Response from Ed Hughes
(1) Do you think Advanced Learning is adequately included in the district priorities detailed in the Strategic Framework and School Improvement Plan processes?
If so, where do you see it?
If not, why isn’t it included?
I think it is helpful first to provide some general background and then respond to the specific questions.
There has been more progress made over the past three years in recognizing the needs of advanced learners than in the prior six years I have served on the School Board. Importantly, this has included a shift from focusing on ensuring that all students reach proficiency to a focus on all learners being appropriately challenged, no matter what their starting point. As an outgrowth of this change in emphasis, we have begun breaking out Advanced Learners as a separate student subgroup (along with English Language Learners and Students with Disabilities) in our analyses and reporting on student progress.
The school district is now devoting significantly more resources to meeting the needs of advanced learners. We currently have 21 advanced learning instructional resource teachers. They are now assigned to specific schools so that they can more effectively work as part of the individual school community.
The school district has also adopted a more structured approach to meeting the needs of advanced learners. Students are categorized into three tiers based on their level of need for additional challenges. According to the Executive Summary of our Advanced Learning Department Evaluation: “Advanced learners in Tier 1 are receiving differentiated instruction in about half of the schools, where they most often are in cluster or homogeneous groupings in reading or mathematics. . . Advanced learners in Tier 2 are receiving a broad array of supplemental programs. Advanced learners in Tier 3 are receiving partial or full curriculum replacement.” We need to make sure that appropriate differentiated instruction is taking place in all our schools, not just half, a point I raised at our recent School Board meeting that addressed our progress serving advanced learners.
I am excited about the school district’s new Director of Advanced Learning, Dr. Ethan Netterstrom. He will be starting work the day before the April 4 election (which is the timeframe we candidates are thinking about these days). While I have not yet met him, I’m told that Dr. Netterstrom has spent the past eight years as the Principal of Skinner North Classical School, a K-8 Gifted School of more than 500 students in the Chicago Public School District. (CPS) Skinner North was just awarded a Blue Ribbon of Excellence and Dr. Netterstrom was selected as a distinguished principal fellow in CPS. He mentors CPS principals and also designs and delivers principal professional development. Dr. Netterstrom will lead the school district’s work that emerges from the Advanced Learning External Evaluation and as well as the development of a revised Advanced Learner Plan.
Moving on to the specific questions, the first priority area identified in the school district’s Strategic Framework is coherent instruction. One of the key actions called out to advance coherent instruction is expanding access to a continuum of high-quality services and programs for advanced learners. The identified step for the 2016-17 school year is engaging in an external review of the Advanced Learning Department aimed at increasing access for students and improving quality of services and developing a revised Advanced Learning Plan.
The second Strategic Framework priority area is Personalized Pathways. I think the school district’s curriculum work around Personalized Pathways could benefit from additional scrutiny to make sure that the approach adequately serves the needs of advanced learners, including those who intend to apply to highly selective colleges.
In addition, the district’s enhanced use of data to monitor progress of advanced learners supports the fifth priority area, accountability. Also, the district’s Technology Plan calls for the use of Madison Virtual Campus (MVC) and online adaptive curricular resources to better serve the needs of advanced learners.
The needs of advanced learners tend to be reflected in school improvement plans in specified goals for access to a challenging and well-rounded education. I recognize that these goals tend to be more meaningful for middle and high schools than for elementary schools.
(2) How should the district invest time and resources to meet the instructional needs of students who could benefit from challenge above grade level standards while continuing the critical work of helping other students reach grade level proficiency? Will you make this a priority for our district if elected?
It is critical that we provide all our students, including our advanced learners, with an engaging curriculum that provides them with the appropriate level of challenge. I have and will continue to be a strong advocate for this principle as a School Board member.
I have few other thoughts on meeting the needs of advanced learners. First, I support clustering to the maximum extent feasible in our classrooms. I think this assists our teachers in providing effective differentiation. In addition, I think our advanced learners are motivated by and learn quite a bit from their peers. Their friends will recommend good books, share their excitement about new discoveries, and expose them to new ideas. We need to encourage this type of mutual inspiration and support.
