What to Believe About Schools

Yesterday afternoon I attended an open house for candidates at Co-housing on Richdale Ave. I was talking to a resident about all the positive things happening in the schools. She also mentioned the "CPS Today" newsletter mailed to all Cambridge residents that is full of news about current, positive trends.

"You hear such different things," she said. "I don't know whether things are good or bad."

She's right.

Unfortunately, the electorate *is* getting mixed messages about public schools.

Nationally, Massachusetts students are No. 1 when it comes to scores on the NAEP national math and reading tests. Contrast that with the fact that our state is labelling more and more schools as failures -- sometimes due to the scores of one or two students.

It's also happening locally. During this campaign season, some candidates have been inflating the amount of money spent per pupil. They neglect to mention the breadth of services CPS provides for families and children that other districts either charge for or don't provide at all -- like full-day kindergarten, low class size, transportation, and sports, to name just a few.

They have downplayed improvements in achievement. On the SAT tests, for example, our top students outscore comparable groups others across the nation. Our passing rate on MCAS is increasing faster than the state's and we have one of the lowest drop-out rates.

The truth is, there is both good -- and room for improvement. Emphasizing one and not the other won't motivate anyone to work harder nor will it help attract parents to our schools, where satisfaction is growing.

We have to break the school-bashing trend so we can build on recent successes and serve students even better.

Important Issues for Parents

One of the most amazing things about being an elected official is how much important information we get to hear in the course of doing our job. As a parent, I'm always thinking about how to pass this information along so that other parents can benefit from knowing it, too.

Two recent examples come to mind:

At last week’s joint meeting with the City Council, we learned some startling statistics from city health officials. The meeting was to discuss the devastating effects of abusing Oxycontin, a powerful painkiller prescribed for everything from dental surgery to cancer. We heard a moving account from a parent about how her high schooler became addicted after taking two pills at a party. Students have gotten these pills from the medicine cabinet in their house or someone else's. Eleven Cambridge residents overdosed on this type of drug in 2003; up from six residents in 2001. It is particularly deadly when combined with alcohol.

But here's the most disturbing thing: Oxycontin abuse, while on the rise in our area, is still nothing compared to the amount of alcohol use being reported by our high schoolers (39 percent say they’ve had alcohol in the past 30 days) and middle schoolers (19 percent).

Now that's something for us all to think about.

One other thing I want to pass along. Lately, I have been working with a group of parents who are concerned about appropriate student and driver behavior on buses. What is okay and what is not? Some bus drivers are stricter than others. Many of our buses have video cameras.

If your children ride the bus regularly, be sure and go over the bus rules with them. (Rules for students are posted online at www.cpsd.us; I'm working on finding the rules for drivers.) Make sure your children know that certain behaviors like yelling or shouting can come with consequences. Infractions are supposed to be written up by the bus driver and communicated to parents by the principal or assistant principal.

Around the Block at CRLS

This week I toured Small Learning Community "C" with Dean Chris Saheed. We spent five to ten minutes in a variety of classes during Period 4 -- the last period of the day.

Block classes are new this year. Teachers spent last year learning how to teach in classes that are 30 minutes longer. They must get through the curriculum in half the year. They wrote new syllabi -- which will soon be available on the web. It is all supposed to lead to better teaching and learning.

In Physics First, a freshman class, the teacher began with a brain teaser: What experiences more air resistance: a feather or an elephant? What if the feather is big and the elephant is small?

In an AVID elective, 10th graders chosen for their potential to go to college, were going over the "rubrics" of how they would be graded in the class -- whether they were tardy, completed homework assignments and how well they were following basic tips of the class like finding "study buddies" and seeking out teachers for help.

In an Honors Biology course, 11th graders were looking at slides -- slices of onion, cheek cells etc. -- under microscopes, to answer questions.

Upstairs on the 5th floor, seniors were taking a humanities course called "Identities" for college credit.

Back on the first floor, a half dozen juniors and seniors were working in the "virtual high school" corresponding with teachers through the internet, studying music criticism, U.S. history in Vietnam and an assortment of other electives not offered by CRLS.

How do the students like the block? Most say they do. It's less stressful keeping track of work for four classes instead of seven. There are fewer transitions to make. The day goes by faster.

Teachers will continue training for the block this year. Other kinks still need to be worked out. Some classes are too large, like the Spanish I class we saw, and need to be split. Space could still be better organized. Better signage is in the works.

It certainly looks like a productive place where a wide variety of learning is going on.

All in the Family

Cambridge families need more information about our schools. That message came through loud and clear at the "All in the Family" gathering that I sponsored along City Councillors Henrietta Davis and Denise Simmons on Sunday, October 2.

