Alphabet Soup

When the alphabet soup of school administration finds its way into meetings, presentations, speeches, and publications many sets of eyes glaze over. Imagine if I were to stand in front of any group and say, “As we prepare for our upcoming NEASC decennial visit, we are focusing on our students’ MCAS scores, their performance on the PSAT, SAT and ACT, while combining our efforts to improve our CPI so that we make AYP.” I hope I didn’t lose any readers with that sentence.

For those of us who work in education – that was nothing. Special Education offices are even more prone to the utilization of acronyms that further confuse people. You see, a student can be on an IEP for many reasons which include, but are not limited to ADD, ADHD, PTSD, ODD, PDD, ED, SED, CP, MR, or LD. Often, students who are educated under IDEA and place on IEPs might receive the service of an SLP, OT, PT, or LISCW. And, let us not forget that the school district works closely with DYS, DCF, DMH, and DMR to meet the needs of all of our students.

Today’s blog will serve as a tutorial for one of the acronyms above that is very important to our district as well as those around the state. The Federal Government requires an accountability system in education and in Massachusetts our students’ progress is measured by their performance on the MCAS.
MCAS – Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System – these are the tests that the students at Mahar take in grades 7, 8, and 10 in English and Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies.

Our performance is measured by a number called our CPI.

CPI – Composite Performance Index – the name of it isn’t really important. What is important is how it is calculated.

Students can score anywhere from 200 – 260 on an MCAS examination. To calculate the CPI, the scores are broken up by the state in the following fashion:
A student who scores between 240 – 280 gets 100 CPI points
A student who scores between 230 – 238 gets 75 CPI points
A student who scores between 220 – 228 gets 50 CPI points
A student who scores between 210 – 218 gets 25 CPI points
A student who scores under 210 gets 0 CPI Points

Let’s say that 99 students take the MCAS in grade 10 English and Language Arts and they scores ar3:

65 students score between 240 and 280 which equates to 6,500 CPI points
15 students score between 230 and 238 which equates to 1,125 CPI points
15 students score between 220 and 228 which equates to 750 CPI points
4 students score between 210 and 218 which equates to 100 CPI points
1 student scores lower than 210 equating to zero CPI points

Our CPI total for this distribution is 8,475. This number is divided by the number of students who took the test (which is 100 in this case). And there you have it – our CPI is 84.75.

This number (84.75) is used by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to determine our “Accountability Status.” You should also know that by 2014 the goal has been set that ALL schools have a CPI of 100 – meaning that the number of students who score below 240 must be zero.

We are working on it!

School Community

I really don’t know what it is like to work in a place other than a school anymore. The last time that I was a full time employee in an organization that was any different than the education system was in 1995 when I worked in a group home for developmentally disabled children. I do listen to my friends and family talk about their jobs, and note that working in a school is quite different than working in the business world.

The term “Membership has its Privileges” applies to more than just the American Express Card. Think about it – we call our teachers “faculty members” and not “employees.” There are many reasons that this is so - such as the incremental raises of the teacher contract, the fact that teachers get better with years of service, and that in the world of education people are more likely to stay in the same place over for a long period of time. This is often a highlight of high school commencement ceremonies…the part where a speaker acknowledges those who have been teaching for 10, 20, 30 years and beyond.

The nature of the school organization allows those who work together to become very close over the years that they are conjoined. It is commonplace that we celebrate the success of one another outside of work in events such as obtaining graduate degrees. There are also the milestone events of new children, marriages, home purchases, and retirement. The terms “Mahar Community” and “Mahar Family” have been used interchangeably over the years, and this week in particular.

I have recognized that working in a school is special for many reasons – the aforementioned connections being only one of them. With the good comes the difficult too though. We celebrate together, and every so often we ache together as well. Along with the joy we find in watching our students grow and learn, and the connections we have with our colleagues – we come across painful times just the same. The broken hearts of this week reminded me that before the No Child Left Behind Act, the MCAS examinations and strict standards that there is a community of people who care about one another – and how important that is.

Sub Enthusiasm

Constantly, I reflect back on my own education and contrast my experiences as a student with the educational product that we provide for our learners today. Every once in a while something happens or somebody says something that brings me back to wooden floors, chalk boards, and wall clocks that we knew worked because we could actually hear the electricity buzzing through them. Recently I heard of a student who walked into a classroom and when he saw that his regularly scheduled teacher was not present said, “Yeah! We have a sub today!”

