October Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting: opening comments

Agenda 
Video

Chair Craven is remote

Public comment: single one asking that Boston add more exam schools, and complaining about "unleveling high schools": "no one cares about advanced children in this state"
"This Board doesn't engage; this is about accountability"

Bruce Baker on Boston, weighted student funding, and the excess required

Well done by Kristin Johnson, Boston Public Schools parent, who as part of the Boston Coalition for Educational Equity work recently interviewed Professor Bruce Baker on Boston's weighted student funding formula.
Even if you're not in Boston and not interested in weighted student funding, there are things to learn from this one, particular about the excess required in systems that have things like charter schools or schools of choice:

On the choices white parents make in choosing schools

Excellent piece by researcher (and parent) Amy Stuart Wells:

In fact, in a study we conducted on Long Island, we found that the race of the students in the school system affected property values of otherwise identical houses in districts with the same test score data by as much as $50,000. In other words, the perception of “good” schools is too often about the perception of race, even when black and Latino students perform well on tests normed toward white students.
And still, despite this evidence and the call for more integration, many white parents continue to derive status and honor from one another when their children are selected into predominantly white or Asian schools regardless of the climate or characteristics of these schools. As the viral video of a parent meeting on the Upper West Side of Manhattan last year demonstrated, white parents can become very angry when the admissions policies to these schools change.

Still wondering in Worcester...

So, after last night's opening of school report (covered by the T&G here), I still have a lot of questions, as someone who is going to be putting three kids on buses in a week. If you do, too, let me know, and I'll add them. I can't promise we'll get any answers, but we can at least get the questions out there.
In no particular order and updating as there are more:

• Are there enough secondary teachers to teach classes that students have signed up for? In July, the School Committee was told  "there are courses with full enrollment without budgeted teaching slots" as of that time. Have more teachers been hired, and if so, with what funding? If not, what is being done about these students and their courses?


• Likewise, what's the updated count on elementary classes of sizes over 27? And how many of those are kindergarten classes? And do any of those now lack aides, due to the zeroing out of the kindergarten grant?


• Has anyone talked further with the city about these gaping holes in the teaching staff, as is being done in other districts across the state? 


• This whole thing about a new position


• The opening of school report talked about a districtwide focus on literacy; what exactly does that mean? Is there a new curriculum? Is there a shift in which standards will be stressed? Are teachers being required to do particular things? What else is going on with this besides a book read?


• Relatedly, was there any summer work on curriculum in the district? Seriously. 


• What's going on with the international baccalaureate program? The commitment was made to have that ready to roll out at the end of this year, and there is a staff position which is supposed to be writing up an innovation plan now. Is that still happening? And if not, why not?


• None of the MSBA summer window projects are completed (so all are going to have to be finished during the school year)...how come? as work being done during the school year is both more disruptive and more expensive


• How is the next round of the safety audit being funded and how are the schools being chosen?


• Given that the additional $250,000 in capital is going to "safety equipment" (which is looking like walkie-talkies and cameras), what are the long-term plans for the increasing number of buses that can't be replaced? And if there are going to be increasingly more buses rented (cough, which doesn't count towards net school spending, cough) out of operational dollars, is there a plan to increase those dollars? And is any of this a long term plan of any kind?


• How is the district preparing for a test that no one has seen and we don't seem to know much about, other than how much it is costing us? 

A bit more on International Baccalaureate (and a note on exam admission)

If you're just catching up on the IB conversation from last night, a few notes from me:

• If you're wondering about the school demographics, I did get one bit wrong last night: Worcester Tech is our school with the highest percentage of white students by a slight margin (43% to Doherty's 41% to the district's 35.3%). Doherty is the high school with the lowest percentage of low income students (59.7% to Worcester Tech's 64.9% to the district's 74.3%). If you're wondering where the stats came from: I asked for them. If I get a chance later today, I'll run and post the rest of the percentages; all I have is raw numbers.
• As for Brooklyn Latin, as Mr. O'Connell cited last night: they are one of the three IB programs cited in the Ad-Hoc report, and it is the leadership of that school that had the strongest words against using an exam as an admission requirement for an IB program. They're stuck with theirs: as a New York City limited-admission school, they have to use the NYC exam as the admission requirement, by state law. It does not serve them well, per the school leadership, as students who do well on a single admission exam are not necessarily those who would succeed at an international baccalaureate school. 
• Because we seem to still be operating at something of a disadvantage on general knowledge of IB, here's a few words from the Ad-Hoc report on the program: 

