They're HERE! The TESTS Have Arrived!!

By

Lynn K. McMullin

In the midst of all our snow closings and delays and sub-freezing temperatures, the CMT and CAPT tests have arrived in Central Office – all 68 boxes of them.  We’ve gotten them color-coded and ready for delivery to the schools.  In fact, by the time you are reading this, they may have already arrived at the offices of our four school test coordinators: Chris Woods at CBPS, Lynn Kaufman at CIS, Bill Donovan at CMS, and Irene Urko at CHS.

What every farmer knows is that you can’t get the little pig fatter by weighing him.  I often use this statement as an analogy to standardized testing, such as the CMT and CAPT.  We certainly won’t make our children more skilled or academically successful by testing them.  And while, this blog is an inside look at the time and effort that goes into the “weighing,” we all know the real work is what our teachers do every day in their classrooms  to help our students achieve. 

On the other hand, I’d like you to also know it is no simple task making these tests happen… Imagine, our efforts are replicated in every school district across Connecticut, and for the most part, on a much larger scale.   Each year when I check-in our boxes, (which everyone in our office noted inevitably arrive wet and dirty), I remind myself that some districts (Hartford, for example) must be receiving literally 100’s and 100's of boxes and need a whole storage facility to store them.

Here are some facts to ponder!

Based on last year’s data, we can expect our students to spend a total of 58.5 total hours across the grades in the actual testing.  Our third graders have the least amount of testing -- 7.5 hours.  Our 10^th graders have the most – 13 hours!  Three of our schools were assigned to take supplemental tests this year, which adds to their testing window, as these students will be trying out questions and tasks for future CMT’s and CAPT’s.  Tenth graders will be taking an extra Interdisciplinary Writing Test, for example. 

We will likely administer about 340 different make-up tests for students who were sick or away from school during the test administration.  We will work with about 106 official accommodations, such as students who need a reader or scribe, or large print materials, or extended time and an alternate setting, per their Special Education individualized plan (IEP).  We will need 117 teachers, working as trained proctors, to follow a specific set of protocols and administer the tests. 

The four school coordinators and I will spend about 250 hours on the various administrative tasks, including 50 hours in unpacking and inventorying tests and supplies, 15 hours training proctors and readers, 15 hours in phone or email correspondence with Measurement Incorporated over interesting testing ‘issues’ (such as what to do with a booklet a child was sick on), and 30 hours repacking the test booklets for scoring.   I have 184 emails in last year’s ‘testing folder.’   Lest you think that even the inventory is simple, at the Middle School, for example, Bill Donovan will count '290 small blue paper rulers' and '170 formula sheets'.  There are individualized bar code labels to check for each student’s testing booklets.

In addition, your school administrators, and sometimes even their PTO’s and parent volunteers, will spend many hours planning whole school assemblies and pep talks, re-doing the bell schedule, finding appropriate space for small group accommodations, scheduling proctors and substitutes, writing letters home, and even arranging breakfast or wholesome snacks for our test-takers.

At the end of March, we’ll re-inventory and box it all up again – the completed tests and the materials -- and each box will be taped shut and affixed with its two security seals and two address labels. 

No one is complaining!!  (Well, maybe just a little!)  But, in Canton, we do take this time very seriously, intending that every detail is well planned and every eventuality, controlled.  It’s important to us that this community continue to enjoy its excellent test scores.  

But, more importantly, it’s crucial to us that your children continue to master the math, reading, writing, science, and analytical problem-solving skills that the Connecticut tests measure.  It wouldn’t be fair of us to send them into a testing situation feeling overwhelmed and underprepared.  Over the summer, we'll study our overall test results and make changes in the curriculum and instruction that will help more of our children reach the goal.  We'll also study the individual results and set personalized goals so that each child reaches the next benchmark.

In a few weeks, I’ll blog about what you can do as parents to help us ensure your student’s best performance.

What does 'Parents 4 A Change' Have to Do with You?

by
Lynn K. McMullin

On Tuesday, in the midst of all the snow calls and AlertNow hullabaloo, you also got a message from me and the Community of Concern's Substance Abuse Council about an upcoming program February 2nd.  Here are the details, and then I'll tell you more about why the program might be of interest to you.

WHO: Mary Marcuccio, from Parents 4 A Change, a dynamic speaker featured on Good Morning America! Along with an informative display to help you recognize today's drugs and paraphenalia sponsored by our local Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association

WHEN: February 2, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Canton High School Auditorium -- with childcare provided.

 WHY?

