Revamping the Middle School Curriculum

Good Programming + High Praise from Study = Proposed Change

D65's New Proposal for Location of TWI and African-centered Pilot

Some Questions Raised, Some Questions Answered at Oakton Forum

PTA Council Meeting

Nichols Middle School Launches Book Drive

High School to Formalize Policies on Communication with Parents

Kindergarten Information Night March 15

Community Forums

PTA Council Meeting

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Kindergarten Information Night March 15

District 65's Services for PrePrimary Age Children (SPPAC) will be hosting a Diagnostic Kindergarten Information Night, 7-9 p.m. , March 15 at the Hill Education Center, 1500 McDaniel Ave.

Parents/guardians and community members who have preschool students with special education needs and would like more information on the diagnostic kindergarten classes, etc., are encouraged to attend. Call 847-859-8588.

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Community Forums

The District has scheduled two more community forums to discuss proposals for the African-centered program and TWI. The next forums are scheduled to be held at 7 p.m. on March 13 at Haven Middle School and on March 14 at Chute Middle School. All are invited to attend.

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Nichols Middle School Launches Book Drive

Nichols Middle School is collecting new and gently used children's books that will be donated to public elementary schools in Chicago, where 70 percent or more of the students are reading below grade-level.

"We are asking students and their parents to bring us books that are enjoyable, fun reading for inner-city children ages 5 through 13," says Kefira Philippe, coordinator of the collection. "It's a great ‘kids helping kids' program to improve literacy."

Anyone with children's books in good condition can bring them to the Nichols Middle School Library between 7:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. through March 17.

Book Worm Angels, a not-for-profit organization, is the force behind this and other book drives conducted throughout the year, primarily in Chicago's suburbs. The mission of Book Worm Angels is to put lending libraries in each classroom in Chicago elementary schools where many children are reading below grade level. Principals, teachers and parents are encouraged to present these books as fun reading, not school work. There are no penalties for lost or damaged books.

"We believe that kids who read will succeed," says Kermit Myers, a retired businessman who founded Book Worm Angels in 1999. "Many of the participating schools are convinced that our program has improved reading scores, which probably also improves performance in other subjects."

For more information about Book Worm Angels, visit www.bookwormangels.org, or call 773-332-8091.

Revamping the Middle School Curriculum

By Mary Helt Gavin
At the Feb. 21 District 65 School Board meeting, Board members and the administration discussed a District-commissioned study of the middle schools. In August, 2005, the District created a Middle School Study Committe in response to a Board goal of "engag[ing] in a comprehensive analysis, using parent, staff and other expert input, of what is necessary to maximize student achievement and other personal growth for students in 6th through 8th grades and prepare recommendations for implementation beginning with the 2006-07 school year."

The Middle School Study Committee, composed of parents, teachers, administrators from District 65 and representatives from Evanston Township High School, met bimontly, then held a community meeting on Nov. 29, 2005 for community review and response. Cathy Berlinger-Gustafson was the consultant on the project. She compiled her findings and recommendations in a 36-page report, which she presented at the Feb. 21 meeting.

The study looked at four areas:

• Climate: discipline and behavior, school spirit, after-school activities and athletics;
• Structure: use of time, scheduling, grouping of students, co-teaching and transitions;
• Parent involvement: communication, volunteering, PTA and parent advisories; and
• Curriculum/instruction: consistency of implementation, differentiation, support services, academic rigor, staff development, homework, special education, bilingual education and curriculum acceleration.

The middle schools
District 65 has three discrete middle schools – Chute, Haven and Nichols – and two K-8 magnet schools, Bessie Rhodes and King Lab. Haven and Nichols have "Academic Early Warning Status" from the state, because of the failure to have sufficient numbers of students meeting or exceeding state standards. At Haven, an insufficient number of black and low-income students met standards in math, and at Nichols, an insufficient number of low-income students met the standards in math.

District figures show the total middle school population is 2,109, with 897 black students (43 percent), 862 white students (41 percent), 274 Hispanic students (13 percent) and 72 Asian/Pacific Islander students (4 percent). Three hundred sixty-five students (17 percent) have individual education plans, or IEPs. Chute has the most students listed as low-income.

The report: commendations
The report commended the District in several areas, finding strengths in a commitment to continually improve the schools; the passion and vision of key personnel in the middle schools, both teachers and administrators; the individual and unique culture of each school; and individual exemplary teachers.

The report: inconsistency across the District
However, "inconsistency" appeared to be the byword in most of the findings – inconsistency in use of materials, curriculum guidelines, support systems and communication to parents. According to the report, "There is no consistent written information shared with families, from school to school or grade to grade, that describes the course of study.…[Only] one school shared a syllabus with students and families this year."

