OP-ED: Humbled and Ready for the Hard Work on International Baccalaureate

Humbled.

That’s what I felt on March 5, listening to the discussion, the debates and the counter-arguments as our Board of Education wrestled with the Middle School Transformation proposal. I am humbled personally because what began as a gleam in my husband’s and my eyes when we moved to this community a decade ago has become a full-fledged plan that is now owned by our administration, our Board and so many in our community.

It is ours now, shaped, as well, by the efforts of those who exposed the painful and glaring issues of educational inequity in our system.

I am humbled by the passions that so many brought to this process, the hard work and endless volunteer hours I saw applied over the past few months.

I am humbled because in listening to the variety of responses on the Board, I found echoes of my own sentiments and nuances that are not always reflected in a straight up and down, yes-no vote. I was moved by Ms. Payne Parrish’s own struggle, as a mother of high-achieving students, who must balance their needs with an unconscionable status quo in the broader community. I admired Mr. Gleason’s crystal clear focus on content, not structure; and I commend Mr. Eastman’s demand for choice, which is sorely lacking in our district, and out of step with so many forward-looking districts.  And I simply adored Ms. Wren-Hardin’s moxie when pushing back on all these counts.

What I hope we remember is that critique, discussion, and debate are the best form of support we can offer our Board of Education and our school district administration. I hope we remember that the galvanizing force of IB, deleveling, and Common Core can be converging pressures that must lead to true, sustained change. 

And while I understand the frustrations of those who did not support the proposal, I honestly do not share their anger or their fears. I too have my share of anecdotes from the classroom, but ultimately I think the answer lies in curriculum, in an educational system that puts students at the very center of learning; that takes advantage of their initiative, their curiosity, and their knowledge base. 

So, rather than focusing on old, creaky structures, I prefer to imagine a transformed classroom, in which individual initiative is rewarded. I truly believe—if we keep our eye now on content and quality, on the students themselves—that this is where real change lies.  And I believe all of us who have advocated for some aspect of this proposal have an ethical responsibility to ensure this truly happens.

For this is where the hard work begins.

Hard Work Defined

Begin curriculum revision now.

Our much lauded ELA audit was conducted several years ago and focused on clarity of structures and consistency in the delivery of curriculum, since as a district we were wildly uneven in our practices. There wasn't a great deal done with respect to content and challenge. This particular revision happened before the Common Core standards, which brings a whole other set of challenges where our district is very weak (i.e., more nonfiction texts; more research projects; more development of analytic skills around discerning various points of view in information).

In my mind, our middle school curriculum revision was a kind of nibbling at the edges, with some genuine improvements. The units focus relentlessly on the self, the essential questions sometimes vague and repetitive, and the sequence of activities hodgepodge, which can result in low-end chores. We are also uneven in terms of the challenge and variety of our core texts, especially when benchmarked against other districts. This is also true of our Social Studies curriculum, and it’s time we take a deep look at re-sequencing our scope to reflect a deeper, global outlook. 

It’s also important to give credit where credit is due, even as we have a long way to go. In fact, we have a receptive English Language Arts administrator who has brought two new classics into the middle school curriculum, is starting to explore the use of nonfiction texts within the classroom, and has introduced some new assessments for essay writing.  

Most importantly, we have two forces that I believe can bring quality and curriculum to the forefront: IB and Common Core. Common Core explicitly demands more complex texts, and the development of argumentative thinking; IB features a reflective practice within the classroom that demands that students look outward, connecting across disciplines, and to the wider world.  These converging pressures are our allies in creating better curriculum.

Ensure that we focus on Curriculum Design.

I take it as an important and encouraging sign that the administration has budgeted for curriculum specialists in the middle school--sorely needed--but it was vaguely characterized and seemed more focused on classroom delivery and teacher quality than on curriculum itself and design. Knowing how to write a sharp, strong curriculum is a true craft. Give teachers the time and resources to write and own these new lessons. Let’s raise our curriculum to its highest, most sophisticated level to truly take advantage of IB.

Truly define grade level and above grade level work.

This is some of the ‘meat’ that was missing from the bones, as Mr. Gleason noted the other night. For instance, the example of ‘above-level’ work given in the recent Q&A for the Middle School Proposal was “The Outsiders.” This is a wonderful novel, spot-on for 7th graders and I am thrilled it is on the curriculum. But it is not above grade level. This kind of vagueness and lack of specificity needs to be an artifact of the past. We need to continue a vigorous review of our book choices and our units. We need to define for our students who obtain content mastery in subjects such as Social Studies and Science what opportunities will exist for them. And we need to begin to create more opportunities for independent, inquiry-based projects in the classroom.

Don’t be passive with IB.

Don’t wait for IB to instill many of the qualities and features we want in our classrooms. Consider how we might infuse its values and approaches throughout the school before and during formal implementation. If teachers are interested and show motivation, send 7th and 8th grade teachers during the summer for the initial tier of IB training so that the philosophy begins to be reflected in our classrooms. The second tier of training can come later, during the official roll out. 

Don’t wait for the enrichments and enhancements.

There is nothing stopping us from launching after school programs such as Model UN, Debate Teams, Mock Trial, Intel Science program, all of which will give us the rich and fruitful environment we want for our children.

Address the boy achievement gap.

Recently my husband attended the achievement award ceremony at the middle school to discover our son was among the few boys to receive academic awards. Surely that’s not because we do not have capable male students. Our middle school curriculum, as many know, is sometimes long on fill-it-in chores and short on deeper, analytic projects that put student innovation, creativity and assertiveness at the center.  We need to stop over-emphasizing skills that do not play to the strengths of boys—and perhaps some girls too—a hidden loss in our community. We need to have a broader conversation about engagement with boys over punishment and perception, a national problem for black children cited in the New York Times.

Give us a real vision for the middle schools.

Too often, discussion of the restructuring implies what is taken away. People presume that there will be a sink to the bottom or a middle-ground bog of mediocrity. Help us see what a 21st century middle school classroom can look like, with its independent projects, its flexibility, its student-centered learning and framing of questions. Help us understand a model that is not rigid, but addresses the fluctuations of adolescent growth with a set of high-quality, academic challenges. Show us what we’re gaining, not what we’re losing. Keep us posted on the actual, concrete changes that are taking place in the classroom, especially in terms of curriculum and differentiated assignments.  Give us a better glimpse of what lies ahead so we can be partners in making that future happen.