I recall my own penchant for substitute teachers when I was in school. The substitute teacher signified a break in routine, often less stringent expectations with regard to behavior, and an increased likelihood of a movie (now referred to as multi-media presentation), permission to talk quietly (frequently referred to as cooperative learning), or time to quietly complete outstanding assignments (now called structured learning). So when I heard that a young man had such outward excitement about his substitute teacher, I was not surprised.

I was in high school at just about the dawn of having to pass a test to get a diploma. In New York there was one diploma for the students who passed the tests and a different diploma for the students who did not. There was the “High School Diploma” and for those of us to took the state examinations and passed them, there was the “Regents Diploma.” As fate would have it, all students must now pass the examinations to get a diploma – and this is true for more than just New Yorkers and – well there is another question – if one from New York is a New Yorker, what is one from Massachusetts, a Massachussettser? Please accept my apologies for going off topic there.

Get to the point Mr. Baldassarre!

We (teachers and administrators) harp on the fact that we need our students to be in attendance everyday so that they may have proper time to assimilate all of the material necessary to have a crack at passing their MCAS examinations. If we were to adjust our curricular delivery in times of teacher absence – and our adjustments are not appropriate we would be taking away from our students’ education just the same as if they were absent. At Mahar we require teachers to have proper plans in place so that students continue to learn in the wake of teacher absence – and in our new drive to continue to improve our performance on state exams will monitor our substitute teachers to ensure that educational quality remains in the classroom.

All of this because of one eighth grader’s enthusiasm about his substitute teacher – who was actually a high school teacher filling in for a middle school teacher so that he could attend a meeting:

Student [with smile, pumping fist]: “Yeah! We have a sub today!”

Teacher [gently]: “I am sorry, you must be mistaken. Will you please take your seat so that we may begin?”

Student [frowns]: “Sorry.”

Plastic Ono Band (Side B)

What is everybody talking about?

Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism, This-ism, that-ism?

Ministers, Sinisters, Banisters and canisters, Bishops and Fishops and Rabbis and Pop eyes, And bye bye, bye byes?

Revolution, Evolution, Mastication, Flagellation, Regulations, Integrations, Meditations, United Nations, Congratulations?

These are some lyrics from a song that on June 1, 2009 turned 40 years old. Perhaps you know of it?


Today as I pulled into my parking spot I noticed Mrs. Ganson’s art students designed and created over 100 Peace flags. As you can see in the picture, the flags were displayed around the flag pole. Our students engaged in this project to promote International Peace. The flags were moved inside and are on display outside the Eileen M. Perkins Library Media Center with the hope of promoting International Peace for more than just one day.

"All we are saying is give peace a chance"
- John Lennon

Bleacher Blog!

Opening night for the Mahar Senators Football Team was a double win. First, the Senators Varsity squad displayed their level of preparedness in both offensive and defensive plays earning their first victory of the year. Second, the community celebrated the completion of the bleacher project with a dedication ceremony that took place on the 50 yard line. A thirty plus pound bronze plaque was unveiled with a ribbon cutting ceremony – reminding all of the level of support the Mahar community gives to its district.

I was not involved in the process that this community engaged in to reconstruct the school, put in the new athletic field, or secure the $300,000.00 necessary to construct our fully handicapped accessible bleachers. I was not yet a part of this school community when the construction was underway either. Now though, I see myself as a fortunate administrator and am grateful for the work that went into making Mahar what it is today.

At the ceremony last night we honored those who made contributions to the Roberta Baxter-Swan Memorial Fund and those who donated to the Kyle Flood Memorial Fund by having both families on the field to cut the ribbon and to unveil our new plaque. We also honored Congressman John Olver who was unable to be present for the ceremony and State Representative Christopher Donelan for their support of our school.

State Representative Donelan did not know that his name was going to appear on the plaque. Just two weeks ago he sat with me in my office preparing the perfect wording for this new monument. When I put the order in, I added Chris’ name to those who need to hear us say “Thank-you.” As a matter of fact, just before the ceremony Mr. Donelan attempted to look under the cloth that covered the plaque. I stopped him, telling him that it is bad luck to look at the plaque before it is unveiled. I wanted him to be surprised – which I believe he was.

To me the bleachers are not luxurious because they are new, or shiny. The luxury lies in the fact that they are the most handicapped accessible that I have ever seen at a school. Those who are mobility impaired no longer have to sit at the sideline trying to look through spectators, players, coaches, cheerleaders, or for that matter a fence. The bleachers are indicative of how inclusive our community has become – as now a person in a wheelchair can go all they way up to the press box! For one young man that I know, I hope to see him up there soon.

