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Date: 4/6/2023
EAST LONGMEADOW — The East Longmeadow School Committee approved a change in Birchland Park Middle School’s math grading system, as proposed by Principal Timothy Allen on March 27.
In 2019-20, Birchland Park transitioned to a standards-based grading system for all math courses except algebra. Standards-based grading focuses on the mastery of a series of standards, or area of study. Math standards include “expressions and equations” or “ratios.” The system uses a grading metric in which a one reflects below basic mastery of a standard, whereas a four represents advanced mastery.
The coronavirus pandemic derailed the implementation of the new grading system; however, it was reintroduced in 2021-22. Allen said that in January, with more than a year of hands-on experience, the math department expressed concerns about “how it was working for families and students.”
There are both pros and cons to the system. Power School, a software platform the school is adopting, will work better with the new system than with traditional grading. Standards-based grading matches standardized test results better than the traditional grading system and in the classroom setting, there was more focus on mastering skills.
However, Allen said students and parents have not “bought-in” to the system and are more comfortable with percentages – in which a 50 is an F and a 90 is an A – or letter grades than with the 1-4 grading metric. Because there are no traditional grades, he said students have responded by “accepting” their achievement rather than reaching for a higher grade. The Illustrative Math curriculum teaches lessons in a way that does not line up with the standards evaluation. Allen also said it is “lonely” being the only department and the only school to incorporate standards-based grading.
Allen said the three key takeaways the school department “feels strongly about” are keeping a standards mastery focus, returning to percentage grades and maintaining “structured and targeted” standards-based “formative assessments.”
The newly approved system will continue the standards-based schedule. Allen said students understand that “skills one and two” are learned from September to mid-October, while “skills three, four and five are mastered between mid-October and Thanksgiving.” This schedule will be used to create an i-Ready mastery check schedule, which will allow the school to “get a look at how kids are doing” through a third-party assessment.
The system will blend standard based grading and percentage grades through the Power School gradebook. Instead of recording grades for “Quiz no. 1,” Allen said, the grade would be recorded by the standard — “Equations and Expressions Check no. 1” — along with the student’s percentage grade. Allen said this will allow parents to see the standards on which their child needs to improve. Grades for i-Ready, homework and class participation would compose no more than 20% of the final grade.
Math Department Chair Paul Levesque said that when a class is a mix of students at different levels, teachers will “meet them at whatever level they’re performing and try to move them along.” Allen added that there are tools in Illustrative Math that allow advanced students to tackle harder problems than students who have not yet become proficient.
School Committee member Elizabeth Marsian-Boucher noted parents have seen standards-based grading report cards for a couple of years and asked why they are not yet used to them. Levesque said all courses except math have a snapshot grade and some parents are not “adept at drilling down into the grade book.”
The School Committee approved the new grading system.
School Choice
Superintendent Gordon Smith said the administration and the School Committee have discussed opening School Choice seats in early grades to bring students into the district, while “not exhausting resources” in any single grade.
Smith said elementary level principals have encouraged bringing students in “especially at the third grade level” when they would naturally be transitioning from Meadowbrook School to either Mapleshade or Mountain View elementary schools. Aside from kindergarten, this year’s grade 2 cohort has the lowest enrollment, allowing for additional students in next year’s grade 3. He recommended accepting eight students for the upcoming year and said ideally four students would be placed at each school.
Marsian-Boucher said she did not support increasing the number of School Choice seats, partly because of budgetary constraints. She remarked that incoming students may be a “burden” on speech therapists and other services in the department. “That’s where I do get concerned on behalf of the people who do pay taxes in town,” she said.
She also said that younger families with children may move into town, creating an overflow of students. Smith responded that that is the reason the department has avoided placing School Choice students in kindergarten, as it is the hardest to predict class sizes.
Marsian-Boucher said if the department were going to add School Choice seats, she was glad to see students would be coming in in the younger grades in the interest of age cohort cohesiveness and making friends. She added that she does not want School Choice students to feel as though they do not “belong.”
School Committee member Aimee Dalenta described capping School Choice at lower grades as “putting up a barrier.” She added, “We’re trying to move forward with this lens of diversity, equity and inclusion,” and it was unfair to tell families, “You didn’t do it early enough.” Marsian-Boucher pushed back on Dalenta’s comment. “I think we think it brings in diversity. It doesn’t necessarily,” she said. Smith reminded the committee that School Choice students are chosen through a lottery and school departments do not choose the students.
School Committee member Sarah Truoiolo said in the past transitional grades have been a consideration and the department must be careful about space constraints. Smith noted there are more School Choice students leaving the district than coming into it. Marsian-Boucher said the department should explore that trend. Smith responded that there is no exit survey specifically for School Choice students, but based on where those students were placed, he surmised that some parents work in another district and want their children with them, and some students went to performing arts schools. He acknowledged there is a portion of students whose reasoning is unknown.
The committee voted 4-1 to open eight seats for School Choice in next year’s third grade. Only Marsian-Boucher dissented.