News Journal: Document Display

News Journal

Estimated printed pages: 4

January 16, 2005
Section: Perspective
Page: A15

Christina schools have a connected strategy
JOHN MACKENZIE and JOSEPH WISE
NJ

By JOHN MACKENZIE and JOSEPH WISE

The Christina School District is instituting reforms that will make our schools great. But our reform strategy needs public support to succeed. Some minor issues have received a lot of media coverage, while the key components of reform have received surprisingly little attention. We believe it is time to publicize an overall school strategy.

The Christina School Board unanimously adopted a formal statement of beliefs that focuses on student achievement and commits the district to rigorous tracking of student performance. It set ambitious Delaware Student Testing Program performance targets for the district. What follows are our thoughts on how the district can meet those targets. We are not necessarily speaking for the other members of the Christina school board.

First, every student in every one of Christina's conventional schools will follow the same core curriculum sequence, which will be tightly aligned to state standards and the DSTP.

In the past, students transferring between schools would often suffer serious gaps in learning because different schools would use different curricula in different order. A standardized curriculum lets students transfer with no disruption in learning.

Critics may complain that we are just "teaching to the test." But if the standards are well designed and the DSTP is fair and comprehensive, then a rigorous curriculum consistent with these standards will let children excel.

In the current school year alone, Christina doubled the number of Advanced Placement classes in its three high schools and doubled the number of students taking AP classes. We expect all AP students to take AP exams. An AP class is "teaching to the test," but AP courses have proved nationwide to be fair, rigorous and comprehensive. Nobody is complaining about them.

Second, we are developing a comprehensive data management system to support detailed monitoring of student learning over time. Delaware already has a statewide student ID system that allows tracking student achievement even across districts. If we were to monitor only annual DSTP performances, struggling students would go a year or even longer before getting the extra help they need. But with a standardized curriculum, frequent tests and efficient data management, we can track each student's learning gains on successive tests at frequent intervals.

This will allow us to identify problems rapidly and provide students and classrooms with the help they need so kids don't fall behind.

We will have objective data rather than pedagogical theory to identify those classroom practices that yield the best learning gains. With these data, professional development for teachers will be the best anywhere.

If teachers are to be accountable for student achievement, accountability will be measured by learning gains, not by test scores. We will have hard data to evaluate our curricula. We will be able to identify instructional gaps with an immediacy impossible under current statewide practices.

Regular checkups

We believe that the best way to alleviate student anxiety about infrequent high-stakes tests is to give kids frequent low-stakes tests that keep their learning securely on track.

Third, we realize that different students have different interests, styles and paces of learning. Our high schools and some middle schools will offer different special-interest programs. While a standard curriculum specifies what every student should learn, we will use different instruction strategies tailored to how each student learns best.

Close monitoring of student achievement will allow schools to bring together students on the basis of their actual performance instead of some fuzzy assessment of ability. We can give fast learners accelerated instruction and additional content. We can give slower learners alternative pedagogic methods, additional classroom resources and instruction hours, perhaps even additional school days into the summer.

Because learning difficulties are often associated with poverty, we are already allocating additional teachers for smaller classrooms in high-poverty schools.

Fourth, we want to decentralize some administrative functions of the school district, primarily by delegating more authority and responsibility to the building level. We would like each building principal to have the staff teams he or she determines to be the best, to closely monitor the performances of individual students and classrooms, and to allocate budget and other site resources to maximize overall school performance. Principals know a lot more about the challenges in their schools than administrators in the district office.

Christina's administration is already pretty lean and efficient. It is the only public school district in Delaware that does not allocate any property tax dollars to administrative positions. We believe we can achieve even better efficiency with more autonomous site-based management.

A business without a focus, standards or quality control will fail. So will a public school district. The Brandywine and Red Clay school districts are pursuing similar managed curriculum and testing strategies. If we are going to make Delaware's largest public school district successful, we must stay focused on improved achievement for all students.

It's not about buses or buildings or books; it's about kids. We need to know exactly what and how much our kids are learning. That requires standardizing curricula and conducting regular assessments, so that we can gauge the progress of each student, classroom and school against the best. And we need use these data to continuously improve performance, so that every student and classroom is on track for success.

John Mackenzie is a member of the Christina School Board. Joseph Wise is the district superintendent.