FOCUS DC News Wire 12/20/13

 

 

The D.C. State Board of Education voted Wednesday to adopt new K-12 science standards meant to strengthen science education by prioritizing critical thinking and problem solving over memorization of facts.

 

The District joins eight states (including Maryland) that have already adopted the Next Generation Science Standards, developed over the course of two years by 26 state leaders based on recommendations by a panel of National Research Council scientists.

 

The city expects to fully implement the NGSS — which were designed to be aligned with Common Core State Standards in math and language arts — by the 2016-17 school year.

 

The new science standards emphasize depth over breadth, asking students to learn fewer concepts but to study them more closely. The standards also ask students to apply what they have learned by doing the kinds of things scientists and engineers do, such as ask questions, build theories and design models.

 

Testimony on the new standards was mostly positive and included support from the city’s traditional school system, which serves more than half of its public school students.

 

But there are still many questions about what it will take to implement the new standards well, including how schools will prepare teachers and pay for the materials they need to provide rich hands-on science instruction.

 

In many schools, parents and teachers say, science has fallen by the wayside as educators have focused on — and been held accountable for — students’ math and reading performance.

 

Molly Smith, a DCPS high school chemistry teacher, said that the adoption of the new standards must come with an acknowledgment that science requires resources.

 

“Students in K-12 need access to materials and equipment, much of which is consumable,” Smith said. “That means an ongoing commitment to funding.”

 

The state board voted 8-0 in favor of the standards, with President Laura Slover abstaining. Slover is a senior vice president at Achieve, a nonprofit that coordinated the development of the new science standards.

 

Besides Maryland, the other states that have adopted the standards are Washington, California, Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky, Kansas and Delaware.

 

 

The D.C. State Board of Education appears poised to approve new science standards for District schools, with the goal of increasing hands-on learning and the study of engineering, among other reforms.

 

Board members Mary Lord and Patrick Mara, who focus on science education issues, said they expect formal approval of the “Next Generation Science Standards” at tonight’s meeting.

 

“There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm on the part of board members,” Lord said in an interview last week. “These standards are a game changer.”

 

If approved, the measures would be implemented over the next few years, with a specific timeline yet to be determined. The new standards aim to give teachers more guidance and increase students’ practical learning

experiences such as laboratory work.

 

“What [students] are now going to be asked to do is demonstrate mastery,” Lord said. “And that’s the Holy Grail these days — deep thinking.”

 

Inspired by the vision of the National Academies’ National Research Council and developed by 26 states, these standards have the support of a wide array of science education organizations and leading corporations. They also won the endorsement of several District teachers at the education board’s Nov. 20 meeting.

 

Joshua Johnson, a science teacher at the Brightwood Campus of Center City Public Charter Schools, said he had done a thorough review of the standards with his faculty colleagues.

 

“We looked at the Next Generation Science Standards and saw a lot of positive things, particularly from the engineering and science practices perspective,” he said.

 

But Johnson also voiced concerns that were echoed by another speaker at the meeting — Kathleen Porter- Magee, an education policy scholar at the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

 

In her testimony, Porter-Magee argued that the Next Generation Science Standards are less rigorous than  D.C.’s current standards, which her organization has deemed among the best in the nation.

 

“One of the reasons that the D.C. Learning Standards for Science earned such high marks from our team of experts is because all of the essential content was presented clearly,” she said. “The Next Generation Science Standards, by contrast, omit or merely imply too much essential content.”

 

Specifically, Porter-Magee argues that the new standards fail to explicitly articulate goals for science curriculum in the early grades. In addition, she said the new focus on hands-on learning would come at the expense of mastering the fundamentals — something the District currently does well.

 

Porter-Magee’s testimony notwithstanding, Lord and Mara report virtually no local opposition to the new standards in the District. With regard to opposition elsewhere in the country, Lord said some conservative activists are upset with language citing humanity’s role in creating climate change, but she dismissed their concerns as outside the mainstream.