In grades eleven and twelve, ...the standard IB course of study : language and literature in English; a second language and culture; individuals and society, e.g.  history, geography, anthropology, world religions, global politics; experimental science, e.g. physics, biology, chemistry, environmental science, sports exercise; mathematics and computer science; and the Arts, e.g. music, film, theater, painting, drawing. Following this standard course of study, IB students also take a course Theory of Knowledge, (similar to a college course in Epistemology). This course explores ways of knowing, nature of knowing, and areas of knowledge. Students also perform a service learning project, as well as a creative project.

Agenda this week!

A quick note, first of all, on tomorrow night's Worcester City Council agenda: the City Manager's portion of the agenda requests Council authorization for use of the revolving funds. If you look at the backup, quite a number of these are WPS accounts, many associated with Worcester Technical High School programs.  Revolving funds set aside the money brought in by a program for the use of that program.

The Worcester School Committee meets on Thursday at 7 pm. You can find the agenda here. 
The report of the superintendent this week is the administration's response regarding an exam, or limited admission, or, as it's called on the agenda, "high school for advanced learners." There is as yet no backup; I'll post it once we get it.
We have a number of recognitions and thanks coming forward, including students who are in the Central Mass Senior Music Festival.
Miss Biancheria would like to discuss the use of silent lunches.
She is also looking for an update on the School Facilities Master Plan (still in subcommittee).
We are being asked to approve two prior year payments: one to a nurse for $5,698.70. and one to the Stetson School for $20,381.22.
We have a report on the Level 4 work being done at Elm Park Community School. 

We will be having an executive session before the meeting for two items: one for an update on negotiations with cafeteria workers, and one to open negotiations for a renewed contract with Superintendent Boone (while her contract runs through June, the School Committee must inform her of intent to not renew by January). 

Exam school report coming next meeting

The mayor just announced that the specialized high school is on the next agenda. That meeting is December 4.

Link fixed on the exam/IB report

For those who have been looking for the exam/IB report, sorry that the link was broken. It's working now. The report is here.
And, while this is what was sent to administration, I don't know that this is what they are proposing. We'll find out during one of our November meetings.

State of the Schools

Tweeting using #SOTSWPS
Boone: thanks to Worcester Educational Collaborative, School Committee, Mayor Petty, and City Manager Augustus (which is, the first time the City Manager has been in attendance).
"did experience some concern...that there was never a sequel to The Little Engine That Could"
citation of colleges graduates attend
variety of schools available within WPS
CPI goals per NCLB waiver (all for 2016-17)
AP participation in WPS: in 2008, 644 students taking at least one AP
in 2014, 1270 students taking at least one AP
percent of students receiving qualifying scores on exams
nearly doubling number of students earning a 5: maintaining scores
since 2007, South High has increased 137% in number of tests taken, while those earning 3 or above has increased by 110%
from 2007 69.8% graduate in four years; 2014 73.4% graduate in four years
8 schools Level 1; 12 schools Level 3; 22 schools Level 3; 2 Level 4 schools
45% of schools are Level 1 or 2
note that both Norrback and Union Hill are now Level 1 (and Union Hill exited Level 4 status last year)
of 7 high schools, 3 made targets on graduation rates, 2 for dropout rates
28 schools on or above target for student growth in ELA
24 schools on or above target for student growth in mathematics
Both Union Hill and Chandler Elementary both exiting Level 4 status (Chandler Elementary pending state approval of exit assurance plan)
"we don't have to wait for the state to come in to tell us"
West Tatnuck commended for high progress and for narrowing proficiency gaps
Worcester Arts Magnet: Gateway Cities Innovation Award
Burncoat High one of the Washington Post 100 most challenging high schools
GROWTH COUNTS : no longer on the list to get charters
innovation schools: "portfolio of educational options"
magnet schools, health pathways, vocational pathways, now innovation schools
new to WPS: increasing partnership with higher ed
PILOT HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMY FOR Advanced Learners at Doherty starting with at least 9th, possibly 10th grade, 250 students, rigorous admission standards, more to come in November SC meeting
report of the exam/IB here
seeking business support for a Business Fellow to link between K-12 and business
switching from quadrant managers to school portfolio manager and will request from School Committee for FY16 the addition of a manager for career exploration and readiness
(this is a reorganization of the Quadrant office and would add a position there)
Traditional Masai greeting: "And how are the children?"
what would it mean for us all if that were our greeting: close in Worcester to saying all our children are well

