Your View: Students deserve opportunities of innovation schools

The Standard Times - February 2, 2013
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130202/OPINION/302020314/-1/OPINION02

By Craig Dutra, Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts and Coalition for Social Justice; Corinn Williams, Center for Economic Development; Ma


Over the past year, New Bedford Public Schools have marked a turning point with a number of changes that have put New Bedford on a path to improved achievement and innovation. Initiatives such as the change in district leadership, the creation and recommendations of the NBHS Student Committee for Educational Progress and the acceptance of the Guidelines for Small Autonomous Schools have all created opportunities to help meet the needs of the students.

While we are all concerned that the graduation rate and other indicators — from performance district-wide to retention in the high school — are causes for serious concern, we believe that these initiatives have the potential to bring progress to the district.

The common thread in these initiatives is that School Committee leadership, working closely with community stakeholders, took bold action to tackle this educational crisis.

With the proposal of two small public Innovation Schools, we have a rare opportunity to further empower teachers and create more pathways for students to achieve academically. The Esperanza School for Language and Culture will bring valuable new approaches to educating bilingual children and bridging New Bedford cultures. The Renaissance Community School for the Arts will provide a new model of arts-integrated education that will nourish the city's blossoming arts community, and pilot an easily accessible system of providing services to families.

These schools will provide models for innovative practices that can benefit the entire district. With time and commitment from the district, the schools and their many partners and supporters, all students can benefit from these strategies.

We all agree that the needs of students must come first. In this moment, we cannot afford to hold New Bedford back.

We call on the New Bedford School Committee to ensure negotiations on the Renaissance Community School for the Arts and the Esperanza School of Language and Culture Innovation Plans are completed in good faith, protecting the full scope of autonomy as stated in Guideline No. 3 of the Guidelines for Small, Autonomous Schools adopted by the School Committee Feb. 13, 2012. These autonomies will be the key to the schools' success.

We call on each member of the School Committee to vote yes to open these new schools in September 2013. A yes vote will be a clear sign that the committee is committed to transformation and progress in the school district; a no vote will signal little willingness to act on promises to put students first.

Students deserve it. Parents expect it. The city of New Bedford needs it.


Editor's Note: The following people signed an Op-Ed printed in The Standard-Times on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013, supporting proposed innovation schools in New Bedford.

• Craig Dutra, Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts
• United Interfaith Action
• Tom Davis, Greater New Bedford Industrial Foundation
• Coalition for Social Justice
• Rev. Dave Hammet, Pilgrim United Church of Christ
• Darlene Spencer, for Community Connections Coalition
• Corinn Williams, for Center for Economic Development
• Maria Rosario, North Star Learning
• Bob French, North Star Learning
• Anthony Sapienza, President & COO, Joseph Abboud Mfg. Corp.
• Lee Charlton, NAACP
• Jim Mathes, New Bedford resident
• Kate Fentress, MSW, Executive Director, Women's Fund
• Craig Lindell, CEO, AquaPoint
• Justin Braga
• Dr. Carolee Matsumoto, Senior Scientist at the Education Development Center, retired, Education Consultant
• Rev. Paul Langston-Daley, First Unitarian Church
• Fr. Marek Chmurski, St. Lawrence Martyr
• Ken Hartnett
• John Vasconcellos
• Irene Buck, Chair, MassCreative
• Rabbi Raphael Kanter, Tifereth Israel Synagogue
• Gail Fortes, for YWCA Southeastern Mass
• Robert Pereira, President, AFC Cable Systems, Inc.
• Helena DaSilva Hughes, Immigrants Assistance Center
• Adam Viera, Student Committee for Educational Progress
• Rhoda Purcell, New Bedford High School, retired
• Kathy Miraglia, Associate Professor of Art Education, Chairperson of Art Education Department, UMass-Dartmouth
• Cathy Smilan, Associate Professor of Art Education, Director, Master of Art Education Program, UMass-Dartmouth
• Laurie Robertson-Lorant, Ph.D., Education Committee Chair, New Bedford Historical Society, Adjunct Professor, English Department, Bridgewater State University
• Noelle Foye, Executive Director, ArtWorks
• Rev. Rebecca Blair
• Dawn Blake-Souza, New Bedford Public Schools principal, retired
• Centro Communitario de Trabajadores
• Dr. Bruce Rose, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Emeritus, UMass- Dartmouth
• Lee Blake, Director, UMass Campus Compact
• Denise Porche, Executive Director, Island Foundation
• Stephanie Wick, Educational Consultant
• Rev. Marc Fallon, C.S.C., Catholic Social Services
• Dr. Susan Costa, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Emeritus, UMass-Dartmouth
• Kathy Westgate-Vena, M.S.W.
• Dante Vena, Ph.D.
• Carol Pimentel, Director of Internal Audit, retired
• Ivone Rego-Cass, Executive Director & Founder, Reel Serious, Documentary Film Program
• Nelson Abreu, Assistant Director, Department of Transitional Assistance
• Rev. Brian Souza, Pastor, The Centre

