Adams-Cheshire Reviews Report Card
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Adams Memorial Middle School Principal Kimberly Roberts-Morandi and Hoosac Valley High School Principal Henry Duval detailed the best and the worst of their schools for the School Committee on Monday night at the high school.
The reports mark the completion of a self-assessment undertaken last year to measure the effectiveness of their programs and set benchmarks for their progress.
"I think we fared pretty well," said Roberts-Morandi of the middle school's study findings.
Out of 15 indicators chosen based on recurring themes observed in school, the middle school only named two criteria – "Appropriateness of in-classroom work to student and district goals" and "Social adjustment to the middle school years is conducive to achievement and safety" - as areas of strength. Six were listed as areas of weakness, six as mixed performance and one as a "fair amount of strength" ("a strong connection to the idea of serving their community will assist students in their assimilation to adult life").
Roberts-Morandi named poor building conditions and inadequate space for learning, a shortage of classroom time exacerbated by frequent interruptions, a lack of student preparedness and poor student attitudes as detriments to a more positive assessment.
"Only 49.8 percent of students like being in school. They like lunch and recess but they don't like having to perform in the classroom," she said, noting that 73.1 percent said their teachers respected them but only 37.1 percent respected their teachers.
On a positive note, the middle school scored highest in areas related to teacher-student contact. According to student surveys, 70 percent of students said they felt that they had a teacher who is a positive role model and other sources indicated that teachers' instructional methods promoted heightened interest and facilitated comprehension of the material. Roberts-Morandi said engaging students was crucial to continued success.
With twice as many outreach and community service activities incorporated into the curriculum this year, as compared to last year, Roberts-Morandi said she was proud of her students' volunteer efforts.
"Our kids are doing great work. They're out there in the community and making a difference," she said.
The final report was a result of a 10-month period in 2007 during which data was collected from various sources, including teacher, parent and student surveys, standardized test scores, behavioral and attendance reports, faculty discussions and classroom observations.
Roberts-Morandi said her assessment was motivated by constantly asking the question – "How do you know?"
"We have to know where the proof is to our claims. Are we doing well on test scores? Yes. How do we know? Do we engage our students in after-school activities? Yes. How do we know?" she explained.
In response to the results, School Committee members and Superintendent Alfred W. Skrocki said they hoped the benchmarks would be used to identify specific goals for improvement.
"The next difficult step will be the prioritization. What are we going to accomplish and how meaningful will those accomplishments be when we achieve them?" asked Skrocki.
"Now we have an idea of where we need to improve and this assessment will drive us for the next few years," Roberts-Morandi said, adding that she was unsure if middle school would undergo another assessment in 2008.
High School Highlights
Duval condensed his 27-page report into a comprehensive presentation of Hoosac Valley High's seven areas of strength and 10 areas of future focus. High student achievement in Advanced Placement courses and arts-related activities are complemented by quality instruction from highly qualified teachers, according to the assessment, but factors like scheduling and time spent on learning can negatively affect students.
One of the biggest challenges, Duval said, was preparing freshmen for the rigors of high school. This year, in an attempt to address this concern, students were given special instruction in note-taking and were required to keep an agenda for the first quarter. Yet, more freshmen than ever before failed courses in the year's first quarter.
"We don't know why that is yet. Grades close this Friday and we'll see how it goes with the second quarter," Duval said.
With the third-lowest graduation rate in the county (at 81 percent), the high school is looking to decrease that number by both encouraging students in danger of dropping out to stay and by developing a high school planning program. Though many of the nongraduates are out-of-district transfers or at-risk youths, Duval said he is committed to getting them into programs geared toward aiding struggling students.
"How do we keep these kids?" he asked.
Another major issue facing Hoosac Valley is the distractions that cut down on classroom learning. With seven daily periods at 47 minutes each, teachers reported wasting several minutes each period on administrative duties or class preparation time.
"A few minutes here or there doesn't seem like much until you realize that wasting five minutes per day in a class that meets 180 days a year results in 900 minutes, or 15 hours, of lost instruction over the course of a school year," Duval said.
Duval also said he hopes to incorporate more technology into the classroom, expand science offerings, raise awareness about student harassment to avoid bullying issues and reach out to alumni to gauge the effectiveness of the school's programs.
"We are hopefully making some strides to see how our kids are doing in college, how they're doing in the workplace. Did we prepare them?" he said.
Hoosac Valley's program assessment will be used to address those areas of concern this spring in the school's improvement plan.
For more information about the school district: www.acrsd.net/