Notes on the March FY15 budget update (or "the bad option and the even worse option")

I thought it would be useful to give a bit of an overview of what the March update looks like.
There have been two major changes from the information that we were given in January:

• Updates from the state have changed the federal grant projection; now projected NOT to be subject to 8% cut under sequestration, a $821,248 positive change.
• Also, WPS is projecting a budget in which the city MEETS Net School Spending requirements: a $2.75 million change in foundation (that's the gap reported out late last year), plus a $660,000 non-foundation addition.

This is thus anticipates a $4 million addition--nearly all due to meeting Net School Spending--to the revenue available from last year

While we still need $27 million in increases, administration is now, thus, projecting a $23 million gap.
(Do note that this rests on the assumption that the city will AT LEAST meet its minimum obligations.)

The first proposed solution to this continued gap is to defer all of the following needs, all of which were requested by principals:

• 16 elementary teachers to deal with class size
• 11 secondary teachers to handle course choice and selection needes
• 5 special education teachers to appropriately serve that growing population
• 9 English Language Learners teachers to appropriately serve that growing population
• 19 Instructional Assistants to assist with special education students and others
• 19 tutor positions to give individual and small group assistance to students
• 6 school-based clerical for registration, parent, and other front office needs
• 2 school nurses for better coverage of schools
• 6 assistant principals to appropriately staffing schools
• 4 instructional coaches for assisting teachers in professional practice
• 3 credit recovery computer lab staff for students who are completing their studies despite earlier issues
• 2 school safety for security reasons in schools
• 1 wraparound coordinator to extend that service to another school

It also requires deferring:

• assistant principals in elementary schools that currently do not have them full time
• instructional assistants in every kindergarten classroom
• needed school safety equipment
• overdue maintenance on elementary school playgrounds
• upgrades to wireless technology to better cover schools

It will also mean that we do not plan this year for any sort of exam or selective admissions school.
WPS will also not fund the Other Post-Employment Benefits trust fund for this year

All of that still leaves a $7.6 million budget gap to cover, though.

To cover that, there will be restructuring and reductions in every department and restructuring, reducing, or eliminating of programs throughout the system.
It will also require the loss of:

• 11 tutors
• 20 elementary teachers
• 6 middle school teachers
• 14 high school teachers

With those cuts, the number of elementary school classes projected to be between 23 and 26 will jump from 211 citywide to 235.
At the secondary level, as Mr. Allen said on Thursday, there would be fewer options available for individual students in courses due to loss of courses in the full school schedule.

All of the above is with a projected meeting of Net School Spending, however; should the city not fund up to Net School Spending, the following additional cuts would be needed:

• 11 elementary teachers
• 16 middle and high school teachers
• 2 school nurses 

That would have the effect of raising the number of elementary classes between 27 and 30 from 53 to 70 citywide.
At the secondary level, as Mr. Allen said on Thursday, it would mean the reduction of some sections, the elimination of some courses, and loss of some Advanced Placement courses.

It would also cut $5 per pupil from the instructional budget, bringing back down to $63 dollars per pupil.
It would mean the loss of all community school funding.
It would also cut all athletics (and as Superintendent Boone commented on Thursday, she doesn't do that lightly).

Quick reminder here from me: WPS has two major revenue sources, the city and the state. The state pays for 70% of the school budget.

