Who Says We Can't Get More Parents Involved?

Just put their kids on stage! Here is a picture of a standing-room-only crowd for the Emerson Holiday Show.

Reaction to the Test Score Summit

Last night Berwyn CARES members gathered to hear from our education leaders regarding the recently released standardized test scores.  The evening began with a presentation by Berwyn CARES summarizing the test scores of each district and describing the limits of standardized tests to truly evaluate the effectiveness of a school.  Each district administrator gave a presentation regarding their efforts to improve the scores in the future.  These presentations were followed by a question and answer session and spirited discussion about the state of our schools.

Dr. Kuszniewski, Superintendent of District 201 gave a thorough presentation outlining the many changes he has implemented to address the abysmal achievement scores of Morton students (only 34% of students met or exceeded standards in 2011).  While he spoke of some changes that would directly impact student learning (common assessments,  structuring teacher planning time around professional learning groups, increasing the number of students exposed to AP classes/exams), he also spent a lot of time talking about security and the maintenance needs of old buildings.  Sadly, I felt as if the priorities of the district are safety, building maintenance and education in that order.  This is not a criticism, but I believe the sad reality of a school system that has been so grossly underfunded for so long that basic classes seem like bells and whistles that are out of reach.

Dorothy Wunderlich, Assistant Superintendent of District 98 highlighted District 98's efforts to improve  outcomes for the ELL (English Language Learner) population as well as the Special Education students.  The district brought in outside consultants and new curriculum to give those populations a boost.  Ms. Wunderlich also talked about a program to train parents to educate other parents about the importance of parental involvement and what a difference that might make for students.

Dr. Stan Fields, Superintendent of District 100 gave a presentation centered on the investment the district has made in smart technology for most classrooms.  Many classrooms are now 1:1 classrooms which means each child in a class has either a laptop computer for use throughout the school day, as well as, at home.  Dr. Fields also mentioned the impact that full day kindergarten is having on those students.  The 1st grade curriculum had to be rewritten for this first group as they had mastered about 1/2 year of the typical 1st grade skills.

During the question and answer session, the panel addressed questions about consolidation (all 3 basically dodged the question saying it was too complicated an issue, though an idea that does have some appeal), truancy (state aid is dependent on daily attendance), need for early childhood education (all agreed that increasing the number of students in ECE would exponentially benefit the community) and parental involvement.

Overall, I felt positively about the efforts being made to improve the outcomes (test results), though not that confident that these efforts to improve test scores will improve the quality of the educational experiences.  It seems we have this backward.  Kids who are well educated will test well NOT kids who test well will become well educated.  Here are some comments from Gloria Mitchell, CARES board member.

Well, I'm frustrated. After hearing from the superintendents last night, I'm not at all convinced that they are determined to provide my kids with an excellent education.  

With all the superintendents, there seems to be a lot of fondness for reliance on "the way things work in the real world" as a model for school. I certainly share that fondness, but I think it's important to keep in mind that in the real world, no one gives you a paycheck for correctly answering multiple-choice questions about computer programming; you have to actually code something. No one wins a golf championship because they scored highest on a multiple-choice test about golf; you have to actually play the game. 

In the real world, we value what people produce, and we pay them for sharing in the creation of high-quality products or services. If they turn in work that isn't high in quality, they're usually given feedback and sent back to the drawing board; most workplaces have a process that is both collaborative and iterative (very true of tech and engineering, to take one example). 

So it seems to me that the best preparation for adulthood would be for students to create high-quality work that has value in the world. An essential question for schools should be: How do you evaluate the quality of student work? 

Here we are in the realm of making qualitative judgments, with which our school administrators seem distinctly uncomfortable. But again, in the real world we rely on qualitative judgments all the time. Is this product well-designed? Is this article well-written? Is this manager skilled at eliciting good work from his subordinates? Does he get along well with peers?  

We can create rubrics and metrics, and these can be useful, but they don't change the fact that someone at some point has to make a qualitative evaluation of what good work looks like. In Howard Gardner's definition, good work has three elements: first, the work is good by the standards of its discipline (so you might have, for example, a strong and well-crafted chair, a cogent argument, a beautiful garden, an elegant piece of code); second, it is good for the world, in that it has value to others and serves a worthwhile purpose; and last, it is good for the soul -- that is, it is work that is meaningful and important to its creator. 

I like the way the Expeditionary Learning network evaluates schools using three indicators: academic achievement (as measured by test scores), quality of student work, and evidence of student engagement. 

I continue to be concerned that Berwyn's schools are evaluated only by the first indicator -- and worse, that this drives downward, so that the only goal a student is asked to set for herself is to raise her test scores. This serves the adults' needs, not the child's best interests. 

Next year, I'd like to challenge the districts to bring the community a more complete picture of student work and student learning.  Borrowing from EL, we could ask them to provide evidence that all students are: 
- performing well on standardized tests- producing high-quality work that matters in the real world- engaged in their own learning and the world around them. 

That last element, which touches on civic engagement, is critically important for communities, because in the end, whether a student ends up working as a nurse or a security guard or a lawyer or a plumber, our deepest need is for them to become responsible citizens. 

Sorry for the long rant. I'm just disappointed to feel that our schools aren't being held to genuinely high standards of work and learning.
Gloria

Well said, Gloria.  If any of you readers would care to join us in discussing this and other education topics further, please create an account on the BerwynCARES forum:  

Take the District 98 Superintendent Search Survey

District 98 is using the Illinois Association of School Boards to assist with their search for a new superintendent.  The first step is a survey of the community regarding characteristics of an ideal candidate.  Please take the time to take the survey and spread the word to other Berwyn residents.  Choosing the leader of a school district is the single most important job of a local school board.  Help the District 98 School Board and have your voice heard by filling out this very short survey.