Opinions vary as Norwalk middle school redesign moves ahead

NORWALK, Conn. — It’s all good, according to two Norwalk middle school principals.

Not so much, three leaders of the teaching community caution.

The middle school redesign first announced by Norwalk Superintendent of Schools Steven Adamowski in December is moving forward. There was a Tuesday visit  to Norwalk by Bill Daggett, Ed. D., and a field trip to Hartford last week as part of the mechanisms for thoughtful study.

“I am here to challenge your assumptions,” Daggett said to the middle school redesign committee. “Do you expect, in the district, the technology to conform to your 20th century education system, or do you expect the school system to respond to the realities of the 21st century? It’s a tough question.”

Daggett, founder and chairman of the International Center for Leadership in Education, had already met with NPS Chief Academic Officer Michael Conner before issuing inspirational sentiments to the committee, and addressed some of his comment right to Conner.

“What you assess and report is what you value. I would swear when I looked at all your stuff all you value are test scores,” Daggett said.

But while Roton Middle School Principal Joseph Vellucci and Nathan Hale Middle School Principal Albert Sackey spoke with enthusiasm last week about plans at their schools, Norwalk Federation of Teachers (NFT) President Mary Yordon and Vice President Joe Giandurco stand by their reservations.

“Next year, I will be asked to teach social studies and science,” Giandurco said at last week’s Board of Education meeting. “I have never taught science before. Both subjects are developing new curricula and new standards using new textbooks and new materials. I will have less time to prepare for all of my classes and more to learn personally and even more to teach my students. More will be expected of myself and my colleagues without the proper professional development. I implore you … to listen to my input. Please, you are setting us up for educational chaos.”

“Teachers are dedicated to improving student achievement in Norwalk,” Yordon said in a Tuesday email to NancyOnNorwalk. “They have been working hard to implement changes in the system at every level. 90 minutes of math instruction was introduced at elementary this year, and block scheduling is being implemented at the high school next year, as well as the International Baccalaureate program and other big innovations. We have been enthusiastic and on board for many changes at every level. We see the need for change. We are interested in trying new ideas, as well as the need for more math time.  However, the rushed nature of the middle school redesign has created a great deal of anxiety, stress and confusion. Although some are enthusiastic and on board for elements of the redesign, many more are nervous, cautious, and waiting for details to emerge about what will be required of them next year, so they can begin to prepare for the new challenges.”

The concerns are out in the community as well.

“I have heard from a number of parents concerned about MS redesign,” Parent Teacher Organization Council (PTOC) President Michael J. Byrne said in an email. “I think the issues that surface most often revolve around ensuring proper transitioning of children from elementary school to middle school and caring for their developmental and social needs effectively at this vulnerable stage of life.  I think there is also a good deal of sympathy among parents for the NFT’s concern that school staff may be asked to teach subject areas in which they are not specialized. That said, there is clearly a need to address the precipitous decline in student performance between fifth and sixth grade and to examine cost per pupil, which is out of balance when compared with high school spending. These are issues that require attention.”

The middle school redesign is planned to begin next fall with the sixth-grade class, although details are not yet worked out.

Roton is planning to form three teams with two teachers on each team, and each teacher will teach two subjects, Vellucci said Thursday.

“These are teachers who are highly certified in their areas, that meet requirements to teach,” he said.

Roton is moving to block scheduling, and adding a math block, meaning two periods a day on the topic that research shows troubles Norwalk students the most, he said.

“One block will be English arts, one block will be math, one block will be social studies, 90 minutes every other day, and one block will be science, 90 minutes every other day,” Vellucci said. “Then they will still have their liberal arts two periods at the end of the day, like we have now, which is PE (physical education) health, foreign language and so on. That remains the same.”

The kids who are below grade level will receive interventions –  Reading 180 interventions and Math 180 interventions – and Encore programs are being looked at, Vellucci said. Surveys of incoming sixth-graders show that they are interested in Arabic, and Roton already offers French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese as a feeder to the Center for Global Studies, he said.

One such Encore program, Project Lead the Way, will give the kids a theme of being a medical detective; he said; a teacher will train at the Rochester Institute of Technology and come back ready to go this fall, and another teacher is excited about teaching the kids about gardening, he said.

“It really gives you a pretty good idea about what we are doing in grade six,” Vellucci said. “Honestly, my teachers are very interested in doing this. They seem to be very motivated and they really feel that it’s a good change for Roton. We are going to look for ways to provide the training that they need. Some of the teachers have never taught in a block. We have a couple of teachers that have taught math but not science before,” he said, seemingly contradicting his statement that the teachers are highly certified in their areas, and meet requirements to teach. “So we are going to provide them with all of the professional development that they need to be ready for the block.”

“From what I hear, all the teachers are very happy because they are going to get more math,” said Roton Parent’s Teacher Club President Margee Aldrich, who is on the middle school redesign committee, last week. “… Mr. Vellucci has it all worked out.”

All the teachers will be accredited, Aldrich said. “They can do a lot of co-teaching now… They can have people come in and help them. It’s going to be great for their students,” she said.

Nathan Hale has always had a traditional seven-period day, and, “What we are looking to do next is slightly similar and slightly different,” Sackey said Thursday.

It will still be in a block format with four periods, but double the math time, he said.

“We built in flexibility for science and social studies, where they can either determine that they need to have a 45-minute class and a 45- minute class, or they can determine that for one day they will have a lab, for example take the 90 minutes, and then the next day have the 90 minutes of flexibility where they can do both,” Sackey said. “That allows us to make sure the kids have all their related arts classes.”

But Nathan Hale will also be the pilot program for something “very new” – the Teach to One math program, Sackey said.