 

“The biggest rap against [the standards] is coming from people who see the  words ‘biological evolution’ and ‘climate change’ and freak out. It goes against their worldview,” Lord said.

 

But according to Mara — a prominent District Republican who has run for D.C. Council — these concepts have support across the political spectrum in this city. “Even among your more conservative people in the District of Columbia, no one’s really debating evolution,” he said.

 

Detailed information about the Next Generation Science Standards

is available at nextgenscience.org.

 

 

DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson said she would have a plan to improve middle schools by December 15. But all she's come up with is a promise to focus on improving those schools next year.

 

Recently a lot of attention has been focused on the deficiencies of most DCPS middle schools. Even Henderson has acknowledged that DCPS hasn't succeeded in making them attractive, with many families leaving the school system after elementary school.

 

At a DC Council hearing on November 15, Councilmember David Catania called on Henderson to come up with a plan for improving middle schools within a month. Yesterday, Chancellor Henderson responded with a letter. A similar letter addressed to the "DCPS community" appeared on the DCPS website.

 

Henderson wrote that DCPS has operated "with a sense of urgency in addressing the needs of our schools." But the only commitment she made is that DCPS will "focus on improving our middle grades in FY 2015, and will then move on to improving our high schools in FY 2016 (the 2015-2016 school year)."

 

If you think that response is disappointing, you're not alone.

 

Many parents have called for greater vertical integration between middle schools and the elementary and high schools in their feeder patterns. Henderson said they, too, will have to wait—until fall 2016. In her letter to Catania, she said that she would first focus on making sure there's "horizontal alignment," ensuring that all schools within a grade range offer the same kinds of programs at a similar level of quality. But why can't DCPS focus on horizontal and vertical alignment at the same time?

 

Conspicuously absent from the letter is any acknowledgement of existing plans, like the Ward 6 Middle School Plan and the Ward 5 Great Schools Initiative. Does this mean DCPS is changing course on its commitments?

 

For now, you can give feedback via a survey form on the DCPS budget, as Henderson suggested in her letter to the community. The letter also promised that DCPS will hold focus groups on the middle grades in the future.

 

Is this enough to persuade DCPS families to keep their children in the system beyond elementary grades? What do you think?

 

 

It’s cold outside and the holidays are coming so that can only mean one thing. It is time to head over to Two Rivers Public Charter School for its Showcase of Student Learning to observe the fall expeditions. I was extremely fortunate to be joined by Jessica Wodatch who is one of the school’s founders and its dynamic executive director. She steered me directly over to the Pre-Kindergarten 4 presentation. I’m so fortunate that she did.

 

I’ve learned over the years that expeditions share many of the characteristics of the Lean Six Sigma process improvement methodology. A team starts with a problem statement or a big idea and then evaluates the issue being studied. Next a solution is created and a communication strategy around it is put into place. Finally, the solution is tested to determine if it is being sustained or whether further enhancements need to be done. Of course, these are skills that are transferable to almost any business setting.

 

The question posed to these scholars was offered by Maggie Bello, the elementary school principal. On a well-produced IMovie she demonstrated a typical lunch she prepares for her children before they go off to school. But Ms. Bello is concerned that these meals are not well-balanced and perhaps are unhealthy. She asked the class for assistance in improving her food choices with ingredients that can be quickly assembled.

 

It was then off to the races for these highly energetic students. They learned about food groups including the specific items that fell into each category along with their nutritional value. The expedition included two field trips, one to Rockland’s Farms and another to Harris Teeter, to gain knowledge about food production. The walls of the classroom were filled with student reports on what they had discovered on these adventures. The classroom education and first hand experiences led the kids to understand which foods are most beneficial to be consumed in specific recommended quantities.

 

The culmination of the expedition was individual student recipe books containing healthy meals that Ms. Bello could prepare for her children complete with the ingredients and their quantities. Each also included pictures from various activities centered on their work. But I want to slow down for a minute in my narrative of the event.

