A version of this story appears in TheDailyNorwalk.com
For the first time in Assistant Superintendent Tony Daddona’s 32-year Norwalk Public Schools career, no National Merit Scholar Semifinalists have been selected in the district for the upcoming year. Semifinalists are academically talented high school seniors, chosen from across the country, who receive the highest Preliminary SAT (PSAT) scores in their state. “There are usually a couple here,” says Daddona. “We are looking into possible reasons and evaluating the scores.”
Norwalk’s 2010 SAT scores were also announced earlier this month. Superintendent Susan Marks calls the below-state average scores “disappointing for all groups”. “This is directly related to the rigor of the curriculum,” says Marks. Marks is making "rigor", especially in middle school and high school, one of the hallmarks of her superintendent's tenure. She describes the scores from last year as her “baseline”.
This year, Norwalk’s cumulative score in math, verbal and writing is 1440. At Wednesday night’s PTO Council meeting, Marks said that 1650 out of 2400 is the SAT score needed to attend most state universities without remediation. According to Diane Filardo, the district’s testing specialist, there has no been significant improvement in math and verbal over the last couple of years. There has, however, been an upward trend in writing, according to Filardo. (See below for district and state 2010 SAT average scores.)
Daddona and Superintendent Marks say they are thinking of ways to address the performance on these tests, like having all 10th graders take the PSATs so schools will have information to help students focus on problem areas. In addition, Marks says she would like to incorporate SAT preparation during the high school day.
Across Connecticut, 230 National Merit Scholar Semifinalists are eligible to apply to become Finalists and receive scholarships. This year’s Semifinalists were selected based on their 2009 PSAT scores. Norwalk does have one National Merit Scholar Semi-finalist who is home schooled.
2010 SAT Scores
Norwalk State
Math 477 514
Verbal 478 507
Writing 485 513
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
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It's not like this is a longitudinal study. So one year of not having a National Merit semifinalist does not make a declining system...Let's not over-react. Dr. Marks needs to chill. Yes, the system needs work, but there must be something worth praising, Dr. Marks. Teachers have been working very hard in Norwalk. I would suggest not digging a large hole and throwing everyone in it.
ReplyDeleteA district this large in Connecticut shoud have some National Merit Scholars. The fact that we don't makes me question what the district is doing for the honor students. Are they being left behind?
ReplyDeleteOnce again, while I am not praising the system as a whole, let's not jump to conclusions because of one year's results. Have you seen today's newspaper? Norwalk's poverty levels have increased. Perhaps a changing population has something to do with test results?
ReplyDeleteLet's be reasonable and rational here, Dr. Marks. It's easy to speak to a crowd of parents who want to hear how Norwalk's teachers have not been doing their jobs correctly. Parents need someone to blame. Give Norwalk a chance to show its strengths too. We do have hard working people in the classrooms and, yes, even in central office!
First of all, I would like hard numbers on exactly how many semifinalists we've had the last five years. A few years ago, The Hour ran a feature on the several students in Norwalk who received "commendation" scores -- which is not even at the semifinalist level. At the time, I wondered why a district this size had no semifinalists.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would like to know how many finalists we've had; students who actually won the small but important scholarship. I know of rural districts in Delaware that have had both categories of Merit Scholars.
And perhaps we should begin to examine what percentage of our AP students receive passing grades, how many receive 3s, 4s and 5s. This, I believe, would shed considerable light on the issue of rigor, not only in middle and high school, but at the elementary level also. I found myself in a BOE discussion a couple years ago and it was revealed that in one of our AP science courses, not a single student received a passing grade the year before.
Does anyone out there remember a CO administrator of about 10 years ago, believe her name was Dr.Gray. All she talked about was "rigor" in the curriculum. Apparently, in the last few years that rigor has turned to "rigor mortis" as far as our Merit Scholars are concerned. Just seems that all these CO people know what buzzwords to put out there to appease the public. Let's see more "vigor" from the CO. Start with defining "rigor", because that term is sooooo edu-speak.
ReplyDeleteA city this size should have merit scholars or at least finalists.
