Parents Threaten Boycott of State Tests Over Heterogeneous Grouping
Superintendent warns of consequences to schools if boycott moves forward at county schools.
Parents upset over heterogeneous grouping in classrooms have threatened to boycott standardized state testing as a way to make their point.
Grouping high- and low-performing students together in classrooms has become a battleground between parents and faculty for several months. On Wednesday, a group of these parents launched what they called a new initiative to get the board’s attention.
Karen Colburn, parent of a Central Middle School student, said she has helped to organize a group and obtained 400 signatures countywide opposed to heterogeneous grouping.
But even 1,000 signatures likely wouldn’t achieve the group's goal, she said. Instead, Colburn announced a new approach. They are spreading the word among parents to have their children opt out of taking the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) test.
“This action is the product of your inaction,” Colburn said at the meeting.
While the issue surfaced in the spring at Annapolis High School (AHS), parents became vocal against heterogeneous grouping over the summer. As the months went by, more and more parents became involved as they learned it was happening at their schools.
Gus Pollak, the parent of a student at Crofton Middle School, described how his 11-year-old child had a test read aloud to her by a teacher because some in the class couldn’t read. He said he understood the purpose of heterogeneous grouping, but that high-performing students shouldn’t suffer so low-performing ones can get ahead.
“A gap that wide is impossible to teach,” Pollak said.
It appears to be a practice occurring in several schools across the county, including Central Middle School, Crofton Middle School and Annapolis Middle School. And the list seems to be growing.
When asked how many schools are using the teaching method, Assistant Superintendent George Arlotto said there’s no easy way for the school system to track it internally. It is not a system-wide policy, but a decision by principals for their schools. Thus, it could be happening in many schools, he said.
Parent John Kolesar said boycotting the MSA was the group’s last card to play against the school system. He said his investigation into what was going on in his child’s classroom has only produced frustrating results, with some teachers being told not to comment on heterogeneous grouping.
Superintendent Kevin Maxwell said boycotting the MSA would be detrimental to schools. Federal No Child Left Behind standards require 95 percent testing participation at schools. Poor results could place a school below that threshold. Low-scoring schools are placed on a watch list until they improve. If they don’t bring their testing scores up, the state can intervene.
Board member Andrew Pruski, who works as Baltimore County schools’ supervisor of assessment, offered some more detail. He said it was up to parents whether their students participated in testing. But he was worried about the consequences. Particularly special-needs students, who depend on the testing data for accurate placement within the school system.
“It’s more than just the score. There are other things that are determined,” he said. “There are further ramifications.”
But some board members said parents were asking the board to go beyond their scope of duty. Board member Teresa Milio Birge said it wasn’t the board’s job to tell teachers what to do.
“Legally, our responsibility is to set policy. The superintendent runs the school system,” Birge said. “What you’re asking is not something the board can do.”
Board member Solon Webb replied to Birge, saying despite that, this was something the board should investigate further.
“What I’m hearing is symptomatic of something, and it bears investigation by this board,” he said.
Allen Kruger, the parent of two students at Central Middle, challenged the board to take a position, and not "hide" what’s going on at schools.
Kruger referenced an email correspondence he had with Board President Patricia Nalley in which she said no directive had been given to schools to implement heterogeneous grouping, and indicated that principals “are charged with, and responsible for, the scheduling of their buildings.”
“Some of you should have the guts to tell us what’s really going on, and none of you so far have done it,” Kruger said to a round of applause from the audience.
AHS principal Donald Lilley has made it known that he would like to implement heterogeneous grouping. It was scheduled to go into effect this school year but Lilley held off in May, saying he’d like more time to study its effectiveness and to gather the input of parents.
He has since said that he planned to write a letter to parents announcing his plans for heterogeneous grouping at AHS soon.
At Sept. 21’s school board meeting, the Annapolis Education Commission made a presentation indicating that parents were still skeptical of the grouping procedure. Jeff Macris, chairman of the AEC, said more positive proof of the method was needed before implementation.
“Parents want to see demonstrable proof that it can work in our local schools under Annapolis’ unique set of challenges and circumstances,” Macris said.
Parents interested in signing the petition can get more information here: http://www.change.org/petitions/patricia-nalley-pres-aac-board-of-education-halt-heterogeneous-classes-at-cms-until-further-study
Heather Macintosh
8:51 pm on Thursday, November 17, 2011
Parents do not enjoy having to stand against their schools to fight for sound education policies. Heterogenous Grouping is being forced on us in all grade levels. Capable and motivated students are losing out under this plan. It's not realistic to think any one teacher can successfully teach students of all different ability levels at one time. That's why education evolved from the one-room schoolhouse to smaller groups of kids working at the same pace.
