Dobbs Ferry Superintendent Grapples with Maintaining Philosophy While Raising Scores

Dobbs Ferry Superintendent of Schools Debra Kaplan will present and contextualize students' performances on state exams this Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m., first at Springhurst and then at Dobbs Ferry High School. 

"The focus of the presentations will first be on the variables that contribute to the scores," Kaplan said. "What makes us different is that every class is open here; we don't have criteria for getting into IB and AP courses, so of course that has an effect on the overall the scores." 

Because the tenets of inclusive education are so important to Kaplan's educational philosophy, her goal is to guide parents to look at students' progress over a period of time rather than compare overall student percentiles to those in nearby Rivertowns districts. 

"I'm interested in looking at the same cohort of kids and watching how their scores change over a period of time," she said.

The slides prepared for Tuesday and Wednesday nights' presentations show individual groups' scores—graduates of 2004, 2005 etc.—and how that grade-level performed from one year to the next.  

"I tell parents they should concentrate most on their children's 'scaled' scores, or a student's range of scores that allows for comparison of progress over time," Kaplan said. "Though the cut scores may look different—and lower—this year; the scaled scores should not."

According to data compiled for grades 3-5 in Dobbs Ferry, the district is not falling behind "similar schools."

So why do some parents in the district believe they are?

"Similar schools—determined by the state in part by the number of students receiving free or reduced lunch—are not necessarily the three other Rivertowns districts," Kaplan said. 

The other areas of concern some district parents raised at a recent board of education meeting, though, Kaplan acknowledged as valid grievances.

"We have also noticed that the ELA scores after 8th grade are not as high as they should be, and we're working to address that," she said, adding that the scores did appear to jump back up once students entered the high school.  

Her plan includes "having 8th and 9th-grade teachers collaborate on curricula" and mentoring teachers whose students have struggled in the past.

"Parents should understand that it is just as much our goal as theirs that students enter high school prepared," Kaplan said. 

Another issue Kaplan and the middle school math department hope to address is helping kids who take the Regents exam in 8th grade also perform well on the state math evaluation.

"Kids who take the Regents in 8th grade—which is nearly all of our studets—do very well on that test, but often not as well on the state exam," Kaplan said. "We need to keep up the kids' basic algebra skills while they're preparing for a test in geometry."  

In response to parents' concerns over the high failure rate on the 11th-grade Algebra II/Trig. and Chemistry Regents, Kaplan said the district would make no excuses.

"It was the first year giving the math test, and though we did a tremendous amount of work preparing a curriculum, obviously it didn't work," she said. "Math teachers came in during the summer to analyze the curriculum and look at exactly what kids got wrong."

For students who did poorly on that exam last year, but are currently taking higher-level math, Kaplan said there would be additional support in those classrooms. The chemistry exam, which also tripped-up a number of students, was similarly scrutinized. 

Going forward, Kaplan said her concern is maintaining Dobbs Ferry's progressive educational philosophy—in which students with IEPs learn in regular ed. classes and all students are pushed to take high level courses—without letting state test scores suffer.

"I don't want to start teaching to the standardized tests," she said. "I want all students to learn in a rigorous environment that promotes critical thinking. My ultimate goal does not end with kids getting into college—it's preparing them to graduate from college as successful and global citizens."

Only time will determine whether that's possible.  

Meeting times and locations are as follows:

Tuesday, October 5: 

7:00 pm - Springhurst Cafeteria

Presentation on Grades 3-5 State Assessment Data

Wednesday, October 6: 

7:00pm - HS /MS Cafeteria 
  

Presentation on Grades 6-8 State Assessment Data