Gorham Middle School 4th Quarter Proficiency Based Learning (PBL) Pilot

Good evening everyone!  It's been about a month since my last post so I thought I'd take a moment to share a little of what we have planned for 7th graders at Gorham Middle School for this upcoming 4th quarter.  During the 4th quarter we will be conducting a pilot of our Proficiency Based Learning (PBL) system with all 7th grade students in the content area of science.

Teachers across all content areas at GMS have been using our new Graduation standards, Performance Indicators, Learning Targets and Scoring Guides over the course of this whole school year in their classroom instruction, but this pilot is taking our work up to a whole other level in trying to put all the moving parts together into a cohesive unit!

OK, let's pause for a key terms explanation:

*  Proficiency Based Learning - A system of learning whereby students must demonstrate skills and knowledge based upon the attainment of specific rigorous standards of learning.

*  Graduation Standards - The "next to the largest" sized components of a proficiency based system.  There are usually 3-8 graduation standards for each content area.  These are what must be met in order to graduate from a proficiency based learning system.

*  Performance Indicators - The "medium" sized components of a proficiency based system.  There are approximately 4-6 indicators by grade/grade span or course/learning experience for each content area standard that move students toward the achievement of graduation standards.

*  Learning Targets - The "smallest" components of a proficiency based system.  These are the learning objectives that guide the design of curriculum units of study that move students toward the achievement of Performance Indicators.

*  Scoring Guides - These are also sometimes referred to as "rubrics".  They communicate expectations of quality around a particular task or skill attainment.  In Gorham, we use what are called "I CAN" Statements.  For example, if a performance indicator states that a student will use "algebraic concepts to solve complex math problems, then the Scoring Guide might be something like a "3" or "meets" means that "I can identify an unknown variable and create an algebraic equation to solve for that unknown."

All of these together might look something like this:

Gorham Middle School Science Scoring Criteria - 7th Grade
Graduation Standard 1: Stability and Change: Explain how stability and change shape engineered or natural systems.
Performance Indicators	1	2	3	4
7.1A Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations (MS-LS2-4).	I can identify parts of an ecosystem	I can show the relationship between the physical and biological components of an ecosystem	I can construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.	I can evaluate specific changes to and ecosystem and predict the effects it would have on a population.

For this pilot, we will be assessing students toward meeting these performance indicators, and tracking student learning towards standards using our new standards-based grading software called "Jumprope".

Before I get too far into the details, let me take a moment to step back and help everyone to understand why we are piloting at the 7th-grade level and where this work fits in with the "grand plan" moving forward with our PBL implementation.

The Gorham School System has been working to create a proficiency-based system of learning for several years now.  We believe that engagement and student achievement improve when the components of a proficiency-based learning (PBL) system are in place across all grades and content areas.  Those components are:  clear learning targets and performance indicators, aligned instruction and assessments, timely interventions, and grading/reporting that reflects this learning.

Parallel to this work, the state of Maine passed legislation requiring that the class of 2018 graduate from all public schools with a PBL diploma.  Gorham applied for an extension that would require the class of 2021 (our current 7th grade) to be the first class to graduate from our system with a PBL diploma.

The major reason we are piloting with this class is that we believe it is important to pilot our PBL system before the current 7th grade gets to the high school, which is when our system must be fully operational for our students.

Change is most definitely a process and NOT a single event, hence the reason for this pilot with this grade and in this content area.  We are trying to see how our system will work in enough of a "closed system" to identify what works well, and where our challenges are so that we can continue to support our strengths and focus our attention on improving our challenges.  Our hope is that by the time this current 7th grade class moves into the 9th grade, our PBL system will be strong, and better able to prepare ALL our students for success in the complex world that awaits them!  That is a goal, we all most definitely share!

During this pilot, students and parents will be able to access their grades via Jumprope, our new standards-based reporting software.  Within Jumprope, students will still get a composite score on all performance in science.  A "composite score" is like a "final grade" in the content area of science, but it is made up of the student's performance in all Performance Indicators contained within the content area.  All grades for all performance indicators will be reported out using  a 4 point scale where a range of scores between 2.5 - 3 will mean that the student has met proficiency.  Parents will be able to see how composite scores are constructed.  Our hope is that students and parents will have a clearer understanding of learning goals and what actions they need to take to acquire understanding.  As an example, a student learning report in Jumprope might look something like this:

Additionally, student scores will reflect their academic performance and not include their performance on "Skills for Life" which will be reported separately.  "Skills for Life" are things like being prepared for class, turning in work on time, and using class time effectively, etc.  These are important skills, so rather than mixing them up with content area skills, we will instruct these, and report out on student learning in these areas separately.

