New Data Raises Key Questions for Vermont Schools: NESSC Common Data Project

by Nancy Cornell February 9, 2015

The Common Data Project, released in December, 2014 by the New England Secondary Schools Consortium (NESSC), shines a light on some key indicators of school effectiveness, and raises important questions that should inform state and local conversations about school improvement, community supports for struggling students and their families, equity and basic fairness.

The 2014 Common Data Project Report compares information on graduation rates, drop out rates, college enrollment, and college persistence for all of the New England states except Massachusetts: (Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont).

Here are some key findings related to Vermont:

           How did high school graduation rates compare across the five New England states included in the study?

·      In 2013, Vermont had the 2^nd highest high school graduation rate (86.6%) of the five states included in the report - higher than CT (85.5%), but lower than NH (87.9%)

o   However, in Vermont, the 2013 graduation rate for economically disadvantaged students was 75.2%

            How did the 2013 high school dropout rates compare across the five states?

·      In 2013, Vermont had the highest high school dropout rate (9.6%) of the five New England States.

o   The 2013 dropout rate for economically disadvantaged students was 18% - second highest of all five states (exceeded only by CT at 18.4%)

o   Vermont’s dropout rate for students with disabilities was 19.2%, the highest in the five New England states.

            How did 2013 college enrollment rates compare across the five states?

·      In 2013, Vermont had the lowest college enrollment rate (52%) of the five states.

o   Only 35% of Vermont’s economically disadvantaged students enrolled in college (this was the lowest of all five states).

o   Only 18.1% of students with disabilities in Vermont enrolled in college – the second lowest college enrollment rate of the 5 states.

            How did the college persistence rates in 2012 compare across the five states?

·      Vermont’s 2012 college persistence rate was 80.6% (lower than every other New England state in the report, except Rhode Island – 77.7%).

o   College persistence for Vermont’s economically disadvantaged students was 70%.

o   College persistence for Vermont students with disabilities was 63.1%.

If we’re serious about equity - about whether public schools should serve all students; if we’re serious about aiming to ensure that all Vermont students participate successfully in some form of post-secondary education (2-year college, 4-year college, or post-secondary technical training), this report is most helpful.   It raises important questions, that should be the focus of action-oriented discussions in school districts, in the Legislature, in the Vermont State College system, at the Agency of Education, at the Agency of Human Services, and in state and local inter-agency planning sessions.  Here are some of the questions this data raised for me:

·      What should Vermont do to eliminate childhood poverty?

·      How do Vermont secondary schools, and Vermont post-secondary institutions support economically disadvantaged families in planning for the post-secondary education of their children – and what additional support should they provide?

o   How are schools in other New England states, (especially New Hampshire), reducing their high school drop out rates, especially for economically disadvantaged students?

o   What steps are schools in other New England states taking (especially Connecticut and Maine) to increase the college enrollment rate for economically disadvantaged students?

o   What explains higher college persistence rates for economically disadvantaged students in other New England states (especially New Hampshire and Maine)?

·      How should Vermont elementary and middle schools, and Vermont post-secondary institutions, assist economically disadvantaged families in starting early in their planning for the post-secondary education of their children?

Homework in a Standards-Based Classroom

Homework in a Standards-Based Classroom
by Emily Rinkema and Stan Williams

We have learned so much about the brain in the past few decades, and it’s time to start applying what we know to our teaching practices. We know that in order to maximize learning, the brain needs:

• Clarity
• Time to consolidate new learning
• To feel safe
• To experience frequent success
• To work within the ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)

Traditional homework practices often go against most of these principles of learning. So…based on what we know about the brain and learning, here are some dos and don’ts for homework in a standards-based class:

If you decide to assign homework, it should be:

• Clear and target-based: students should know exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it. The work should directly connect to the targets for your class.
• Differentiated: students should not all have the same work; base their assignments on their current needs, just as you would instruction and activities in class.
• Engaging: we want students to want to do work outside of class; this will prevent cheating and will improve work completion.
• Brief: students are busy. They often have 6-8 classes in addition to after school activities, family responsibilities, or work. Brains need time to consolidate—which means time to play and sleep.

If you decide to assign homework, it should NOT be:

• Graded: But not-graded does not mean optional; if you assign it, it should be important, which means you need to ensure that students complete it, even if that means taking time in class. Not graded also doesn’t mean not checked; we must give feedback on homework if we want students to value it (and feedback within 48 hours, if we want it to affect learning). Related note: no student should fail a class due to homework—it’s not an accurate enough measure of learning to base such an important decision upon.
• New Learning: when students are first learning a skill, we should be present to watch that learning and correct misunderstandings. If students practice a skill wrong, it is very difficult to undo the learning.  

