IV. Principal Update:
The new Assistant Principal, Laura Pamblanco, will begin her new position on May 10th.
The final figures for participation in the Learning Environment Survey are quite impressive, with 75% of parents, 93% of teachers, and 88% of 6th grade students completing the survey.
Work continues on the new playground, with completion expected at the end of May.
4th and 5th grade students are busy learning ballroom dancing, with the 4th grade competition expected to be held June 14th and the evening performance for parents planned for June 15th.
VI. Parent Association Update
P.S.101’s Earth Day celebration received coverage in the Forest Hills/Rego Park Times newspaper.
The P.A. is focused on the upcoming International Dinner. The P.A. hopes to get special events with teachers (lunches, principal for a day, a trip for ice cream) to auction off – they are always sought after by students.
VI. Truncation and Middle School “Choice”:
The principal, several teachers, and parents attended the April 29th C.E.C. meeting held at Russell Sage. The meeting was initially announced as focusing on truncation of elementary schools, that is, eliminating 6th grades from elementary schools. However, late in the afternoon on April 29th, the C.E.C. changed the agenda and stated the meeting would focus only on the issue of “Middle School Choice.” It was announced at the C.E.C. meeting that the decision of eliminating 6th grades would be left to the elementary school SLTs.
The D.O.E. also held meeting with principals throughout District 28. Principals were told that the key reason for the D.O.E. pushing “Choice” was that, according to the D.O.E., test scores for children tend to drop the first year they hit middle school so it is better to begin this transition early so kids can become used to the new routine and test better in that important 7th grade year when they take the test for specialized high schools.
However, parents noted that while they have heard this from the D.O.E., there is no evidence for this. The D.O.E. has never provided any documentation that student scores drop during this transition or that they improve with time. Moreover, the Duke study (the one major, vetted study that asks whether 6th grade students perform better in elementary school or middle school) found that students performed better on standardized tests when they remain in elementary schools and have fewer behavioral issues. Importantly, this difference persists through the 9th grade (that is, kids who attended 6th grade in elementary school had higher tests scores and fewer behavioral issues in 9th grade when compared with the 9th graders who attended 6th grade in middle school).
Oddly, even D.O.E. data suggest students perform significantly better on state tests when left in their elementary schools. However, the D.O.E. does not publicize this data (the P.A. had to request the data). According to the D.O.E.:
6th Grade Performance on State Tests
(% of students receiving 3s or 4s)
|
ELA |
MATH |
| 6th graders in middle school |
69.1% |
73.4% |
| 6th graders in elementary schools |
79.3% |
86.5% |
The D.O.E.’s motivation appears to be to try and fill up underutilized middle school classrooms.
At the principals meeting with the D.O.E., many principals stated that they wanted to keep the 6th graders at their schools.
Right now “Choice” for parents is difficult as many of the new Choice schools, Metropolitan in particular, have no track records. And in reality, the vast majority of students will end up at their zoned middle schools.
Some noted that there are behavior issues with 6th graders, although others noted that perhaps elementary school is the best place for 6th graders as they begin to hit puberty and begin to gain their independence – perhaps it is better to be with the teachers who know them. Others noted that the maturity levels for 6th graders varies enormously, both among the students and from the same student from September to June.
Another argument for moving children to middle school is that the science lab is so much better, although others noted that the curriculum and standards are the same and that kids at P.S.101 score well on the science test in any case. Similarly, while Russell Sage offers a foreign language, none is offered at all at the new Metropolitan school.
Lastly, many noted that parents’ strong support for maintaining 6th grade at P.S.101 is a testament to the strong quality of teaching at this school.
The school appears on target for hitting the goals outlined in the current C.E.P. However, there is some discrepancy within the D.O.E. regarding S.M.A.R.T. goals, with the D.O.E. moving away from numeric targets while the Quality Review stated that the goals needed to have numeric targets.
The Collaborative Inquiry Work focused on literacy has made notable progress at the school. While the collaborative inquiry work was new to teachers, nearly every teacher at the school is involved, meeting together to show best practices and share strategies. There are a variety of teams (the Core Inquiry Team, Grade-wide Inquiry teams, Special Ed Inquiry Team, ELL Inquiry Team, and Vertical Inquiry Teams). The teams meet monthly. The Quality Reviewer encouraged the school to put a system in place to better track all students. Teachers need to work with students on both short-term and long-term goals. Teachers are adapting their lesson plans to the weaknesses of all students. Teachers are also trying to find weaknesses across grades to focus on. Teachers are working together collaboratively, not in a cookie cutter fashion but transferring ideas among the teachers while recognizing that all classrooms are unique. The school is working to imbed the networking (that is the use of vertical teams and inquiry teams) into the school’s culture.
Looking to next year, one possible goal for the C.E.P. will be “differentiation,” although it will be difficult to make such a goal S.M.A.R.T. – that is, how to make it measurable. The conversation segued into a discussion on balancing the need to cover a broad variety of topics in math with the need to reteach students who do not do well in certain areas. Perhaps teachers can make better use of pre-tests and post-tests, try to make math centers, or use extended day time to help students who do not master specific topics.
