Equity and Diversity Update

Equity and Diversity continues to be a central priority within Bedford Public Schools. This brief update captures some of our recent work in this area.

Diversity in Hiring
The Equity and Diversity Committee, originally created in Fall 2013 to help the Bedford school community develop greater cultural proficiency among staff, students, and families, has initiated an outreach campaign to build relationships with local university student teacher program directors. The goal is to increase our visibility as a rich, supportive environment for student teachers of color so that we can successfully recruit from that known pool of candidates. We are reaching out as well to local and more distant university teacher programs and placement offices that will recommend to their candidates that they consider Bedford as a unique employment opportunity. In response to a request to teachers to allow us to use their names in outreach letters and potentially joining visiting delegations to local university graduate program, we have already  received  over sixty volunteers.

The district has also joined the Greater Boston Suburban Human Resources Network (GBSHRN), a consortium of public schools in greater Boston committed to "diversifying its teaching staff to reflect today's changing world." Among its other initiatives, GBSHRN hosts an annual Diversity Job Fair in March.  Bedford administrators will help to organize and participate in the 2017 fair.

Equity and Diversity in the Classroom
In recent years the Equity and Diversity committee is focusing its work more directly on curriculum development and support in each building. At the Lane School, for example, teacher leaders from the committee helped to prepare and run professional development last March around using picture books, four at each grade level, organized around common themes from Teaching Tolerance. These themes, Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action are also used as organizing principles for the Equity-Diversity work at Davis.

Lane teachers worked in teams on the professional development day to create common lessons to accompany each of the 13 chosen picture books.  This year, all classroom teachers are using the picture books and accompanying lessons in their classrooms to develop this common experience for students.

The three teacher leaders, Sarah Dorer, Jamie Nolan, and Julia Herman, presented this exciting work at the school committee meeting on November 29, 2016. Their presentation, which gives a much fuller sense of the project, is attached below. As was clear from their presentation, teachers are deeply committed to this work. Key individuals in each building bring creativity and energy to this important ongoing work.  MLS and JS

Equity and Diversity at Lane

From the Schoolhouse

As you may know, Jon Sills and I try to build into each week several visits to our schools.  We join meetings between teachers and administrators, participate in special events or professional development, and visit classrooms as frequently as possible. Not only does this participation build relationships with students, families, and staff, it also helps us to ground our leadership decisions and priorities in the everyday reality of our students and their teachers.

Last Monday, for example, I attended an 8th grade open house for social issue art projects created by Candace Banks' 8th grade students. Students worked with a partner or in small groups, researched a social issue that concerned them, and then created a three-dimensional art project that conveyed what they learned about the issue and their position on it.  As we toured the open house, students presented and explained their projects. Here are projects on anxiety and depression, and on homelessness.

Later that day, I attended the elections at Davis and Lane schools. Davis students voted on whether to have a "wild hair" day or a "choose your own table at lunch" day. Students went through a process for campaigning and voting that mirrored our election process.

 Fifth grade students at Lane ran the voting process there, complete with signing in, completing a secret ballot, dropping it in the slot, and earning a voting sticker.

On Tuesday, the professional development day, I spent most of my time at Davis where teachers spent the morning discussing the writing process, how it is taught and assessed, including what one year's growth looks like at each grade level.  During the afternoon, I participated with a mixed-grade group of educators who were grading together writing samples from each grade level using a rubric, and then discussing the next instructional steps in each case.  These were rich discussions that helped everyone understand the K-2 process as a whole.

Later in the week, I joined technology instructional coaches in their staff meeting.  I had a chance to get their feedback on a progress monitoring system we are considering and heard in more detail about their work at JGMS and BHS, including their plans for professional development embedded into high school faculty meetings.

The culminating event of the week was a brief orchestra concert scheduled in the high school library during break time, conducted by Phil Moffa. The audience was standing-room-only and the string players were in fine form, especially considering the busy venue and potential interruptions over the loudspeaker.  They played with aplomb.

These school visits, as always, give me a profound sense of gratitude to work in the Bedford Public Schools with such dedicated educators and engaged students.  MLS

ELECTION DAY IS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY FOR BEDFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS FACULTY

There will be no school for kids on Tuesday, but our faculty will be fully engaged in learning.

 

• ·         At Davis School, Andrea Salipante, our newly appointed K-5 ELA Coordinator/K-12 Reading Program Administrator, will work with teachers on writing assessment; and in the afternoon, grade level teams will work together on calibrating writing scoring by focusing on exemplars and then learning to look for patterns to identify whole class strengths and needs.

• ·         At Lane School, guest speaker and behavior specialist Kevin Russo will present to the faculty about particularly challenging student behaviors and effective strategies for managing and improving them; and in the afternoon, grade level teams will all work together on integrating coding into the curriculum at each grade level.

