Questions on MCAS report

Mayor: "while the President is mentioning UPCS as one of the best schools in the country, it's a Level 2 school"
failure of this data
"doesn't tell the whole story"
Boone: "Much better way of recognizing the sound progress in our schools"
"overly cautious that we not use one measure but multiple measures" O'Brien

O'Connell: appears that we've had success with our tenth graders
"seeing some declines" in grades 5-8
notes different cohorts
Any plan to review curriculum in those grades? issues that need to be addressed?
Are we not preparing our students to excel the appropriate level?
Boone notes that science has not been taught
Mulqueen: "new literacy in each of the content areas"
to think like scientists, to think like mathematicians
curriculum review will do that

Monfredo:"in past years...emphasis on math and language arts"
letters to Level 1, to commendation schools
"lack of growth in math"
Boone: "more alignment with the standards of the expectations across the board"
"nationally mathematics continues to be a concern"
Monfredo asks about after school programs
Mulqueen cites innovation schools

Novick: sorry, I had quite a few...
whiplash to be spending all this time on this after all the criticism heaped on the MCAS at last night's forum
 there may well be new Level 4's; we don't know for sure, and we don't know when
Yes, there were schools that dropped from Level 2 to Level 3 (three, I think was said?)
Motion to bill the state for resending MCAS to 10th graders
Motion to for an update on common assessment and on NCLB waivers

Foley: comparison group would be other urban districts for CPI
question of whether we will have 72 schools statewide that are Level 4; so far we have 36

Mullaney: are you mailing to every tenth grader, or just the ones that had the change?
probably just the new ones, Perda
Boone points out that there is  parent information on the department website
"why does the state think that any parent really cares?" asks Mullaney

Biancheria: what are we doing for middle schools that aren't innovation schools?
"alignment between the frameworks and the standards" says Boone
Biancheria questions what we are getting from Focus on Results for all the money we are paying
"we still have a tremendous amount of work to do"
science and social studies shouldn't be an afterthought; asks what we can do to bring science to the same level that math and English are
Boone: "we shouldn't have to have a test to teach social studies"
Mulqueen: essential lab components

Updates on everything

The agenda for this Thursday's meeting of the Worcester School Committee is up. It appears that the Superintendent's report is an update on all of the various initiatives--Level 4 schools, Promise Neighborhood grant, Focus on Results, innovation schools, the Gates grant--that are currently going on in Worcester. If you're interested in any of the above, coming down to City Hall or tuning in around 7 on Thursday would be well worth your while.
We're also getting back the travel report (which appears to have quite a number of abbreviations and no explanations for those or for the travel...I'm told more on travel will be coming), and a report on the Listening and Learning sessions last spring.
Also, we are being asked to pass the FY11 budget at $362,251 less than we did in June, as the charter assessment rates have come in. It's being recommended that it come out of instructional materials (but, honestly, for FY12, as we'd planned on carrying just over $700,000 forward for next year. We're that much more in the hole for FY12, then.).

Note that the Worcester School Committee is having a legislative breakfast on Friday at 7:30 am at the Tech school.

Worcester's Race to the Top application goes in Friday

Worcester's Race to the Top application is due on Friday. John Monfredo and I were updated yesterday on the application, and here are the notes I sent out to my colleagues on the committee last night:
some projects are required; some are optional. Some we can opt-in on; some the state decides on
this year is planning, studying, doing research, serving on state working groups, working to spring implementation in some cases

Safety, literacy, MCAS, nutrition

Diane Trusic, parent (I'm sorry if I've mangled your name)
question about school safety being a major issue: how would you help with school safety being a budget priority?
early literacy? test scores for her son's school are very low: have concerns
school safety continues to be a priority, Boone
"preventative and proactive approach"
"little bump in 2000 MCAS testing"
Mulqueen: in MAP, all but one area is on track to reaching proficiency
"early results from what we suspect is the Focus on Results work...we can see that the bump up is starting to become more prominent...gives us some good hope"
looking to implement some new technology for our older readers who aren't as confident as well
school nutrition: no cuts, no price increase, higher quality

Presentation on Instruction Leadership Teams

WPS improvement strategy from the Instructional Leadership Teams
Focus on Results aligning instuction with data
Jeff Mulqueen introducing....Mark Williams and Marie Morse (principals of Forest Grove & Clark Street School, respectively)
Clark Street:
12 members of team @ Clark St: "what do we do well and what don't we do well"
reading critically to respond well in writing ("We read. We write. We learn.") : the kids pledge each day
sharing of ideas does not yield competition between teachers; horizontal and vertical
"data-driven assessments and data-driven.."
exemplars and rubrics
8 am ILT meeting in the library tomorrow

Forest Grove:
reading comprehension
Wristbands, skits, dances, cheers
"Focus on Reading Comprehension Everywhere" (yielding, yes, FORCE)
printed on agendas, newsletters, ConnectED
workshops
bell to bell teaching, Cornell notes, and short answer prep
32 different staff members have presented to the faculty
representing district at Focus on Results conference in Pasadena

Boone: break down some of the mystery
observe how the culture shifts when there is collective ownership
sustainable for improving student achievement
"less is more" theory; the less we focus on, the better we do at that.