Our plan will be to spend time during this fourth quarter to train students in how to use Jumprope so that they, in turn, can teach parents how to use the system.  "Welcome" messages to open the parent portal will be sent out to student email accounts for all 7th grade students later this week.   We will then send another message to all 7th grade parents letting them know that this information was sent and that their students have the email that will allow them to login.  Parents who have difficulty, or whose student might have misplaced the email can call the office and we will assist to make sure all parents can access the portal.

Well, this blog post is long enough. .. but before I go - I just want to give a quick glimpse into how this pilot fits into the other work that is going on across all grades to create our PBL system.  This year, K-5 teachers have been tracking student learning in Jumprope for ELA and Math; next year, student learning will be tracked in science, social studies, and the creative arts as well, but still reported out to parents using IC.  This year, 7th grade science teachers will use Jumprope to track and report student learning progress during teh 4th quarter.  Based on the results of this pilot, we will then determine the next steps for a larger pilot at GMS next year, as well as a small pilot with 9th grade at GHS for next year.  Then, during the following year, we would "phase in" our full PBL system, complete with Jumprope reporting, across all 9th grade GHS courses and then continue to phase in through the high school as these students move up through the system.  Eventually, all grades K-12 will fully implement our PBL system and be asked to utilize Jumprope to track student learning and to report that learning to students and parents.

During the course of this summer and the next school year our Grades 6-12 Grading and Reporting Committees will continue to work in order to finalize recommendations for full implementation of our PBL system.  Decisions will need to be made in the following key areas:  1)  Final Skills for Life Rubrics 2)  Grading scales and associated implications for things like honor roll, athletic eligibility, class rank, etc. 3) GHS Transcripts and Profiles that will be sent to post secondary institutions, and 4)  Guiding Principles rubrics.

All through this work, we will continue to emphasize parent communication and engagement.  As always, if you have any questions about our PBL implementation, please reach out to your child's teachers, principal, or even myself!  We are all very interested in helping to answer your important questions!

That's it for tonight (and isn't that enough. . . phew!).  My next post will be an in depth review of the proposed FY 17 Gorham School budget and information on how you can get involved in the budget approval process if you are interested!

THANK YOU!

February Ramblings!

Good evening everyone!  I hope you are all at home enjoying this wonderful February evening.  Hard to believe that March will soon be upon us and that winter still could have another month or so of fun left in it still, especially when many of you may be seeing your crocus begin to pop out from under what little snow is left out there! It is also hard to believe that there is really only about three full months left of school this year (excluding April's vacation week, and the chaos that is often June). Although I'm sure if any of you are parents of HS seniors, you know exactly how much time is left in the school year, possibly down to the minute!  To be honest, I think about all the things that I need to accomplish between now and the end of this school year and I want to add days!  Of course, I'm thinking I would not be all that popular with the students if I suggested that, so I will refrain! :)

It has been about a month since my last post, so I wanted to take a moment to give a brief update to all of you regarding some important "happenings" in the district.   First, I wanted to provide an update on where we are with our FY 17 budget development work.  We have been working on developing our FY 17 budget in earnest since November when teachers and other staff began building their building and program level budgets that were due to me in December.  In January, I met individually (and multiple times) with each building principal and each program director in the district to review their budget requests line by line.  During these conversations, building principals and program directors had to be able to articluate a clear rationale for every request in their budgets, from colored folders to personnel requests to other new initiatives and everything in between.  We then used all this information to compile two different budgets. The first budget that was developed is called the "status quo" budget.  This budget is created simply to show the School Committee and others what it would cost to basically do the same things in FY 17 as we did in FY 16.  No new initiatives, no new personnel, just keeping things about where they are now.  This budget creates what I like to refer to as a "baseline" for comparison purposes as we then turn our attention to the second budget that was created. I lovingly refer to this second budget as the "Superinendent's Proposed Budget" or "HP1".   It is in this "HP1" budget where we reflect any suggested increases for new initiatives.  I label it "HP1" because over the course of the month of February and March, this superintendent's proposed budget will see several iterations and likely be at "HP5 or 6" before it is brought to the School Committee for full approval in April.