The first time I heard Mary Marcuccio speak I was impressed with her intensity, honesty, and passion for sparing other families the same grief she experienced in her own family with a teenage son, now lost to drugs.  The tragedy struck at a time in his life, and hers, when she thought they had already beat the odds and were 'free and clear.'   I remember her talking about the little elastic bands he would have on his fingers, picking at them, flipping them around from finger to finger, in plain sight.  She had noticed the little elastic bands and just thought they must have come from his girlfriend's hair.  But, they came from baggies.  The baggies held cocaine.  Her son, like so many others, was a middle class honors student, college-bound, well cared for and living in the suburbs.  His parents were smart and knowledgeable.  They had a 'typical' parent-teen relationship.

That's one reason to come -- not because we're trying to scare you, but simply because knowledge is power.

Another reason to come is this:
Even if your children aren't yet teens themselves, you might have teens in your home.  It's not uncommon for teens to take a quick peek into the bathroom cabinets of neighbors, families for whom they babysit or mow the lawn, to collect prescription medications.  Bringing pills to share at parties is more common than any of us would like to think; and sometimes kids who will not participate in pill-taking, still contribute.

Several years ago, we did a Drug and Alcohol Survey at the high school. We asked our students about almost everything -- family patterns, friends, seatbelts, smoking, academics, and sports, church, etc.  What we learned wasn't earth-shattering, but it was worth sharing.

By filtering the responses we found that students with three or more of these indicators were significantly MORE likely to make unsafe choices, including illegal drinking, riding in cars with people who are drinking, using illegal drugs, and misusing legal drugs. Click here to read the full survey results.

• Students who spend 0 – ½ hour per day on homework
• Students who spend 3+ hours alone per day
• Students who do not eat 1 meal per day with their family
• Parents who “rarely” or “never” know where their teen is when the teen is away from home
• Parents who “rarely” or “never” know with whom their teen hangs out
• Parents who “sometimes,” “rarely,” or “never” set clear rules about the use of alcohol or drugs
• Students who report they “rarely” or “never” feel comfortable sharing their thoughts with their parents
• Students who smoke
• Students whose friends smoke, drink, or use marijuana
• Students who report no close friendships within Canton High School
• Students who feel they are in “fair” or “poor” mental and physical health
• Students who spend more than 3 hours during the school week “hanging out with friends”

Based on those findings, and the filtered responses of the 'safest' students, the Community of Concern wrote a plan called "What Parents Can Do Immediately."  Here are those suggestions:
1. Eat 1 meal per day with your children
2.  Set expectations for homework (in terms of stress, the healthiest two groups of students do 1 – 2 and 2 – 3 hours of homework per night)
3.  Arrange the schedule so that your children are not home alone more than 1 - 2 hours daily
4.  Know where your children are, and with whom, when they are not at home.
5.  Set clear and firm rules about the use of alcohol and drugs
6.  Become more aware of your teen's stress levels and more informed about stress reduction
7.  Help your student become involved in civic organizations and volunteering in the community
8.  Limit the amount of time your student spends “hanging out with friends”

One more thing parents can do: 
Join us February 2nd at 7:00 and become as informed as you can be!

Window to the Night Sky

By Lynn K. McMullin

A wonderfully magical, boxy-drumlike-kind of instrument, a telescope!, on the sidewalk of Cherry Brook Primary School becomes exactly what it advertises – 'a window to the night sky.'  Through these 'windows', last night, I saw the half moon, dusty-gray and looking as big as a basketball, and Jupiter with her four bright moons all in a row!

I love the way Canton is teaching science!!

I know we’re not perfect -- our Grade 5, 8, and 10 science scores have room for improvement -- but I love that we help our kids do things with science, not just spout back to us what they know. I love Gizmos, Robotics Club, Search, experiments in Mills Pond, in the redesigned CBPS courtyard, the CIS weather station, BrainPop, and all the regularly scheduled science labs where kids can experiment and talk about the results.

In the 60’s, I was a perfect science student – I studied and got an A on every science test I took; and yet, (amazingly, you might think!), I never really understood a single thing!  If the teacher asked, “Why does an apple look red?” I could explain in a perfect cursive paragraph that 'white light, like sunlight, is composed of all the possible wavelengths of light. The different surfaces of things caused them to either reflect or absorb some of the light’s wavelengths.  The reflected wavelengths determined the color.  For example, if the apple is red, the apple reflects the red light to our eyes and it absorbs all the other colors in the light.  That's why it’s red!'  Uh-hunh?

