Article

State evaluation teams find progress, problems -- quickly
Thursday, April 05, 2007 • BY JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff

Each team member jotted notes as they walked the room, one watched the teacher from the back of the class, another went straight to the displays on the walls, and a third combed through lesson books and student files.

In less than seven minutes -- there's a timekeeper to make sure -- the state's evaluation team graded the kind of education that was taking place in the second- floor science classroom at Orange Middle School.

And after briefly comparing notes in the hallway, it was on to the next classroom.

"You'd be surprised what you can get out of that," said Joan Oby-Dawson, a retired New York University professor who headed the team. "The teacher's style, the students' work. You come out with a lot of information."

The group of experts and educators are one of a dozen teams that serve as the primary tools in New Jersey's efforts to turn around its lowest-performing schools. For three to five days at a time, they in filtrate schools and evaluate everything from the effectiveness of teachers to the state of classroom bulletin boards.

And for Orange Middle School, this one will be an especially critical review, an early judgment of the restructuring it has done under order of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The middle school of 600 stu dents is one of 50 in the state facing such orders after seeing its test scores miss the law's achievement requirements for six years running, with the most recent math passing rates at barely 20 percent.

In response, the school, among other steps, broke up this year into five separate units where teachers and students stay together for all of their classes, aiming to bring greater attention to children in their tumultuous middle school years.

Other schools under restructuring in the state took different paths.

Elizabeth's Lafayette School was one of a half-dozen in the city that replaced its principal. Newton Street School in Newark is serving as the laboratory for a unique partnership among the district, higher education and the teachers union.

But the schools all hold one thing in common: visits -- and the angst that comes with them -- from the state's CAPA teams, the acronym for the Collaborative Assessment and Planning for Achievement.

"I didn't sleep very well last night," Terri Russo, a veteran teacher at Orange, said on the first day of the team's visit.

Another teacher said she was putting the finishing touches on her classroom and students' files until 10 p.m. the Friday before.

THREE DAYS OF POKING

Carrying an armful of handouts for the opening meeting, principal Judith Kronin looked a little ner vous but said it was just the excitement of showing off her school.

"I'm feeling very good about where we are," said Kronin.

What followed was three days of poking and prodding into her school, including visits to two dozen classrooms and interviews with more than 50 teachers and students.

The second-floor classroom of science teacher Patrick Howell was the second walkthrough of the visit. He didn't much mind, sticking with his lesson as his impromptu visitors darted around the room.

"It can be intrusive, but we know the state has to do what it has to do," Howell said afterward. "We need the checks and balances in everything we do."

Starting in 2004 and patterned after a program used in Kentucky, the state conducts about 100 CAPA visits a year. The team members -- a vast majority retired educators -- are each paid $300 a day for their work, with team leaders getting about $355 a day.

Overall, the state spends about $2.5 million on the process each year, officials said.

Whether these teams actually succeed in their mission is a point of debate. The state is doing two studies that will measure whether the affected schools eventually show tangible improvement, including whether they eventually drop off the No Child Left Behind "needs improvement" lists.

By one count, about a half of those schools first reviewed in 2004 saw sanctions ease under the federal law within the next two years.

Oby-Dawson, the team leader in Orange Middle School, has led about a dozen such reviews and said they no doubt help the schools.

"But of course, it is only the be ginning," she said. "It's a tool that can work, but it also depends on the effectiveness of the people (in the CAPA teams), the resources available, and the willingness of the people in the schools."

Orange Middle School underwent its first CAPA review in May 2005, ending with more than 100 recommendations for improvement, including suggestions for a new math curriculum that has since been implemented.

Last year, they came back and the list was winnowed to about 30. As the team finished its three days last week and gathered school and district leaders for the final presentation, the list would be knocked down further.

Kronin, principal since 2005, was praised for instilling a school climate that is "safe, caring and centered on academic success." The five new smaller units, and especially the planning between teachers that comes with them, was touted as an "exemplar" by one team member, a former Mont clair State University administrator.

The eight recommendations this time centered on needed staffing and additional training and follow-up for teachers to ensure that the best strategies are employed in the classroom. For instance, one member said teachers need more help in involving students in math lessons, letting them answer their own questions.

"Students are not given enough chance to do the higher-order thinking," said Susan Hinkle, a math coach from the Jersey City schools. "You can't just illicit one- word responses. The students must provide the concepts, not the teachers."

But she and others said the school was primed for such strides with its cooperative work among teachers. "It's not like you are starting from scratch," said Elaine Gardner, a retired social studies supervisor, also from Jersey City. "You are in a much better position than a lot of places."

Afterward, Kronin looked al most relieved. A week later, she herself was primed and ready.

"It's a grueling process and we worked very hard," she said. "But I'm glad we did it ... It gives me a springboard to really motivate my staff and go to the next level."

Grading classrooms in minutes

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