SCHOOL UPDATE

SCHOOL UPDATE FROM STEVE STYCOS, 11/21/06

BOYS, BLACKS AND HISPANICS LEFT OUT OF HONORS CLASSES

At my request, the school administration prepared a report on the race and sex of high school honors students. The report indicates that boys, blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented in honors classes. Slightly less than ten percent of the high school students take honors classes. At Cranston East, only 30 percent of honors English students are boys. At West only 22 percent are boys. Blacks make up 8 percent of the student body at East, but only one black student takes honors English in all four grades. Hispanics represent 19 percent of the student population at East, or 346 children, but only 11 take honors math. Asians are ten percent of the East population and represent about ten percent of the honors students.

West has far fewer minority students (4 percent Asian, 3 percent Hispanic, 2 percent black) so the statistics are too small to indicate a trend.

I am not sure what to do to increase the number of boys and minorities in honors classes. I would welcome hearing your reactions-especially from the parents of high school boys and minorities. Perhaps we need to have a meeting at the library to discuss this. Please let me know if you would be interested in attending a meeting.

SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTION

Former Mayor Michael Traficante appears to have four votes to be elected the next chairman of the seven member school committee. His key supporters are Andrea Iannazzi (Ward 6), Debbie Greifer (Ward 2) and newcomer Frank Lombardi (citywide). All four received support from the New England Laborers' Union during the election.

MIDDLE SCHOOL"REFORM"

By January 1, a committee of Cranston administrators and teachers will submit a report on reforming middle schools, based upon a report by the National Association of Secondary Principals called "Breaking Ranks in the Middle." The committee is examining the role of team leaders and curriculum coordinators, devising an advisory program and looking at scheduling. The report will be considered by the school committee early next year.

I see scheduling and the foreign language program as the key issues. All secondary teachers are required to teach five periods per day. In the middle schools, students are divided into "teams" of about 100 children. These "teams" share the same English, social studies, science and math teachers. Each team teacher instructs four classes of about 25 students. Team teachers are also responsible for a fifth period of "team time" or study skills. My experience has been that team time can be educational or a waste of time, but there is little administrative control over what teachers do. For example, during team time several years ago my son's class was told to do their homework, or silent reading-in other words it was a study hall. Our teachers should teach five periods, so this needs to be addressed.

Meanwhile, our middle school foreign language program is a disgrace. Children take a language only two days a week, which most foreign language teachers say is a poor system because the kids forget the material from one class to the next. In Cranston, in sixth and seventh grades, children take half a year of general language study, half a year of French, half a year of Spanish and half a year of Italian. Then in eighth grade they pick one language and take it two days a week. When they enter high school, however, they are placed in a level one language class.

So they spend three years and learn almost nothing and get confused by the accents of three different languages. We need a serious foreign language program that prepares students to enter high school with a full year of language. Former superintendent Catherine Ciarlo staunchly defended the existing program, but hopefully with her retirement we will be able to offer a serious language program in our middle schools. It may not be a program for everyone, but it should be available for students who want to learn a second language.

I have raised both these issues and been assured they are being addressed, but we will not know until late December.

RECYCLING

I have been working with plant operations director Joel Zisserson to increase school recycling. The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation finally agreed to do recycling presentations with Max Man in all Cranston schools. Those are currently underway. Citizens can help by taking a peak in school dumpsters to make sure the recyclables are not being thrown away. If you see large amounts of paper in a school dumpster please contact me and/or Joel at 270-8190.

EAST REPORT ON LINE

The Cranston East accreditation report is available on line at the Cranston East web site. First go to www.cpsed.net, then use the link for Cranston East. Also check out the "Parents Connection" on the website for interesting information about East.

ADD/DELETE

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The end.