I share all of this to hopefully make it clear that where the proposed budget is now is NOT where it is going to wind up by the time we work our way through the process and get to a point where the School Committee votes to approve the budget in April.  The proposed budget will be presented to the School Committee over the course of two workshop meetings.  One occurred last night (2/22) and the other will occur this coming Monday (2/29) starting at 6:30 p.m. in the upstairs conference room. We are recording both meetings and will make sure that they are available on GoCat asap.  After these two informational meetings are complete, the School Committee will then have three additional budget workshop meetings, during which significant changes can be made to the proposed budget. Those workshop meetings are open to the public to attend and are scheduled for 6:30p.m. on the following evenings:

*  March 14
*  March 21
*  March 23

A proposed budget will then be brought to the School Committee for approval at it's April 13 regular meeting which is also open to the public and will be on camera.  Once approved, the budget is then sent on to the Town Council by April 19.  A joint workshop meeting between the Town Council and the School Committee (which is also open to the public to view) is scheduled for the evening of May 17th.  The Town Council then has a public hearing and vote scheduled for the Town's Budget (including the school's budget) on June 7, 2016.  The School's budget approval process then winds up with one last step - the validation referendum vote, which is scheduled for June 14, 2016.

That's a pretty lengthy and involved process, and one that involves a great deal of give and take as we work our way through.  By the time we get to the public validation referendum vote, I have full faith that what is presented will represent the best work possible by all parties involved to put forward a budget to support the operatation of a comprehensive K-12 public education system that will meet the needs of our children, while balancing the needs of our taxpayers, who support our great system, to keep assessments as low as possible.

I will be sure to post updates via this blog, and via our website on where the proposed FY 17 budget stands as we move through this process.

I also wanted to make sure I reminded everyone about the Re-Visioning Process and our upcoming public forums.  So far we have had some great responses from our online survey.  Thank you to those who participated already - and if you haven't participated, please do so (Here's the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RXCYSCS ).  So far we've had 688 parents respond, and over 250 community members, but we'd love more!  The survey will be closed on March 10 so that we can sift through all the data and develop themes that will be used to craft a brand new Vision, Mission, and set of core beliefs for the Gorham Schools.  Exciting work, and we'd love your voice!

For those of you who might prefer a face to face conversation, I will be hosting a series of public forums on this process over the course of the next few weeks.  Here's a link to the details of those forums - would love to see you there!  (CLICK HERE)  With the help of Gorham's Business Exchange and the Westbrook/Gorham Chamber, I am also reaching out specifically to area business people to participate in this process.  So again, if you haven't completed the survey, and you are a local business person - we want your voice too!

Before I lose all of you with this lengthy post, I also wanted to share some of the great things going on in our schools right now.  Of course, I could go on and on for pages so I'll select just a few!  At GHS, we've recently had the one-act play "Asylum" make a big splash on the local drama scene!  Good luck to our students who are taking this one act play on the road to regional competitions!  Winter athletic programs are beginning to wrap up as well at the HS level.  We've had some excellent performances by individuals and teams this winter.  I have to say it has been a pleasure watching our students compete and hearing about their success!  Our students really do represent our community so well!  Anna Slager won the 1 and 2 mile competitions at the recent indoor state level track meet.  Our boys b-ball team recently performed well in the tournament, although ultimately losing to neighboring Massabesic.  Our cheerleaders did well in their respective competitions as well.  Our boy's hockey team starts their playoffs tonight, and of course, our girls basketball team will be playing for the state championship this Saturday night vs. Edward Little.  I know I've missed some accolades here - but to all our students who give their all for these activities and for our school. .. all I can say is we are proud of you and GO RAMS!

Finally,  I really wanted to share this awesome video coming from our very own Great Falls Elementary School.  I recently had the pleasure of spending some quality time at Great Falls reading "The One and Only Ivan" to several of the classes there, and got to know many of these great students and staff.  On a day I wasn't there, however. .. they did an all school song celebrating diversity.  It is definitely worth a view to brighten up your evening:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_h3O0xb5wA

Well, that's enough writing for now. .. gotta go check the weather as it looks like it might be a little messy out in the morning!  Stay tuned - you might be hearing from me earlier than you would like!