Community Groups Show Support for Innovation Schools

WBSM
http://wbsm.com/community-groups-show-support-for-innovation-schools/

By Jim Phillips, WBSM News Director

Relevant Quotes: (Please follow the link above to read the complete article.)

A Coalition of community organizations, business leaders, and educators have signed a letter to the New Bedford School Committee, urging them to support two innovation school proposals now before the Committee.

Darlene Spencer is with the Community Connections Coalition. She beleives [sic] the innovation schools will end up benefiting the entire district…..

(audio posted on WBSM page)

The impact of Renaissance and Esperanza will not only be felt by the children that attend those schools and their families, but also will serve as an opportunity to develop best teaching practices that would be shared and utilized across the district, impacting all of our children in our city.

New Bedford community leaders show support for innovation schools

The Standard Times - February 1, 2013
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130201/NEWS/302010338/-1/NEWS

By Charis Anderson, Staff Writer for The Standard Times
canderson@s-t.com

Relevant Quotes: (Please follow the link above to read the complete article.)

Almost 50 community leaders have banded together to send a letter to the School Committee asking it to vote in favor of the proposed "innovation schools."

"A 'yes' vote will be a clear sign that the School Committee is committed to transformation and progress," said Craig Dutra, president of the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts and one of the letter's signatories, during a press conference Thursday.

"All of us in this room really have a very specific reason for being here and one common goal and it's that we want the best for our kids," [Jen Clune, Renaissance Community School for the Arts] said.

Kerry DeJesus, who was representing the proposed Esperanza School of Language and Culture, said the school was designed to be a place where everyone — parents, teachers, staff and administrators — has a voice and which adapts to the needs of its students.

The proposed innovation schools will help give educational choices to more families in New Bedford, according to [Darlene Spencer, executive director of New Bedford Community Connections Coalition].

"Voting 'yes' for the innovation-schools proposals will be a win-win for the entire city of New Bedford," she said.

Your View: Innovation School brings opportunity where little exists

The Standard Times - September 26, 2012
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120926/OPINION/209260314

By Kerry DeJesus, Andrea Galipeau, and Catherine Stillerman
Kerry DeJesus, Andrea Galipeau and Catherine Stillerman are members of the Esperanza School of Language and Culture Design Team regarding Innovation Schools.

 

In January 2010, Massachusetts launched the Innovation Schools initiative as part of education legislation aimed at giving "all students and families greater access to high-quality schools." Autonomies of curriculum, staffing, budget, schedule/calendar, professional development, and district policies enable these public schools "to implement innovative strategies to improve student achievement while keeping school funding within districts."

Already, 44 Innovation Schools have been approved by school districts from Cape Cod to the Berkshires. This January, the New Bedford School Committee joined these other districts by voting to establish Innovation Schools here in our city.