In a 90-minute period, time will be divided by thirds into one segment of direct instruction from a teacher, one segment of small group work and one segment of independent work, in a “very innovative, very personalized approach,” Sackey said.

“What I found very powerful about this program is that every single day, the kids are regrouped,” Sackey said.

At the end of each day, a child takes something akin to an “exit ticket,” which summarizes what they did in their class and makes an according plan for the next day, he said.

“How they perform on the exit ticket determines what the grouping they are going to be for the next day,” Sackey said. “The teachers are given plans at 4:30 every day based on the results from the exit slip. Lesson plans, they have the groupings. Each day the kids will know, you are going into direct instruction, you are going into a small group, you are going into independent work for the first 20 to 25 minutes, then it rotates.”

Changes will extend to seventh and eighth grade, he said.

“We are still going to be implementing a block format, but we are not necessarily going to be teaching in blocks,” Sackey said, explaining that the block scheduling helps to build in an additional period for enrichment or an intervention for every student in math and English.

A field trip last week to Hartford Trinity Science Magnet Academy helped provide direction, he said.

Board of Ed members also mentioned the visit as an inspiration at last week’s BoE meeting. Sackey said Trinity is ranked as one of the best magnet schools nationwide. While the school partners with Trinity College and Norwalk doesn’t have that opportunity, perhaps community partnerships could bring in similar Encore types of programs, Sackey said.

“A group already toured Hartford Trinity Science Magnet Academy and found wonderful things happening there,” Yordon said Monday. “We can learn from them, but we aren’t likely to achieve their level of success with the way we are approaching this. Teachers there aren’t doubling up subjects being taught. They had instructional coaches to help them develop the capacity to take the best advantage of block scheduling. We won’t have coaches. They have a beautiful modern facility that doesn’t resemble our schools, and access to Trinity College campus and faculty.”

Norwalk Association of School Administrators President Tony Ditrio, retiring this summer as principal of Kendall Elementary School,  expressed skepticism about having any meaningful, honest discourse about the changes.

“Talking with most people will not give you a true picture of the issues involved with the redesign,” Ditro said in a Tuesday email. “Most administrators are afraid to speak their minds when, if you do, you will probably get a letter of reprimand in your file. The system is being run by intimidation and is not open to different professional opinions or necessarily the facts.”

Yordon acknowledged the enthusiasm for elements of the redesign, but said more professional development is needed.

“At the middle school level, changes in teams, budgets, curriculum, subject assignments, grade assignments, and scheduling frameworks are contemplated,” Yordon wrote. “All at once and beginning this fall. No meaningful professional development has occurred for more than a handful of teachers in one building, and for the four teachers on the redesign committee. Some teachers have learned their tentative new assignments and schedules, but many do not yet know. We have not yet learned enough to know if the new schedules are correctly within the scope of our contract.  There are pockets of enthusiasm about certain elements, like block scheduling itself, or Teach to One Math at NHMS. However, many details remain overlooked or unknown that make the plans look hasty and sometimes even ill-considered. … We are committed to ramping up our ability to do what is required to achieve excellence. We are positive, adaptable, and highly capable teachers committed to student learning. Nonetheless, it will be a very difficult transition.”

This is a theme touched upon Tuesday by Daggett, whose ideas Adamowski has said will be a model for the redesign.

“Unless you make an enormous commitment to how you train your staff, I am here to tell you your redesign will not work,” Daggett said. “It’s not that you can drop (in) a new design, you’ve got to arm the adults with the skills to truly, truly be able to do it, and these are a separate set of skills than we all learned.”

Lisa Nuzzo, a Nathan Hale Middle School parent who ran unsuccessfully to get on the Board of Education last fall, is on the redesign committee.

“Walking into my first Committee meeting, I realized that everyone in the room was here to work hard and concentrate on why this Redesign would be beneficial to our Norwalk Public Schools,” Nuzzo said in a Monday email. “Week after week, we were given handouts to read and questions to answer. We worked in groups and had discussions as to what would make the most sense in order to bring about positive change to NPS. The redesign is the start of solving the biggest problem of NPS – closing the achievement gap and getting all of our students to a college-ready level.

“The roll-out of this program is aimed for September of 2016; however, some parents may think this is a short amount of time to incorporate something so large,” Nuzzo continued. “Not necessarily true. Principals and teachers are working together to get this done.  It is inevitable that the NPS has to change – it is inevitable that in order to close the achievement gap, change needs to occur sooner rather than later. Some of the committee took a trip to Hartford to the Hartford Magnet Middle School. This school implemented the redesign a few years ago and have seen amazing results in closing the achievement gap and giving students more opportunity to go to college.

“Will there be bumps in this road to higher achievement?  Absolutely.  Will there be changes that we’ll need to make to fit our students’ needs?  Definitely. Am I supporting this well-worth redesign, in order to give all of our NPS students opportunities to succeed and go off to college?  I certainly am.”

“Any kind of change is always going to be a level of stress,” Sackey said, when asked why some are fighting the redesign.

Again, he’s high on the Teach to One math program.

“This wouldn’t have been something that coming into next year probably wouldn’t have come up or been discussed if we hadn’t gone into middle school redesign,” Sackey said.

“Honestly, my teachers are very interested in doing this,” Vellucci said Thursday. “They seem to be very motivated and they really feel that it’s a good change for Roton. We are going to look for ways to provide the training that they need. Some of the teachers have never taught in a block. We have a couple of teachers that have taught math but not science before. So we are going to provide them with all of the professional development that they need to be ready for the block.”

Conner and Adamowski have great ideas, Aldrich, the PTC president said, concluding, “I think it’s going to be a home run.”