Update on Our Proficiency Based Learning (PBL) Goals for 2015-16

In Gorham, we believe that student engagement and student achievement improve when the components of a "proficiency-based learning" (PBL) system are in place across all grades and content areas.  Those components are:  clear learning targets, aligned instruction and assessments, timely interventions, and grading/reporting that reflects those learning targets. 
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Side Note Before we go too much further, how about a few definitions:

*  Proficiency Based Learning - A system of learning whereby students must demonstrate skills and knowledge based upon the attainment of specific rigorous standards of learning.
*  Learning Targets - The "smallest" components of a proficiency based system.  These are the learning objectives that guide the design of curriculum units of study that move students toward the achievement of Performance Indicators.
*  Performance Indicators - The "medium" sized components of a proficiency based system.  There are approximately 4-6 indicators by grade/grade span or course/learning experience for each content area standard that move students toward the achievement of graduation standards.
*  Graduation Standards - The "next to the largest" sized components of a proficiency based system.  There are usually 3-8 graduation standards for each content area.  These are what must be met in order to graduate from a proficiency based learning system.
*  Cross Curricular Graduation Standards - The "largest" sized components of a proficiency based system.  These are the five guiding principles of Maine's Learning Results that are taught in all content areas - things like being an "effective communicator" or an "integrated problem solver", etc.

Here's a visual that will help see how these pieces relate:

You can also find more information on the MDOE website at:  

http://www.maine.gov/doe/proficiency/

SORRY FOR SIDETRACKING THERE - JUST TRYING TO BUILD UP SOME UNDERSTANDING OF THE TERMS YOU'LL BE SEEING MORE AND MORE OF AS WE MOVE ALONG IN THIS WORK.  Please know that we hope you continue to ask questions of teachers, principals and others to learn more for yourself what these terms mean and how they relate to the daily educational activities of your child - but that's probably a whole other series of blog posts - so we'll leave it here for now.  Hope it helped!  Now back to the update! 

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What teacher, student, or parent wouldn't want the things that students have to learn at every grade level and in every content area to be clear to all stakeholders rather than being kept some kind of a secret? Who wouldn't want the instruction and assessments used by teachers across all grades and subjects to be aligned to those learning targets and actually assess student skills in those areas instead of something else entirely?  If a student isn't doing well, at any time, who wouldn't want an educational system that responds quickly and effectively to assist students in meeting learning targets before a student gets so far behind that they begin to lose confidence in themselves as learners?  And finally, what teacher, student, or parent wouldn't want the grades that are earned and reported on to be a clear reflection of student achievement in these specific skills and not necessarily a reflection of time spent in a room or based solely on effort?  The answer is no one.  The components of a proficiency-based learning system are really just really good teaching practices. They are the time-tested things that have always worked in any successful educational system.  The difference is that now we are really trying to pay attention to these components and are working diligently to build our entire K-12 system around meeting these ideals and making them a reality for our all our students rather than simply paying them lip service.  Now, to be clear, I don’t think Gorham has ever been in a situation (at least not in recent history) where the majority of our students flounder, or where the majority of our teachers don’t use these really good teaching practices.  But with a proficiency based learning system, we simply aren’t leaving it to chance and are building our entire system around these excellent practices so that all of our students experience the benefit of these common excellent practices.

Our overall goal here in Gorham is to fully implement our proficiency based learning system district-wide by the 2017-18 school year.  Over the past few years we've done a great deal of work to move us closer to meeting this goal.  We have created a draft of our graduation standards (which are being piloted and are still subject to change) that are aligned with Maine's Parameters for Essential Instruction.  We have created performance indicators aligned to these graduation standards in all content areas in grades K-12.  Currently, we are in the process of developing scoring criteria for the performance indicators as well as summative assessments that will enable students to show their level of proficiency at each performance indicator.  

This year we have had several major focus areas at the K-5 level.  The first has been to have teachers  use our new standards-based grading software called "JumpRope" to track student progress in their learning of ELA and Math.  Although parents have not yet interacted with this new software, the intent is for them to do so once teachers feel comfortable with JumpRope and have worked the "bugs" out of the system.  This will make sure that the system is reporting clearly and consistently on student learning before opening it up to parents.  Once the parent portal is open, parents can see how their children are performing and what skills they are learning in real time.  So far this work has been going well with K-5 teachers.  They are finding the areas of the system that need to be tweaked and improved and are learning how to utilize the system to track student learning efficiently and effectively.

Another major focus area at the K-5 level has been to finish up work on creating performance indicators and scoring criteria aligned to our graduation standards in the areas of science, social studies, art, music, and physical education so that next year we may also be able to track student learning in these areas via JumpRope.  This work is moving along nicely as teachers utilize Early Release afternoons and other professional release time for this purpose as well as to create aligned summative assessments.

The hope is that once this "infrastructure" work is complete (the creation of performance indicators, scoring criteria, and common assessments aligned to our graduation standards in all eight content areas), we will be able to utilize JumpRope to fully track all student learning, and to open up the JumpRope grading and reporting system to parents who can then become true partners with teachers in the learning process.  Additionally, by making this learning clear and transparent, students will also be able to utilize JumpRope to track their own learning, identify their own areas of strength and challenge, and better understand what they are learning, why they are learning it, how they can be successful in their learning, and what comes next in their learning once they have mastered a particular skill.