 

Much of the explanation of the project was done through the video. But then it was time for the students to address the overflow crowd. Here is where my eyes began to tear. Small groups of the 22 assembled students alternated jumping to their feet as individual kids took turns explaining aspects of the expedition. It is a magical mystery to me how four year olds can accomplish this task, but when I looked to Ms. Wodatch for some kind of explanation I believe that I saw the same droplets of water traveling down her cheeks.

 

We then moved on to a first grade class whose big idea was to raise money to purchase supplies that were often in short supply such as glue sticks, glitter, and flat Lego pieces. The students started their presentation singing their company’s theme song while each of them wore hats and billboards across their chests advertising their wares. The melody still fills my head to this day.

 

While these pupils considered completing various activities to raise money such as helping people cross the street, cleaning, and walking dogs, the group settled on creating interesting snacks that could then be sold to other members of the student body. The healthy treat they chose was popcorn with the choice of butter or salt.

 

As part of this expedition students received a comprehensive exposure to the field of economics. Investors were enlisted to provide start-up funding for creating Fantastic Snacks. Calculations were made for estimating profits based upon various price points. Market surveys were done to determine the popularity of creating a red colored version. Two bar graphs provided a visual display of the result.

 

As with the Kindergarteners a communication plan was put into place. Each time the students offered their popcorn for sale the quantity bought went up dramatically. Investors eventually received a five percent return on their money. Now the big decision comes as to what to do with all the cash. The class came up with four options: save the money, donate it to a worthwhile cause, purchase supplies, or invest it back into the business. I made Ms. Wodatch promise to call me when a final decision had been made.

 

We then visited some of the older students. One aspect common to all of the expeditions stood out. Students are taught to ask a lot of questions about the subject they are studying. Many of the inquiries are meant to support a particular point of view, but others are directly aimed at highlighting the opposite side of an issue. It reminded me of the discussion of the PISA test in Amanda Ripley’s book, The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way, an international examination that evaluates the ability of students to reason. As my time at Two Rivers concluded I was completely convinced that if these scholars took that evaluation they would score off the charts.

 

 

The fate of the former Hardy School on Foxhall Road, now used by Lab School of Washington, is on hold until District education officials complete a study on school boundaries next fall.

 

Mayor Vincent Gray on Monday withdrew resolutions to declare the old school building surplus and to approve its long-term lease to the private Lab School, until boundary and overcrowding issues are addressed.

 

Lab has been using the former public school for its elementary students since 2008. Although another 12 years remain on Lab’s current lease, the school had asked for a 25-year agreement to help obtain financing for major improvements to mechanical systems, windows and wiring.

 

But as the necessary resolutions were moving toward D.C. Council approval in recent months, some Palisades residents protested that it makes little sense to give up public school facilities at a time when many Ward 3 schools are overenrolled, and while school boundaries and feeder patterns are in flux.

 

In a letter to the council Monday, Gray said school officials “do not expect that the Hardy building will be a part of relieving overcrowding in Ward 3.” But the mayor said he was withdrawing the resolutions “out of an abundance of caution” until an ongoing “Student Assignment and Boundaries Review” is complete.

 

Recommendations are due by the end of the summer. Once that review is complete, Gray wrote, “we will meet with representatives from the Lab School as well as other community stakeholders to resolve the status of the

Hardy School.”

 

Asked to comment, Lab’s head of school, Katherine Schantz, said, “Of course, we are terribly disappointed, but Lab will continue to look to the future.” In the past, Lab officials have noted that they “partner” with the city to provide services to students with learning disabilities whose needs can’t be met in traditional public schools. Roughly one-fifth of Lab’s students are sent by the District public school system.

 

Lab also operates a middle school and high school nearby at Reservoir Road and Whitehaven Parkway. 

 

While the former Hardy School will continue to serve Lab’s 80 elementary students in the interim, the council would have to reintroduce the surplusing and leasing resolutions, and hold new public hearings on them, for

the measures to move forward next year.

 

The former Hardy closed in 1998 — when the middle school that still bears its name moved to 34th Street and Wisconsin Avenue — and has been leased to independent schools ever since.