1. What is your opinion on early release days?
I do not believe that early release days should be required. Learning time is critical to our children and a regular and predictable schedule is critical to our parents. Non-classroom work time is required by teachers to effectively perform their jobs, but school districts around the country accommodate this need without the increasing patchwork of early release days used in Newton in addition to the weekly early release on Tuesdays.
I have heard laments from our curriculum coordinators and from parents that we are unable to cover the material in the State Frameworks as well asadditional topics which we value in the time we have. Each reduction in time spent in art, music and physical education to allow more time for “core subjects” saddens me and reduces our ability to educate the whole child. Even passing time has been squeezed to the point where a stop in the rest room causes students to be late to their next class.
We need to reassess how we manage learning time in Newton. Early release days, while well intentioned, are not serving our most important constituents (the students) well.
2. Do you support academic ability grouping, even if it means groups of students may move through the curriculum at different speeds?
Yes. At all times every student deserves the best educational experience we can give them – whether that is students requiring extra accommodation or students who are advanced. Forcing any student into an inappropriate pace of learning will impede their potential progress. We should be willing to "track" or "group" as needed and should be much more willing to allow grade-skipping, either subject-by-subject or in whole when the student is shown to be academically ready.
The decision on what level each student is ready to tackle is ultimately up to those closest to their learning – their teachers. However there are policies and guidelines that can influence the weighting of social over academic concerns. In my opinion the school should optimize for academic achievement and if parents have a concern about the social aspects of tracking or acceleration they should have the opportunity to review those concerns with their children’s teachers.
Differentiated learning within the same classroom can also be an effective strategy, but over time this places an enormous burden on the teacher and as a long-term solution is not providing the most complete learning environment for the student.
3. Have you read the Citizen Advisory Group's School Cost Structure Report? If so, how would you see School Leaders and the School Committee creating "a blue print that clearly outlines what is essential to maintaining a high quality educational system"? According to the CAG this blue print would require leaders to "make difficult decisions about the desirable and the essential."* Would you support student user fees to maintain access to "desirable" school services?
(*School Cost Structure Report, City of Newton, Citizen Advisory Group, January 20, 2009, page 38, available at: http://www.ci.newton.ma.us/CitizenAdvisoryGroup/2009/01-20-09CAGDraftSchoolCostStructure.pdf)
I am generally against user fees. If given the choice between the complete absence of "desirable" school services or those services partially supported through user fees, I would reluctantly support user fees. This is a slippery slope and we must guard against the temptation of this as an easy solution.
I read the CAG report and attended League of Women Voter's CAG forum. The report was well reasoned, provided essential information and insightful analysis. Our challenges are complex. The CAG raised many valid concerns. We would do well to heed their warnings.
One of the primary responsibilities of the School Committee is arriving at and articulating the priorities of the school system. The School Committee and our community must focus on describing a vital few visionary, specific and measurable goals. The goals that I have proposed are listed below. For details on why I selected these goals and how I would measure progress against them, please see my blog at www.danforward4sc.org. It will be a challenging process to reach consensus across the community on our goals, but one well worth the effort.
Vision/Goals
#1 – NPS returns to the top ten nationally recognized public school systems
#2 – NPS operates in a fiscally sound/sustainable manner
#3 – NPS has a special education program that meets the needs of all students
#4 – NPS returns focus to Neighborhood Schools
#5 – NPS encourages and nurtures innovation
I do not believe that early release days should be required. Learning time is critical to our children and a regular and predictable schedule is critical to our parents. Non-classroom work time is required by teachers to effectively perform their jobs, but school districts around the country accommodate this need without the increasing patchwork of early release days used in Newton in addition to the weekly early release on Tuesdays.
I have heard laments from our curriculum coordinators and from parents that we are unable to cover the material in the State Frameworks as well asadditional topics which we value in the time we have. Each reduction in time spent in art, music and physical education to allow more time for “core subjects” saddens me and reduces our ability to educate the whole child. Even passing time has been squeezed to the point where a stop in the rest room causes students to be late to their next class.
We need to reassess how we manage learning time in Newton. Early release days, while well intentioned, are not serving our most important constituents (the students) well.
2. Do you support academic ability grouping, even if it means groups of students may move through the curriculum at different speeds?
Yes. At all times every student deserves the best educational experience we can give them – whether that is students requiring extra accommodation or students who are advanced. Forcing any student into an inappropriate pace of learning will impede their potential progress. We should be willing to "track" or "group" as needed and should be much more willing to allow grade-skipping, either subject-by-subject or in whole when the student is shown to be academically ready.
The decision on what level each student is ready to tackle is ultimately up to those closest to their learning – their teachers. However there are policies and guidelines that can influence the weighting of social over academic concerns. In my opinion the school should optimize for academic achievement and if parents have a concern about the social aspects of tracking or acceleration they should have the opportunity to review those concerns with their children’s teachers.
Differentiated learning within the same classroom can also be an effective strategy, but over time this places an enormous burden on the teacher and as a long-term solution is not providing the most complete learning environment for the student.
3. Have you read the Citizen Advisory Group's School Cost Structure Report? If so, how would you see School Leaders and the School Committee creating "a blue print that clearly outlines what is essential to maintaining a high quality educational system"? According to the CAG this blue print would require leaders to "make difficult decisions about the desirable and the essential."* Would you support student user fees to maintain access to "desirable" school services?
(*School Cost Structure Report, City of Newton, Citizen Advisory Group, January 20, 2009, page 38, available at: http://www.ci.newton.ma.us/CitizenAdvisoryGroup/2009/01-20-09CAGDraftSchoolCostStructure.pdf)
I am generally against user fees. If given the choice between the complete absence of "desirable" school services or those services partially supported through user fees, I would reluctantly support user fees. This is a slippery slope and we must guard against the temptation of this as an easy solution.
I read the CAG report and attended League of Women Voter's CAG forum. The report was well reasoned, provided essential information and insightful analysis. Our challenges are complex. The CAG raised many valid concerns. We would do well to heed their warnings.
One of the primary responsibilities of the School Committee is arriving at and articulating the priorities of the school system. The School Committee and our community must focus on describing a vital few visionary, specific and measurable goals. The goals that I have proposed are listed below. For details on why I selected these goals and how I would measure progress against them, please see my blog at www.danforward4sc.org. It will be a challenging process to reach consensus across the community on our goals, but one well worth the effort.
Vision/Goals
#1 – NPS returns to the top ten nationally recognized public school systems
#2 – NPS operates in a fiscally sound/sustainable manner
#3 – NPS has a special education program that meets the needs of all students
#4 – NPS returns focus to Neighborhood Schools
#5 – NPS encourages and nurtures innovation