Board Approves De-Leveling of 7th Grade

By a vote of 6-3, the South Orange Maplewood Board of Education voted to adopt Superintendent Brian Osborne's recommendations to "level up" the current 7th grade Level 3 into Level 4. The recommendations also contain changes to 6th grade curriculum aimed at preparing 6th graders for the new combined "Level-UP" classes.

But before the vote, each board members spoke at length about their views on the proposals, and then members of the public were given the floor to speak. More than 50 speakers were signed up, according to BOE President Mark Gleason. Given time constraints and the number of speakers, all 50 did not have a chance to address to the Board.

The public speaking period brought some moments of drama as when Maurice Sabloff approached the podium with his guitar, proceeded to play it and then tried to have BOE member Lynne Crawford replicate what he had just played. BOE President Mark Gleason asked him pointedly to return to his position behind the podium.

At another point, a parent became upset when the Board tried to close the public hearing portion of the meeting before her 12-year-old daughter spoke. The Board reconsidered and allowed four more speakers from each camp—for and against the recommendations.

Despite a few outbursts, most speakers were thoughtful and respectful—though impassioned.

But first the Board members expressed their views. Beth Daugherty was the first of many proponents during the evening to invoke Osborne's description of the proposed changes as "modest." She said she "firmly supported the recommendations," and knew they would "require hard work, but I think we are all ready to rise to the challenge." Daugherty said it was her understanding that the principals supported the move and "they tell us that the teachers support it."  Daugherty noted that "this didn't happen with the 6th grade de-leveling. We are establishing that rigor. We've put that under a huge amount of scrutiny."

Daugherty also noted that supporting teachers would be key to the success of the de-leveling. She also said, "We are talking six teachers in each school. It's not an insurmountable amount of students who will need extra support."

Wayne Eastman took another view. Although, he said, "Bottom line I am supportive of the broad contours of the proposal," Eastman proposed postponing implementation by one year. Regarding the changes to 6th grade curriculum, Eastman said, "This is a big change. We should be accountable."

David Giles stated that he supported the Superintendent's proposal. "The current system is not justifiable." Giles said the question was "can we meet the needs of the highest and lowest performing students."

Clearly Giles thought the district could do so: "I personally don't think it will erode the levels and I think we can meet needs based on the principles Beth described." And: "In my view, the key thing is that we do have the support of the leadership and the staff. Will it be perfect? No. But we will have measurements in place."

Giles tried to bridge the gap between those for and against: "We all have children in the system. We all care. We're all concerned about all the kids."

Sandra Karriem elicited the strongest audience responses. "It is imperative to insure that all students are assured of a quality education," said Karriem. "There is no evidence that high achieving students will be harmed, but there is ample evidence that those non-achieving students will be harmed."

In response to those contending that the change is coming too fast, Karriem replied, "We have been debating and considering this issue for as long as I have lived in this community—more than 20 years!"

"There will probably never be the right time to just do it, so I propose just doing it."

Richard Laine provided another counterpoint: He said that there was not a lot of evidence supporting either leveling or de-leveling and that the "focus needs to be on professional development of teachers," on curriculum and instruction overall.

Lained explained his thoughts that "the disagreement is more about the application than the ideas. It needs to be done right." He said that he supported the 6th grade recommendations but "what prevents me from voting yes is the lack of time to discuss the recommendations." Laine suggested a pilot program for January 2011.

Jennifer Payne-Parrish noted that she has a child entering the 7th grade. "I would argue these recommendations enhance the entire system." That said, Payne-Parrish noted that she is "expecting follow-up, training." She would want to hold the Superintendent's feet to the fire. Payne-Parrish also said she felt that the district should seriously look at implementing an honors program for middle school once the de-leveling recommendations are implemented.

Andrea Wren-Hardin also supported the Superintendent's recommendations, but said she wanted to see a parental engagement component in the middle schools. "Parents have to be part of the team." She disagreed with Laine's mid-year implementation recommendation, saying that "everyone is on board now."

Lynne Crawford asked simply, "If not now, when?" Always outspoken, Crawford questioned the parents who were against the proposal. "This is not Pingry or Exeter," said Crawford, who said that a public school district was directed with providing a quality education for all. She asked, "What are you concerned about? Levels are not contagious."

Student rep Seth Wolin said he preferred a one-year delay and noted that he had polled students and found that most students in the upper levels were against the proposal while those in middle levels had a mixed reaction.

Finally Board President Mark Gleason came out against the recommendations: "This looks like reform but it really isn't." Gleason noted that he felt the timing was bad as the district was dealing with a budget crunch and reduced staff. Also he felt there was not enough time to get the program in place for the fall. But he noted that "we all want to get rid of the achievement gap." He also said the Board was unanimous in that "the Superintendent is moving us in the right direction."

When the discussion opened to the public, Chip Madsen and Anthony Green spoke in favor of the recommendations on behalf of the Community Coalition on Race, as did Peabody Award winning documentarian Nancy Solomon who spent a year studying the achievement gap for her documentary "Mind the Gap." CHS senior Lilah Tally spoke of her disappointment in going from the heterogeneous classroom environment of Seth Boyden school to almost all-white Level 4 classes in middle school.

On the other side, Sue Ellen Leys felt that the move was happening too fast: "Wait until you actually see what you are asking for before you vote for the proposal," she said. In one year, Leys felt the 6th graders, with the support of their new curriculum, would be better prepared for the new combined "Level-UP" level.

Marian Cutler expressed the opinion that the recommendations lacked community support. She criticized the district's job communicating about the proposal. "The handling of this proposal comes across as secretive and, dare I say, draconian," Cutler stated.

Andrea Marino discussed her experience of sending two of her children through 6th grade before de-leveling and two other children through after de-leveling. "The tests were dumbed down," she said, and recalled finding one of her younger children reading a 4th-grade level book in the 6th grade. "If that's excellence, I have a problem with that."

After a break, even more speakers took to the podium. Twelve-year-old Rebecca Cooper of South Orange Middle School expressed her desire to "learn with people at the same intelligence level" as herself and "not be with others who hold you back." She said that de-leveling would mean that some students would not be challenged and others would fall behind.

Esther Siskind said that she was one of many parents of high-achieving students who supported de-leveling. She said she "believed that leveling has provided a huge disservice to our children," and that leveling "sends a message that they are privileged" to students in higher levels.

Pamela Ehrens countered that she could support the recommendations "more readily if there was a simultaneous commitment to create an honors program." Ehrens, herself a published novelist, felt that the district was sending the message, "We want you to do well but we don't want you to do too much better than your peers, because that would be awkward."

Lisa Davis had a different experience, saying she had pulled her son out of South Orange Middle School due to leveling. "The teachers think I'm dumb," she recalled him saying, despite the fact that he had read 30 chapter books in nine months and "loves Barnes & Noble." Davis said many African-American parents in the district were, in essence, paying a double tax as they felt forced to send their children to private schools in order to have them achieve.

When the recommendations came to a vote, Richard Laine first proposed an amendment delaying implementation by a year (it failed) and delaying the vote by a month (also failed).

Ultimately Wren-Hardin, Karriem, Crawford, Giles, Daugherty and Payne-Parrish voted in favor of the recommendations. Eastman, Gleason and Laine voted against.

After the meeting, Donna Smith of the group Levels Can Work commented, "Obviously some Board members have not really listened to what we have been saying—we agree with combining the Level 3 and 4 students, so long as there is an honors component for the small portion of the class that is truly gifted."