Evanston Township High School board members called for greater collaboration with leaders of Evanston’s public middle schools at a board meeting Monday night.
The board criticized Evanston/Skokie School District 65 for not including ETHS leaders in its discussions regarding proposed changes to District 65 math curriculum and classes in middle schools.
ETHS board members and administrators did not know about the proposal until District 65 administrators presented it to the District 65 board April 5, Superintendent Eric Witherspoon said.
“This math proposal did take us by surprise,” he said. “We would have really appreciated having a discussion together.”
The proposal aims to phase out a program whereby middle school students take honors geometry at ETHS. District 65 wants to offer the class to all middle schools and potentially phase out the high school program.
If adopted, the proposal would also reduce the number of middle school students enrolled in accelerated programs. Such programs allow high-achieving middle school students to start studying algebra in grades 7 and 8 instead of waiting until high school.
Board member Mark Metz defended accelerated programs. District 65 leaders should work out this issue with District 202 leaders, he said.
“Why are we talking about fixing something that isn’t broken instead of talking about how do we get more students into this program?” he said.
Board Member Deborah Graham said a joint District 65/District 202 board committee focused on the transition from middle schools to high school would help prevent further miscommunication.
Currently, District 202 and District 65 board members hold a joint meeting once a year, but Graham said this isn’t enough.
“I don’t think meeting once a year is sufficient basis for us to establish a level of trust and communication required for the two districts to work together effectively,” Graham said.
Laura Cooper, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at ETHS, said a meeting between the two districts will take place soon but has not been scheduled yet.
STUDENT TRACKING
A study presented at the school board meeting suggested ETHS’s practice of dividing students into different performance tracks may have adverse effects on their achievement.Tracking refers to dividing students into certain tracks, or levels, of rigor. Under a tracking system, some students may take remedial classes while others take regular classes or honors classes.
Carrie Livingston, a staff member at ETHS , drew upon standardized test scores data from remedial, regular and honors level classes. The findings from the study showed track placement accounts for a high degree of disparities in student achievement, Livingston said. Minority and lower income students are disproportionately placed in lower tracks, and while tracking may raise achievement for higher track students, it does not for those in lower tracks.
Pushing students up into higher tracks may close the achievement gap, Livingston said.Livingston’s work is pertinent to ETHS, Witherspoon said.
“Her study uses data from ETHS, and we felt it would be really important for the board to hear this research,” he said. “It really corresponds a great deal with the work we’ve been doing in the past few years.”
EQUITY STATEMENT
During the meeting, the board also approved an equity statement that commits the district to provide students of all races with equal access to resources and opportunities.
Board President Rachel Hayman said despite “well-intentioned efforts,” the district has not been completely successful serving students equally.
The statement was a result of dialogue starting in fall of 2008 surrounding the need to address issues of race in the district.
“To think we can be better without doing this is wrong,” Metz said. “Everyone will benefit if we achieve equity.”[email protected]