ReplyDeleteThe bar has been set too low for our high schools students. Students in honors classes are told that NCC is always available to them. We are fortunate to have NCC in our community but we should be encouraging our students to push their limits and to attend the best schools possible.
Why is there such a disconnect between middle school and high school expectatons?
Why are simply "above average' underclassmen allowed to take AP classes? Are these kids ready for this rigor? Are the teachers prepared to teach the expected curriculum? Shouldn't these classes be for seniors who are truly capable of college level curriculum?
Kudos to Dr. Marks. I hope she is taking a careful look at our high schools They have long been overlooked. The elementary school parents yell the loudest regarding budget cuts...do these parents simply become worn out
by the time their kids enter high school?
Bruce: I asked Central Office for the numbers of National Merit Semi-Finalists and Finalists over the last few years, as a point of comparison for this article. I was referred to the high schools and haven't heard back from them. Regarding AP scores, I recently received data from the state about AP scores. Will post soon.
ReplyDeleteMoina, thank you and keep up the excellent work. It's really needed.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I didn't hear Dr. Marks blaming the teachers. She wants to make things better for our kids and improve the schools. That's more than any other Superintendant, interim or other, has proposed in some time.
ReplyDeleteShe has been hired because of her experience and vision for the NPS and it's up to the parents, kids, teachers and administrators to support that vision -- for our kids. She at least realizes we must do this collaboratively, so instead of bashing eachother lets work together -- for our kids.
Is having all of the 10th graders take the PSAT the most creative idea the department of curriculum and instruction is able to produce in order to improve SAT scores?
ReplyDeleteThe Strategic School Profile has the SAT data through the 2008-09 school year (it is always a year behind for some reason), and it includes the percentage of grade 12 students taking the exams, the percentage receiving passing grades, as well as the state averages for these data. The link: http://sdeportal.ct.gov/Cedar/WEB/ResearchandReports/SSPReports.aspx?type=SSP
Okay, to the folk(s) who love to bash the department of curriculum and instruction, I quote Daddona:
ReplyDelete“We are looking into possible reasons and evaluating the scores.”
Does that sound like there will be only one solution to this problem? STOP jumping to conclusions to make people look bad. The above statement is very reasonable and very rational.
To the person who said that Marks is not blaming the teachers....well, then who are you blaming? Teachers are in the direct line of fire, don't you think?
I agree that we should all band together to help the Norwalk students, but (1) we do have at least one person who is focused on destroying the curriculum department and (2) folks not understanding that more information has to be gathered before an attack is made.
2:41 - What you described isn't a solution . You're talking about discussions of the scores, not discussion of instruction. Any of us can look at and discuss the scores. People are PAID to improve instruction and to lead the improvement of instruction.
ReplyDelete3:32, you just don't get it. The scores need to be studied to find areas of weakness, strength...in other words, where curriculum has to be tweaked or changed. This is true at all levels of instruction. No one worth their salt jumps in and states that scores fell this one year, let's change the curriculum. The discussion of the improvement of instruction would obviously be deadly in your hands.
ReplyDeleteCurriculum is a set of documents. Instruction is the human part of the equation, and we're dealing with human interactions. My experience with this district's central administration has shown much more attention to curriculum than to instruction.
ReplyDeletePolish those new documents but don't worry about the teaching part. Those people in the classroom are called "teachers," after all, not "curriculists."
Yes, writing curriculum is up to central office. The delivery of the curriculum is the responsibility of the school administrator. It is the school administrator who evaluates whether the curriculum is being followed and how it is being followed. It is also the school administrator who directly observes weaknesses within a teacher's efforts and sends the teacher(s) to workshops that will support that particular teacher's needs. Central office also provides support through workshops. Perhaps you (10:31) are not aware of these, but I am.
ReplyDelete5:34 - Wait. The central office department is called the Department of Curriculum and INSTRUCTION. At the very least, it is responsible for providing sound leadership and professional development that will address the diverse instructional needs of Norwalk's students. I have never seen any such leadership. Also, the "instruction is not my job" attitude doesn't make the central office look good.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, that curriculum is written by teachers from the schools, not by the central office administrators.