This year's focus areas for grades 6-8 are to finalize performance indicators and scoring criteria aligned to graduation standards in all eight content areas, to pilot the use of JumpRope in grade 7 during the fourth quarter, and to improve our intervention systems for students.

Middle school teachers are working diligently during our Early Release afternoons to finalize performance indicators and scoring criteria in all eight content areas and to create and revise aligned summative assessments.  So far, so good in this area.  In fact, a team of grade 7 teachers are on track to pilot the use of JumpRope in science during the fourth quarter.  Parents of 7th graders will be provided with training on how to utilize the system and how to make sense of the new reporting formats to stay informed on their student's learning.   The intent will then be to pilot JumpRope more broadly at the middle school level during the next school year.  A group of teachers at the middle school are also working closely with Principal Riley to review how the current EICAL block can be better utilized as a method to provide middle school students with timely and effective interventions.  

There are also proficiency based learning goals for the 6-12 grade span for this school year.  A lot of work is being done to bring consistency across the 6-12 system.  One area of focus is on the alignment of grading practices within our proficiency based learning system, including how to separate out skills for life (things like turning homework in on time, or taking pride in one’s work, etc.) from academic skills.  Another goal is to improve teachers’ ability to develop high quality assessments in all content areas and at all grade levels. 

A "Grading and Reporting" committee has been developed at each of the two schools comprised of administrators and teachers both to improve assessment literacy for teachers and to align grading practices at these grade levels to our proficiency based learning system.  These two committees are being overseen by a "6-12 Committee" that is working to make sure these practices are implemented consistently across grades 6-12.  Additionally, the 6-12 Committee is working to develop a plan for how to separate out skills for life from academic skills at these grade levels.  The intent is for this plan to be piloted starting at the middle school during the next school year.

Additional goals for this school year at the high school level only are to develop performance indicators and scoring criteria in all GHS courses, and to figure out how to expand effective intervention opportunities for high school students during the school day.  Summative assessment work is also being done during early release afternoons and inservice days by high school staff with the hope that these assessments will be piloted during the next school year.  A scheduling committee is currently reviewing the GHS schedule with the intent of implementing changes during the next school year that will allow for additional intervention time to be built in during the school day.

In addition to all this internal infrastructure work, the Gorham School Committee has begun a process to "re-vision" its district mission/vision and core beliefs.  A steering committee has been created consisting of teachers, administrators, students, parents, and community members to guide this work.  This group is focused on gathering appropriate feedback from all key stakeholders that will be used to guide the development of our vision and to refine our Proficiency based learning system implementation for the school district over the course of the next 5-7 years.  The first stages of this feedback collection will begin in earnest later this month and be conducted over the course of this winter and later this spring, culminating in the creation of a new mission/vision and set of core beliefs for the Gorham Schools by June.

By sharing this update with all of you, my hope is that you gain an understanding of the work we are undertaking here in Gorham to implement a proficiency based learning system that will meet the requirements of Maine's statutes, and more importantly, will improve student engagement and student achievement within our schools.  I also hope that you get a sense of the direction of this work, the intended timelines, and just how hard all of our staff are working to make our system better for all of our students.  As always, if you have questions, please reach out to your child's teacher, your school's principal, or to me directly and we will all do our best to answer them.  

Thank you! 

Sharing Recent Student Shadowing Experiences

I find it hard to believe that it is already almost time for the Holiday break!  It has been a busy and productive first six months of my time here as your Superintendent of Schools.  Each Monday morning I still wake up and kinda pinch myself to make sure that this is not some dream of mine that I'll wake up from at any moment!  I am in awe each day of what a tremendous community, and a tremendous school system we have here in Gorham, and I feel privileged to have been accepted here so warmly by everyone.  Gorham is a true community that understands what it means to support one another during times of need, and to celebrate the accomplishments of its citizens when individuals go above and beyond in their respective service to this community.

