There was plenty to talk about when two representatives from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) met with Garden City Public Schools’ district and school leaders late last month. Elizabeth Williamson, Supervisory Education Program Specialist with ED’s Office of Communications and Outreach, and Jacquelyn Pitta, Region II Communications Director, spent several hours with Garden City’s educators for a two-pronged information-sharing session. Williamson and Pitta shared online support resources available for educators during the first part of the meeting. Folders filled with brochures available from ED on a variety of topics from grant making opportunities to bullying prevention were also provided for district and building leaders.
The discussions became more two-way during the second part of the meeting which focused on how Race to the Top (RTTT), the federal government’s educational reform initiative under which New York State received $700 million, looks in practice in classrooms throughout the school district.
New York State’s roll out of RTTT needed to comply in four specific areas to receive a portion of the $4 billion in grant monies (Garden City received $0 because of its demographics): new standards and assessments; the building of student data systems; recruiting, developing, rewarding and retaining effective teachers and principals; turning around lowest-achieving schools.
After four years of preparing for and implementing the new standards, three years of assessments and a second year of APPR (Annual Professional Performance Review) for teachers and principals under the state’s approved reform plan, concerns were passionately expressed to the ED representatives by school and district leaders. Below are just a few of the on-the-ground issues brought up for discussion:
• The lack of alignment between the new learning standards and the state assessments
• The state assessments’ questionable predictive value
• The pressure placed on teachers and students in a high-performing district like Garden City where 97-99% of students go on to college and, typically, over 90% of graduates are accepted to and attend four-year colleges
• The funds and time needed to comply with RTTT which limits what can be devoted to staff development and evaluation procedures that have worked effectively in the past for Garden City, such as teacher portfolios, for example.
Perhaps there is some hope on the horizon. Williamson shared that, just two days prior to the meeting, Education Secretary Arne Duncan mentioned some “flexibility” adjustments that may be on the table for high-performing districts, and assured the group that their concerns would be conveyed to the appropriate ED departments, including during a meeting scheduled with the Secretary this month.
The district would like to thank Williamson and Pitta for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with Garden City’s educational leaders. The district looks forward to continued collaboration between policymakers and school leaders about the impact of policy changes at the classroom level. For more information, visit: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oco/index.html.
— Submitted by Garden City Public Schools
