Rethinking Middle School Education

Rethinking Middle School Education

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Please sir, may I have some more?

This item from Robert Frost Middle School reminded me of Dickens character, Oliver Twist, with the students asking:

Please sir, I'd like some more. I am hungry for science education, and I just can't get what I need to succeed here.

MoCo's Promethean Procurement has kept many a Parents Coalition blogger busy writing about the proliferation of these funky techno-toys in schools throughout the county. Honestly, by now we thought that these boards were all over MoCo schools.

Imagine my surprise when I found the following on Frost's PTSA webpage.

Frost Donation



I know that math teachers and social studies teachers have Promethean boards at Frost - so why were the science teachers left out? Can't the teachers share?

More important - I wonder what the folks who are promoting "Science City" on the Belward Property will think when they find out labs in MCPS middle schools aren't state of the art. Shush, don't let them know that the high school labs at Wootton and Churchill are lacking in basics too - maybe they will rethink their plan for locating to a county that doesn't support K-12 science education.

Voilà! Jay Mathews can get MCPS to add a teacher!

Extra Credit: Why Does the Mountain Have to Come to the Middle School?

From letter to Washington Post Education reporter Jay Mathews:

I am a former Montgomery County public schools employee, a parent of two in the system and a lifelong educator. An accelerated math program is presenting a unique challenge for the whole system...

...In the past couple of years, the few students who qualified for this level of acceleration were bused to a middle school, then returned to the elementary school for the remainder of their day. This year, so many students have been found eligible that parents have requested that instead of sending them to the middle school, a Math B teacher be brought to the elementary school to teach them. This would reduce disruption and be better for their development...

The issue was brought to the community superintendent's office, but still no resolution. In fact, they have contradicted themselves and insulted me in the process. I have followed all appropriate procedures but have not received correspondence from the community superintendent herself, only from the director of school performance. I have requested investigation into the fact that forcing accelerated students to repeat a class would violate policy. I was told my perception was not reality. Could you please check this out?

From Jay Mathews' response:

...It looks as though the people in charge have finally gotten your message and will make sure there is a Math B teacher at the elementary school...

Please note that these results apply to one school only! You will have to contact Jay Mathews about your specific school if you wish to see similar results.

And don't miss one of the comments to this article from Katherine Merseth, Director, Teacher Education Program at Harvard University. Here is an excerpt of what Dr. Merseth has to say:

...As a former math teacher and current faculty member at Harvard University I can attest that accelerating students is doing them no favors; they come to colleges like Harvard with little conceptual understanding of how math works, why it works they way it does, and only can apply memorized formulas. As a result of this fragile understanding of mathematics, students end up retaking content (usually calculus) they they supposedly already "had."

...it is terrible education policy to rush kids through content.

Weast "I would caution against this...action"

At the March 23, 2009, MCPS Board of Education meeting, Board members asked for the information they had requested on March 10th on the schedule changes at Eastern Middle School. Board members were told that the memo had just been provided to them right before the Board meeting started. (13 days after their request.)

In the Eastern Middle School memo to Board members, Superintendent Weast cautions not to advocate for a solution that would address the needs of the teachers and the students. Superintendent Weast says that a proposed solution would be "significantly more costly".

Suddenly, when it comes to educational services for students, Superintendent Weast is watching every penny? But he has stopped putting out Requests for Proposals (RFP), stopped taking competitive bids, stopped obtaining contracts, and stopped bringing procurements over $25,000 to the Board of Education table for approval on multi-million dollar purchases? He has not been bringing funds obtained from an outside source to the Board table or to the County Council for appropriation? The Board of Education is complicit in this lack of fiscal oversight as they no longer approve multi-million dollar purchases and do not ask for actual cost-benefit analysis on services for students. Who pays the price for this lack of fiscal oversight? The students.

"Significantly more costly" is not a number. In fact, nowhere in the March 23rd Eastern MS memo is any cost-benefit information on any of the possible configurations of the Eastern Middle School school schedule. Why did it take 13 days to prepare a memo that contains no financial analysis of the proposed change or proposed solutions?

Making one small schedule change, at one MCPS middle school would be, in Superintendent Weast's opinion,"significantly more costly". But failing to bring multi-million dollar purchases through the legally mandated procurement process has no fiscal impact?

What would be the savings if Superintendent Weast was following the MCPS Procurement Manual? What would then be the benefit that students could reap from those additional funds? We will never know as there is no Board oversight over the spending of the $2.1 billion MCPS budget, sorry kids.

The March 23rd Eastern Middle School memorandum was not made available on the MCPS website but has been obtained for the public to view here:
03-23-09EasternMSSchedule

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With Initiative you get Promethean Boards!

Thanks to the January 8, 2008 Tilden Middle School PTSA minutes we have information about how MCPS initiatives go forward. 9 more schools were added to the MCPS Middle School Initiative this school year, but the schools had to apply! And if your school was selected, your school won 18 Promethean Boards!

I thought the Board of Education decided how programs were introduced in schools? But according to this information, your local school actually had to apply! These minutes also show that even before the FY09 budget was approved, plans were in the works to put the Middle School Initiative in to 9 more schools and to add 162 more Promethean Boards.

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT:... Mrs. Baker provided an update on Tilden’s application to be an MCPS Middle School Reform school. 55% of Tilden’s staff would like to apply as a Middle School Reform school. One reason to apply now is that the county will run out of money to support this initiative, which provides 18 Promethean boards for the school, and a couple elective classes that will be new to students. We have a declining enrollment at Tilden with the phasing out of the learning center. We’re projected to have 650 students for the next school year. Being a Middle School Reform school, we would get a math content coach and a literacy content coach. So we will not lose staff because we would be gaining the 2 coaches. There will be 9 more Middle School Reform schools for next year. There are 5 middle schools in right now, and 5 who are not eligible. There are 28 middle schools who will be vying for the 9 spots. We have a good case. There would be a lot of professional development for the staff, which they’ll be paid for attending. 2700 hours of staff development that Tilden would receive. The leadership would expand. Resource teachers will no longer have to be team leaders so more teachers can be team leaders. There’s a great chance for professional growth, interactive Promethean boards, which make the classroom, come alive. A Promethean board is like a giant computer screen. Teachers would receive training in it also. Since 55% said they would like to apply, the school will apply. We will know February 29 whether or not we’ve been accepted. If accepted we’ll make it look and work the way Tilden wants it to work, but can also go to other schools to see what they’ve done.
Why would the staff be against it? One teacher thought it would be a lot more work in the beginning.

If you have a Promethean board you’re creating lesson plans that use the board. It’s a learning curve at the beginning.

Would some teachers have to reapply for their leadership positions? Possibly. Team leaders will not be able to be department chairs as well.