The school system is a microcosm of the community as a whole.  So far this year, I have been very busy meeting new people and beginning to form initial relationships with community, parents, students, and staff.  We too have had our hard times where individuals and families have needed our support, and times when we have been able to step back and celebrate the accomplishments of our students, staff, and families.  As I visit our schools, wander through classrooms, and attend various school and community functions, it is clear to see that the strength of our school system is in our talented staff, our hard working students, and in our caring and supportive families.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share with all of you one of the exciting things I had a chance to do this past month.  Over the past several weeks, I was able to spend three days shadowing students at Gorham High School.  Before I share some of my learning, I want to take a moment to thank Mr. Record and the staff at GHS for putting up with their "undercover boss" for a few days!  I can imagine that having your boss show up unannounced in a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers might be a little nerve-wracking!  I'd also like to especially thank the three excellent students who allowed me to "hang out" with them at school, attending their classes, following them in the hallways, going to lunch, riding the bus, etc.  One student was a Freshman, one a Junior, and one a Senior - all very respectful, caring, and charismatic young people who I am proud to say represent the very best of our school system.

During my time shadowing students, I was able to go to Advisory class, Spanish classes, English, AP Calculus, AP Biology, and PATHS Vocational Programming (among other classes).  During one visit I was even able to sit down and take the Math NWEA testing - which was a particular challenge to me since I hadn't had an algebra class in over 20 years!  

It is amazing what you can learn about a school by simply taking the time to be in it, especially if you can catch a glimpse of it from the student's perspective and these students helped me to do just that!  They helped me to see some of the challenges they face like the crowded hallways when changing classes and the need for more intervention time to be built within the regular day's schedule for timely help in assignments.  They helped me to see how busy they were, with many students taking full class schedules (no study halls) while also involved in athletics and clubs and even working part time.  They also helped me to see just how much they love their teachers, and how much their teachers love them right back!  Students talked at length about how much they enjoyed the close relationships they felt with their teachers and how that made them work even harder to do even better.  Students felt like they got along well with other students (not without the occasional family scuffle mind you), and that they had resources for help when they needed it. Students talked about their post secondary planning (yes even the freshman student) and the goals they are setting now to get them where they want to be when they graduate.   They talked about how much they really loved the newly remodeled cafeteria, and how they felt as though GHS was preparing them well for their futures.

I would have to say the highlight of my shadowing (and it was all great) was my trip to the welding program at PATHS with Alex.  For this trip, I had to wear my steel toed boots (that I borrowed from my father because I don't own a pair myself) and was even able to dress up in a welding smock and borrow the instructor's helmet for safety while Alex showed me how to weld.  Such a great program, and just in case you didn't believe me - here's a few pictures to prove it!






It was fascinating listening to Alex (and all the students I shadowed) talk about their learning.  The combination of math and art in welding was incredible and you could tell each student in the program was proud to be there learning what they were learning!  All the students I visited were thoroughly engaged with their learning - spouting vocabulary and explaining things to me as they went!  I have to say, I'd never taken Spanish, but after watching the seniors in Spanish IV sing and dance to their Spanish songs - I'd be tempted to learn another language as well! :)

All in all, my student shadowing experience was a very educational experience.  If you happen to be wondering why it is I'm sharing this with you - its really mostly because I wanted to make sure all of you knew just what great schools we have here in Gorham, full of great staff, and great students, supported by a  great community!   Do we have work to do that can make our system better?  OF COURSE WE DO. .. and we will, but during this festive holiday season - its always a good time to simply take stock in what you do have!  Enjoy your Holidays!

Themes from Entry Plan Interviews

I have been on the job as the Superintendent of Schools here in Gorham for four full months now.  Hard to believe a quarter of the year is already gone!  Time sure does move quickly when your having fun!  

During the past four months, part of my entry plan was to take the time to listen and learn about this great community and the school system that has so aptly served it for so many years.  Over the course of the past four months I have conducted 200 interviews with folks from the community that break out as follows:

·      School Administration – 16

·      School Committee – 7

·      School Staff – 39

·      School Parents – 45

·      School Students – 51

·      Community Members – 42

Total Interviews Conducted - 200

During each interview conducted, I generally asked three guiding questions:  (1)  What do you see as perceived strengths of the Gorham Schools and/or the community of Gorham? (2) What do you see as perceived challenges of the Gorham schools and/or the community of Gorham?  (3) If I were able to give you a couple  million dollars to spend on fixing 1-2 things within the school system, or the community, what would you spend it on?

The information I have gathered thus far through these interviews has been invaluable to me as a new leader here in Gorham.  Although I will absolutely continue to meet with people, and to listen and learn about the school system and the community, my goal was that once I got to 200 interviews, I would take the time to articulate the themes of information that I have heard by conducting these interviews and to share them with all of you.  Before I do, I would like to say that the themes I am about to share do not come from any formal qualitative research study approach.  I have not created matrixes or response protocol sheets, in order to come up with these themes.  These themes come from simply listening and it is with that spirit that I share what I have found thus far with all of you.  Here goes…

Themes Regarding Perceived Challenges – The Gorham Community

·      *  Although the population of Gorham is growing, it is not growing its industry and businesses at the same rate as its population.  Businesses and industry help reduce the overall tax burden within a community.  Instead, the population that is growing is more residential, which requires more services (schools, trash, police, fire, etc.).  This means that the required costs to provide these services goes up more quickly than the primarily residential taxes can support them.  This creates challenges in funding across all municipal services including the school. 