Congrats to the Mahar Football Team on their opening night win under the lights. And congrats to the Mahar community for the bleacher project – done to perfection.

Making Sense and Saving Cents

Have you ever driven or walked around the Mahar campus and noticed signs that discourage idling? I am not certain when these signs were put up – but they make sense and save cents at the same time. Parents and guardians who are picking up their students from school should pay close attention to these signs, not only because turning off the engine in a car that is standing still saves money and the environment, but because it is now a law.

Recently I was told that schools are now required to have signage that informs those in waiting cars around the school that there are fines associated with idling for more than five minutes. Apparently sitting at the side of a road with a car engine running can mean a fine of $100.00 for the first offense if ticketed by an officer of the law. School officials will not be issuing tickets or fines around Mahar, but will continue to abide by the requirement that signs appear around the school.

I know that this new law is in effect for many reasons. While it saves money for the individual consumer, it diminishes the amount of gasoline that is being burned at the same time. It also lowers emissions from automobiles – which improves our air quality and who could complain about that? I believe that this law is in place to call upon citizens to continue to be mindful about how our acting locally can have a global impact.

*Please accept today’s post as a request for Mahar parents, bus drivers, employees, and student drivers to abide by this new mandate.

My Friend Angelo

Today I was thinking about a next door neighbor that I had when I lived in Western New York. His name was Angelo and over twenty or so years we had a relationship that changed many times. As a child he chased me from his yard and actually brought me to my mother because his yard was off limits. Angelo’s back garden cut a good portion of my trip to a local mini-mart, so I recall good reason for jumping his fence. I also got into trouble for picking his grapes, taking peaches from his trees, and for picking at his sunflowers. Fortunately for Angelo, my friends and I didn’t like the taste of raw tomatoes or we would have gotten in trouble for taking them just the same as the peaches and grapes.

Angelo met me when I was born and I knew him until I was nearly twenty five years old. In my adulthood I realized that we had the common problem of a shared driveway and winters anywhere near Buffalo helped neighbors become the best of friends. When I was twelve years old Angelo had a snow blower and I had a shovel. When I was twenty-two Angelo was too frail to push his snow blower while I shoveled, so the snow blower became mine along with the responsibility of the entire driveway. I should probably say that my friendship with Angelo got better as both of us aged – and it was strongest when he was in his mid eighties and I was in my early twenties.

I recall a spring morning when I was in the backyard with my dog and Angelo called me into his backyard. He told me that morning that his grapes were my grapes and his peach trees were mine too. He encouraged me to take some tomatoes to my grandmother, and he showed me where to find the cucumbers and eggplant if I so wanted. This was a weird and unforgettable moment – for sure. We began to talk about how one learns to grow such things, and I was particularly interested in the peach trees. He had a knack for peaches – his were the best.

Just days after this I went out to mow our lawns and Angelo wanted to talk again. He brought me to the middle of my backyard to show me the tiny peach tree that he planted there for me. He had to show me so that I did not run it over with the lawn mower. He gave me instructions on when to water it and told me that he would show me what to spray it with when the time came. The tiny tree grew quickly, but it would take a couple of summers before it actually produced peaches. When the tree was about three feet high, Angelo showed me how important it was to pluck the leaves and buds that were at the very bottom of the longer branches. He explained that the energy that the tree put into those new leaves in its trunk would be taken from the larger more important fruit bearing branches. I will never forget that he told me how this was not only true for trees. He said in his Italian accent, “Dis-a true-a witha you life-a too.” For those of you who don’t speak broken English he said, “This is also true in life.”

Standing by my new peach tree on that day I was given quite the message. I was told that in all things there would exist smaller (seemingly important) detractors that removed energy from what was most important. The message that Angelo gave me on that day I now see as a lesson. It is true in relationships just as much as it is in tasks at work. It is also true in the classroom if a teacher sees the objective of his or her lesson as the branch of a tree that will bear fruit. With this philosophy, lesson intrusions (like the leaves at the trunk of the tree) are identified and diminished so that maximum energy goes into teaching which results in more learning for our students.

*Today’s blog is written in memory of my good friend Angelo Ruggeriello who taught me how to grow a good peach, and so much more.