Just as a dad of students not even close to high school, I'm just scratching my head that there doesn't seem to be any accountablity.
ReplyDeleteIn industry, we wouldn't look to the people on the assembly line if we had systemic problems with a product. We'd look at the engineers (for the schools, that's central office) and the quality control supervisors (that would be the principals).
Maybe Marks will eventually figure out that she inherited some low performing folks and will start to shake things up among the high school principals and her downtown team.
Are you aware that central office curriculum and instruction meetings are limited according to the teachers' contract? I believe each administrator in charge is allowed one meeting per half year for the same teachers. How do you suppose exposing teachers to approximately two meetings a year is going to achieve anything of importance. The school administrators believe that the professional development days need to be spent in the building, so that's for that. Again, everyone jumps to conclusions before they know the facts!
ReplyDeleteSounds like more excuses, 7:27. I have never before seen such expressions of helplessness by people who are handsomely paid to provide leadership. True leaders don't resort to such hand-wringing "woe is me" excuses.
ReplyDelete8:07, you have no idea what the reality is when union leaders meet with the superintendents on an ongoing basis to make sure the contract is being followed. Ask any central office person if they have been contacted by the union president about meetings they have held...and the contacts by the union are sometimes very aggressive. The superintendent is required to let the administrator know that the contract was not followed and that it must be followed to the letter of the law.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to call this behavior 'woe is me' behavior, I suggest you get a job as an administrator and try to hold your instructional meetings whenever you want!
If the administrators have their hands so tied, then they truly are ineffective, and so the district should save money by eliminating many of the positions.
ReplyDeleteNo, I am not the principal at Marvin.
ReplyDelete12:07, judge not that you shall not be judged!
You should not be placed in charge of anything!
Reason would dictate in this instance, that the union needs to be addressed here so that administrators can demand time for well planned staff development. Speak to your BOE members.
This is getting extremely catty. Let's get back to the basic question...The NPS has no National Merit Semifinalists....why??? The above exchange could come from a new movie entitled, "Dances With Administrators", and played out at any Norwalk school. Hello? Does anybody have any tangible solutions to this? One can only hope that Susan Marks is paying attention to all of this, because the kids are pretty much voiceless here, and, as always, need some folks to advocate for them. Time to unload anybody in this system, administrator or teacher, that is not kiducation friendly. Watch what happens at the end of this school year. Brings to mind another movie..."Exodus"!
ReplyDeleteWow... Let's get back to taking a careful look at our curriculum and its execution. This is not criticism but good business sense - and yes, good business sense is applicable to education.
ReplyDeleteWe need to set the bar high for our students - plain and simple.
What has happened over the years to the same school system that I graduated from which graduated many kids who were accepted to the Ivy Leagues? The bizarre thing is that our parents weren't able to give us all the extras that my generation manages to dole out to our children. We were really dependent on the school system for our success.
Breaking>>> Good news, somewhere, anyway; Hartford recieved 13 million Friday, Oct 1, 2010 from The U.S. Dept of Education for out reach "Student Success Centers" at high schools in coloboration with the Hartford P.A.L.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wfsb.com/news/25242121/detail.html
Way to go Hartford..
6:46, sounds like you graduated several years ago. What has happened? Have you looked at poverty levels in Norwalk and compared them since you graduated? Norwalk's poverty level is quite high now. It's no secret that poverty levels and test scores have a direct relationhip.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that we should set the bar lower, but this is occurring nationally. It's not just a Norwalk problem.
There is no question that the demographics and student needs have changed, and so that is all the more reason that the department of curriculum and instruction needs to focus on the delivery of instruction, not on the curriculum documents, which are largely a rehashing of elementary/middle level state GLEs and the high school state standards.
ReplyDeleteWe need central office people who know good instruction, preferably by having been excellent teachers themselves, and who can support teachers by providing high quality professional development.
I have been in positions of school leadership for many years, and I know that the central office in Norwalk has simply not addressed what is important, namely, the delivery of instruction. Instead of talking about how students have changed, about the impact of poverty on our scores, about those parents who don't provide quality support, we should be talking about what to do to resolve the problem.
