curriculum programs aren’t cheap either! You can’t meet the interests of your students if a publishing company is in charge.
And one more thing if I’m allowed to continue, years ago 2 teachers and I started 3 multiage classrooms at Academy with students from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. The students remained with the same teachers for 3 years. Guess who the 4th grade teacher was that received these strong students? Although the teachers each had their own mixed group, they shared their strengths with each other and the students. No one teacher can be strong at teaching everything in an elementary classroom. In my 40 years of teaching, it was the best and the hardest teaching I’ve ever done. We had to teach the child where s/he was at not the curriculum.Data-driven instruction mandates that all of a grade level should meet the same standards at the same time. Every parent knows each of their children developed at different time tables and often in different ways. I hope to make the next forum.
FYI
Pretty sure our Oak Grove principal was there…
As to the question above about whether people were heard – that’s for the school board to answer and for all of us to watch for changes.
I’d say that this is a long process and these outreach efforts are a start. Schools are complex beasts, and there are lots of moving parts. If I were on the board and had this input, I’d be grateful and would work to see what could be done. I’m a cautious optimist, but think it will take a long time to turn such a big ship.
…
One message that school folks wanted out was that despite annual failure to meet adequate yearly progress, the tests don’t matter that much, and our students are near the top of national achievement. It’s a bit confusing, eh?
principal attendance
Jen Hemmingsen, principal at Oak Grove School was definitely in attendance at this meeting. I was, however, disappointed that when some of groups were summarizing the discussions at their tables several administrators were in the hallway. It would have given a better message if everyone had stayed until the groups had finished reporting back. The meeting did go over by about 15 minutes, but nearly everyone stayed to the end – perhaps because of a strong interest in this topic.
From above:
“We did have an interesting moment when a principal reprimanded our table for being too negative. (I was told after the meeting that it happened at another table, too.)”
Perhaps the role of administration was not clarified for this administrator. This was clearly a public forum where the public was invited to share their broadest range of concerns. The three questions were not designed to limit the topics. The questions were open-ended in order to get a broad range of responses. When a school board member came to Oak Grove School to invite parents he clearly said that the school board wanted to hear “what was working and what was not working so well”.
Jill Stahl Tyler and David Schoales of the school board did a great job in creating and in facilitating this meeting. Thank you both. To be continued…
School Forum
OMG! I have to write again. I just watched the video!! Fantastic and what we were doing when we created multiage classrooms. There is research to show that learning happens in a social situation i.e Vygotsky, Chomsky, Piaget and others. I find it unusual that the video would be shown to the public while what’s going on in the schools is the exact opposite!
New York teachers turn on common core
“The board of the New York state teachers union this weekend unanimously withdrew its support for the Common Core standards…”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/new-york-common-core-teachers-schools-education-102614.html#ixzz2rXGhGiGe
Background on NY teacher's decision
Here is another article from polito.com that gives some of the background on – perhaps – why the NY teacher’s union has withdrawn support for the Common Core in its present configuration:
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/new-york-fails-common-core-tests-95304.html
Has the Common Core been fully vetted in Vermont? I think it would be good topic for one of the future forums envisioned by the Brattleboro town school board.
Article on Common Core
This is not specifically about the NY State teachers, but provides a lot of information about the Common Core and where the opposition is coming from. The opposition is hardly unilateral. One of those cases of strange bedfellows.
The article originally appeared in Rethinking Schools.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/24-10
common core
nice article, thanks.
As you say, the opposition is hardly unilateral. I can see pros and I can see cons, and I suppose it’s success depends in part on how the standards are implemented. That was perhaps the main point of the Politico article I linked to.
My son attends a local school, and I received his report card a few days ago. I was surprised to see that under the section: History Social Studies Standards, for the category of History/Culture, instead of a grade there is an N/A. It’s possible that there will be a forthcoming unit to cover this topic, I’ll have to ask his teacher, but my first thought was “is this omission of a really poignant subject a result of the implementation of common core standards?”
I should add that my son is in fourth grade, I love his teacher, and I’m happy with the school as a whole.
When I was in fourth grade we did an inspired “wagon train” unit (westward expansion) that left an indelible imprint on me, fostering a lifelong love for history. I was shocked to find out that my son’s class hasn’t incorporated history and culture into the lesson plan. Again, perhaps there is an upcoming unit, I’ll need to check with his teacher, but as I understand common core, there is an emphasis on some subjects to the detriment of others.