I have embedded below Thursday night's presentation by Superintendent Boone and Mr. Allen giving this update.
As always, more to come.

Superintendent's self-evaluation and goals

Notes from my comments here.
You can find the suggested goals here.

Exam / IB report

which, again, is here. 
Petty: thank Novick for the excellent job she did.
"I think you did a great job and you should be proud of that"
"excellent committee"
"no interference by the Mayor or the Superintendent"
"these are people we should keep track of"
learned a lot from this
"I think the whole purpose of this report...we're almost on the same page...provide academic excellence...provide that rigor...the exam is one part of the whole report...to make the schools better...what our goal will be"
To administration for recommendation by the end of the calendar year
"goal here is not to hurt any of the high schools"
"when I asked Mr. Allen for $5 million next year...I think he was laughing at me"
ask Manager to come up money in the capital budget

And I can't type out all that I said here, but as I've told them directly: my thanks to the committee. A varied group, they trusted each other, were patient with each other, heard each other out, and worked well together. I really appreciate all that they did this past year. 

The report is out!

As you may have seen in today's paper, the exam/IB report from Mayor Petty's Ad-Hoc committee is out!
It is posted as a backup for tonight's Worcester School Committee agenda and can be found here.

We did spend a great deal of time carefully crafting well-researched answers to the Mayor's charge, so if you are interested in this issue, I'd urge you not to only read/listen to the coverage; do read it yourself.

I'm particularly proud of the introductory section, which starts on page 7.

Worcester Public Schools round 2

publishing as we go
Superintendent is speaking from these notes.
Bit of back and forth here as the back up is in the Council agenda (which the Councilors didn't have out on the their desks because the Council agenda is what they do at 7)

Just a reminder

...as you read local coverage, the charge of the exam/IB committee is:

• an analysis of potential risks and benefits of such a school
• a recommendation for a school focus
• a recommendation regarding the International Baccalaureate program
• recommended criteria useful for identifying students for admission
• recommended enrollment
• projected cost

emphasis added

We have not been charged with making a recommendation on an exam school, as a decision on the creation of a new school properly rests with the Worcester School Committee. 

Back to back meetings tomorrow

For those interested in all things WPS, we're having two meetings tomorrow night:

• Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports is having their second meeting in two weeks tomorrow night at 5:30. You can find the agenda here (sorry, bad connection, link to follow). Two biggies on the agenda: an update on curriculum renewal, and the implementation on the Common Core standards (which are linked).We haven't yet seen the back-up on this, and there isn't one yet posted. There's also a review of the application process for preschool (timely!), crew team participation, and a bit on civics education. That will be broadcast live on Channel 11; it will be at the Durkin Administration Building on the 4th floor.
• We're also having our next meeting of Mayor Petty's Ad-Hoc Committee on a possible IB and/or exam school. Please note that we are not issuing the final report tomorrow night. The Ad-Hoc committee will be reviewing two reports from administration: one from Mr. Perda regarding admissions, and one from Mr. Allen on budget. The committee will then vote to recess to executive session for the purposes of reviewing a draft report, which will be public next month. That meeting is at 7:30 in the Levi Lincoln room in City Hall (3rd floor, turn right). 

Final exam/IB hearing tonight at Clark!

Mayor Petty's Ad-hoc committee on the possible establishment of an exam/IB school is moving ahead with our final hearing* tonight at Clark University. You will find us at 7 pm in Grace Conference Room in the Higgins University Center.

Please join us!

*How does it go? Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night....

Next week in Worcester

Several things of interest happening in the Worcester Public Schools next week:

• University Park Campus School is having their reaccreditation committee visiting late this week and into next week from NEASSC.
• Superintendent Boone will be delivering her annual State of the Schools address at 7 pm Monday night at North High School. The public is invited to attend (and it will also be broadcast on Channel 11). 
• The second of the four Ad-Hoc Committee public hearings is also Monday night at 8 pm (for those who may wish to make both!) at Holy Cross in the Hogan Center, Suite A. I've heard we have some students coming, which should be great!
• On Wednesday (for those keeping track of such things), the Ad-Hoc Committee is visiting Boston Latin School.
• Thursday night is our regularly scheduled School Committee meeting. We are interviewing the finalists for the Special Education position, so PLEASE attend if you have interest and forward thoughts to the School Committee on this position. The agenda on this will post this afternoon.