Think of curriculum as a roadmap, a plan for reaching a destination. The plan doesn't get anyone to the destination; the instructional delivery does.
So if you have the answers, tell us how instruction needs to change. Specifically, what instruction is being done incorrectly and what needs to be changed. No one else in this country seems to have the answers, please let us in on the secret.
ReplyDeleteI find this pretty shocking, honestly. There are plenty of kids taking AP and honors classes at the high school level, and I really can't believe that not a one of them managed to slide into the Semifinalists category. And I'm more than a little horrified that NCC is held out as a possibility to AP and honors students - unless it's as a cheap starter school so they can have low tuition and then transfer to a more rigorous school.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the poverty level goes, 18.9% of Norwalk children live below the federal poverty level, according to the most recent census. Obviously that is distressing. However, that means that 80% of the kids live above it. Why are we aiming at the lowest common denominator?
11:13- so glad you asked about specific curriculum changes.
ReplyDeleteLet's put both high schools on the same schedule so that specialized staff can be shared between the two schools. This would be particularly good for AP courses where they might be a limited number of folks who can teach in those areas.
Let's require that every middle school follow the same program of rigor so that way all freshmen start w/ the same knowledge base. But that will also mean that we need to involve the high school principals in meeting wiht the middle school principals to assess how curriculum is moving forward.
We need to promote SAT prep among high school sophomores. Standardized tests are, in part, learned skills--- starting kids a year before they take a test that counts is a good start.
We need to hold principals accountable for CAP Tests-- high school scores were poor. The high school principals need to either own the failures or explain why the middle schools aren't preparing the kids well enough.
In terms of the English curriculum, there are too many choices for students to meet the fundamental requirement-- we need to adopt a single highly rigorous course for each year (with modifications depending upon level).
Being poor is an excuse. Kids need to be held to higher expectations in Norwalk. I suppose not speaking English is an excuse too. If parents are not reading the papers that come in their kids folders, are not up to speed on the expectations their teachers have and the kids are not doing their homework, then the responsibility lies with the parents. I have worked in my child's class so much, and it's pathetic to see how many kids do not do their homework. How do we reach the parents? If your kid is failing, or falling behind, look inward before blaming the teachers. I am not a teacher, just a parent who has a a difficult time managing to get my child to do homework.. it's TOUGH, man it's tough, EVERY DAY. But it has to be done and I will not stop and my child, btw, is doing very well in school because of the preparation and the family involvement. I don't believe the system is as fault (even though I would like to see current leadership tossed out to sea) as much as the parenting.
ReplyDeleteLisa, Seriously......there is a link between poverty and education - in many ways than u know. So some form of concentration or attention should be given to these poverty #s. When we talk about "the kids" we also mean those in the 18.9% bracket.
ReplyDeleteThe federal poverty level for a family of four is approximately $22,500. Can you imagine the strain that would put on a family here in lower Fairfield County? Trying to raise a family of four on twice that amount would be a challenge.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, we can only work on what we have: children from 8:30 until 3:00 every day. Those hours are what is within our control. As far as guidance from the curriculum department, I can't remember any within the last twenty years. I hope that with Dr. Marks, we might be getting some.
3:03pm, you make a lot of sense and kept on topic. It was a pleasure to read, good suggestions.
ReplyDeleteI am certain it is challenge to work in a community like Norwalk. Yes, it is difficult to sometimes engage parents(particularly those parents who did not do well in school themselves) but it is the children we must engage and many teachers are successful in doing just that. Many of these children, sometimes immigrant children, have a strong desire to do better than their parents and many are excelling. Norwalk has always had the "haves" and the "have nots".
ReplyDeleteThis issue still doesn't address the Merit scholar issue since I guess that many poverty level kids don't even take the PSATs. We need to take a hard look at our instruction at the middle school and high school level.
11:13 - You should be addressing your question to the people who get 6-figure salaries in the curriculum and instruction department. One of them makes close to $200,000 a year. If they can't answer the question, how does anyone justify their positions and their salaries? If, as you said, there is no solution because, "No one else in this country seems to have the answers," the district could be spending its money on teachers, teacher aides, technology, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last major initiative to improve teaching and learning in Norwalk? I can't recall.
