It was a long meeting. The School Committee covered three important issues and after sitting on the agenda for over a month they finally gave Superintendent Gormley her evaluation, which with luck will not be done this way again.
Gormley’s evaluation came toward the end of the session. Each member of the committee spoke to Gormley’s performance and they were uniformly positive in their critiques. Ms. Padera said Gormley’s dedication made her a”force.” Sheridan said, “You lead by example. . . Thank you for a job well done.” Ms. Kelly physically applauded her fellow members comments and added, “I can only aspire to be the example you set.” Mr. Walker agreed “with everything that has been said . . . energy is extraordinary. . . [you have] an unwavering commitment to every student in the system.” He was critical of NEASC response. According to Walker it lacked a clearly articulated strategy. He also felt more attention needed to be put against the achievement gap that exists between African-American students and the rest of the school population. (Note: This was discussed in the context of MCAS results also. That will be covered in a second post.)
Chairman Pavlicek prefaced the evaluation by saying that this would be the last year it would be done this way. The state is working on a new evaluation methodology. Mr. Pavlicek will summarize the comments and formulate a written evaluation to be reviewed at a future meeting.
James Jette, Principal of Milton High School, gave an update on the status of the school’s response to NEASC recommendations. The “recommendations” as they are called are items that need to be addressed by the school. Jette noted that by February 1 the school was required to send in a progress report that:
- Addresses how the school will develop and implement a plan for “regular review, evaluation, an revision of the curriculum that ensures it is aligned with 21st Century learning expectations
- Identify which department assumes responsibility for teaching and assessing school wide 1st Century Learning Expectations
- Provide teachers with increased formal structured time to collaborate within and across content areas.
- Ensure that prior to each unit teachers communicate the school’s applicable 21st C Learning Expectations as well as related unit goals
- Ensure that every student is enrolled in a minimum of 1 heterogeneously grouped core course
21st Century learning expectations are core to NEASC. What are they? Jette outlined them. They included but were not limited to:
- effectively applying critical thinking skills to solve problems
- effective visual, oral, technological and written communication
- a demonstrated understanding and respect for diversity of ideas, cultures, and lifestyles in school and beyond
These were “derived from a crosswalk of the North Central Regional Education Lab (NCREL), the International Society of Technology Education, and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
The acronyms and educational jargon were at times enough to make one’s head hurt. The net of this is that the school is on track to respond to NEASC. Key to this was finding time for faculty to collaborate and discuss how to measure success and improve instruction. This was enabled by a vote of the school committee at an earlier session that provided for early release days. This provides the collaborative time teachers need to address the issues.