By ETHAN HARTLEY Warwick Public Schools are in the midst of a big transition regarding how they educate elementary students in science curriculum, which has generated both high praise regarding the new program's merits and scathing criticism from some
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Warwick Public Schools are in the midst of a big transition regarding how they educate elementary students in science curriculum, which has generated both high praise regarding the new program’s merits and scathing criticism from some educators who believe the transition has left other students underserved in the transition process.
The program – Guiding Education in Math and Science Network (GEMS-Net) – is a comprehensive partnership between the University of Rhode Island and 13 state public school districts that delivers high-quality science and math curricula to students while also providing ongoing support and professional development to better guide teachers on how to instruct that curricula.
Warwick began its transition over this past summer, when eight full-time elementary science teachers were laid off during widespread budget cuts that extended throughout the district in attempts to close an $8.1 million deficit.
The move was not only fiscal in nature, but also demonstrated a commitment to a new methodology of science instruction – one that moved away from having dedicated elementary science teachers whose job was solely to teach the subject once a week, and work towards a model where K-5 students get science instruction as a regular part of their education throughout the week.
No small factor in the decision to change the method – which had been in place since the Space Race of the 1960s – was Warwick’s proficiency rating in science, which at 36 percent of 4th graders being proficient is significantly lower than the state average of 40 percent.
“When the state starts to measure us against other districts, we don’t do very well,” said School Committee member David Testa during Tuesday night’s meeting, where GEMS-Net presented a preliminary report on its first year within Warwick. “Then, the question has to be why aren't we doing well?”
Currently, the district has full GEMS-Net involvement only in their 3rd and 4th grade elementary classes. The reason, according to administration, is simply a matter of cost. It costs about $40,000 to implement a GEMS-Net partnership per grade level. The plan was initially to prototype the program only in third grade, but additional funding through Title IV allocations allowed the school to expand the release to the 4th grade as well.
What that investment buys is comprehensive professional development (PD) days prior to the school year on how to teach the GEMS-Net model, which is aligned with Common Core standards and strives to actively engage students in scientific processes, building skills like deductive reasoning and observation-based problem solving, rather than simply having them passively memorize scientific theories and terminology from text books.
Grade three teachers received three days of extensive professional development, and grade four teachers received four days, and teachers were provided stipends for this professional development. The core of GEMS-Net mission is to not only provide the initial PD, but to continuously support educators throughout the year on how to instruct their science lessons and experiments by doing presentations in classrooms and being available to answer questions at any time.
“This is a learning process for teachers as well,” said Caroline Stabile, Assistant Director of GEMS-Net. “All teachers come back for professional development on a regular basis each year so we can continue to support and continue to grow and give teachers a chance to grow their professional skills as well… It is our responsibility to do whatever it takes to make this work for you and your students.”
Unfortunately, as only two grade levels are currently afforded the full opportunities provided by the GEMS-Net program, that means that three other grade levels (and kindergarten) are in the midst of an awkward phase of the transition where teachers are still expected to teach the GEMS-Net curriculum without an identical amount of training.
Those who have received the full training sang its praises during Tuesday’s meeting.
“[GEMS-Net] has helped me figure out how to teach science,” said Holliman third grade teacher Suzanne Warren. “I have felt completely supported.
“But I've had about 21 hours of training at this point,” she continued.
This isn’t to say that teachers in grades 1, 2 and 5 have been given no training in the new program whatsoever, but it is certainly much less than what teachers in grades 3 and 4 receive. Without the full financial support, these grade level teachers get only one day of training prior to the school year as part of their routine PD.
While all grade level teachers have access to online GEMS-Net materials, including tutorial videos on how to set up experiments and teach science units, according to Warwick Teachers’ Union president Darlene Netcoh, these supports have been wholly inadequate to prepare teachers outside of grades 3 and 4 to implement the challenging GEMS-Net curriculum – and the administration has not adequately addressed this reality, resulting in confusion and frustration.
“This district has lived up to its motto – fire, ready, aim. Once again, the administration is building a plane while flying it and going from 0 to 90 and getting a speeding ticket in the process,” she said during an extensive testimony before the school committee following the presentation. “This district's treatment has been disrespectful to the teachers and harmful to the students they serve.”
Netcoh cited correspondence she received from teachers outlining confusion regarding the science kits they received. Complaints ranged from kits lacking clear instructions, to the administration requiring teachers bring in materials from home – such as potato peels or a piece of luggage – or scrounging for plant and leaf matter underneath freshly fallen snow to facilitate a biosphere for worms.
There were also issues, according to Netcoh, regarding available instruction materials. Some kits came with only one teacher textbook and one student textbook, while others relied entirely on GEMS-Net’s online instructions – however elementary grades do not yet have one-to-one Chromebooks, so materials and instructions needed to be shared among classrooms and between students.
Netcoh decried the lack of true professional development assisting teachers with the new endeavor, and expressed concerns about how teachers would have to find time to prepare for science curricula at the expense of their other teaching obligations.