Let me echo the point made about high school rigor.
ReplyDeleteLast year I read about a study that the Finance Committee did on the BOE to look at study halls when they were debating if high school teaching positions needed to be cut. I don't recall the exact numbers, but was shocked that there as many study halls as there were at the 2 larger high schools. Norwalk High's numbers were higher than BMHS.
If we take that time and offer SAT prep and study skills, don't you think we can help our kids develop the abilities needed to take standardized tests?
Reduce the plethora of 100K+ do-nothings in the central orifice.
ReplyDeleteIt was thought that the biggest bang for the buck was to seriously boost literacy and math initiatives in the elementary schools. Eventually this effort would show improved scores in the upper levels. Reading Recovery teachers were trained, Early Literacy dollars were spent on furnishing elementary libraries with up to date literature, Early Literacy teachers were hired. Staff development focused on grades K-3 teachers for ELIC training...summer school curriculum was changed to coordinate summer and after school instruction with school day instruction, a plethora of writing across the curriculum and other training took place as well....and there is more. But that's just in the language arts department. At the upper levels, the new curriculum was rewritten and new books were added for instruction in the middle schools and high schools. Staff development included incorporating more writing into the curriculum as well as other inservice training. Are you serious that no initiatives took place in the last several years?????????
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that there are more students in study halls at NHS than at BMHS because the NHS schedule requires a greater amount of staffing. Even though BMHS has a significantly larger enrollment, the two schools have comparable numbers of teachers, even with McMahon's CGS included.
ReplyDelete11:36- the important question for you is: did any of those curriculum-of-the-month programs under the Corda Adm. really work?
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the Cambridge Report, you'll see that they were critiqued for having no follow-through.
The question isn't were new programs introduced, the question should be were effective programs sustained?
The Reading Recovery teachers were eliminated because they were too costly. The Early Literacy Teachers are still around.The testing that was mentioned is still in effect. This all happened in spite of Corda. So, the answer to your question is that effective (and cost effective) programs were sustained. There is no such thing as a quick fix, though. These programs have to (1) be evaluated properly in the classroom, (2) be totally supported by the building administrators and (3)be given sufficient time for teachers to really learn how to implement a new program. I will say that building administrators have finally come around to realizing that these shifts in the delivery of curriculum are important. The main reason for that is because of State Dept. of Education's intervention. Seem that the No Child Left Behind testing did some good in Norwalk.
ReplyDeleteThe changes that 11:36 talked about certainly were not in the last couple of years. ELIC was a well intended but twice a month joke back in the mid 90s. No classroom follow up, no support from the administration, and nothing to use with students but a one size fits all commercial anthology. Believe me, I went through it.
ReplyDeleteReading Recovery was a wonderful concept, but would only address 4 or 5 grade one students at a time. Those teachers were eliminated eight or nine years ago. Many of them bumped out early literacy teacher/coaches. Some made good coaches; some are awful. We are still living with them.
Up to date libraries with Early Literacy money? That was ten or eleven years ago and it never quite reached 3rd grade. It was only a token by that time. Paperback leveled books, after a decade of daily use by 6, 7, and 8 year olds, are worn out and no longer up to date. Schools that had major enrollment increases, with new class sections, didn't get any funding for new materials. They've been left to patch that together on their own.
I don't know what you are talking about with '....a plethora....' of other language arts PD. Back at the schools, we have been trying for to do it on our own, with our own money, and very little support from the district. Part of this is due to being severely restricted by the NFT contract. Teachers aren't required to work past their contractual time. Imagine working in the business world, making $85,000 with great benefits, and refusing to work past 3:05.
What we need is a planned, district wide and district supported effort. Ongoing,quality training for all teachers of reading; capable coaches (not people in the spot because of seniority) in the classrooms supporting teachers daily; larger schools and poorer schools getting more resources; and a language arts instructional specialist coordinating the effort.
The ability to do real supervision and evaluation, holding teachers accountable who do not and will not change their practice, is essential. We look to the NFT to partner in this effort. We are looking to Dr. Marks to lead the way.