In addition, the study found that "teachers use a variety of methods to assist student performance. There is no systematic program evaluation of the interventions [for student support]."

Ms. Berlinger-Gustafson said, "We're not looking at conformity or constriction, we're looking at consistency."

In addition, the report said, "The instructional program in all subject areas except mathematics is more variable depending on the teacher. The consistency of subject areas is more a school, teacher or team decision than a District- or standards-led decision."

The study also found that "students had mixed feelings" about how well the middle school prepared them for high school, and the feeling differed by subject area. Ms. Berlinger-Gustafson said that, although she had received several comments about the science program's not preparing students well, the new science textbook and curriculum adoption "could impact this finding."

She also said the math curriculum is the most consistent throughout the District and the report praised the recent curriculum revisions, stating, "The mathematics curriculum revision, including the accelerated tracks, a collaboration with the high school, has resulted in more middle school students taking and passing algebra and geometry."

Recommendations
The report contained 14 recommendations, including evaluating or revising scheduling practices, academic instruction and communicating with parents, reviewing and revising curriculum guides, sharing syllabi with students and parents, evaluating the practices of instructional groupings "to determine which ones enhance teaching and learning," engaging parents, creating more welcoming environments in the schools, organizing teacher teams according to the students they share, and enhancing the dialogue with Evanston Township High School.

The recommendattion to evaluate the instructional grouping practices would be a major shift for the District, if it were adopted. At present District 65 classes are heterogeneous, with differentiated instruction for smaller groups within each classroom, rather than homogeneous or "tracked" groupings with all students at one level in each class.

The report also recommended organizations and reading material for the administration. Ms. Berlinger-Gustafson said, "This report is not inclusive... but I hope to start the process."

Board reception
The Board and administrators all seemed to be very receptive to the report and its recommendations.

Board President Mary Rita Luecke said, "There are some hard things said here, and we have to accept the process." She also said, "If we were able to [implement consistency] in the one area of the curriculum, mathematics, we should be able to do it in other places. The biggest point is the clarity of expectations."

Julie Chernoff said she was "thrilled" about the idea of a syllabus to be shared with families.

Jonathan Baum said he really appreciated the study and qualified that the report was not for "middle schools" but for "middle-school-aged children." He also said, "Parents have wanted this for years. It doesn't pull punches…[But] in some ways the recommendations aren't as hard-hitting as the problems."

Jerome Summers said he liked the recommendation that every child in the school have an adult advocate.

Superintendent Dr. Hardy Murphy said, "There's a lot in here that's going to help us. Some things will require policy review, such as heterogeneous versus homogeneous grouping. Some things will challenge how business has been done in the District. We have to have a conversation about uniform curriculum. We have unique schools, but we need a structured curriculum that transcends that uniqueness."

Ms. Luecke told the RoundTable, "My biggest concern...is the complete lack of differentiation concerning the importance of each of the findings and the work necessary to address them. Every recommendation, and there were quite a few, say that they will be done beginning in the 2006-2007 school year and beyond."

Board member Sharon Sheehan said she would like to see "a list of priorities and a vision of leadership – from the Board, the Superintendent, the staff, the principals, the teachers. There have to be a lot of leaders to step up."

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Math in the Middle Schools

Good Programming + High Praise from Study = Proposed Change

The District's middle school math curriculum received the highest praise in the middle school study conducted by Cathy Berlinger-Gustafson. Nonetheless, the administration proposed changing that curriculum, and discussion about math took the bulk of the Board's two-hour discussion on middle schools at its Feb. 21 meeting.

At the end of the discussion, the Board rejected one administration proposal and appeared to leave unanswered two questions from Board members.

Sharon Sheehan questioned the proposed purchase of textbooks for the coming academic year that will be outdated by 2007. Jonathan Baum said, "I was struck in the middle school study by how overpowering the praise was for the math program. What I want to know is, what's broke that we want to fix?"

Middle school math
At present, the middle school math curriculum is an extension of the K-5 Everyday Math program from the University of Chicago, said Assistant Superintendant Susan Schultz. Students entering sixth grade can follow either the Gateways or the Transitions text and program. Transitions leads students to pre-algebra and algebra.

The Gateways program is for students gifted in math and allows students to take accelerated courses, including geometry honors at Evanston Township High School.

Ms. Schultz said the administration's proposal is to implement the Transitions program for both sixth- and seventh-graders, thus limiting the number of students who would be in the accelerated Gateways program.

Contrary to Ms. Berlinger-Gustafson's findings, Ms. Schultz said the administration felt that many students in the accelerated program were struggling and perhaps should not have been placed there.

