Recommendations of the Superintendent Stephen D. Dackin July 15, 2008
Table of Contents Influences………………….. Page 1 Guiding Principles…………. Page 3 Recommendations………… Page 4 Next Steps…………………. Page 9
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Influences Reynoldsburg City Schools is about to embark on the final phase of the 2001 Master Facilities Plan, putting up what will be our last new schools for the foreseeable future and renovating six existing buildings. We are challenged to plan for the needs of our students now and always. And we have a tremendous opportunity to concurrently design facilities and hone our academic programs. Aware that we cannot make such plans in a vacuum, we have been looking to educational leaders across the state, the nation and the world. And, importantly, we have been looking to our community right here in Reynoldsburg to design a system that will challenge every one of our children and prepare them for life in the 21st Century. By approving a $56 million bond issue in March, Reynoldsburg voters secured another $56 million in state money to pay for a new high school and new elementary school, as well as renovations and additions to the district’s older buildings. When all is said and done, every Reynoldsburg child will attend a new or newly renovated school building. This alone is a triumph for our district’s children. There will be no more over-crowding in our schools and no more disparity between new and old buildings. The need for an additional high school facility, however, has sparked a re-examination of our district’s framework. There has been notable community interest in how we are organized. We recognize that grade configuration, attendance boundaries and index-reference numbers (IRNs) have considerable impact on a community’s identity, as well as on the learning environment for our children. We have completed an extensive community outreach project - called Reynoldsburg Reach - in order to better understand what the community thinks about those issues and others. In addition, we look to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and other leaders of education reform efforts designed to foster achievement for every child and to boost our standings in this competitive, world economy. We must build on our strengths and search out innovative practices that will make us better. The programs we design must be based on sound principles and have demonstrable benefits for our children; and they must be embraced by the community, which is the backbone of our public school system. Our mission will be to design rigorous coursework, high standards and special
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opportunities for every child to excel in personalized, community-driven schools. Our challenges will be to communicate well, to learn from the experiences of other innovative schools and to maintain equity, fairness and accountability in every facet of what we do.
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Guiding Principles As we plan, we must keep our core values at the forefront. These principles should be considered at every step and on every question. They are based on this administration’s mantra that Reynoldsburg City Schools must foster achievement and growth for every child in our district, as well as on the themes and values that emerged from our community, staff and students during Reynoldsburg Reach. At the start of Reynoldsburg Reach, we identified three core principles through which all ideas should be evaluated. Decades of research tells us that parents want safe and serious schools, while our mission as a public school district is to serve all of our children equally. All of our decisions regarding school design, and educational improvement in general, will be informed by these principles:
Safety We will provide safe schools that are conducive to learning.
Equity We will provide opportunities for all children and ensure that all children have equal access to the opportunities we provide.
Rigor We will challenge all students to achieve at high levels by setting high standards, providing instruction that enables success and carefully monitoring our progress. Participants in Reynoldsburg Reach affirmed that the community and staff here believe education should be tailored to individual students. We heard a strong desire for students and parents to have choices in academic programs or schools. We also heard that opportunities for students to be involved at school are considered very important to student development and academic achievement. Key components of our plans will be:
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Personalization We will provide instruction and programming that is tailored to each student’s needs, strengths and interests.
Choice We will allow students and parents to take ownership of their education by choosing academic programs that are best-suited to them.
Engagement We will partner with the community to maximize opportunities for students to participate in school and school-related activities. Participants both demonstrated and articulated their desire to be informed and involved in the planning process. We promise that our process will be:
Transparent: We will conduct an open planning process that builds trust and accountability with the community.
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Recommendations With these guiding principles as a framework for the next phase of planning, it is the Superintendent’s recommendation that Reynoldsburg City Schools become the first district in Ohio to offer a K-12 STEM program; retain a single high school identity; and continue to explore additional specialized schools and/or creating a 9th and 10th grade building. These recommendations should be the foundation for the extensive planning work that lies ahead.