• ·         At JGMS, team-based parent conferences will occupy the morning hours; and in the afternoon, Principal Tracey will lead his faculty through an examination of the faculty-read book, Whistling Vivaldi, which addresses the issue of ‘stereotype threat’, a phenomenon that studies have shown to have a significant impact on certain types of achievement particularly for women and students of color.

• ·         At BHS, the faculty will reflect on faculty-student relationships by reviewing every BHS student in order to determine which students do, and which students do not, have a strong connection with at least one faculty or staff member, so that appropriate steps may be taken to ensure that each student does.  In the afternoon, the faculty will be offsite engaging in a community building set of experiences using high and low rope type challenges.

SCHOOL COMMITTEE PRESENTATIONS

This week, we made two important presentations to the School Committee: the Class Size Report and the FY18 Capital Expenditures Proposal. 

The Class Size Report apprises the committee of the current enrollment at each school and in each grade based upon October 1 numbers.  As well, it compares our class size numbers with our class size guidelines and identifies those classes that are either smaller than normal or that exceed our maximum standards. 

Typically at the high school level, the handful of classes under ten students (not counting support classes that are designed to be small) are a product of scheduling.  For example, we might have 57 students enrolled in Algebra.  To offer only two sections would result in classes well over the maximum of 25, so in offering three sections, the schedule might distribute them as 25, 23 and 9.  The schedule can also create classes that exceed guideline maximums even if the total number of students in all of the sections would yield an acceptable average.  Alternatively, the excessively high numbers may indicate a need for additional staffing, and this would be subsequently addressed in the budget proposal.

2016-2017 Class Size Presentation

The FY18 Capital Expenditures Proposal presentation lists the combination of school facilities’ requests such as acoustic/PA systems for the Lane and Davis gymnasiums where all-school assemblies are held, and school requests such as our annual technology replacement cycle needs that includes networking switches, large scale equipment like interactive boards, and desktop and laptop computers.

Please note that a few items are included as placeholders in that they depend upon other decisions that our presently in the hands of other agencies.  For example, we have submitted a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for the Davis School addition/renovation project, and we will hear from the MSBA in December whether or not it will be supported.  If not, then the feasibility study and schematic design “place hold” costs in the FY18 capital budget will become “activated” and the School Committee will request of Town Meeting that the town proceed to fund that first phase of the project.  Similarly with the press box lift, which ethics and ADA compliance require of us for the press box at Sabourin Field, is included in the FY18 list as a place holder.  This is because it will also be on the STM warrant this November, and if it is supported it will come off the FY18 list.  This timing is necessitated by the state architecture board that has given Bedford until March to install the ADA required lift.                                                               JS

FY18 Capital Projects Presentation

Standardized Testing Update

Earlier this month, we sent to students' families a report on Bedford's 2016 MCAS-PARCC testing results. This mailing included an individual student's results, if applicable, as well as a more general report on how the district fared. To give further detail and clarification, I presented an Accountability and Next Steps Report to the school committee on Tuesday, October 18. Here are a few highlights of those two reports.

• Once again, Bedford High School ranks at the very high end of the state’s 358 public and charter high schools, with 98% of its students scoring Advanced or Proficient in English Language Arts, 91% scoring Proficient or Advanced in Math, and 87% scoring Proficient or Advanced in Science.

• Our educational system as a whole is in a testing transition, as tests are revised to meet relatively new standards in mathematics, English Language Arts, and science. In 2016 Bedford students in grades 3-8 took the PARCC test using pencil and paper in math and ELA; students in grades 5 and 8 took MCAS science, based on earlier rather than current standards; students in grade 10 took MCAS in math and ELA, tests that have gradually aligned to the new standards; most students in grade 9 took MCAS Physics. 

• 2016 was the last year of PARCC testing.  In 2017 students grades 3-8 will take MCAS 2.0 in math and ELA, revised tests that combine elements of MCAS and PARCC. Students in grades 4 and 8 will be taking these tests online as required by DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education).  DESE's goal is to have all testing done online by 2019.

• In summary for grades 3-8, Lane students as a group ("all students") scored above targets set by the state, but several subgroups, including students with high needs, did not meet their specified targets for achievement and/or growth. JGMS students, while making considerable progress in several subgroups, did not meet their targets for growth and/or achievement. By not meeting these targets, Bedford has been deemed Level 2 on the accountability scale.

• Especially during this testing transition, it is difficult to determine progress or growth from these standardized tests because they are changing from year-to-year, there is very little release of individual items, and some districts were still taking MCAS in grades 3-8. The district is working, then, to examine our district measures, make sure they are well-aligned to all the new standards, to ensure that we have effective ways to measure and monitor student achievement and growth.