Second, the type of thriving schools we are working to develop benefit all out students, including our advanced learners. As I have written elsewhere, we want a coherent, consistent and challenging curriculum. We want a culture of excellence and equity that nurtures a sense of belonging for all our students. We want orderly classrooms and engaging lessons. We want a computer in the hands of each of our students so that teachers can more effectively differentiate their lessons to meet the needs of students who are ahead as well as behind.
The last point warrants some explanation. I recently visited Shorewood and Gompers Elementary Schools. Each is among the six of out “G1” schools that were the first to provide their students with Chromebooks as part of our Technology Plan. I asked teachers at the schools whether the individual devices were worth the investment.
The teachers I spoke with responded with a resounding yes. Among other advantages, the devices allowed them to differentiate the classroom experience more effectively. For example, a Gompers teacher talked about using the devices in math class. She’d divide the class into three groups. She would work with one group for some important one-on-one and small group instruction. A second group would be using manipulatives and other traditional aids to assist in learning math concepts. The third group would be working with their devices, with a math app that provided each student with the appropriate level of challenge, based on the student’s current skill level. Of course, on different days the students would be in different groups.
This illustrates my final point, which is that we cannot overlook the critical role of our classroom teachers in meeting the needs of all our students, including advanced learners. I still remember how my daughter’s fifth grade teacher off-handedly asked her one time if she’d help the teacher by reading several books the teacher was thinking of assigning to the class and letting her know which one my daughter thought would be best.
Our best teachers are acutely attuned to the needs of all their students and continuously and seamlessly weave these sorts of micro-interventions into their teaching. They are also our best resource for identifying promising students from underrepresented populations who may not previously have been encouraged to see their own potential as advanced learners. Our focus on system-wide goals and plans is important and necessary, but we should not lose sight of the important work that goes on in each classroom in the district.
(1) Do you think Advanced Learning is adequately included in the district priorities detailed in the Strategic Framework and School Improvement Plan processes?
If so, where do you see it?
If not, why isn’t it included?
I think it is helpful first to provide some general background and then respond to the specific questions.
There has been more progress made over the past three years in recognizing the needs of advanced learners than in the prior six years I have served on the School Board. Importantly, this has included a shift from focusing on ensuring that all students reach proficiency to a focus on all learners being appropriately challenged, no matter what their starting point. As an outgrowth of this change in emphasis, we have begun breaking out Advanced Learners as a separate student subgroup (along with English Language Learners and Students with Disabilities) in our analyses and reporting on student progress.
The school district is now devoting significantly more resources to meeting the needs of advanced learners. We currently have 21 advanced learning instructional resource teachers. They are now assigned to specific schools so that they can more effectively work as part of the individual school community.
The school district has also adopted a more structured approach to meeting the needs of advanced learners. Students are categorized into three tiers based on their level of need for additional challenges. According to the Executive Summary of our Advanced Learning Department Evaluation: “Advanced learners in Tier 1 are receiving differentiated instruction in about half of the schools, where they most often are in cluster or homogeneous groupings in reading or mathematics. . . Advanced learners in Tier 2 are receiving a broad array of supplemental programs. Advanced learners in Tier 3 are receiving partial or full curriculum replacement.” We need to make sure that appropriate differentiated instruction is taking place in all our schools, not just half, a point I raised at our recent School Board meeting that addressed our progress serving advanced learners.
I am excited about the school district’s new Director of Advanced Learning, Dr. Ethan Netterstrom. He will be starting work the day before the April 4 election (which is the timeframe we candidates are thinking about these days). While I have not yet met him, I’m told that Dr. Netterstrom has spent the past eight years as the Principal of Skinner North Classical School, a K-8 Gifted School of more than 500 students in the Chicago Public School District. (CPS) Skinner North was just awarded a Blue Ribbon of Excellence and Dr. Netterstrom was selected as a distinguished principal fellow in CPS. He mentors CPS principals and also designs and delivers principal professional development. Dr. Netterstrom will lead the school district’s work that emerges from the Advanced Learning External Evaluation and as well as the development of a revised Advanced Learner Plan.