Questions on the Commissioner's MOU: Monfredo

Monfredo: impact instruction more than money
"will teachers be engaged..." in what they're coming up with?
Mulqueen nods"the teachers are a big part of how the implementation of Focus on Results"
expertise varies across the district"ongoing conversation" between teachers

MOU on Commissioner's district

Commissioner's district report on MOU with the state
(it's a multiple MOU night!)
Presentation from the superintendent on the MOU btn DESE and WPS
THIS IS NOT RTTT
We are designated as a Commissioner's district
13 priority schools
actions we will take for school improvement
Mulqueen"collaborative relationship between DESE and WPS"
quarterly mtgs btn Mulqueen and DESE

• Title 1 schoool supplement grant: federal (only to Title 1 schools in the district; support provided)
• supplement from state, generally applied in the budget

Limited funding being used for:

1. Focus on Results: coaches from district, leadership training (team mtgs), aligning
   instruction
2. Instructional Leadership Team Support: use data to improve instruction
3. Implementation Audit: "how are we using our resources?"
4. Comprehensive Accountability System: Center for Leadership "coming to help us develop" ("high leveraged adult actions...how do they translate to student performance?")
   

"improve system's efficiency and effectiveness conserving resources and expediting improved student improvement"

Questions on the report

Monfredo asks if we should be adding other programs; the superintendent responds (to sum) that implementing new practices is going to only make things scattered, that rather than buying new programs, we should use what we have from good teachers and implement internally. It's about implementing our own system that's going to last.
Mullaney wants to know if the School Committee is one of the circles in a diagram in moving things together: what is their role? The Committee should set a few high-priority goals that really drive the core work of the city.
Foley speaks of focusing on outcomes, results, not process. It's not a top-down model, it's a teacher-based model. Columbo says we have some of the most talented educators in the state in the Worcester Public Schools. People are eager to get to work on this. District has given them a framework to work within..."limited autonomy" He also feels the word needs to get out more and better on this.
Hargrove has been eagerly awaiting this presentation. She also wants to know how School Committee members can support this. Communication is critical.
O'Connell asks how we can work on kids who are moving within the school system (aha! The above point!), while retaining that school autonomy? The early reading curriculum is a help: bounded autonomy again. Much discussion here between Boone, Columbo, and O'Connell about how to get that district consistency while still allowing school-level autonomy. Also schools get more autonomy as they make progress, according to Superintendent Boone. O'Connell then asks how we continue to do this as the budget gets slashed next year. Making decisions around the instructional core...priorities...then seeing what's left.
Bogigian "I think we're on the right track"...teachers have to buy into any program in order for it to succeed. Uses his own experience to talk about teachers who have their own way of doing things...not forcing things...collaborating with teachers.
Lukes is "truly relieved and encouraged" that we have a plan to improve the schools that "have been failing for far too long.'

Improvement Strategy: Superintendent's plan

"laser-like focus" on improvement in the past year, according to Superintendent Boone
"to go deeper into this work, as well as accellerate our progress"
Joe Columbo from Focus on Results is going to presenting
"instruction for best practices"
understand and share...all of us have to have a focus on student improvement in the district

Columbo now speaking:
take what are already very good schools and figure out how to make them better than before
"to provide and support high quality teaching and learning in every classroom, for every student, every day"
(Boone told the story of the janitor at NASA who said his job was to get a man on the moon; everyone needs to be involved)
What does this look like?

1. Identify a schoolwide instructional focus (you've seen these on the boards outside the schools); the schools did this internally themselves.
2. Teachers get time in the school day to collaborate to improve teaching and learning. (wow, there's one that costs money!); there's also a school-based leadership team of teachers
3. Evidence-based teaching practices to meet the needs of each students (identify, learn, and use); consistent throughout the school (but, hmm, not even the focuses are throughout the district, and with a high mobility rate...)
4. Targeted professional development that builds on best practices
5. Re-align resources to support focus (money, staff, time, energy)
6. Engage families and community in supporting the instructional focus
7. Internal accountability system growing out of student goals to promote measurable gains

Demonstration of how this works out within the various schools so that students are understanding the school focus and how it applies to them: photos in the PowerPoint

Contrast between a results system and a non-aligned system, with an emphasis on internal control and a minimal number of focuses (so that it isn't scattered).

And what's happened so far?

MCAS has grown in 10 out of the 14 grades the past year

first growth in 8 years in gr. 3 reading

This year: increase urgency (to get out of priority district status), discipline of execution, relentless communication (both internally and externally)

The Mayor asks here about priority schools and priority districts (for those who might be watching and not know how this works)