There is a bevy of recommendations for Niskayuna Central School District officials to contemplate with the release of a yearlong independent study on its two middle schools that found achievement gaps among student groups and suggested closing one of the schools to save money.
The Niskayuna Board of Education and district officials on Tuesday, Dec. 6, heard a presentation outlining findings and recommendations included in a study aiming to enhance middle school programming and use resources.
Educational consultants Jack Berckemeyer, of Incentive Publications, and Annette Fante, of Transforming Thinking, started the study last fall and conducted more than 100 classroom observations, held seven focus groups and surveyed the school community.
“We looked at every aspect of the middle school program, which requires we look at other aspects of the district, elementary and high schools, because the middle school doesn’t operate in isolation.” Fante said.
Berckemeyer worked 13 years for the National Middle School Association and said he’s been in over 400 middle schools across the county
“This is a good school system, the middle schools are good, so when we go through these observations we are going to be a little nitpicky on some things,” Berckemeyer said. “But here is the question — does Niskayuna want to be great? It is going to be difficult to get to great … you are going to have to unfortunately drive through Uglyville, but when you get to the end this could be one of the most exemplary middle schools in the state.”
Boys, students with disabilities are lagging
A review of achievement data revealed there are significant performance gaps on the middle school level that researchers said begin even earlier.
“The issue about performance gaps on the English language arts and mathematics doesn’t begin at the middle school level,” said Fante. “The gaps in disability performance and boys in reading is evident in elementary as well and you have data to support this.”
During the 2009-10 school year, the study found male students lagged behind females in 27 of 28 categories focusing on English, math, social studies, science and foreign language at the middle school level. Seventeen of those categories held a 10 percent difference in achievement. Also, students with disabilities, while a smaller group, have achievement gaps ranging from a low of 5.2 percentage point difference to a high of a 51.9 percentage point difference.
Achievement data from the 2010-11 school year showed a slightly rosier picture, with 13 of the 28 categories holding a double-digit gap in performance between the sexes. Students with disabilities last school year also had double-digit differences in 24 of 28 categories.
“It causes questions I would hope and it would cause people to ponder why is the gap so big at third grade, but gets smaller at fourth grade and is big again in fifth grade and smaller at sixth grade,” Fante said. “These are indicative of the trends and patterns in your system … these are some things that are beyond a middle school focus.”
To increase student achievement and shrink performance gaps, the researchers recommended implementing professional development tied to current research on “brain-based learning” and males for the most effective techniques. System performance goals are also recommended for both males and students with disabilities.
Closure of a school recommended
Smaller enrollment numbers at Iroquois and Van Antwerp Middle Schools led researchers to recommend looking into closing one of the existing schools to increase efficiencies and save money.
“This issue about small schools is one that you have … I heard again tonight about combination classrooms,” Fante said.
Five neighborhood elementary schools were also identified as having smaller class sizes, and researchers.
The study argued there could be additional opportunities to enhance education if students were shifted to one middle school. Rising costs and the state’s property tax cap are placing strains on school districts everywhere to rein in costs.
“If you want to move away from smaller schools because they are not as efficient and because economically you can’t support them … we are consider that as an opportunity for innovation,” Fante said. “You don’t necessarily close a school just to close a school, but that you potentially combine the two middle schools into one location.”
Superintendent Susan Kay Salvaggio said the more drastic recommendations need to be approached thoughtfully as the district and community tries to improve schools.
“Our culture is one of continuous improvement, and I believe we need to look at the recommendations in that spirit,” Salvaggio said in a statement. “We always want to do better for our children. The report recommends many changes, some of them quite significant, and I think it is incumbent upon us to review them carefully and methodically as a district and community.”
The district also highlighted some additional recommendations of the study, which include eliminating the FLEX period and redesigning the advocacy program, implementing a new master schedule with more variable time periods, developing a new middle school course of study with exploratory offerings and moving band and orchestra into the school day.
“These recommendations, among others, will be, should be, the focus of a continuing conversation about how best to meet the needs of middle school students in Niskayuna,” Salvaggio said. “They demand a deliberate review. I see the delivery of the report as beginning the process.”
To download the 95-page middle school study, visit the district’s website at www.NiskySchools.org.