Mick Jagger Lied

Since my post on Thursday which provided information about how and when our students would be able to access President Obama’s address to students I have had two very thoughtful responses on this blog, two teachers visit me, and one phone call from a community member who felt that the President’s address should have been more of a priority at Mahar. In my personal meeting with the aforementioned teachers and in my phone conversation with a thoughtful and concerned community member I found myself explaining our reasons for leaving the presentation of the speech at the discretion of our teachers and asking that it be connected to instruction.

The President’s address has provided an excellent opportunity for dialogue about how our school district is responding to the call of our federal and state governments to provide our students with a high quality education. The accountability standards set forth by the legislation in the No Child Left Behind Act has called upon school and district administrators to examine every opportunity to maximize teaching and learning opportunities for students. As was the case with specifying that the President’s address be used not only as an opportunity for inspiration but as a tool for instruction, Mahar continues to focus on every aspect of education to improve outcomes for students.

Inside the School
Inside the school our students and community will find that we have a brand new facility that is spacious and clean. We have all of the technological enhancements that one would expect in a school and much more. Networked computers are in every classroom, video projectors with SmartBoards ™ are available for our teachers, and we subscribe to a number of on line search engines from which our students can retrieve information. We have a highly qualified and dedicated instructional force paired with a dedicated staff to support our students’ learning and emotional needs alike.

Outside of the School
Outside of school we provide our students with opportunities to participate in athletics during all three seasons and in all grades. We have after school clubs and activities for students who prefer engagement outside of our athletic offerings, and seek to expand these activities this academic year. We provide academic programs that are innovative after school hours (PM Instruction Program) and off campus (Gateway to College at Mount Wachusett Community College), yet like many schools in the Commonwealth and in America even with our great efforts we know that there is room to continue to improve. We ask ourselves, what else can we do?

Putting Time on Our Side
I know that Mick Jagger said it first, “Time is on my side, yes it is” and you know what? For educators, this might not be true. Just the same as any school in Massachusetts we have 180 school days to prepare our students for year end assessments, the next grade, and to prepare our seniors for college. Each year we are given just slightly more than 990 hours to provide requisite instruction and assess our students to see that they have responded to the program that we offered. That’s it, 990 hours. Is the school year too short? Is the school day not long enough? Should students go to school in the summer? To these questions I only have opinions. The one thing I know for sure though is that educators must examine what students are doing in the 990 hours we do have, and take steps to see that every minute of every hour is put to proper use.

Every Minute in Every Class

This afternoon President Obama addressed the students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, VA with a speech that was intended for all of the students in America from Kindergarten through grade 12. In classic Obama fashion our President delivered an inspirational message with an emphasis on students doing their part to succeed in school. He reminded students that each one of them is good at something and that each one of them has something to offer.

Today, some Massachusetts schools stopped everything to ensure that each student heard President Obama’s message while others limited when and where the speech could be seen and/or heard. At Mahar, students may see the speech at the discretion of their teachers when and where it is pertinent to the subject matter being taught. The decision not to play President Obama’s speech live was a pragmatic one which allows for the continuity of instruction that has been established in our classes to continue. We are also fortunate to have the technology available to copy the speech and play it at any time - when it is appropriate.

The President’s speech was nearly twenty minutes in duration. Twenty minutes in the classroom is really more than twenty minutes when one considers pre-lesson activities, post-lesson follow up and time to transition from one topic to another. Furthermore, the school only has so many televisions and if the whole school were to have to move to larger areas to view the speech, twenty minutes could have quickly become up to an hour out of regularly scheduled classes.

Finally, in the age of “No Child Left Behind” teachers and administrators are being held accountable when students do not achieve certain benchmarks on yearly tests. This is very serious. Our school is required to make “Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)” on the MCAS. In some cases school districts have missed making AYP by one tenth of one point and have been determined to be Schools In Need of Improvement, In Corrective Action, or In Need of Restructuring. Twenty minutes out of a class for one student is 20 minutes. 20 minutes outside of a class for 800 students is 1600 minutes. That 20 minutes could very well be one tenth of one point on an assessment for which teachers are here to prepare our students. Every minute in every class counts.