The three members of the design team of the Esperanza School of Language and Culture Innovation School are educators who have a vested interest in the education of New Bedford's children. We either live in New Bedford, work or have worked with English language learners here in New Bedford or both. We are taking the opportunity given to anyone in the community, including but not limited to New Bedford Public School teachers, to create a school that will have the ability "to better meet the unique needs of (its) particular students."

We are not outsiders coming into New Bedford with the mission of destroying the New Bedford Educators Association as has been suggested. In fact, two of us are members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and know the importance of having a union to support us in our job of educating children.

It is important to understand that the same education for all does not provide equal education for all. If we as a community want our children to have equal opportunities in life, then we need to reconsider how we educate them. Students who attend Hayden-McFadden have different needs than the students who attend Betsey B. Winslow.

By approving Innovation Schools, New Bedford is opening the door for education to be student driven. It is encouraging us as a community to rise to the occasion and be part of the change we want and need in our educational system. The Innovation School model allows all stakeholders, including principals, teachers, staff, parents and community members, to have a voice in the education of our students. It also holds us accountable through annual measurable goals ensuring that our students continue to make progress.

We proposed the Esperanza School of Language and Culture as a way to respond to the "have nots" in the Hannigan and Taylor districts in the South End. These are children who come from homes where a language other than English is spoken. They do not have the stability of being a member of their neighborhood school as they might be bused to several schools in the city during their short elementary career to receive Sheltered English Immersion services (SEI) at their current English proficiency level. Parents of most native English speaking children in this city would not stand for their children to be in a different school every year.

These children do not have the opportunity to listen to and learn from their English speaking peers as they are segregated in SEI classes where the teacher is their only model. Once they no longer qualify for SEI classes, they do not have the continued English language support necessary to be successful academically in higher grades and many fall further and further behind until they quit school altogether. In addition, parents of these children often do not have any way to effectively communicate with school.

The current situation of our English Language Learners is not the fault of the teachers of the New Bedford Public Schools. Rather it is the result of a system that has developed over time in response to the amendment of Chapter 71A in 2002 regarding the educating of English Language Learners.

The Esperanza School will be a dual language immersion school. This model of second language learning is not only highly effective for ELLs in learning English, but in learning overall. Research has shown that ELLs participating in a dual language program achieve scores on state tests at or above their native English speaking peers.

Another benefit to the dual language model is native English speaking students have the opportunity to become fluent and literate in a second language while increasing their cognitive function. In short, learning a second language helps to develop a better brain.

It is true that the Esperanza School of Language and Culture will not be able to educate every student in the city, but it will provide students in its neighborhood with the skills and support they need to be successful in high school and beyond. This is something not all have access to under the current system, perpetuating the cycle of haves and have nots.

We encourage the New Bedford Educators Association to look at Innovation Schools from a different perspective. Innovation Schools will provide New Bedford with the opportunity to adapt and perfect successful models of education, school governance and support systems for students and families, which can then be implemented in other schools in the city. It is difficult to create effective change on a large scale, but starting small often leads to great success.

Video: Utah Dual Immersion

In 2008, a bill passed in Utah to develop and expand dual language education throughout the state.  Programs were initially created with Chinese, French, and Spanish as the partner languages.  According to this video, German and Portuguese programs have now been created.  In the 2011-2012 school year, there were 57 dual language programs in Utah.  Their goal is to have 100 schools serving 30,000 students by 2015.


The Utah State Office of Education explains the benefits of dual language immersion.

• Second Language Skills - Students achieve high proficiency in the immersion language.
• Improved Performance on Standardized Tests - Immersion students perform as well as or better than non-immersion students on standardized tests of English and math administered in English.
• Enhanced Cognitive Skills - Immersion students typically develop greater cognitive flexibility, demonstrating increased attention control, better memory, and superior problem solving skills as well as an enhanced understanding of their primary language.
• Increased Cultural Sensitivity - Immersion students are more aware of and show more positive attitudes towards other cultures and an appreciation of other people.
• Long Term Benefits - Immersion students are better prepared for the global community and job markets where a second language is an asset.

Source: http://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/dualimmersion/