Commissioner's Review

Last Thursday, ten educators from across the state and Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) officials spent the day talking to administrators, teachers, counselors and students at South Kingstown High School about our proficiency-based diploma system. For the past four years, all high schools across the state have been required to periodically provide evidence that they are moving towards such a system. The state has been very comprehensive in laying out guidelines for all schools regarding system implementation. They have asked us to demonstrate that we are providing access and opportunity for all students, our courses are aligned to state and local standards, the system is fair, clear and understandable graduation standards have been set and articulated, and students have sufficient opportunity to achieve those standards. They want to know how we are supporting struggling readers, providing time for teachers to collaborate, and how data is utilized to inform decisions. The complete matrix of expectations can be found at: http://www.ridoe.net/highschoolreform/DOCS/Commissioner's%20Review/CR_Criteria_2010.pdf

The visit last Thursday represents an effort on the part of the state to not only examine documentation submitted by the district but to hear from the people in the building to determine if what is submitted as evidence matches up with what is actually happening in the school. The visiting committee first met with high school, middle school (many of the regulations initially targeting the high school are now required of middle schools) and district administrators to talk in more general terms about the diploma system. The visiting committee then split into two groups, one which focused on personalization and the other on assessment & proficiency. Both groups met with administrators & department chairs, teachers and school counselors, and students around these topics. In the personalization strand, students were asked to describe how they felt the school personalized their learning experience; they opened up their Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) and described the process. Counselors and teachers were asked about their role in personalizing education for students and administrators were queried about the personalization structures embedded within the high school and middle school such as advisory. The visiting committee members who focused on assessment & proficiency asked students to open up their portfolios and describe the supports and processes related to the portfolio; all of the groups were asked how they knew whether or not work was proficient. Teachers were asked about the opportunities available to collaborate and the process the school utilized to identify student learning gaps and what steps were taken to address them. After meeting with each of the groups, the entire visiting team convened as a whole group to review the electronic and paper evidence we had provided. Two days ago, we received the results of the visit. The report recognized the areas where we need to improve such as creating a more developed systemic response to intervene when students are not meeting with success. At the end of the report, they commended the school in the following areas:

CPT: South Kingstown’s CPT design and structure at both the high school and middle level is focused on student learning with a high level of accountability that fosters collaborative team work to increase student achievement.

Leadership: South Kingstown demonstrates a leadership structure that clearly supports and coordinates the implementation and sustainment of their Diploma System. All key stakeholders share a common vision for the district and this vision permeates their district. The infrastructure at South Kingstown robustly promotes collegiality and school improvement within the district.

South Kingstown’s strategic thinking about their Diploma System, their systemic vision and their data analysis drives their decision making and practices for the district. Both the middle and the high school levels share common goals, communicate effectively and are actively involved in promoting best practices to ensure their student success and demonstration of proficiency.

South Kingstown has many innovative supports to parents and students (i.e. Guidance-Wednesday Nights Open to Parents; Wednesday morning tutoring; summer programming for remediation or credit recovery, etc.).

There is an unmistakable collegiality among the staff and a sense of singular purpose regarding the Diploma System: i.e. the use of content departments to validate local assessments; SK 101 classes; Guidance and Advisors working on ILP. Both students and staff are keenly aware of the graduation expectations and are working in tandem to reach these goals.

I thought the best feedback we got though came from a comment that was relayed to Kristin Klenk, our PBGR Coordinator and the architect and driving force behind our PBGR system. Kristin wrote to the faculty, Sixteen students, 4 from each class, were interviewed by a group of visiting educators yesterday, as part of the site visit. At the end of the day, one of the lead facilitators asked me to provide further information about the students. How many had IEPS, 504's or are recieving free and reduced lunch. They had wanted to meet with a diverse group of students. As it turns out 2 of the students have IEPs, 2 504's, 2 F/R lunch, and 1 takes literacy enhancement. They were amazed, and the facilitator said, "this is a good thing"! They thought we had stacked the group with all our high honors kids and they couldn't pick out the "others".

After all is said and done, the students are the ones who provide us the clearest perspective on our work and as they do more often than not, they impressed last Thursday.