Framingham School Committee Candidates Identify Ways to Eliminate Achievement Gap

On Tuesday, April 7, Framingham voters will decide which of three candidates will be elected to the 7-member Framingham School Committee.

There are two 3-year terms available this year, as incumbent Andy Limeri chose not to seek re-election. On the ballot are incumbent Beverly Hugo, Jim Kelly, and Scott Wadland.

Patch asked each of the candidates a series of questions. The answers to those questions are being published this week. One question will run through Saturday, March 28.

Monday’s question: What do you see as the major strength of the Framingham Public Schools? The district’s major weakness? How as a School Committee member would you address the weakness? Click here to read those answers.

Tuesday’s question: Framingham School Committee sets policy for the district. What policy would you like to revise or create for the district? Why? Click here to read those answers.

Wednesday’s question: School staff and district parents in a recent survey complained about the lack of communication and transparency by the district’s administration, specifically the Superintendent. How can the School Committee - and what would you do specifically - to fix the issue the two major stakeholders in the district have? Click here to read those answers.

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Today’s report focuses on the achievement gap within the Framingham Public Schools.

Candidates were asked: The state in its review of the district cited an achievement gap. Some schools perform better than others. Some students perform better than others. Name 3 things, you would do as Committee member, to help the district close that gap and provide a high-quality education for every Framingham student, regardless of which elementary or middle school they attend.

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Hugo: ”Having a qualified, supported and compassionate teacher in the classroom is the single most powerful tool districts have to provide a high quality education for all children. Too often, teachers are stranded by a school system that deprives them of the basic ingredients for success. Closure of the achievement gap depends on adequate resources for our educators. To accomplish this, we must give teachers sufficient professional development, experienced mentors, enough lead time as we introduce new curriculum, meaningful and supportive supervision, an equitable evaluation process that fosters and recognizes improvement and the proper materials within a progressive school climate to function optimally in servicing our students.

Nurturing the social and emotional wellness of our children is of utmost importance. With a 47.6% poverty rate, many of Framingham’s children have experienced its ill effects – neglect, homelessness, poor nutrition, trauma, exposure to violence, etc. Eliminating the fees for extracurricular activities for our students would help to ensure that all would have access to mentors in the form of coaches and directors while instilling in them the opportunity to feel a sense of belonging and purpose, while reducing stress and developing friendships as they expand their world. Participation in sports teams, academic clubs and community service groups is a key to improving interpersonal relationships, and closing the gaps that have developed. School budgets should fully support programs where at-risk children thrive, such as Resiliency for Life and Strive for Excellence.

Although there are many measures to be taken that will ensure a high quality education for all, including the use and analysis of an academic data dashboard, shared collaboration time, and uplifting leadership, the most important way to close the achievement gap is to not let the gap develop in the first place. A policy and mission that all of Framingham’s children must be literate by the third grade will be instrumental in raising the accountability level in our district while improving our students’ future graduation rate. According to a well-respected and groundbreaking study from the University of Kansas “The Early Catastrophe: the 30 Million Word Gap By Age Three”, by the time a child of poverty reaches three years old, that child will have heard thirty million words less than a more prosperous child. Most disturbing, is the fact that follow-up studies have shown that those children who suffered this gap have demonstrated further significant deficits in academic and social performance later in life. To combat that self-fulfilling prophecy of failure and disparate achievement, we must make sure that young parents are given social supports, that all children have access to quality universal pre-kindergarten and meaningful out-of-school, vacation and summer enrichment activities and experiences. Licensing and monitoring daycare centers that provide for our children’s entry to the educational process is one essential step that is too-often overlooked today.

It should be the mission of every Framingham School Committee member to embrace the goal of committing to excellence with equity for every single child in our district.”

Kelly: ”Closing the gap is going to take time however we must first identify areas of strength and growth and publicly recognize the efforts made to get there by the teachers, support staff and students. From there we need to identify areas in need of further development and needed support at each school. Are there issues centered around literacy level? Is there a lack of understanding and use of academic or cognitive-language skills? Are there 2nd language issues? Are we not making the connection through our means of instructional delivery?

Once we have identified, I would create a “sister school” program within the district – ones that can support each other in the development and addressing the areas identified as needing more support. Professional development would be revamped so as not to be sessions where staff are “talked at” about ways to improve student performance but would build upon long-term collaborative pairings in support of one another. An example of this would be if a team of 3rd grade teachers at school A has seen their students consistently perform well on one specific area of the standardized test, how do they teach? Are they engaging students with particular tools, projects or experiences?

A LARGE undertaking but critical to the success of our students is to strengthen the relationship between the school and the parents or guardians of the children. We have GOT to do a better job of connecting with and involving families who’s demographic tends to routinely measure in the Needs Improvement range for skills and understanding. This may look like the educating of adults within the district including building language, academic understanding and the general value of education and it’s connection to their child’s success. Having mini-sessions where school committee members and school leadership meet in a less formal format at each of the schools during times when parents can come and talk with them in a less intimidating atmosphere may create more of a “we are in this together” experience.”

Wadland: “As a School Committee member, I would begin by taking a very close look at what specific performance metrics we are tracking, what questions those metrics answer for us, and how those questions align with our overall goals as a district. In some cases, we may need to derive metrics of our own in order to pinpoint exactly what we want to understand. As an example, I find the overall growth and achievement scores of a specific school particularly troublesome given that we have a disproportionate share of high-need students in some schools. What interests me more than comparing the overall scores of these schools is comparing the scores of specific cohorts of students across schools in the district. With today’s assessment systems we have mountains of data at our disposal, which makes data science – extracting actionable knowledge from the data – all the more important.

Second, I would continue to work on strengthening communications and connections between school and home. Approaches to education and the vocabularies that go along with them are constantly evolving, making it hard for many families to understand what’s going on in the classroom and adequately support learning outside of school. Also, the multitude of tools and techniques for communicating day-to-day things like homework assignments and grades – across schools but also within some schools – makes it hard for busy parents to keep up and intervene as appropriate. And without appropriate interventions and support at home, academic growth and achievement is difficult.

Lastly, in goal setting and resource allocation I would work to strike an appropriate balance between equity and equality – two terms which are sometimes used interchangeably even though they don’t mean the same thing. Equity refers to making sure that everyone performs the same in the end, and focuses on a consistent level of achievement. Equality refers to making sure that everyone gets an equal share of the resources, presumably with the expectation that all students will experience the same amount of growth. Personally, I don’t think that either of these extremes is appropriate. We need to allocate sufficient resources such that lower performers increase their level of achievement, while at the same time continuing to challenge and support our proficient and advanced students.”