One High School Identity Our community made clear that it values a single high school identity so that all Reynoldsburg students and graduates will share the Raider name. It is our prerogative to assign a single state identification number to our high school facilities, even though there will be two campuses. This means there will be one Reynoldsburg High School with one set of varsity sports teams and competitive music programs. The implications for the architectural design of our new high school building and for the renovations of the current building are minimal. We must maintain the flexibility to change to two, separate high schools should the community sentiment shift over time. The leadership – and even the clientele - of our school district will change many times over the life of these buildings, so they must be designed to accommodate other plausible ideas. Although the majority of our community seems to desire this configuration, there are notable concerns about limiting chances for our students to be involved in extra-curricular activities and leadership positions. Student activities teach positive life lessons that benefit students inside and outside the classroom. In addition to providing opportunities for students to excel and build confidence, both curricular and extra-curricular activities engage students in their schools. Adult mentorship and positive peer relationships are other reasons to encourage participation in studentcentered activities. Many non-competitive programs can be duplicated and expanded as interests warrant, but we must be vigilant in providing opportunities for students to be engaged in school and school-related activities. Although the state may recognize only one team for certain sanctioned competitions, there is no arbitrary limit on opportunities for student leadership and activities in each of the
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buildings. Given that we have relatively low participation rates in some of our existing music, athletic and extra-curricular programs, our planning should include strategies to boost interest in what we have and to develop programs suited to the interests of our students. Our planning teams must keep student engagement at the forefront of their efforts. Additionally, Reynoldsburg’s vast community resources, including civic organizations and individual volunteers, should be invited to spearhead and support efforts to boost student activities. It is our hope that maintaining our unity, in addition to creating equity among our facilities, will nullify the rifts that have been reported by some in our community. We must be cognizant of the fears, prominently stated by participants in Reynoldsburg Reach, that some neighborhoods or schools might be treated better than others. Our district must equitably serve all students who live here. Careful attention must be paid especially to attendance boundaries when they are drawn. Where choices are available for school attendance or specialized programs, we must ensure fairness and equal opportunities to all students.
K-12 STEM Initiative A STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program will provide students with the opportunity and motivation to deeply explore these vital disciplines as an integral part of their curriculum. Such a program means to excite students about learning in general using the sciences as a “hook.� The state of Ohio, the Battelle Institute and other educational entities are especially interested in STEM-focused schools as a strategy to make our state and national workforce more competitive and to strengthen our local economy. There are many examples of vibrant and successful STEM schools across the nation, including Metro School which serves Franklin County students and was developed by our own Dr. Dan Hoffman. With the leadership and experience of Dr. Hoffman and an anticipated partnership with Battelle, we are poised to create a stand-out program that will generate excitement about Reynoldsburg City Schools both inside and outside our community. A successful STEM program should offer special opportunities to students with interest in the sciences, propel teaching and
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learning by inspiring instructors and students who have chosen their path, and stoke our science instruction district-wide by creating a treasure-trove of ideas and best practices. Although we know many students, parents and teachers have expressed interest in a specialized science and technology school, we must gage the extent of that interest so that we may decide how many student slots to create at the elementary, middle, junior high and high school levels. We must decide where to locate the programs and design a structure and curriculum from the bottom up. In addition to the outside support we expect, we must have support and involvement from our community, our staff and our students; these groups will be integral to the planning for this initiative.
Other High School Design Options Student engagement is a key feature of “small learning communities,” a concept at the heart of both the small schools reform movement and of model high schools that separate 9th and 10th graders from 11th and 12th graders. The strategy aims to foster stronger relationships among students and teachers, leading students to have stronger ties to school and to learning. It is a strategy that will be implemented in some form in our high schools no matter what other configurations emerge, because our administration believes it offers the best chance to personalize education for every child. Personalization is widely recognized as necessary to academic success and is a core feature of education reform efforts ranging from the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s principles of education funding and reform, and best practices identified by education reform leaders such as the National Coalition of Essential Schools and the KnowledgeWorks Foundation. Participants in Reynoldsburg Reach were nearly equally attracted to a Small Schools concept, which would create several specialized “schools” in addition to the proposed STEM program within our high school, and to a concept that would place 9th and 10th graders in a separate building from 11th and 12th graders. The administration sees attractive aspects, as well as logistical challenges, to both of these configurations. A hybrid concept – combining a more-or-less traditional 9th and 10th grade building with an 11th and 12th grade building featuring small schools – remains on the
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table. Before we can decide whether to separate younger students from older students, we must sort through specific cost implications and organizational challenges. Our short-term planning task will include in-depth analysis with further input by staff, students and community members. We will develop a concept that includes, at minimum, the choice STEM program to recommend to the board of education by the end of this calendar year.