Sitting in the sun in the front yard of parent Josie Patterson's Cambridgeport home, parents came up with all sorts of things they would like to know more about when it comes to the schools.

Middle school parents, in particular, want more information about the city's only public high school by the time their children enter 7th grade. The current voluntarily "shadowing" program pairing 8th graders with 9th graders for a visit should be replaced with a special orientation each fall so that all 7th and 8th graders from across the city would get a chance to spend a day learning about courses and opportunities at CRLS. This would also make them feel more comfortable on the new campus.

In general, attendees said there should be more opportunities to get middle schoolers and their parents up to the high school. Mailing team schedules and news of other high school events is one example of how this could be done.

Parents of young children would also like more information aimed at their interests. Packets for new parents and new residents about the schools would be helpful and could even be put in boxes for easy distribution at the city's many playgrounds. Human resource directors for Cambridge businesses and realtors should get annual briefings from school officials and knowledgeable parents about what is going on in the schools so they can be better informed when they talk to young families moving into Cambridge.

Parents also said they were concerned about the stability of the teaching staffs in Cambridge schools and they offered several ideas for attracting and retaining teachers. Partnering with Harvard and other institutions to provide affordable housing for teachers and surveying teachers about their work environments, were some of the ideas.

I would like to thank Josie Patterson for hosting this event. The next "All in the Family" gathering is about Afterschool. It will be held on Sunday, Oct. 16 in East Cambridge at 69 Spring St. from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

See you there!

MCAS, AYP and Cambridge 2005

Wednesday, I attended a press conference held by the Commissioner of Education in the Cambridgeport School. The Commissioner was at Cambridgeport to honor the school for having a higher percentage of students in the "advanced/proficient categories" and a lower percentage in the "warning" or failure category than other schools of similar demographics in the state.

This is the third time in recent years that a Cambridge school has been selected to be "showcased" for progress on MCAS by the DOE. Previous honorees include the Morse and the Graham & Parks School.

But this year, the Morse is on the "Needs Improvement" list along with six other schools and the Tobin is on the "Restructuring" list (along with the Banneker Charter School).

According to our superintendent, CPS has improved the passing rate at nearly every grade level and we are closing the gap between our average and the state's average scores.

So what's wrong with our schools? How can they be improving and still end up on DOE hit lists?

The answer lies in understand the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) system put in place by the federal government as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. In simple terms, AYP is a system of numerical targets for MCAS Math and English scores for each district, school and subgroup (over 40 students) of students in a school. These were calculated to ensure that by 2014 every student in every school is scoring at "proficiency" on all tests. Each year that the target is not reached in any category, the penalties increase until a school faces potential takeover by the state or conversion to a charter school.

The problem is that this system is not based on education, at all. It is based on mathematical equations -- and the twin assumptions that schools can be turned around within a year's time and that test scores improve at a steady, linear rate -- none of which is supported by school reform research.

I believe MCAS can be used as a diagnostic tool to improve teaching and learning. The AYP system makes a mockery of that process and is being used to wrest control of schools away from local citizens.

Keeping Families in Cambridge

It's happening across the U.S. -- from Portland, Oregon to Cambridge, Massachusetts --Hip, vibrant, urban centers are losing families to suburbs. It's about space, soaring housing costs and perceptions (sometimes MISperceptions) about the quality of the public schools.

What can we do to keep families in Cambridge?

This is a question that I am posing along with City Councillors Henrietta Davis and Denise Simmons.

Please come share your ideas at three "All in Family" conversations across the city on three Sundays in October.

I am leading the discussion this Sunday, Oct. 2 in Cambridgeport. Parent Josie Patterson is graciously opening her house for this event. Please come ready to write down your ideas and talk about how we can get the good news out about what we like about our schools and brainstorm ways to make our schools even more "family-friendly."

Henrietta and Denise will lead two other conversations on "Families and Afterschool" and "Families and Housing" on October 16 and October 23.

Door Knocking

Going door to door is best, of course, on a warm Sunday in the fall, when everyone is kicked back, watching football and maybe still grilling dinner on the porch. Today I talked with two mothers of four-year-olds looking forward to sending their kids to public kindergarten next year. I also spoke to three high school parents and one high schooler himself. The parents were cautiously optimistic about progress at the high school, but the high schooler, a sophomore, was totally enthusiastic. “There is so much available; so much to do,” he said. Not that everything is perfect. Some of his homework looks taken verbatim from the Internet (Is this a good thing?) and the line for pizza at the cafeteria is way too long.

People often ask me what kind of reception I get when I go door-to-door. They would be amazed to know how friendly people are, how many people invite me into their kitchens and living rooms to talk about schools and politics.