Pushing Together 

Next, your children ARE learning. Classroom teachers and our system as a whole have many real-time indicators of students’ growth. We are just finishing our ritual of beginning of the year screenings of all students, to give us information which will yield particular, actionable data on the strengths and needs of each student, and will allow us to form groups, and provide acceleration and extra supports. Teachers will meet on Monday and Tuesday of this coming week to study those data. The data come from locally applied tools like the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills [DIBELS], Measures of Academic Performance (MAP), a “core phonics screener,” and other assessments given to all children by the classroom teacher and teachers who team up to do the school wide sweep. 

The PEAKS test results will increase our vigilance to make sure we are giving our students the best best possible opportunities to learn, with appropriately rigorous and guided instruction. But PEAKS gives very little instructional information. Teachers do not have detailed information about what was assessed, and how individual students or cohorts did on particular items.

Further, since this was the first year of PEAKS, we have no year-to-year comparisons. Assuming the state keeps the test for more than a year or two, we now have a benchmark from which to measure future improvement.

Is your child learning? I encourage you to find out in is as many ways as possible, beginning with your own curiosity about what he or she did that day in school. What was of particular interest? What was hard? Come to the Fall parent conferences in October prepared to discuss this very question. What does your classroom teacher know about your child’s growth? To what extent do our locally applied assessments give you and your child specifics about strengths and areas needing extra support or acceleration? How do the various assessment tools support or challenge these observations?

One of my favorite maxims for learning is “Skill follows delight.” While I pledge to keep vigilance on the state test scores, I won’t allow our systems at Harborview to veer from keeping our environment a joyful, creative, and challenging one for young people. I firmly believe that when young people are given the opportunity to create beautiful things, to engage in complex projects and conversations with peers, to have meaningful choice in their reading and writing, to connect scientific inquiry to the world around them, to talk through different approaches to math problems, all the while applying and honing their “basic skills,” they will become more capable human beings, and their test scores will improve along the way. But productive “delight” often comes after a push through some level of challenge. Let’s keep pushing together. 

Sincerely, 

Tom

A key to creating a community is teaching children the value of caring--caring for themselves, for their work, for their peers, and for the welfare of the classroom and school community. We teach this as we guide students to know names, to take turns, to share, to problem-solve, to welcome others into play and work,  and to help make things right when mistakes are made. If your child receives a "TAG" referral, know that stands for "Teach and Guide," and know, too, that he or she will be in conversation with a caring adult about what kinds of choices might have been better, and what might be done to make the situation better. 

Whether your child has an easy or difficult time with self-control and caring for community, we welcome you into the conversation. As adults, we do well to set clear boundaries to help young people to recognize their power of self-control, and their capacity for care and generosity. Your thoughtful conversation in support of these two goals will go a long way to launching your child on a more fully engaged, purposeful, and caring journey through the years of school.