Janet Norman
10:47 pm on Thursday, November 17, 2011
Excellent reporting by Patch! It was interesting to watch the board's reaction to this proposal of opting-out of MSAs. Other Board assertions were perplexing - that principals are essentially independent contractors w/ full decision making over their schools, who, miraculously, have all chosen to do this independently at the same moment. And that heterogeneous grouping was not a "policy" issue, therefore, the Board could not act. Lack of ownership and responsibility taken, which poisons the waters for conductive engagement with the school system's funders and clients, the taxpayers and families enrolled. And, worst of all, still no evidentiary basis for the HG decision, bad form for a system trying to teach children to be reasoned thinkers. Stall and ignore the parent groundswell seems to be the chosen response, which certainly isn't moving us "From Good to Great", in Dr. Maxwell's aspirations.
M French
12:31 pm on Friday, November 18, 2011
The School Board is placing the rating of the schools and their teachers above the educational benefits for the children. This method of heterogeneous teaching is detrimental to those students who are good achievers. I find it outrageous that this technique of teaching is accepted at all. If students can't keep up with other students, so be it. Their grades should reflect that. It's obvious to me that teachers are more concerned with their own standing, and fear losing their jobs if a certain percentage of their students are underachievers. I applaud the parents for standing up against this outrageous teaching technique in their schools. After all, their taxpayer money pays the salaries of these teachers and administrators, which, in my opinion are excessive . That's the result of pressure from the teacher's union which considers teachers salaries more important that the education of the students. Fight on parents - your children's education is at stake, which will affect their future employment opportunities and their interpersonall skills.!!! I would find out if there is a recall possibility agaisnt the school superintendents who approve this teaching method, through referrendum petitions to get the subject on the ballot in the next election. Check into it.
Kaolin
4:03 pm on Friday, November 18, 2011
Please clarify how you believe heterogeneous teaching is linked to a school's rating. The only way it could is if it's successful in raising the lower achieving students mastery of the material. But you think this is a bad thing?
Nick Z.
1:17 pm on Friday, November 18, 2011
My only concern is that a comes from this, "Gus Pollak, the parent of a student at Crofton Middle School, described how his 11-year-old child had a test read aloud to her by a teacher because some in the class couldn’t read."
A child in the 5th grade taking the MSA test should be able to at least read the test. I find it a greater failure of the school system that this student is in the 5th grade taking this test at all. I believe that a 5th grader should be at the 5th grade reading level, and if not, then the student should have repeated 4th grade, and so on. If there are mitigating circumstances regarding special needs, I completely understand, but any child with an IEP or 504 plan should be allowed special accommodations in a separate room.
Angie Carroll
3:01 pm on Friday, November 18, 2011
Thank you Patch for reporting what happens in the school system, good and not so good. I attended this meeting Wednesday night. There certainly was a hush that took over the room for a few seconds. Heterogeneous teaching does not effect my elementary-aged children (yet). Regardless, I applaud these parents and their efforts to be heard and respected. Since we don't elect our Board of Education, as 18 of 24 other Maryland school districts do, or our Superintendent (as other states do), nor can our elected County Councilmen or Executive make decisions in the school system, there is little recourse for parents and other concerned citizens to be recognized if the administration is unwilling. I hope that it doesn't come to an actual boycott. Good luck to all involved.
Amy Leahy
5:00 pm on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Angie, you are absolutely correct that since we do not elect our school board members and they are the ones that hire the superintendent, the parents have no power to effect the education of their kids. Now that the superintendent also completely controls the CAC (Citizens Advisory Committee) he has more control over the system without those pesky parents getting in the way. Add to this formula the fact that once the BOE gets it's chunk money from the county, they are free to spend as they sees fit without the taxpayers (as represented by the elected body; the County Council) having any control over that. I like the idea of a boycott, personally. Somehow the parents need to show their disapproval in a way that will have an impact and if that is resulted in a lower score for our school system, so be it.
James Hanrahan
5:17 pm on Friday, November 18, 2011
While all of this debate about heterogeneous grouping is going on, no one is getting any closer to solving the problem that heterogeneous grouping is supposed to solve - closing the performance gap. This is a daunting and complex issue. No simple business plan, or relatively easy to implement scheme, is going to provide a solution. Yet, so far, this is all the school system has had to offer. If they can't handle the easy stuff, like communicating with parents, how can they possibly handle the difficult problems? We need more creative leaders willing to work on making our schools more effective and our students more complete, educated and curious citizens.
Vague ideas won't do it. Modest changes won't do it. Avoiding difficult conversations about race and privilege won't do it.
We have to enlist thinkers outside the school system. The Annapolis Education Commission has got a great group of parents. They have shown that they are able to do serious work, but they can't do it on their own. This is a community issue. The performance gap begins outside the schools and will, somehow, have to be addressed outside the schools.