·      *  Although we have a beautiful Downtown area, which is at the center of our village– it needs some “TLC” to address issues such as traffic, parking, and quality of buildings, that will energize our Downtown and stoke further development.

·      *  Constant Change is an issue.  As our community continues to grow and grow it changes.  Thirty years ago, this community was considered very rural.  Today, with increased residential populations, that “rurality” is fading and our economic structures are changing.  We now have more affluent residents, but we also still have residents that are socio-economically disadvantaged and/or on fixed incomes.  This diversity stretches the need for our tax dollars to be spent in lots of different ways, stressing our infrastructure and making it difficult to serve any individual constituency well.

Themes Regarding Perceived Challenges – Gorham Schools

·      *  There are real pockets “at risk” students within our schools that are often not talked about or focused on.  Issues of food insecurity do exist, issues of poor attendance, drug and alcohol use and abuse, and other issues related to disadvantaged populations do exist within our schools.  These populations often have a stigma attached to them and we tend not to emphasize the need for programming to address these specific issues as much as we could.  Programs aimed at increasing aspirations and addressing these unique learning populations should be strengthened.  Right now, students often don’t really start thinking about what they will be doing after HS until sophomore or junior year.  The need to strengthen job shadowing opportunities, internships, and co-ops, etc., especially within the local community and bring more local businesses in to help students see what their options are needs to start at an earlier age.

·      *  We don’t budget enough each year to maintain and take care of the existing facilities we have and we have not had a clear plan with the Town that outlines how we fund our capital renovations needs over time.  The Maine Department of Education recommends setting aside 2% of your overall replacement costs for buildings each year to pay for Capital Renovations.  For Gorham, the total replacement costs for our school buildings is about $89,700,000.00, which would mean we should be setting aside approximately $1,794,000.00 annually for capital improvements.  This past year, we set aside $441,000.00 in our Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget.  We have some significant needs coming up (GHS location of admin. Offices, GHS HVAC systems, GHS classroom space issues, athletic fields, etc).  How do we address these needs in a way that people will approve funding them, especially as state funding to support public education continues to decrease?

·      *  Although Gorham has lots of different choices, services and programs for students, more work needs to be done to strengthen multiple pathway offerings for students to reach standards.  Whether that means increased G&T programming, or increased Alt. Ed. programming and all things in between – more work needs to be done to strengthen already existing pathways for our students to succeed in multiple ways.

·      *  Seemingly too many initiatives, not enough time. Within the last year or so, the Gorham schools have taken on some pretty big initiatives such as Proficiency Based Learning, and a complete overhaul of our Teacher and Principal Evaluation Systems.  In addition to those large items, we’ve also been working on implementing JumpRope (a new grading software system) in grades K-5, implementing new substitute software called AESOP, reviewing and adjusting implementation of Reading Street and Everyday Math Curricula at the K-5 level, and we had to implement a new state testing process last spring (Smarter Balanced Testing) that we will no longer be doing for this spring.  Instead we will be replacing that test with an entirely different test and having to re-learn all of that again.  It seems that we are going from one thing to another to another, not doing any of them as well as we could be, or sticking with them long enough to see what is working or what isn’t working.  Additionally, there is not enough time built into the regular teacher’s day to collaborate with other teachers, especially K-5 across all three schools.  It is difficult to operate a true K-12 system without providing appropriate time for professionals to meet together and to work on the work both vertically (K-12) and horizontally (across like grade levels and/or content areas).

·      *  University of Southern Maine is right here, but not really connected as well as they could be.  They seem to be “up on the hill” and not as much a part of the school community as they could be.  It would be nice to do more to collaborate with them and bring them into our school community more through dual enrollment courses, or increased mentoring experiences, etc.

·      *  Although some great visioning work was done in 2010 with excellent community stakeholder involvement, the vision is not currently truly alive within our schools, nor does it incorporate our vision for Proficiency Based Learning (PBL) within the Gorham Schools.  This is an initiative that occurred after the last large-scale visioning process was conducted.  As a result, our PBL work has been ongoing but not well communicated.  Our K-12 vision needs to be “refreshed” to help guide our ongoing PBL work moving forward.