• Bedford High School continues its Level One status because both large groups ("All Students" and "High Needs Students") continue to meet or exceed their targets for achievement and growth. There are nevertheless several areas that need greater strengthening so that we can reach our own goal of 100% proficient or advanced in these tests without succumbing to "teaching to the test," a path that goes against our educational values.

• If you wish to see more detail on our accountability and how it is calculated, or on the next steps we have in place to continue our progress, the October 18th presentation to school committee is attached below.  MLS

2016 MCAS-PARCC Accountability and Next Steps

ANNUAL REPORT AND DISTRICT IMPROVEMENT PLAN

Every fall, the District summarizes the previous year's accomplishments in the Annual Report and describes its priority goals for the current school year in its District Improvement Plan.  These may be viewed on our website at:

2015-2016 Annual Report:  
http://www.bedford.k12.ma.us/sites/bedfordps/files/news/fy15_annual_report_bps.pdf

2016-2017 District Improvement Plan: 
http://www.bedford.k12.ma.us/sites/bedfordps/files/pages/2016-2017districtimprovementplan.pdf.

Summer Workshops Sustain Creative Curriculum Planning

With the cooler air and leaves fluttering to the ground, the memories of sultry summer days may be fading, but in Bedford Public Schools we are continuing to implement summer curriculum projects in every building and nearly every subject matter. Many educators are invigorated by working with colleagues on curriculum during the summer months, for there is time and space to be creative and dig more deeply into approaches and materials for minds-on, student-centered learning.

This summer the district sponsored more projects than ever before, in part because projects in recent years have yielded such powerful results. One example is the Kindergarten Integration Project, which began in 2015 with a group of five teachers working to integrate purposeful play into the ELA, math, science and social studies learning for kindergarten students. They transformed the longstanding Davis Town Project into an end-of-year culmination of skills development in collaborative, creative problem-solving that ran throughout the year and incorporated learning expectations from all curriculum areas. Three teachers, Vera Corbett, Jessica Colby, and Alysse Bridenbecker, presented their project to the school committee on October 4.  It was truly inspiring, especially in terms of student and teacher engagement in the work. Their slideshow is linked below and plans are underway to videotape their presentation.   MLS

Kindergarten Integration Project

Here are a few highlights of other curriculum projects:

At the Davis School teachers and administrators collaborated to

·         develop integrated units at grades 1 and 2 parallel to the integration work of the kindergarten team

·         review and revise standards-based progress reports

·         review and revise writing program, including working with student examples and scoring rubrics to determine growth at each grade level

At the Lane School teachers and administrators worked together to

 ·       infuse new science units with increased student inquiry opportunities

·         determine science expectations for report cards

·         deepen read-aloud story lessons that help students develop greater cultural proficiency

·         strengthen ELA integration within science and social studies at grade 3, 4 and 5

At JGMS faculty collaborated to

·         develop and improve co-teaching in math and ELA

·         continue ELA Audit, incorporating more diverse texts and authors at each grade level

·         continue integration of new science standards

·         continue revision of social studies curriculum grades 6-7-8

At the high school faculty worked together to

·         continue refining co-teaching in ELA and math

·         further develop curriculum for STEP Program (new in 2015)

·         develop curriculum for new ELA courses in Asian-American and African-American Literature

Dear Readers,
Welcome to the Superitendent's Blog, which Assistant Superintendent, Mary Lou Sallee and I will maintain in our effort to provide Bedford Public Schools' families and community members with useful information and perspectives about our schools and about the ever changing state and federal educational landscape.  

Number Nine Is Nice, But Being Bedford High Is Better

This month’s edition of Boston Magazine ranked Bedford High School number 9 out of 155 public high schools in Greater Boston.  While the quantitative measures paint only a partial picture of what makes Bedford High School an excellent school, we are proud to be recognized as a top tier school.

Boston Magazine uses a formula whose weighting is unclear, but that takes into account average class size, student/teacher ratio, MCAS scores, SAT scores, AP scores, number of counselors, number of varsity sports teams, graduation rate and college attendance rate.  What these rankings fail to capture is the true uniqueness of Bedford High School, beginning with the many students whose thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit inspire the work of its caring adults.  Drawing on the three communities of Bedford, Hanscom Air Force Base and Boston, our students are exposed to a more real world experience than most small suburbs make possible.  And the statistics, which fail to express the wonderful richness of our curricular offerings or the creativity and commitment of our faculty and staff, also miss important distinctions between Bedford and its comparison communities.

