Links to sites:

Here are some links to interested education sites. I will add to this list -- feel free to make suggestions.

ThinkOfOurKids.org Web site for SPOT -- Schools are a Priority in Our Town - focusing on Arlington's schools

The Partnership for 21st Century SkillsThis group has been thinking about what we need to do to succeed in the new global economy.

MCAS:

With students in 6th grade and 9th grade, our family has experienced a lot of MCAS tests. I know from talking to teachers at the elementary and middle school, there is a great deal of stress about this test. Many feel that we spend much too much time "teaching to the test", rather than stimulating real learning. Although the MCAS is supposed to support the state curriculum frameworks, it's evident it's taken on a life of its own.

It's time to have a conversation about MCAS' place in our schools. If we were to say that we don't care about MCAS results, I think it could open up some creative space in our schools. We'd still give the MCAS because it's required by the state, but it would not be a long term focus. We should stop comparing our schools to each other and our children to their friends.

Rather than rely on the MCAS to give us information long after it is useful to teachers, we would rely on our own internal common assessments. We want to know that the 4th grade classes are covering similar material and that all of the kids know fractions so that whey they get to 5th grade, they can depart from a similar starting point. The same needs to be said for the transition from 5th to 6th when all seven schools are merged, and when 8th grade goes to 9th, when the three clusters are merged. These assessments can be varied, and much less stressful. Rather than a single multi-day test which has incredible stress, there are simply the periodic quizzes, and tests that teachers routinely use to make sure their students are learning.

If we, as a system, embraced the concept that we are letting go of a reliance on MCAS, in addition to creating the space in our classroom planning, it could also make Arlington a desireable destination for teachers.

Other Ideas:

We need to express our Arlington identity, but we don't need to invent everything here. One general approach I will take to decision making is to learn what successes have been had elsewhere.

Many people have ideas about how to improve our schools. Here are some that I've heard that I find interesting:

Adding some time to the school day to let everyone have a few minutes of peace. In almost all of our schools, there's hardly a minute to catch your breath. In middle and high school, there are a few minutes for lunch. Elementary has a bit more time for lunch and recess, but it's hardly relaxed. Adding 25 minutes to the day would add just enough time for everyone to relax a little bit. This could be attractive to the teachers and students. The commitment we'd have to make is that we won't fill this time with some new demand -- it should be preserved as low stress time. Perhaps the teachers would be interested in this without a complex contract negotiaton.

Senior Project for High School Seniors. Senior year is stressful as college applications are prepared and acceptances are awaited. This is a great time to change the pace and have a more self directed senior project assigned. This could incorporate academic work, or an out-of-school internship, or some other significant project of interest to the student.

Change from Homerooms to Mentors. Some schools have had great success by replacing traditional homerooms to smaller groups assigned to the same faculty member for all of high school. With the smaller group, and the long term continuity, there can be more help available to guide students, identify issues, and provide adult support.

Looping Staff between grades. Some schools have teachers who loop from one grade to another -- for instance the teacher moves with their class from 3rd to 4th grade. One teacher I know says that this saves her a month at the beginning of each year getting to know the class and provides much greater content continuity. Some do this in elementary school, and others do it with entire cluster faculty at secondary levels. It has to work for the teacher and the class, but if there is interest, it can be very useful.

Create a 5th grade school. This idea may or may not have merit. Some reasons to think about it is that it could address redistricting and the imbalance in school rebuild schedules. If we used a new school for the 5th grade, it would pull 2-3 classrooms out of the other schools, plus give everyone an opportunity to be in the new school. It would also offer better integration of common curriculum between all 5th graders. There are complexities of transportation, but could be worth discussing.

Hire Arlington Educators. I know there are many great people who live in Arlington, and work in school systems in other towns. One of the problems we face is that we, like many other systems, have more staff turnover than we would like. It is a challenge for young teachers to afford housing near Arlington. One way to try to change that is to hire teachers who live here, and who are more likely to stay in Arlington. This poses financial challenges -- often when senior teachers retire it is less expensive to replace them with a junior teacher. But this has its own indirect costs. Let's try to make it enticing and welcoming for our neighbors to work here.

Reduce Energy Costs. Groups like Sustainable Arlington are working to make Arlington more energy efficient. With ever increasing energy costs, and the real risks of global warming, it makes sense for us to invest some time and money to make our buildings as green as possible. Energy audits would be a good place to start. Involving our students in this effort is a great way to create collaborations between the students and experts in our community and to set an example for responsible citizenship. Lexington has had some significant success in this area with some very short term paybacks.

 

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