“We see teachers of grades 3 and 4 receiving extensive training, as well they should. But the teachers in grades 1, 2 and 5 should be receiving this training as well, not being told to go watch a video,” she said. “When are teachers supposed to do all of this preparation for brand new investigations that have now been dumped into their laps? What parts of their ELA, math and social studies curricula should they neglect? What other duties to their students and their own families should they neglect when they're watching hours of videos?”
Hearing this kind of outcry from teachers about not being able to adequately understand and implement the GEMS-Net curriculum without more support, Warwick administrators worked with GEMS-Net, who agreed in February outside of their original agreement to expand the professional development opportunities to all grade level teachers before or after classes. Attending these sessions would not provide teachers a stipend, however.
Regardless, Warwick’s Director of Curriculum Wendy Amelotte said on Wednesday that many principals and teachers from elementary schools have taken advantage of the available training, and that the plan has been to incorporate all elementary grade levels into the full fold of GEMS-Net, but the budget situation has complicated that process.
“Clearly, I would support all of our teachers having full access to the partnership,” she said. “It is just a matter of time...My vision for Warwick is to not just be at the state average but to be one of the leading school districts in the state.”
School Committee Chairwoman Karen Bachus said that every year where some grade levels have access to the high-quality curriculum while others don’t is a disservice to the students.
“We need to get our act together. Because every year counts for our kids,” she said. “I know there's budget woes, but we have to find a way...I think we have to be more thoughtful when we roll out new programs about how we’re going to do that and accommodate teachers.”
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PatrickRamsey
It only took a quick google search to see that the last time our 4th graders were measured in science (2017), Warwick's elementary % proficient was 41.9%. Which is not "significantly lower" than the state average, it's actually above (40.6%). Either the 36% was an error or the school department is cherry picking data from 3 years ago.
http://www.ride.ri.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=qlqKlrE4Ij0%3D&portalid=0
Regardless, we can do better.
My larger concern is with the GEMS-Net program itself. I have a family member who teaches in one of those 13 public school districts using GEMS-Net. She told me that the district is constantly supplementing with other materials and questions its alignment to the science standards. There has even been talk of getting rid of the program within her district. I wonder how many science teachers were involved in the selection of this program for Warwick?
By the way, I have one of those students in 2nd grade, not officially in GEMS-Net, I haven't seen anything science related all year long. It's a shame because he really liked his science teacher last year, but we need budget cuts to pay for those excessive administrative salaries I read about a couple of weeks ago.
Thursday, March 14, 2019 Report this
Justanidiot
sews long as day donut teach evolution and global warming and other liberal claptrap, we wills be okay
Thursday, March 14, 2019 Report this
richardcorrente
Dear Justanidiot,
You are Right again. You sure are edgumacated!
Happy St. Patricks weekend old friend.
Rick
Friday, March 15, 2019 Report this
Samuel
And by more training and support the union really means more pay!!
Monday, March 18, 2019 Report this
richardcorrente
Dear Samuel,
I don't think that it means "more pay!" for the teachers. I think it means "more training and support", just like it says.
And won't that bring up the scores of our students? I think so.
Remember, the teachers went 2 years of torture from Avedisian to get a nominal, 3% raise. He refused countless attempts from the teachers union to meet. I wouldn't tolerate that. Would you? I don't think that had a positive effect on the teachers? Do You? In any negotiation, if you alienate the other side, they disrespect you and the talks become counter-productive. Isn't that what happened? I could be wrong but I don't think Solomon would hold-out like that.
Avedisian refused to negotiate. The School Committee (under Avedisians influence) refused to negotiate. The only party that negotiated in good faith; the only party that sat at the negotiating table (alone!) was the teachers union. That is a huge reason why I have always supported the teachers and a huge reason why I have always opposed the School Committee (of old) and Mayor Avedisian.
Mayor Solomon isn't non-communicative. He will sit down and talk to the teachers union. (I believe). He won't give them "anything they want", but I'm confident that he will be willing to attend the negotiations. If the Mayor does, the School Committee does. It's that simple, in my opinion. And if the teachers feel respected, human nature suggests that they will teach with greater enthusiasm. The result? Higher test scores, at least in theory.
Isn't that what we all want? I think so.
Happy Spring Samuel.
Happy Spring everyone.
Rick Corrente
The Taxpayers Mayor
Wednesday, March 20, 2019 Report this
MisterP
Keep in mind the most important problem for the grade 1,2 and 5 teachers and students is that they have not been given the hands-on materials to effectively use this new program. It's not just the training---there are no materials! They were just given a small "test drive" box of materials while other grades such as grade 4 received 8 suitcase size boxes of materials to use.
Thursday, March 21, 2019 Report this
Bg9385
The story is inaccurate regarding stipends and PD days. Fourth grade teachers have had two PD days - during the school year, not before - with no stipend. The additional hours for the two additional PD days have been sprinkled into faculty meeting times, and have yet to be completed.
Friday, March 22, 2019 Report this