What Make Bedford High School So Special? A Few Examples Follow 

Few high schools our size have:

• multiple robotics and computer programming courses, a robust range of art and music       offerings, and sports offerings that engage 65% of the student body, or
• teachers who, in order to enable students to have such choices, voluntarily teach two or three different courses during the same class period.

Few Massachusetts high schools have:

•  students who reach the final round of the National History Day competition in Washington, DC 11 out of the last 11 years, or
• science teachers who volunteer annually to hold Bedford’s Women in Science Competition that attracts teams from as far away as Pennsylvania; or over 60 faculty, staff, alumni and community volunteers who facilitate Bedford’s annual Tenacity Challenge, an academic scholarship competition for African-American and Latino students from urban and suburban schools from across the Commonwealth

Few schools in our area can boast that:

• their students won the first place prize, nationally, for Relay for Life, a major charitable and organizational accomplishment carried off almost completely by students, or 
• that 23 of our high school teachers have created and will voluntarily teach a year-long social justice program that all freshmen will participate in and that upperclassmen will help to facilitate.

At BHS, teachers of all subjects deliberately plan their lessons to promote the development of analytical thinking, creative problem solving, and the ability to use or transfer what is learned- all as central components of their courses, and all students are challenged to meet rigorous common learning expectations.  Each and every ninth grade student, for example, completes an extensive I-Search research project that incorporates a major metacognitive component.  This year, 99 of our 206 seniors are taking Calculus, with 62 of them taking AP.  At the same time, we choose not to offer AP US History or Literature, because we strongly believe that our own high honors offerings in those subjects are deeper and more compelling. Our students are offered: Latin courses; a JROTC program; school trips to Morocco, the Dominican Republic, the rainforest of Belize, and Cuba as well as more traditional destinations like Italy, France and Spain; and a wonderful range of service, academic competition and performing arts-focused extra-curricular activities, including the annual musical that this year involved 109 students.

Our counseling and student support services proactively address the increasingly complex needs of our complex student body.  Learning centers, creatively designed in-house special education programs, a Lighthouse Program for students with concussions or who are returning from hospitalization, and a Skills Center that serves over 100 regular education students, help us address the unique learning needs of our students. 

Which brings us back to the numbers.  Something that makes us particularly proud is our record of outstanding achievement with a much more complex student body than most of our comparison districts can claim.  The sources of this complexity- Hanscom Air Force Base, our METCO program, and the town’s own relatively high percentage of low income, English language learner, and racially diverse residents- make Bedford High School a very special place.  At the same time, this complexity presents our educators with a greater range of challenges than the more homogeneous populations of most small suburban communities present.   Our 99% to 100% advanced and proficient ELA scores and 90% to 95% math scores of the past five years stand out in light of these unique challenges, not the least of which is the significantly higher rate of transitory students that our relationship with HAFB produces. 

None of the eight high schools that ranked higher than Bedford High have 15% of their students coming and going often within one or two years.  Bedford High’s DESE-identified “Churn” rate of 8.4% contrasts sharply with the other top 8 districts’ 1.7% to 4.2%.  Bedford High’s “Economically Disadvantaged” 8.3% last year exceeds all of the other districts, except for Newton South, by between 2.5% and 4.5%, and only three of the other eight districts have more students with identified learning disabilities.

Misleading Data.  As well-resourced as we are, thanks to our school committee’s efforts and our community’s wonderful commitment to education, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the high school’s average class size figure in the Boston Magazine report is highly misleading.  Boston Magazine has us well below the average for our comparison districts, and while our averages are very good, they are much closer to the norm than reported.   Our large number of small sections of academic support classes, to which we owe no small measure of our high levels of achievement, are counted by the DESE in its class size average calculations.  Therefore, whereas Wayland records 389 classes for a similarly sized student body (840 compared to our 904), we are listed as having 562 classes, which dramatically skews the real class size average of our regular academic courses.  Also, in the many instances where our teachers combine two academic levels within the same class, for example Honors Psychology and High Honors Psychology, each of those two groups is counted in the DESE calculation as a separate (and therefore much smaller) class, which significantly impacts the class size average.

MCAS results are an important indicator of certain aspects of our high school students’ achievement, particularly with regard to our subgroups’ performance, but as is clear from the above examples, they tell only a small portion of the story.  The rankings, therefore, while a nice feather in the cap, are an untrustworthy reflection of why Bedford High is truly a top tier school.  Whether we rank 9^th or 5^th, as we did last year, or 15^th, as is certainly possible in the future, we will continue to be a school that is constantly striving to improve, to meet the needs of each and every one of its students, and to inspire them to work hard, to grow intellectually, and to be responsible, caring and contributing members of our ever shrinking world.

                                                                                                                          JS