The administration proposes purchasing textbooks for this change. Ms. Sheehan said she understood those textbooks would be out-of-date in 2007 and asked why the administration would purchase books them, knowing that they would be out of date the following year. Suzanne Farand of the curriculum department replied that the books would be used for "what we want to achieve."

Honors geometry at ETHS
Evanston Township High School math teacher John Benson described the collaboration between the high school and District 65 for teaching advanced math classes at the high school to District 65 students.

Yet the administration also proposed eliminating those classes taught at ETHS, instead offering classes at the same level within the District. They said scheduling and timing problems, such as the fact that students sometimes miss up to a half-hour of class, had prompted the proposal.

Marianne Kountoures said she thought the District should have its own honors geometry program, "so kids could go across the hall and not to ETHS" to learn.

However, Julie Chernoff said she did not believe the District could have a substitute program up and running by the fall. She said she thought one of the strengths of the program was that smart kids, who are often not "cool" in middle school, get to study with other smart kids at a place away from the middle schools.

Stuart Chainen, a member of the Foundation 65 Board, the charitable arm of District 65, strongly opposed eliminating the program. He said he had been watching the Board meeting live on the cable channel and, when he saw the direction the discussion was going, had hurried over to the meeting to speak.

"There is no reason that this is presented as one of the urgent proposals," he said. "The fact that it's been talked about for a long time does not convince me that it is ready for a vote."

The Board decided to drop the proposal.

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Some Questions Raised, Some Questions Answered at Oakton Forum

Susan Schultz, left, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, confers with Literacy Director Ellen Folgelberg before the Oakton forum.

By Mary Helt Gavin
School District 65 held a forum at Oakton School on Feb. 23, at which Ellen Folgelberg, the District's literacy director, presented the proposal for the African-centered curriculum. She said the program would be "embedded within the larger effort of improving the academic achievement of all African-American students."

The program would be optional, not mandatory, and would use "the District 65 curriculum and standards and integrated African-centered philosophy and instructional materials into the District-provided materials."

Social studies will be the primary vehicle for this curriculum, although all content areas will "be infused with African-American literature, and the contributions of Africans and African-Americans to each of the disciplines will be highlighted." She said the cost to implement the program in two schools would be $120,000 for the first year.

The Oakton community's range of questions concerned the racial and cultural content of the program, the resulting segregation of some classrooms, the lack of multiculturalism, the failure to address multiracial children, the need to overhaul the general education program and the effect on Oakton School if there were to be one strand (class per grade level) of the two-way immersion program, one strand of the African-centered curriculum and one strand of general education at the school.

Fred Hunter, a District 65 teacher, spoke in favor of the proposal. "The program is addressing the need of African-American students," he said, adding, "Our African-American students are failing."

Another teacher, who is also an Oakton parent, said, "The African-centered program that you've cited is an entire school program."

She questioned whether there was any research showing it would work if it were implemented as one strand in a school.

Susan Schultz, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction acknowledged that there was no research and added, "Three programs within a [single] school does present a challenge. We support ‘school-in-school' models."

Another audience member said, "Everything else hasn't worked. Why can't we take this program that African-Americans said they want?"

Yet one speaker, himself a black man, said, "It doesn't seem that just because [the students] are African-American they're not achieving. Maybe it's social and economic, not race. I think we're throwing the dart at the wrong board….I think the problem is deeper than putting kids together with famous black Americans and a lot of platitudes. This does a disservice to white kids, African-American kids and black kids."

Another speaker, a teacher and a member of the African-American Student Achievement Committee said, "We need this. It's not about color; it's about culture."

Ms. Folgelberg responded, "Having a program about African-American and African culture won't do it all. This is going to be heavy, heavy literacy-based."

Another speaker said, "A lot of culture should be done at home. I think we're missing the point. All of this education needs to be bumped up. We forget that America is the melting pot."

Still another speaker said that the curriculum "neglected multiracial, Hispanic and Caribbean children."

Another parent said, "My kids have done a great job at Oakton. Their identity is taken into consideration every day."

Because the program and its location were so theoretical, the administrators were unable to give more concrete responses.

Ms. Schultz agreed with one speaker who said that some classes at the District, such as honors algebra and honors geometry, are now somewhat segregated.

She also said, "We can agree that there's no research and no models for what we're trying to do."

Yet she said, "It's important for you to know that the decision comes after much research. We've not been as successful as we'd like....We came up with this program because we felt we needed to have a pilot, then replicate in other classrooms the strategies we learned."

D65's New Proposal for Location of TWI and African-centered Pilot

By Larry Gavin
School District 65 officials released their revised recommendations for the placement of the African-centered pilot program and three additional kindergarten classes for the Two-Way Immersion (TWI) program on Friday. The School Board was scheduled to discuss the proposed African-centered curriculum (ACC) and the administration's recommended locations for the ACC pilot and TWI last night, after this paper went to press.