While the current research on homework is inconclusive and contradictory, almost all researchers agree that students from low-economic homes do not benefit from homework as much as students from middle- or high-economic homes, so if we are going to require homework, we need to have structures in place to ensure all students are benefiting. Support structures for homework help and completion need to be provided in a non-punitive way.

Resources for Further Reading:

·       “Five Hallmarks of Good Homework” by Cathy Vatterott: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept10/vol68/num01/Five-Hallmarks-of-Good-Homework.aspx

·       “End Homework Now” by Etta Kralovec and John Buell: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr01/vol58/num07/End-Homework-Now.aspx

·       “Opinions about Homework: A collection of summaries of articles” by Kim Marshall: http://www.greenwichschools.org/uploaded/district/pdfs/Homework_Committee_2012-2013/Homework_-_Kim_Marshall.pdf

Common Teacher Concerns and Brief  (and opinionated) Responses

“If I don’t assign homework, we’ll never get through all the content.”

If you’re relying on homework to get through content, then you have too much content. Our job is to ensure learning, not to cover material.

“But what about reading. Reading is different, right?”

Reading homework is tricky. If it’s reading for fun, as in the student chose the reading and it’s at the student’s level, then reading homework is beneficial. If the reading is assigned, however, you need to ensure that the student can access it. That means you need to know that it is within the student’s independent reading level (which is usually different than their ability to understand within your class), and that you know their reading rates (a chapter of a novel may take some students 30 minutes, and others 2 hours—the latter is not a reasonable request).

“If I don’t grade homework, students won’t do it.”

Not true. Students will do work that is meaningful, clear, and that leads to success. There is a significant difference between not grading and optional. You need to set the expectation that the homework is a mandatory part of the learning cycle; and when it isn’t finished or accurate, students will need to do it (even if that means you rearrange your class time to get it done). Additionally, just because you are not grading it, does not mean you aren’t collecting it—if you assign it, you should look at it to ensure learning and catch misunderstandings. Just stamping “done” or “not done” is not effective.

“I don’t have time to create differentiated, target-based homework”

Then don’t assign homework. The good news is that not having to assess homework will clear up time for you to work more on differentiated, target-based classroom activities that will lead to better, more efficient learning, which will mean you won’t need to assign homework anyway!

“Homework teaches accountability, responsibility and time management skills. If we don’t teach these now, we are doing students a disservice. In college they will have tons of homework and it won’t be differentiated, so we need to prepare them.”

There are a few ways to respond to this. First, most traditional homework practices don’t teach these skills—they reward students who already have them and punish those who don’t. It is much more effective to actually teach these skills while you have students in front of you in class, not when they are at home. Second, by helping students maximize their learning, we are preparing them for future learning. We should not sacrifice good teaching practices now in order to prepare students for bad teaching practices later. In addition, in college, students most often have 2-3 hours of class per day (max)—in high school, they have 5-7 hours. If we teach students how to work independently and manage time (both of which can be done most effectively in class), then they will be prepared.

Brought to you by @cvulearns (Emily Rinkema and Stan Williams, erinkema@cvuhs.org and swilliams@cvuhs.org)

Responsive Facilitation & Public Speaking: Building Essential Skills for Youth-Adult Partners in School Change

Responsive Facilitation & Public Speaking: Building Essential Skills for Youth-Adult Partners in School Change

Audience: High School Students, Teachers, Administrators, School Board Members or other Faculty partnering in school change efforts
UP for Learning will be sponsoring two highly effective workshops this February and March addressing Responsive Facilitation with Daniel Baron & Public Speaking with Dona Bate: Building Essential Skills for Youth-Adult Partners in School Change to support any high school youth-adult team currently reshaping the nature of learning in their schools.

February 5, 2015 Responsive Facilitation Workshop in Barre; register at: http://tinyurl.com/upbaronlabor.
February 6, 2015 Responsive Facilitation Workshop in Rutland; register at: http://tinyurl.com/upbaroncsj.
March 17, 2015 Public Speaking Workshop in Montpelier; register at: http://tinyurl.com/updbate.

Deadline: Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first serve basis and space is limited.
Contact: Mary Whalen, Director, of UP for Learning, (802) 595-2561 or mary@upforlearning.com

Vermont Council on Reading Spring 2015 Conference: Lucy Calkins and Katherine Paterson!

