NEASC Accreditation - Is there still enough value to warrant the cost?

MASC Conference programmers offered a panel session featuring President/CEO of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges' (NEASC) Cameron Staples along with Commission on Public Secondary Schools' (CPSS) Director Janet Allison and Deputy Director George Edwards who spoke to the changes being undertaken to revise the accreditation process for their member schools. NEASC claims to accredit over 2000 schools and colleges and to be the oldest regional accrediting association.

They explained how, in the past, schools faced fewer mandates and regulations, and that meeting accreditation standards was a way for communities to reflect on their educational services and show improvement and accountability to students, communities, and colleges. In the current environment of significant regulation, NEASC is engaging in a comprehensive review through a peer review process. Services are changing, like providing a showcase of a model school program, development of on-line/web-based tool, and reduction of visiting teams to reduce costs.

Some questions from the audience: 1. With all state and federal mandates and assessment tools as well as teachers/administrators with quality evaluative skills, why do we need another (outside) accountability organization?; 2. Average member annual expense is $3800+/yr. dues and $20,000+ for the study – is this money well spent by districts (especially those that are small in size)?; 3. Colleges wouldn’t reject a student because a high school hadn’t been through the accreditation process and the diploma would be worth no less, so what is the real benefit to students?

Session handout of NEASC standards is here: https://cpss.neasc.org/downloads/2011_Standards/2011_Standards.pdf)

Melrose related info: http://melrosehigh.melroseschools.com/our-school/neasc/

Take-aways for Melrose: what does NEASC mean for our students and our district, and are the dues and/or the self-study worthwhile investments of funds and teacher time out of the classroom? What can we learn from our colleagues in neighboring districts

(http://homenewshere.com/daily_times_chronicle/news/reading/article_3a0cfb98-34e3-11e3-bf06-0019bb2963f4.html)?

Stress: How Students Are (Are Not) dealing with It – and How You Can Help

Excellent presentation at the MASC conference by Judith Styer, Director of Health and Wellness in Framingham and Andrew Keough, Easton Supt. (and former Principal, Wellesley High School) on a topic that Melrose is recognizing and addressing.

Notes:

*Adults don’t necessarily understand student stresses because some aren’t familiar to us
*Stressors can be academic, economic, social (including LGBTQ students), family, community integration (e.g. for students coming from a foreign country), and health-related (e.g. obesity, chronic conditions like asthma, mental health)
*Girls tend to be more stressed than boys
*Most school shootings are really suicides with other students involved
*One of the biggest risk factors academically is for students who have no health insurance
*Not all stress is bad – finding the right level is important as is having candid conversations around college expectations and intentions
*Healthy and happy kids are productive kids
*Framingham looked at student results using the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data over time to assess trends, implemented a Tiered System of Support to help reduce stress, and formed a task force that included parents and students. They held forums and explored how to engage all families, how to begin a cultural shift away from intense academic pressure on children, and how to carve out time to educate teachers and administrators on the importance and value of social/emotional health
*Wellesley formed a Culture and Climate Committee with key stakeholders that included four subcommittees (Social Issues, Support Systems, Academics, and Community). They held panels and conducted a survey. Successful initiatives included creating a safe place for students to relax; implementing an adult mentoring program; developing a free, student drop-in enrichment/recreational program; made changes to the homework policy (to implement stress-free periods during the year); revisited and improved freshman orientation; developed a GPA Committee and held PD related to assessment; and held parent trainings on resiliency development (including understanding the impact of 24 hr/day scheduling of children and recognizing signs of social/emotional stress in elementary school students).  Supt. Keough referenced the movie Race to Nowhere and two Psychology Today articles: “The Problem with Rich Kids” (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201310/the-problem-rich-kids) and “A Nation of Wimps” (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200411/nation-wimps).

The MHS PTO has asked district administration to partner in order to start this conversation in Melrose, and the Supt. has enthusiastically agreed. A forum will be held on December 8^th at 7:00 in the MVMMS Auditorium featuring guest speaker Lynn Lyons (http://www.lynnlyonsnh.com/).

Employing Wisdom from the Annual Association Conference

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” 

Michelangelo's quote was provided by Anne Byrne, President of the National School Boards Association, during her opening comments at the Mass. Association of School Committees and Mass. Association of School Superintendents annual joint conference from November 5^th through the 8^th. It was a privilege to attend two keynote presentations, eight panel sessions (and participate as a panel member for another session), and five meals with colleagues to share experiences and ideas. The variety of district profiles is striking for our small state but there is one universal – an enormous number of passionate volunteers who believe in the power of public education to enrich, reward, and challenge students. Learning from them was incredibly energizing, and I’ll post the highlights on this blog as I collect my thoughts and consider the take-aways for Melrose, keeping in mind Michelangelo’s inspiring words. 

Supt. Addresses Joint MS/MHS PTO Families

Last evening, Supt. Taymore addressed questions posed by middle and high school parents at a joint PTO meeting at Melrose High. Here are some quick take-aways:

·      Challenges that have been discovered and are being addressed: increasing level of rigor for those students who need additional challenge (adding AP courses, and MS students enrolling in a high school course); improvement in teaching of content for special needs students who were spending too much time in pull-out classes; more professional development (PD) for teachers (from grant funding and concerted training efforts by Asst. Supt. Adams); ensuring students can fit in all necessary courses while meeting their interests (e.g. expanding virtual and blended learning); curriculum is now fully aligned with frameworks (i.e. what is being taught is what’s supposed to be taught).