The administration's current proposal is to establish two strands of the ACC pilot program at the K-2 grade levels in the 2006-07 school year, with one strand each at Oakton and Kingsley schools.

Currently there are five kindergarten TWI classes at four schools, two at Washington, and one each at Dawes, Dewey and Oakton. For the coming year, the administration is projecting a need for eight kindergarten TWI classes. The administration recommends that the three new classes be established at three new schools – Willard, Walker and Lincoln.

An alternative "Plan B" is to establish one strand of the African-centered curriculum at Oakton and one kindergarten TWI class at each of Walker, Willard and Kingsley schools.

The latest proposals drop a plan that would have essentially closed Oakton School as a neighborhood school and turned it into a school for two specialty programs, TWI and the African-centered pilot.

Oakton, Kingsley and Washington Schools
Under the latest proposal, Oakton School would become a "Language, Literacy and Cultural Center" and house one strand of the TWI program, one strand of the ACC program and one strand of the general education program at the K-2 grade levels. One strand of TWI and two or three strands of general education classes would continue at the upper grade levels.

To encourage a "cohesive school culture" at Oakton, which would have three different programs, the administration proposes that "conversational Spanish" be offered as part of the fine arts classes for students in general education and in the ACC program, and that "global studies" be infused in the general education classes. Every six weeks, students in all three programs would get together and share what they have learned. The rationale for these courses and the get-together is to "build bridges of understanding across cultures and programs."

At Kingsley School, the proposal envisions that the ACC program will become "a laboratory classroom where strategies, materials, and parent involvement activities can be developed and then shared with partner classrooms."

At Washington School, students who are not in the TWI program will receive one period of conversational Spanish per week as part of the fine arts rotation. "This class creates an enrichment opportunity for students in the general education classes and builds a bridge across languages and programs," says the proposal.

The administration recommends that all K-2 teachers at Oakton, Kingsley and Washington schools have common planning time at their schools and participate in the comprehensive literacy model proposed for the African-centered curriculum to improve reading skills of all students. That literacy model includes a strong phonics component and uses "balanced literacy" as the framework. Balanced literacy "incorporates all reading approaches realizing that students need to use multiple strategies to become proficient readers."

The administration believes the common planning time and participation in the literacy program will provide additional opportunities to build a cohesive program at the schools.

Next steps
The Board has scheduled community forums on March 13 and 14 to gather input and is expected to reach a decision at its next meeting.

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High School to Formalize Policies on Communication with Parents

By Jennie Berkson
As a result of a lawsuit filed against District 202 during the 2003-2004 school year, Evanston Township High School must develop and implement by March 15 formal policies and procedures to ensure timely and efficient communication with parents in the District who have limited English proficiency.

Assistant Superintendent Denise Martin, who presented the School Board with proposed policies and procedures at its Feb. 27 meeting, said the complaint arose from a sentence in a pamphlet from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund that was available in the Registrar's office and excerpted on the school's website. The pamphlet, entitled "Know Your Rights: a Guide to Enrolling Your Child in Illinois Public Schools" contained the statement, "We strongly recommend that you bring your own translator when enrolling your child in school if you do not speak English or if you have limited English language skills."

Ms. Martin said the person who filed the complaint believed this statement indicated the school required limited-English-speaking parents to provide their own translator, which is not accurate. The statement is no longer posted on the school's website.

"We were thought we were providing the pamphlet as a service, but unfortunately the message was misinterpreted," Ms. Martin said. She went on to explain that once the complaint was filed, the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) looked at all the policies and procedures concerning communications with parents with limited-English proficiency. They found those to be lacking, resulting in the newly required procedures.

The District has provided translators for parents when necessary and has translated many official documents into Spanish, the language spoken by most non-English families at ETHS. But the OCR found was that there was no formal system in place to identify parents with limited English proficiency, to ensure that they receive the services they need and to monitor the effectiveness of communications.

ETHS will notify all parents of the new policies and procedures, which they will implement over the next few months. They will include a notice to all students and parents that interpreter services are available to them at no cost. In addition, individuals will be able to identify themselves as a speaker of a language other than English. Every year, a list of limited-English-proficient parents will be assembled through self-identification and school personnel identification. In addition, core documents will be automatically translated into any language that is the primary language of 100 or more ETHS students.
In cases involving special education or disciplinary proceedings, documents will be translated into languages that have a smaller representation.
Annual training will apprise staff of their responsibilities with regard to limited-English- proficient students. The District has agreed to monitor its compliance with the new requirements.

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