New Haven Independent

A recent state-mandated “quality review report” on the New Haven Public Schools — conducted by independent Cambridge Education consultants — identifies significant areas in which the district is progressing as well as those especially in need of improvement. Having participated in a meeting with the consultants, I believe readers would be interested in the report. It validates certain current directions while sketching suggestions for necessary additional, accelerated progress.

(The report is here.)

The evaluators recognized “some promising gains” in achievement to go with an “ambitious capital improvement program.” Released weeks before the latest CMT and CAPT assessments administered in March, the report notes student achievement “is still too low overall … particularly in reading.” Yet it cites “a commitment to driving up learning outcomes of every student,” with early reading a focus.

As the report documents, 77 percent of New Haven Public Schools students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch, and 30 percent have a language other than English as their home language. A growing majority, 73 percent, enter kindergarten with preschool experience; 27 percent do not.

The report perceives attention to “the quality of teachers and principals” and related professional development. Evaluators observed: “Providing teachers with genuine opportunities to shape the direction of education in the district is … a feature of the [improvement] plan.” According to the reviewers, “Teamwork is seen as a growing feature and increasingly the district is seen to be seeking out and listening to the views of principals and teachers.”

Attracting, developing, and retaining additional talent for both classroom and management roles are constant priorities. Everyone in New Haven can help in recruiting - and acknowledging - inspired, well-qualified teachers. (The district is hosting an event on April 24 for prospective teachers; call 946-8808 for information.)

The Cambridge report mentions the New Haven Public Schools’ more extensive use of data as it aims to address evolving needs of individual students and schools. The district’s effort to welcome and respond to parents and other community members earns praise.

Some students interviewed “did not feel that they had been challenged enough [academically]” and believed “teachers did not have high enough expectations of them.” Still, overall evaluators said students “felt … there had been a big improvement in schools.”

Beyond better “mechanisms for supporting and challenging schools,” the report recommends “a comprehensive … behavior support strategy” including “for students who have significant social and emotional difficulties.” Financial clarity was another area of suggested improvement.

That said, in all five categories examined the district was found to have met at least minimum requirements for proficiency. In three of those categories, reviewers determined the district exceeds minimum requirements.

New Haven is one of 12 larger districts of which the State of Connecticut has demanded such a review as our state aims to counter troubling achievement gaps. Certain schools in certain districts, including New Haven, are enjoying some success in closing these gaps. Nationally, Boston and New York are examples of two of the big-city districts with most encouraging albeit uneven returns on their reforms, with state policy a factor in each case.

Still, few if any entire districts anywhere have all the answers. (Indeed, in different ways, American educators are looking to lessons from nations as disparate as Canada, China, Finland, India, Singapore, and South Korea, even while educators from abroad draw upon elements of the U.S. education system, including the independent thinking and creativity often associated with this country.) Costs and broader policy - such as Connecticut’s push for more uniformly rigorous instruction and final exams in the secondary grades, as well as expanded access to high-quality preschool - are major considerations.
(See these three articles.)

“A spirit of genuine partnership” between this district and its constituents was something reviewers remarked upon here. State official Thomas Murphy called New Haven’s review “the most positive thus far.” A similar study of Meriden schools, for example, was more critical. According to the Meriden Record Journal, one Meriden school board member found “very little positive and so much negative,” though the superintendent there regarded it as “just another step of accountability and that’s a good thing.”

It is a formidable task for those who — as educators, families, and/or other community members — seek to bolster professional teachers, challenge students and enhance their learning opportunities, all within fiscal constraints. Results matter, with test scores one important, tangible measure. Recognizing this, schools and their partners are striving toward better results.

In that difficult effort, it’s encouraging when the advances educators, parents, and students themselves are making are affirmed. Balance and proportion are frequently lacking in discussion of public schools. The reality is complicated: a mixed picture, with heightened expectations and a lot of hard work both underway and remaining.

Josiah H. Brown lives in New Haven with his wife and two young children. Associate Director of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, he is also a member of the New Haven Public Schools’ Community Engagement Team, which met with the Cambridge Education consultants.