Melting the Middle Obviously, a K-12 STEM program will include our middle school and junior high schools. This answers one of the key concerns and questions our community and staff put forward during our recent outreach. We heard from parents and teachers a desire for consistency in programming from kindergarten to graduation, and we agree that the middle years should not be overlooked. Other aspects of elementary and high school design could lead to changes in middle school and junior high school. This administration’s commitment to a more rigorous senior year for our students will have a trickle-down effect that doesn’t stop at the 9th grade. Additionally, if students are provided choices among academic programs in high school, they must be prepared to make those choices in the years leading up to high school. This could mean course sampling and rigorous counseling/coaching for 7th and 8th graders and possibly for younger students. The possibility of creating a larger transition between 10th and 11th grade leads us to examine our earlier transitions, and therefore our building configurations. We are evaluating mounting evidence that students and teachers lose ground during such transitions in comparison with the assumptions that students fare better when kept in smaller age groups. Nationally, educators are reevaluating the entire concept of middle school; right here in central Ohio, Columbus City Schools, which was the first district in the country to create middle schools, is preparing to abolish them. Reynoldsburg’s middle and junior high schools will no doubt be affected by changes at the elementary and high school levels, and we must plan for those changes purposefully. We cannot allow changes to trickle down or trickle up without careful consideration of our goals, strategies and experiences in our middle and junior high schools. This planning will be incorporated into our
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overall school design efforts and be guided by the principles of equity, rigor, personalization, choice, engagement and transparency.
Elementary Implications Our community expressed reservations about offering schools of choice at the elementary level, especially focusing on potential lottery systems to determine enrollment, competition with neighborhood schools and concerns that poor choices might be made for students. What is clear in addition to these concerns is that many people are devoted to our neighborhood schools. That said, a majority of Reynoldsburg Reach participants said they would send their children to a school of choice or magnet school. This apparent contradiction might simply be an expression of mixed excitement and worry about a vitally important part of our educational system and community. We should explore the possibility of specialized, choice programming in addition to the elementary STEM program. Each of our neighborhood schools offers wonderful opportunities for many children, and specialized schools of choice could expand those opportunities so that we reach even more of our children. We must be mindful of the community’s particular concerns as well as to our commitments to equity in opportunities for all students. Whatever good is accomplished in a successful school or program of choice should spill over to the rest of the district, rather than be kept within a single tower. We must build on our strengths, not just shift them around. We will begin new discussions with staff, students and community members about potential elementary schools of choice. We will explore possible themes, such as arts or humanities; weigh logistical challenges, including additional costs if any; and identify potential locations prior to making recommendations to the board of education by the end of the year. Community support will be crucial to the success of any additional schools of choice
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Next Steps If the board of education directs the administration to pursue the superintendent’s recommendations, we will lay the groundwork for the second phase of Reynoldsburg Reach. Before we go back to the community, we will conduct further research in order to answer some anticipated questions, especially regarding cost, logistics and academic rigor. We are currently estimating that it will cost $3 million in operating money to open the two new buildings. Our unorthodox approach will have both cost-savings and expenses that differ from our earlier assumptions, so we’ll flesh out those estimates. Other questions will undoubtedly be related to the logistics of creating a 9th and 10th grade building or additional small, specialized schools. We’ll begin to answer those as well. To help us plan well, we’ll seek partners such as Battelle and others able to offer support for the K12 STEM program. We will appoint a local steering committee of vested community members to help us stick to our guiding principles and keep the community’s interests at the center of our work. We’ll also turn to other innovative schools and plan site visits for staff and community members. We’ll learn from the best – and from their mistakes. With new information and ideas in hand, we’ll return to the community for feedback and guidance. Think tank: We will invite some of the brightest stars in school design for a day to reflect and offer advice on our current plans. Community steering committee: We’ll appoint a representative group of interested community members to meet monthly or more to review our planning progress and to provide direction to the superintendent. Work groups: Staff and community members with education expertise will be asked to perform some of the most difficult work of school design, including hammering out the logistics. Surveys: We’ll gage student and parent interest in the STEM disciplines and other potential specialties.
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Site visits/research: Staff and community members will help us identify model schools, take a closer look at them and evaluate them so that we might learn from their experiences. Recommendations: The superintendent will return to the board with new, specific recommendations by June 2009. All of our work will be documented on our district website at www.reyn.org. For additional information or to get involved, community members may call our district administration office at (614) 501-1020.
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