·      *  Top school leadership has not been very visible within the schools and in the community over the past several years.  This does not mean that top school leadership has not been very active, or doing a good job, it just means that the ability to make natural connections to people served  and to the people being led has been hampered.  When visibility of leadership is reduced, the tendency to drift away from a tight alignment with mission and vision is heightened.

Themes Regarding Perceived Strengths – The Gorham Community

·      *  There is a strong, positive relationship between the Town and the School System.  Shared services between the Town and the School are present to help reduce taxpayer costs such as sharing a facilities director, technology director, mechanics services for school buses and collaborations between our athletic and recreation programs, etc.).

·      *  Our community is growing – one of the fastest growing (if not the fastest) in the state of Maine! Employment is high, median income is high and a sense of optimism exists among community members regarding the future of our Town.

·      *  Our Industrial Park is the best-kept secret in Gorham.  Over 45 businesses are located in the industrial park with the potential for more growth down the road.

·      *  The presence of the University of Southern Maine, Gorham Campus offers lots of benefits to the community such as jobs, cultural experiences, and increased access to continuing education for our residents.  The potential to increase these collaborations and to strengthen our partnership with the University exists and optimism is high for potential growth in this area.

·      *  Overall, there is a strong sense of community here in Gorham.  The community really cares for one another and rallies around one another, especially in times of need.

Themes Regarding Perceived Strengths – Gorham Schools

·      *  Excellent reputation for all schools and lots of community support in terms of passing budgets and also in terms of willingness to give their time in volunteering, etc.  People perceive that things are done “the right way” with a focus on meeting the needs of each student.  Students perceive the schools as safe places, where teachers truly care about who they are and who they are becoming.  School pride is strong here, and students feel as though their voices are heard.  GO RAMS! J

·      *  Very caring and respectful students who understand the importance of giving back to their community.  Many students volunteer, or participate in Rec. programming, or school extra and co-curricular programs.  The schools “Code of Conduct” is alive and strong with the five key components of “Respect, Honesty, Courage, Compassion, and Responsibility.”

·      *  Schools provide a multitude of programs to meet the needs of all learners, whether that be accelerated learning through G&T Programming, or a large menu of AP courses, electives, or online learning at the high school level or strong access to technology with 1:1 laptops in grades 6-12 or,  high quality intervention and support systems for students such as top notch Special Education Programs, RTI processes, Interventionists positions, Learning Labs, Alternative Education Programs, and CTE programs just to name a few.

·      *  School staff has a strong reputation for being compassionate, caring, and hard working from bus drivers and cooks to ed. techs. and coaches to teachers and all the way up through school and program leadership and the School Committee.  People perceive the staff, and those that lead our schools as having their priorities in the right places – focused on doing what is best for all students.

·      *  Our learning system supports innovation and new ideas from our teachers.  The system supports teachers to continue their learning and to stay on top of new pedagogy and best practices.  As long as benefits to students are clear, change in our system is supported.  Our staff is respected as the hard working professionals that they are.

·      *  A positive relationship exists between our local businesses and our school system.  The Gorham Business Roundtable (comprised of Gorham business owners and leaders and school personnel) meets at least quarterly to talk about how this relationship can be fostered and strengthened.  Things like job shadowing, internships, and co-op opportunities for our students have come from this positive relationship with the potential to grow even more great connections in the future between our schools and our business community.

So these are the themes that I have seen pop up across my interviews thus far.  I hope that you can see through my 2015-16 Goals that my areas of focus for this school year very much align with attempting to address some of the areas of challenge that exist for the Gorham Schools.  Those areas of focus for the 2015-16 School Year will be:

-       *  To strengthen the Gorham schools district mission/vision and core documents by completing a school and community-wide “re-visioning” process involving all stakeholders;

-       To continue to move the Gorham schools towards the creation of a PBL system of education for grades K-12;

-      *   To monitor and assess 1^st year pilot implementation of our new evaluation system for teachers and building administrators;

-       *  To be visibly present within the Gorham schools and the Gorham community;

-      *   To work with the school committee on addressing the capital needs of all facilities across the district; and

-       *  To create and implement a “needs based” budgeting approach for the FY 17 budget development process that will attempt to balance the needs of our school system in meeting the needs of our students with the needs of our taxpayers who support our schools.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.  My email address is:  heather.perry@gorhamschools.org .  I look forward to continuing to “Listen and Learn” as I work to “Lead” this great school system forward.

Thank you,

Heather J. Perry,

Superintendent of Schools