The quality of the schools has a direct impact on the future health of the county. We can't waste time on these ridiculous solutions that are designed to fail.
Amy Leahy
5:05 pm on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Agreed James. Every time the schools implement a new system designed to close the performance gap, it just gets worse. Do you think maybe it's because the schools really aren't equipped to take the place of good parenting and communities? We cannot legislate common sense and good parenting.
Karen Colburn
6:18 pm on Friday, November 18, 2011
I think it's important that low achievers don't get left out of this debate. Our 400 plus coalition of parents includes parents of IEP students who are struggling mightily with HG. Central Middle's AVID program just released its 1st marking period stats. AVID Coordinator Dot Arida poses the question: “What is going on here? Why are our grades so much lower than last year? We have 35 students on probation this quarter.” Finally we’re seeing what we’ve heard our kids talk about. Here’s the performance numbers for AVID students 1st quarter:
6th Grade: 13 students earned 19 Ds and 1 E
7th Grade: 28 students earned 44 Ds and 9 Es
8th Grade: 18 students earned 26 Ds and 4 Es
As I’ve said all along, HG is only as good as the differentiated instruction that supports it. And DI is very hard to do, as surveyed teachers concede. For those who think top performers are the only ones at risk with this initiative, think again.
John
12:31 pm on Saturday, November 19, 2011
Low achieving students are the reason this is a bad idea. When you separate the higher learners it gives the teacher a lot more time to focus and making sure other students have a firm grasp on concepts.
Karen Colburn
7:27 am on Monday, November 21, 2011
Dr. Maxwell, I challenge you to provide the parents of this county with a list of the elementary and middle schools that have been heterogeneously grouped this year. Please don't keep pretending that you have no idea. We know that you're tracking the numbers, especially the referral numbers, like a hawk. If you're so proud of this initiative, why won't you tell us which schools are doing it? I'm still getting emails from parents in schools around the county who are just NOW discovering that their classrooms have been heterogeneously grouped. Principals have been mum. Teachers are mum. Why won't this administration be forthright with parents? We demand a list of schools.
hmj
12:29 pm on Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The gap is a parenting gap. Better parents will produce better students. Enough with the social engineering in schools. Liberal loons and other special interest group stooges have done enough harm. Time for new leadership.
John
12:42 pm on Wednesday, November 23, 2011
It's the elephant in the room that no one's allowed to discuss. Would be surprised if this post didn't get deleted.
There are exceptions. Obviously there are children with handicaps. Some physical and some developmental. Others have smaller issues such as dyslexia which can impact grades. This is not what I'm talking about.
Overwhelmingly, you show me a poor student and I'll show you a parent who's not involved. I know many of them - personally. Homework is not checked, there's no reading program a home with the most popular excuse being "my child doesn't like to read." Well, isn't that a great lesson to be teaching your child - only do the things you like.
7 Oaks Mom
1:15 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
John, I agree. But does that mean we limit the opportunities for those children because their parents suck? Do we stick them in a room with other low achievers? Surely, they have no choice in the matter. Its ok to identify the problem - now lets find some solutions.
7 Oaks Mom
1:11 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
As an educator, I have to say that I do not understand why the parents in AA County are having such a hard time with this. Unless a student is truly gifted (2 years above grade level), then that child does not need to separated from his peers. Teachers CAN and DO differentiate instruction on a daily basis. If I am teaching multiplication, and 1/3 of my class know their facts - I will teach them double digit muliplying, while the on grade level group will work on their facts, and the below level group will work on their facts using math manipulatives. I have been teaching 12 years and have had no problem. The problem is that AA County has let this homogenous grouping go on for way to long and now parents feel some sense of entitlement to have their so-called high kids move into a group all of their own. Let me ask, if you kid was BELOW level, would you still be fighting this tooth and nail? Would you want your kid who is struggling in a class of all strugglers, so that there are in the "dumb" class? Lets be real. Hetero groups are the happy medium. Now, if students are way above their peers then yes, they may need to move out into a different class for reading or math or whatever, but, they can still enjoy the content areas and specials areas with their peers. Lets stop trying to isolate students and cause this whole "smart class vs. dumb class" stuff. ALSO, AACPS needs to put a lot of $ into training its teachers on how to differentiate instruction for ALL LEARNERS!
John
3:56 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
Yes, if my son was below level I'd want him to get as much attention as possible and absolutely would stand behind the brighter kids leaving the room.
And if these kids don't like the "dumb class" then certainly won't like something else when they get out of school called "life."
7 Oaks Mom
1:13 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
Its also funny to me how people who do not teach or have a degree in education can say what teachers can and cannot do with students in their classroom! Differentiation of Instruction is not a NEW thing. Its been around. Do your research parents!