Music, Art & MCAS

It's been an interesting week! This week, waiting for the buses at the end of the day, I have loved watching the fourth graders with their new instruments! Having just had their first lesson, they can't resist opening the case, looking at the shiny, beautiful instrument, and showing it to their friends. It's an exciting time for them, an opportunity to begin something that can give them a lifetime of joy. Meanwhile, inside the school, appearing on the bulletin boards and walls, are more and more wonderful contour drawings of backpacks and jackets, part of an art project related to Andrew Clements' book The Jacket, which we are all reading as part of this fall's "One School, One Read" project. Our students are studying the illustrations in the book, thinking about how they relate to the story, and learning to produce beautiful drawings themselves -- another beginning of something that can give them a lifetime of joy. Whether our students become proficient musicians or artists, or simply learn to appreciate it and enjoy it, the arts I believe are a fundamental part of a good education for a good life, and I love watching our students exploring, learning, and enjoying music and art.

Also this week we received our students' MCAS scores from last spring, which focus primarily on two areas of learning -- math and English language arts. (Fifth graders are also tested on science knowledge.) As always, our students did well on the tests, but there have been some changes this year which make it more difficult to use the tests as a diagnostic tool. The most significant change is that the state is no longer releasing all the test items. This is understandable in these days of budget difficulties, but it makes it difficult to use the tests to help students or our school improve. An example from this past week was a question I received from a parent asking why her child received a "needs improvement" on the 3rd grade ELA test despite answering all items other than one correctly. After investigation, I found that most of the child's incorrect answers had been on items that were not being released. To make it even more confusing, the parent report includes only the 13 released items, and does not indicate the 29 unreleased items. Unfortunately, we cannot look at the questions that this child answered incorrectly and analyze what help, if any is needed. It's also worth noting that changes in the "cut scores" this year have also changed the percentage of students in the "needs improvement" category, particularly on the 4th grade math test. Please do call if you have particular questions, and please also be aware that these tests are difficult and are intended primarily as benchmarks or diagnostic tools in the years prior to high school.

Looking back on the week, and thinking about the opportunities we provide for our students, I would say, as always, that we need to pay attention to the results of the testing, but make sure that we maintain a balance, and continue to provide those elements of an excellent education, such as the arts, that may not be tested, but that nevertheless are important parts of a well-rounded education.

A Good Beginning

As you know, we've now been in school for about two weeks, and last week was the Neary School Curriculum Night. We had an excellent turnout for that, as we did for the Welcome Back Ice Cream Social during the first week of school -- thank you to all of you who attended, and a huge thank you to the Neary SOS for their work on making both events go so well! It seems to me that we've had a good beginning of school, both in terms of the work that our teachers are doing with our students and in terms of the home-school partnership between parents and teachers. I truly do think, as I said on Curriculum Night, that there is no problem that we can't solve if we work together. Whatever the issue, if we talk to each other, and listen with the intent of understanding, we can find a solution.

Along these lines, one of our goals this year is to work on helping students treat each other well, and we have a variety of approaches that we are using to help them learn good communication skills, treat each other well, and stand up for what they know is right. One new project this year that I'm sure you have heard about is our "One School, One Read" project in which all students and teachers are reading Andrew Clement's book The Jacket. We began this project last Thursday (September 10th) with a "reader's theatre" presentation of the first chapter for the whole school, which I think the students enjoyed. Every student received a copy of the book, and teachers are continuing to read the book in their classes. On September 30th, we have another special event, Community Read Day, during which readers from the community come into classrooms and read to our students -- this year, they will be reading a portion of The Jacket. If you haven't yet talked to your child about the book and asked his/her opinion, I would encourage you to do so. One important theme in the book is standing up for what one believes is right, and students will be discussing this theme in their classes. Finally, on October 14th, Andrew Clements is going to be visiting both our school and Woodward (Woodward students are reading Frindle this fall), and our students will have a chance to hear his thoughts about the book. This is an exciting project, and one which I think will further our students' growth in many different ways. As an aside, I have been reading many of Andrew Clements' books recently, and two others that I have particularly enjoyed and would recommend are No Talking and Extra Credit.

Finally, speaking of our students, I have to note that this past Friday (Sept. 18th) I did congratulate them on their before-school behavior on the playground. I have seen our students playing and having fun, but in an appropriate manner, including others and playing in a way that's safe. That has certainly contributed to our good beginning, and I hope it continues.