Vermont Council on Reading

2015 Spring Conference

The Common Core and More:

Pathways and Bridges to Literate Lives

A Day with

Lucy Calkins

and

Katherine Paterson

Friday May 29, 2015

Sheraton Conference Center
870 Williston Road
Burlington, VT 05403

Conference Agenda and Registration Information

The First Amendment, a Captive Audience, and "The Grinch Memo"

Find this image on Flickr

           Over some years as a Curriculum Coordinator in more than one Vermont school district, I was dismayed to discover the degree to which Christmas was routinely observed and celebrated in our schools and classrooms.  Christmas was everywhere: Christmas decorations in school lobbies, halls and classrooms; secret Santa gift giving; un-secret Santas in costume; school-sponsored Christmas bazaars; Christmas concerts featuring Christmas carols; Christmas plays; Christmas classroom parties during the school day, featuring Christmas cookies and other Christmas treats.  In the midst of all of this, I kept picturing a non-Christian child or adult - Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Atheist, or Agnostic - facing the deluge of Christmas in school for weeks, fearful about disclosing her/his “otherness”.                    

            The First Amendment of the Constitution carries important obligations. Public schools may not endorse religious activity or doctrine, nor coerce participation in religious activity.  The right of religious expression in school DOES NOT include the right to have a “captive audience” listen, or the right to compel other students to participate, actively or passively.

           

            Eventually I raised this issue with a listening superintendent.  She and I worked with the supervisory union attorney to craft what came to be known (ultimately fondly) as "The Grinch Memo". I’ve written countless memos in my career as an educator.  This is one still makes me proud.  We intentionally sent it early in the school year, giving everyone time to make plans for the winter months.  We knew it would cause a stir, and it did.  But for many years afterwards, principals would often ask me for a copy of it…because it made sense to them, too.

            The purpose of public schools is to engage students and prepare them to live as productive citizens in a democracy.  We serve this purpose poorly by ignoring the religious, ethnic, and economic diversity of our society; by assuming that our own community is homogenous. 

            Please feel free to use or adapt "The Grinch Memo" to raise awareness in your school district.  

Memorandum

To:       Teachers and Administrators

From:   Superintendent and Curriculum Coordinator

Re:       Guidelines on Religious Observances and Symbolism in Schools

The topic of religious expression in public schools encompasses a wide array of issues and raises a multitude of questions under the First Amendment.  The First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...”  The First Amendment applies to state governments and therefore to public schools as agents of the state.

Two Basic and Equally Important Obligations of the First Amendment:

1) Schools may not discriminate against religious expression by students.  Schools must give students the same right to engage in religious activity and discussion as they have to engage in other comparable activity.

2) Schools may not endorse religious activity or doctrine, nor coerce participation in religious activity.  The right of religious expression in school DOES NOT include the right to have a “captive audience” listen, or the right to compel other students to participate, actively or passively. 

Guidelines for Schools in Keeping with the First Amendment:

a.  No religious belief or non-belief should be promoted by the school district or its employees and none should be disparaged.

b.  The district should use all opportunities to foster understanding and mutual respect among students and parents, whether it involves race, culture, economic background, or religious beliefs.

c. The district recognizes that one of its educational goals is to advance students’ knowledge of, and appreciation for, the role that religious heritage has played in the social, cultural, and historical development of civilization.  Information about historical and contemporary values and the origin of religious holidays may be appropriately provided in an unbiased and objective manner without sectarian indoctrination and as described by the curriculum.

d. Music, art, literature, and drama having religious themes or religious basis are permitted, as part of the curriculum, in portraying the cultural and religious heritage of a particular holiday.  The emphasis on religious themes will be only as extensive as necessary for a balanced and comprehensive study or presentation.  Religious content included in student performances will be selected on the basis of independent educational merit and aesthetic value, and will seek exposure to a variety of religious customs, beliefs, and forms of expression. 

e.  Schools will not observe holidays as religious events, or promote such observance by students.  Concerts will avoid programs dominated by religious music, especially when these coincide with a particular religious holiday.  Celebrations and observances sponsored by the school will be limited to secular aspects of any particular holiday. 

f. The use of religious symbols such as a cross, menorah, crescent, Star of David, crèche, symbols of Native American religions, or other symbols is acceptable when displayed as an example of the cultural and religious heritage of the holiday and are temporary in nature.  They may not be used as decorations.  Please note: Symbols of religious holidays which have acquired secular meaning, such as Christmas trees, may be permissible decorations, although the courts have not ruled on this specific issue.

g. In the spirit of tolerance, students and staff members should be excused from participating in practices that are contrary to their religious beliefs unless there are clear issues of overriding concern that would prevent it.                                                                                                                   

In making decisions about music selections, artistic displays, etc., teachers and administrators should use the following “litmus test”.

            Answer the question:

            “Why do we want to display this item or perform this particular music?” 

                        If the answer is “To celebrate Christmas”

                        (or any other religious holiday), then the school will not be able to allow this display                           or performance.

                        If the answer is “To teach about Christmas (or any other religious holiday) as part of a                         planned and balanced approach to teaching about the role of religious heritage in its                             social, cultural, and historic context around the world”, then the school will be able to                           allow this display or performance.