Board of Ed Holds Special Meeting on 'Level Up' Data

On Oct. 17, South Orange-Maplewood School District Chief Information Officer Paul Roth presented on the impact of combining Levels 3 and 4 for English Language Arts, Science and Social Studies for 7th graders — a change called "Level Up."

District leadership characterized the sum total of that data as positive. The results of the 6th and 7th grade report, said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Osborne, were "pretty good, not earth shattering," but proved that the decision to level up could benefit Level 3-recommended students without damaging the prospects of high-achieving students in Level 4.

But some residents disagreed.  Board of Education President Beth Daugherty noted that the board has heard tremendous amounts of feedback from the community in terms of “e-mails, conversations, public speak and Op-Eds posted on Patch.”

The Op-Eds written (read and ), comments on articles and threads on Maplewood Online challenge the data presented. (One , took another tack — suggesting that perhaps the focus on data was missing the larger picture.)

Osborne opened the meeting by explaining what the district is trying to accomplish with the “Level Up” process

“The mission of the South Orange-Maplewood School District is to be the top performing diverse suburban school district in the nation,” Osborne said prior to the presentation.  “Our mission is to prepare each and every student, regardless of demographic or socioeconomic background for post-secondary educational success.

Monday night, district staff aimed to disarm such criticism. Roth went into a detailed explanation of his previous presentations on the data collected by the district. Following that, he answered “frequently asked questions” that the district administration and Board of Education has been asked. The FAQ was put into an 18-page handout, distributed prior to the meeting (attached to this article). 

“I want to thank those who have taken some of the data we put out, done some independent analysis and have some questions,” said Osborne.  “Over the years we have put out lots and lots of data in hopes that it would be used to improve what we do and challenge us to do our best.  So thank you to those who have done just that.”

A public question and answer portion of the meeting followed the presentation. Stay tuned to Patch for an update on that portion.