Research reviewed by the Ad-Hoc Committee

I've gotten a couple of requests on the order of "what have you been reading?" regarding the Ad-Hoc Committee. I know that there will be a page just for the Ad-Hoc Committee on the WPS site soon. In the meantime, this is an incomplete list--I'll have to dig through my files a bit more--but it will get you started:

 THE ELITE ILLUSION:ACHIEVEMENT EFFECTS AT BOSTON AND NEW YORK EXAM SCHOOLS, 2011; Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Joshua D. Angrist, and Parag A. Pathak; http://seii.mit.edu/research/study/do-elite-exam-schools-add-value/

Exam High Schools and Academic Achievement: Evidence from New York City, 2011; Will Dobbie and Roland G. Fryer, Jr.; http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~dobbie/research/ExamSchools_July2011.pdf

Anti-Lemons: School Reputation, Relative Diversity, and Educational Quality, 2011; W.Bentley Macleod and Miguel Urquiola; https://www.princeton.edu/economics/seminar-schedule-by-prog/pdf/Macleod-Urquiola-education.pdf

The Effect of Tracking Students by Ability into Different Schools: a Natural Experiment, 2012; Nina Guyon,a Eric Maurina and Sandra McNally; http://sapir.tau.ac.il/papers/sapir_conferences/Sandra%20McNally.pdf

Selective Schools and Academic Achievement, 2008; Damon Clarke; http://ftp.iza.org/dp3182.pdf

School Functioning and Psychological Well-Being of International Baccalaureate and General Education Students A Preliminary Examination, 2006; Elizabeth Shaunessy Shannon M. Suldo Robin B. Hardesty Emily J. Shaffer;http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ746047.pdf

Working to My Potential: The Postsecondary Experiences of CPS Students in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, 2012; Vanessa Coca, David Johnson, Thomas Kelley-Kemple, Melissa Roderick,Eliza Moeller, Nicole Williams, and Kafi Moragne; http://novi.foxbrightcms.com/downloads/hs_ib_docs/postsecondary_experiences_20120725_133942_7.pdf

Raising all boats? An examination of claims that the International Baccalaureate diploma program is good for all; RP O'Connor, 2011; http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2550&context=etd&unstamped=1

Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs: Optimal Learning Environments for Talented Minorities?, 2007; Robin M. Kyburg, Holly Hertberg-Davis and Carolyn M. Callahan; http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ767449.pdf

Expanding Opportunities for High Academic Achievement: An International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in an Urban High School, 2008; Anysia P. Mayer; http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ794091.pdf

We are also awaiting Chester Finn's new book Exam Schools: Inside America's Most Selective Public High Schools. 

We also are visiting Boston Latin School, John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science (both of which are exam schools), and the International Baccalaureate programs at Josiah Quincy Upper School and Abby Kelley Foster Charter School. 

Exam/IB school committee upcoming dates

First up, the public hearing dates:

Wednesday, October 10: Quinsigamond Community College, Harrington Learning Center, Room 109B

Monday, October 15: Holy Cross, Hogan Center, Suite A

Monday, October 22: Worcester State, Student Center, Blue Room

Monday, October 29: Clark University, Grace Conference Room

All hearings start at 7 pm, with the exception of October 15, which will start at 8 pm. There will be a brief presentation of the programs and the research we've reviewed thus far, followed by time for public comment.  Please plan to attend! We are most interested in any member of the public's--parents, teachers, business owners, community members--view of both or either program and why.

The committee is also visiting a number of schools and programs. We'll be visiting the Abby Kelley Foster international baccalaureate program during the second week of October. We're visiting to exam schools in Boston: John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 and Boston Latin School on Wednesday, October 17, 2012. We're hoping to see one of Boston's IB programs that afternoon, as well. 

I will keep you posted!