·      Challenges that need additional work: MHS conferences (the old fall/spring and nothing in-between model didn’t give parents the info they needed to help students, but the current approach is difficult for parents and teachers to navigate); MS MCAS scores (a “tough nut” across the state, but we need to have higher expectations for students – we’ve increased blocks from 47-57 mins. and increased PD for teachers); Aspen – training is on-going and helping but it’s becoming clear that there are technology issues that need addressing; little flexibility in budget to increase PD/add staff/technology/employ pilot programs that could lead to improved student outcomes due to constraints (state/federal mandates, Melrose is 96% residential, etc.).

·      Why choose MHS?: There are increasing and high-quality options and paths to achievement (AP, visual/blended classes, STEM/GEM/Humanities/Fine Arts Pathways, etc.) based on meeting Common Core standards and attuned to student interests; students aren’t tracked – they will receive high-quality instruction in the same content (just not as deep) depending on whether a class is CP or Honors (so a student could be in CP English and Honors Calculus); 5 global languages – one of the few HS in the state to offer this; large number of athletics, clubs, fine and performing arts opportunities; dual enrollment with colleges (potentially increasing next year); “public school is what life is – different people have to find a way to collaborate.”

·      Summary: Enacting change in a school district is difficult because all staff members must be moving in the same direction at the same time at a quick pace. The administration is working hard at this and so are teachers, paraprofessionals, and other staff members. Parents can support their children and help the district grow by making observations around things like homework, projects, and tests and asking teachers if they have questions, concerns, or see success that they want replicated. Importantly, as a community we must agree that we are not <fill in any other town here>. So who should Melrose be and what does that look like?

Elizabeth Christopher Does Some “Sitting In”

If you haven’t seen it, check out the Sitting In column from the October 30th Melrose Free Press, penned by Elizabeth Christopher of the Melrose Education Foundation, that speaks to using technology in the classroom. (You can find it here: http://melrose.wickedlocal.com/article/20141104/NEWS/141109069/12456/OPINION.) She explains, “As the technologies students are using become more digital, school districts across the country are looking at how these tools can be incorporated or “blended” into the classroom to improve teaching and learning” and elucidates, “The blended learning model allows educators to customize teaching strategies for different learners, pilot new technology, and give students the flexibility to repeat, augment, explore further and synthesize what they learn.” Two district educators, MVMMS Library Media Specialist Wendy Arnold and MHS Academic Facilitator Josh Cristiano, have worked together and separately to increase and improve the integration of technology into the curriculum, and Ms. Christopher provides examples of their own learning around this model and how they are sharing that with other educators in our public schools.

Teaching and learning has changed dramatically from, well, back in the day. Blended learning is not just the way of the future, it is the way of now and as Ms. Arnold notes in Ms. Christopher’s article, “This is the world our students live and play in.”

10/28 School Committee Regular Meeting

A diverse set of topics on Tuesday's agenda! Here are the highlights:

* Enrollments in the district were presented (by grade and school as well as over time) as well as middle school and high school class sizes by course. There are a few larger classes (30+) and some classes at the high school (particularly special education and foreign language) that are on the small side.

* The Lincoln School principal search will commence shortly with the expectation of an appointment in mid-March.

* The federal government's Office of Civil Rights has issued new guidelines related to equal educational access for all students. This ruling is being reviewed by the Supt. and our City Solicitor, and there may be an impact on our 2016 budget.

* The MHS girls hockey team was granted another waiver to accept middle school students.

* Director of Finance Jay Picone presented information on required financial reporting to the Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Ed. called the End-of-Year report. He explained that all expenses are coded for reporting and all revenues are also reported in order to get a standardized picture of the district's financial situation that can be compared to prior years. Every district in the state submits these reports by October 1st (or later if a waiver is granted).

* The Committee will conduct its annual self-evaluation and discuss it at the 11/18 meeting with a summary report presented on 12/9.

* Policies related to students were discussed and voted. They will come before the Committee for a second vote on 11/18.

* School Choice (accepting out-of-district students who pay to attend an in-district school) for the 2016 school year was approved and includes a limited number of seats at MHS. 

* Jessica Dugan presented her proposal on the development of a communication plan.

As always, you can access all packet documents on the melroseschools web site under School Committee and IQM2, and/or you can watch the meeting from the MMTV web site.

MHS Dashboard at 10/28 School Committee

A new approach to capturing data about Melrose High School was unveiled Tuesday night when Principal Marianne Farrell and Guidance Dept. Director John Buxton (with most of the secondary administrative team in attendance) shared their initial iteration of the MHS Data Dashboard. Principal Farrell reported in her cover memo that the Dashboard "represents academic, co-curricular, and post-secondary education data." During her presentation, she noted that while much data is presented throughout the year to the Committee and the community, the Dashboard is one place to collect and update it. She also noted that it is a way to begin including local data (like mid-year and final exam data) along with standardized test data; it is another way to reflect (and improve) on the work that's being done by staff at the high school in order to support student mastery of the subjects they study; it can help parents understand how student work is judged; and it is another way for families and the community to learn what Melrose has to offer. The data reflects both successes and challenges, and Ms. Farrell indicated that we will hear more during the year about next steps the high school will take to support students' college and career readiness. Supt. Taymore noted that the entire Administrative Team (principals, Dept. Chairs, etc.) reflected on the Dashboard before it was presented on Tuesday, and the elementary and middle schools will use it as a base on which to build their own dashboards.

The cover memo and Powerpoint presentation can be found here:http://melrosecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1582. The MMTV video of the meeting is 1 hour 7 minutes long and can be found here:http://www.mmtv3.org/index.php?categoryid=28. 

Want to learn more about Melrose High School? An Open House is scheduled for Sunday, November 16th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (More info is here: http://melrosehigh.melroseschools.com/2014/10/mhs-welcomes-future-class-2019/.)