President Obama to Address Students

This afternoon the Massachusetts Superintendent’s List Serve (E-mail messages between most Massachusetts Superintendents) had a frenzy of activity. The issue that was predominant today was the upcoming address that President Obama has planned for students. On September 8, 2009 at noon our President will deliver a national address to the students of America. According to the United States Department of Education the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. More specifically, the president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

The debate among teachers, principals, and superintendents today has been whether this event will be required, optional, allowed in certain circumstances, or not at all in classrooms, schools, and/or districts. Concerned parents have been calling schools with questions about the President’s address, some stating that they did not want their children to take part in viewing it. The aforementioned debate when paired with the concerns of parents has called upon superintendents around the Commonwealth to issue proactive statements with regard to the President’s address.

The students at Ralph C. Mahar will not be viewing the President’s address live. We have the technology to record the presentation and then use it at appropriate times in instruction, and this is what we have planned to do. This will allow our teachers the appropriate time to view the address and create lesson activators, lesson plans, and activities that will allow it to be connected with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. What is more important is that our students do not have any reduction in teaching and learning time in mathematics by what appears to be an excellent lesson in civics.

If the President’s message is of particular importance to our families, we encourage that it be viewed at home. The US Department of Education has posted the many different ways in which the President’s address can be seen live or later on. President Obama’s address might stir up interesting conversations at home about school, motivation, learning, and educational success – great topics for the dinner table! I have posted the link to the United States Department of Education’s page below.

http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html

The Change In My Pocket

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.
- Woodrow Wilson

I love quotes. Now that I am thinking about it, I just realized that I have taken the time with my friends to create and debate about top ten lists of favorite movies and favorite songs, but have never taken the time to develop a list of top ten favorite quotes. I just added an item to my “to do” list – but I need some time to find the quotes and then rank order them.

The quote above is what is on my mind right now. I don’t think it is as profound as some others that I like, but it is perhaps the truest of statements and was said by a man who knew how difficult it was to change something, or anything for that matter. Change is so difficult and so complex that one could fill a classroom with books from the floor to the ceiling, and wall to wall with books on the topic. There are books about change theories, change processes, change experiences, how to change an organization, and even books about how to change relationships. There are different schools of thought on change, such as change from within an organization, and others on the archaic “top down” approach which is pretty much rejected throughout the education system.

Any student in an educational administration program today reads about, discusses, and writes about the complexity of change. The reason for this is quite simple. Change brings struggles, particularly in organizations such as schools. The education system is “systemized” – in structure it has been the same for a very long time and attempts to alter structures that have existed for any length of time brings about personal feelings of anxiety, fear, and in some cases anger.

In education we have to accept the challenges that accompany change. For those involved in the change process the challenge of change often equates to a modicum of personal struggle. For those who have an understanding of history in our country and in the world, it is understood that struggles associated with change have made the world a better place. Just one hundred years ago Frederick Douglass commented about this. I am not sure if President Wilson ever made the acquaintance of Frederick Douglass but when Douglass was in his seventies, Wilson was in his thirties – so it is possible. That is a just a side thought.

“Without struggle, there is no progress.”
- Frederick Douglass

Primetime Teaching: Controversial Issues in the Classroom

When I was in school studying to become a teacher one of my favorite professors, Tom Sheeran talked in my Instruction and Assessment class about the importance of not missing “the teachable moment.” Dr. Sheeran explained to us that there would be times when we taught that we would have the students’ attention in what he referred to as “Primetime.” According to Dr. Sheeran, “Primetime” was any moment in which all of the students were focused on one thing – and for whatever reason, harmony existed among a class because of it.

The state of affairs in our country continues to create teachable moments in our classrooms. More specifically, controversy over a number of topics helps create educational situations that stimulates and involves young minds. Politically, high school students can have different opinions about immigration, Iraq, Afghanistan, world trade, and most recently, health care. These “Primetime” topics can heighten our students’ attention level along with their awareness about what is going on in world as it changes around them.

The recent debates over healthcare can be used in mathematics classes as students learn computations. They can learn to project costs, analyze savings, and estimate levels of service based on the number of healthcare workers in relation to our current population. Students can use their calculations in the creation of position papers supporting their ideas, and they can even learn about various bacteria and viruses in their science classes to add to their understanding of a controversial issue such as healthcare.

What is even more important is that our students learn that their opinions are among many others that may be different. They learn to listen to one another’s thoughts and proposed solutions on difficult topics. Dr. Sheeran would tell us that “Primetime” teaching means that students are learning substance, etiquette, and practicing communication skills all at the same time. I think it is most important that our students learn to respect one another while they are learning, and the controversial issues of our time provide us with an excellent opportunity to do this. I also think that Dr. Sheeran would agree.