SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
NOVEMBER 5, 2013
LIBERTY SCHOOL SCENE
High-energy leaders and ‘awesome’ teachers steer school into new waters A
s part of a new teacher evaluation process, Elementary School Principal Scott Brown observed a classroom where a teacher struggled to reach students with learning difficulties at the same time as she taught the rest of the class. The teacher later confided that she did need a way to manage her class of 23 students better. Brown suggested a method that is relatively new: that the teacher, assisted by a teaching assistant and teacher aide, break the class into five small groups of children and “differentiate” instruction to meet the needs of the specific groups. What are now called classroom learning centers allow teachers to work closely with individual students to target specific skills. Learning centers provide an encouraging learning environment, where children are excited, their energy high as they bask in attention and the fun of learning. “The next time I walked into that classroom, the atmosphere was entirely changed,” said Brown. “The kids were completely engaged, smiling and laughing. When I walked out, I had chills.” The new Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) process for evaluating teachers and principals bases teacher effectiveness on student growth in state and classroom exams and on frequent in-class observations. The process, which has teachers biting their nails everywhere, does come with significant benefits. “The whole APPR process is designed to garner feedback from peers, admin-
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istrators and the community,” said Liberty Elementary School Assistant Principal Dan Brown, who is no relation to the principal. Many teachers are meeting for an hour each day, sharing ideas about everything from creative “behavior plans” that use motivators like sticker charts to encourage good behavior, to the Common Core lessons that require much deeper learning on the part of students. “In subtraction, let’s say, students are not just learning that 47 minus 15 equals 32,” said Dan Brown. “They are learning that 47 is four tens and seven ones, they are learning to pick apart a number, look at patterns, go deeply.” Still, the school’s administrators admit that this is a challenging year as educators all over the U.S. deal with significant changes. This is the first full year of implementation for both the Common Core and the APPR and a concomitant shift in classroom activities and student skill-building. Even the terminology is still new, the Browns pointed out. “But when teachers are frustrated,” said Principal Brown, “It’s our job to ease the frustration. We tell them ‘relax, take your time, you know the best practices, apply them with common sense.’” When the school realized that the daily block scheduling on which it operated had now become too rigid a system, the principal suggested teachers themselves take the reins and revamp their schedules, working with fellow grade level teachers and with the
schedules of the academic interventions specialist. Block scheduling left little time for struggling students to leave the classroom and get the help they needed. “The teachers did a phenomenal job” to create new, more flexible schedules that work, said the principal. Both principal and assistant princi-
pal are newcomers to Liberty, and both expressed delight in working with a strong and committed school community. Scott Brown arrived in August with seven years experience as elementary school principal in the Marlboro Central School District. Before that, he taught at Valley Central School District and Monroe-Woodbury School District. Dan Brown served 17 years as a classroom teacher at the Florida (N.Y.) Union Free School and then as academic interventions specialist and leader in staff development there. Both said they are impressed by the resiliency of Liberty teachers. “We’re seeing a willingness to listen and to be open to reflection, to maybe doing something different,” said Dan Brown. “Every day we observe teachers,” said Scott, “and what we’re seeing is a change in philosophy and dynamic. We’re having really good conversations and seeing changes.” “This building is 100 percent about the kids,” added the principal. “We have teachers asking how they can support the students better. It’s awesome.”
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At Liberty Elementary, new Assistant Principal Dan Brown, left, and Principal Scott Brown lead 115 staff and over 700 students through major educational shifts.
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