Moving on to the specific questions, the first priority area identified in the school district’s Strategic Framework is coherent instruction. One of the key actions called out to advance coherent instruction is expanding access to a continuum of high-quality services and programs for advanced learners. The identified step for the 2016-17 school year is engaging in an external review of the Advanced Learning Department aimed at increasing access for students and improving quality of services and developing a revised Advanced Learning Plan.
The second Strategic Framework priority area is Personalized Pathways. I think the school district’s curriculum work around Personalized Pathways could benefit from additional scrutiny to make sure that the approach adequately serves the needs of advanced learners, including those who intend to apply to highly selective colleges.
In addition, the district’s enhanced use of data to monitor progress of advanced learners supports the fifth priority area, accountability. Also, the district’s Technology Plan calls for the use of Madison Virtual Campus (MVC) and online adaptive curricular resources to better serve the needs of advanced learners.
The needs of advanced learners tend to be reflected in school improvement plans in specified goals for access to a challenging and well-rounded education. I recognize that these goals tend to be more meaningful for middle and high schools than for elementary schools.
(2) How should the district invest time and resources to meet the instructional needs of students who could benefit from challenge above grade level standards while continuing the critical work of helping other students reach grade level proficiency? Will you make this a priority for our district if elected?
It is critical that we provide all our students, including our advanced learners, with an engaging curriculum that provides them with the appropriate level of challenge. I have and will continue to be a strong advocate for this principle as a School Board member.
I have few other thoughts on meeting the needs of advanced learners. First, I support clustering to the maximum extent feasible in our classrooms. I think this assists our teachers in providing effective differentiation. In addition, I think our advanced learners are motivated by and learn quite a bit from their peers. Their friends will recommend good books, share their excitement about new discoveries, and expose them to new ideas. We need to encourage this type of mutual inspiration and support.
Second, the type of thriving schools we are working to develop benefit all out students, including our advanced learners. As I have written elsewhere, we want a coherent, consistent and challenging curriculum. We want a culture of excellence and equity that nurtures a sense of belonging for all our students. We want orderly classrooms and engaging lessons. We want a computer in the hands of each of our students so that teachers can more effectively differentiate their lessons to meet the needs of students who are ahead as well as behind.
The last point warrants some explanation. I recently visited Shorewood and Gompers Elementary Schools. Each is among the six of out “G1” schools that were the first to provide their students with Chromebooks as part of our Technology Plan. I asked teachers at the schools whether the individual devices were worth the investment.
The teachers I spoke with responded with a resounding yes. Among other advantages, the devices allowed them to differentiate the classroom experience more effectively. For example, a Gompers teacher talked about using the devices in math class. She’d divide the class into three groups. She would work with one group for some important one-on-one and small group instruction. A second group would be using manipulatives and other traditional aids to assist in learning math concepts. The third group would be working with their devices, with a math app that provided each student with the appropriate level of challenge, based on the student’s current skill level. Of course, on different days the students would be in different groups.
This illustrates my final point, which is that we cannot overlook the critical role of our classroom teachers in meeting the needs of all our students, including advanced learners. I still remember how my daughter’s fifth grade teacher off-handedly asked her one time if she’d help the teacher by reading several books the teacher was thinking of assigning to the class and letting her know which one my daughter thought would be best.
Our best teachers are acutely attuned to the needs of all their students and continuously and seamlessly weave these sorts of micro-interventions into their teaching. They are also our best resource for identifying promising students from underrepresented populations who may not previously have been encouraged to see their own potential as advanced learners. Our focus on system-wide goals and plans is important and necessary, but we should not lose sight of the important work that goes on in each classroom in the district.