In fourth or fifth grade, I built an A+ solar system out of painted papier-mache covered styrofoam balls, coat hangers, and string.  The planets colors, sizes, and distances from each other were more a function of what my mother could find cheap at Woolworth’s five and dime than any application of scientific principle.  I still remember it: “Mary’s Velvet Eyes Make Johnny Stay Up Nights Proposing.” (although, now I realize the ‘proposing’ has been demoted.)  I knew that the sun was a star, only closer, and stars were ‘masses of burning gasses’ held tightly together by gravity.  Uh-hunh?

My ‘night sky’ education, naming the constellations and studying two dimensional pictures of artist-drawn planets like I've recaptured here, didn’t prepare me for the ‘adventure’ over 40 years later of looking through the telescope for the first time and seeing Saturn's rings for myself.  I had that chance four years ago at Cherry's Brook's first 'night sky' event, and I've been a convert ever since! 


That’s why Cherry Brook’s “Window to the Night Sky,” originally the dream and now a labor of love for teacher, Ms. Linda Caraher, is so special.  The event, which is held each year for 2nd graders and their families (and for all the various interlopers who want to a chance at the telescopes) is unforgettable.  What you see through the telescope is real – not a picture in a book or on TV.

The event was postponed twice due to miserable weather forecasts in December, but not even temperatures in the teens and a blustery wind could squelch the spirit and enthusiasm of the second graders and their guests who took turns at four magnificent telescopes set up along the sidewalks. Two local astronomers, Mr. Scott Tracy and Mr. Victor Leger, along with seventh graders from Ms. Marsha Jorgensen’s science class manned the telescopes, providing assistance as needed. The telescopes were fixed on Jupiter and the moon; and this morning, I wonder how many Canton residents will be logging into amazon.com to check out the price of a telescope for their own homes.  It’s that wonderful of an experience!

Like any remarkable educational event, “Window to the Night Sky” takes a lot of people, planning, and preparation. The program began at 5:00 with students singing a song led by Ms. LuAnn Saunders and listening to a brief presentation about the relative sizes of things in space (If Jupiter was the size of a basketball, Earth was a marble.)  This was followed by varied activity stations for students and their families to visit.  At the Star Finder Station, additional seventh graders helped families use devices they had made themselves to find prominent constellations in the winter sky.  In the driveway, Mr. Bill Phelps and Mr. John Sherman showed students how to use a program on the i-pads to locate constellationsand night sky objects.  In the cafeteria, students could work on science experiments with Ms. Kathy Magarian and her fifth graders.  In the gym, after listening to a question, students could use the ‘planet parachute’ with Ms. Pam Keagan and Ms. Robin Nardini and try to finesse a ball into the hole next to the correct planet's name.



Students worked together to maneuver the 'planet parachute'
trying to get the ball into the hole labeled "Venus," the brightest planet.



Mr. Scott Tracy showed students pictures of his backyard conservatory,
with its sliding roof which opened the room to the sky.  Then, he let them take turns
 at one of the telescopes he has built himself.



Several of the telescopes were fixed on the half-moon;
the rest were fixed on Jupiter.  One student, who looked through
the telescope at the moon summed it up perfectly: "Whoa!" she said.



TELL US: How well are we communicating the District’s news?

By Lynn K. McMullin


Several times over the past year, I’ve had the chance to mention the BOE’s Strategic Planning document -- the plan that has become the cornerstone of changes, when we initiate them, and so much of what we regularly do day-to-day.


Communications is one of the five goal categories in the plan: it became a goal when members of the strategic planning committee focused on the need to improve the quality of communication at all levels of the school system.  The committee members felt that leadership in a highly communicative environment should be more about orchestrating conversations, than dominating them.  In other words, our communications should be more responsive and collaborative.  Rather than ‘share information,’ communication should build confidence and trust.


We're over a full year into the Strategic Plan, and it's time to measure how we’re doing with this particular communications goal.   So, we’re putting out a survey today, January 7th, and one of our key questions is specifically about trust: How confident are you with the information you receive? We sincerely want to know more about the quality of our communications and their impact on our relationships with you and our wider community.


Thus, I'm hoping that you’ll take the time you would normally spend reading this blog to go to the on-line survey and weigh in.   Click here… and tell us what’s working and what isn’t.   (Or, type or copy and paste http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/boecommunicationssurvey in your browser's address bar.)  The survey, which takes less than 5 minutes to complete, will remain open through Friday, January 21st.


In the end, every communication avenue we try is always aimed at finding the most effective means of connecting you to what is going on across the school system.

___________________________________________________

A follow-up to the December BLOG on our students kind hearts....
This fall, 18 students came to Walter Lowell’s home in Avon to help with fall clean-up
The students donated the money they were paid by the Lowell's to the Canton Food Bank located at the Trinity Church in Canton. Another way our students give back to their Community.