May 21, 2004 Minutes
I. Location and Attendees
The meeting was held at the Young Americans Center for Financial Education, 3550 East 1st Avenue in Denver. Commissioners in attendance were: Co-chairs, Rev. Lucia Guzman and Dorothy Horrell, and Commissioners: Hank Baker, Brian Barhaugh, Dana Bryson, Leanna Clark, Ariel Cisneros, Judi Diaz-Bonacquisti, Rev. Regina Groff, Maria Guajardo Lucero, Christine Johnson, Jesse King, Richard O'Connell, Esther Rodriguez, and Al Yates; ex officio members Ann Greenfield and Mario Williams and Executive Director, Patricia McNeil. Observers included Gully Stanford, Colorado GEAR UP Director; Gary Lichtenstein, Colorado Children's Campaign; Leo Smith, Citizens' Committee on Bond Expenditures, and Allison Sherry, Denver Post. Also in attendance representing Denver Public Schools were Jerry Wartgow, Sally Mentor Hay, Wayne Eckerling, and School Board member Elaine Gantz Berman.
II. Introduction by Co-Chairs Rev. Lucia Guzman and Dr. Dorothy Horrell
Reverend Lucia Guzman and Dr. Dorothy Horrell, co-chairs of the Commission, opened the meeting by welcoming members and expressing their vision for the Commission's work. Both spoke of their admiration for the students of the Denver Public Schools (DPS) and their hope that the Commission's work would lead to schools in which all children could reach their potential and achieve success.
Dr. Horrell noted that the charge to the Commission was to "study the issues inhibiting student success and graduation rates in secondary schools and recommend needed policy and programmatic changes to ensure that students successfully transition to postsecondary education and the workforce." She commended the school district for bringing in the community to tackle the tough question of how to reform secondary schools. She explained that Commissioners would hear many viewpoints throughout the Commission's work. Although secondary schools include both middle schools and high schools, she noted that she, Rev. Guzman and Dr. Wartgow had agreed that most of the effort would focus on high schools. She noted several reasons for this, including the fact that the most serious challenges exist within the high schools, performance of students in 9th grade determines whether they will graduate, the achievement and graduation gap between white and other students is widening, and the fact that employers and college professors regularly report that many high school graduates are not prepared for life after high school. She assured the group that middle schools would not be ignored, and suggested that one of the recommendations of the Commission's January report may be to look more deeply at middle schools--aligning that work with the Commission's recommendations for high schools.
III. Introduction of Commissioners and Staff
Commission members then introduced themselves noting their particular interest in the Commission's work.
IV. Greetings and Commission's Mission - Dr. Jerry Wartgow
Reverend Guzman introduced Superintendent Wartgow by telling the Commissioners why the Board had chosen him as a Superintendent and noting that he had brought hope and creativity to the district.
Superintendent Wartgow thanked the Commission Members for their willingness to take on this important task. He also thanked Rev. Guzman her leadership on the Board in making this Commission a reality and former colleague, Dr. Dorothy Horrell, for agreeing to take on the role as co-chair.
He told the Commission about visiting school after school within DPS and seeing the excitement and hope of students. He related his personal experiences tutoring students at Cole Middle School--a commitment that began when a reporter asked him why Cole had been the one school out of 21 in the District that had failed to move off the "failing school" list. He responded by saying that he was confident that Cole would make progress if he had to go out and tutor students himself. This response led to his personally tutoring students and engaging Mayor Hickenlooper, Board Members and 50 volunteers to join him.
The Superintendent also noted that the schools do a terrific job for some students, but said there are too many others who are being left behind. Closing the gap remains a goal the district has not been able to achieve. He said, "graduation rates are too low, and drop out rates are too high," and he encouraged the Commission to be bold, to examine the range of reform ideas, and to come up with recommendations that would transform Denver's high schools. He indicated that Denver has already demonstrated that it can break the mold with programs such as the new ProComp pay system for teachers and strong school-community partnerships, and spoke of the importance of this Commission. As evidence of his commitment to the Commission's work, he noted that he and his senior staff would be at all the Commission meetings.
V. Questions and Answers with Superintendent Wartgow
In the question and answer session that followed, Dr. Guajardo Lucero asked him what cautions he might have for the Commission. He indicated that he had no real cautions, but he realized that the charge was large and that there was a risk of not being able to get a handle on the range of issues, thus he thought it was important to focus on high schools as a first step. Mr. Williams suggested that we consider using the term "renewal" as opposed to "reform," and Dr. Johnson noted that during her service on the U.S. Department of Education's Commission on the Senior Year the observation was made that U.S. public schools "are the most tested and least examined." She also noted that no other urban school district had approached reform by setting up a Commission to examine its high schools. Dr. Yates urged that the Commission take time to know what the problems are and what needed to be reformed. Mr. Cisneros asked what support the Commission's work would receive and whether its recommendations would be implemented. Rev. Guzman said that the Board will give the recommendations to the staff with a charge to implement them. Superintendent Wartgow added "I have worked with too many of you for too long to ask you to devote your time to something that we would not follow through on." He said that while he can't guarantee that every recommendation will be enacted, he could assure the Commissioners that every recommendation would receive serious attention.
VI. Reflection and Discussion - Commissioners
Following Dr. Wartgow's presentation, Dr. Horrell asked the Commissioners to reflect on two questions: (1) A DPS high school is a place where...? and (2) What issues would you like to be sure the Commission explores as part of its work? Commissioners recorded some thoughts on paper followed by a rich discussion.
Commissioners suggested the following in addressing the question "A DPS high school is a place where..."
- Learning matters
- Parental and community confidence in quality is restored
- Academic success is non-negotiable
- Children grow into confident adults
- Opportunities are limitless
- Adults in schools are creative, caring, patient, and working hard for student success
- People of diverse backgrounds gather daily
- Students are prepared and identified at their various developmental stages of learning
- Teachers care about student achievement
- Students are recognized for their talents
- Students are fully engaged and challenged
- Preparation for postsecondary education is seen as vital
- All stakeholders--students, administrators, teachers and parents--are expected to learn and be creative
- There is involvement and support from all parts of society
- There is hope
- There is a safe learning environment
- Students are prepared for future roles
- Foundation of life is formed
- Students develop the basic skills needed for life, i.e. reading, writing, civic knowledge
- Students begin to prepare for the world of work
- There is responsibility for the reinforcement of values and character education
- All students feel excited about learning and can do so in a safe environment
- There is a social contract among the school, parents and students on expectations for each party.
- Each student feels a sense of honor for him/her and each student feels important and knows that it matters to someone that they are there
- Students are willing to learn and are motivated to learn
- Students are respected by teachers and peers
- Students want to be there
- There is an environment where students say, "I relish education."
- Students have a vision that there is opportunity and see that there are opportunities for them
- Parents and community members are engaged
- The culture is creative and inclusive
During the discussion Commissioners noted that
- Currently, many students are disconnected, hurting emotionally and feeling isolated
- The vision for students exceeds the resources
- There are far different influences on students today than when most of the Commissioners were in schools. Schools face more competition for students' interests from an outside world that offers more entertaining options and is more dangerous. We must think differently about schools to accommodate these changes
- The business community has little knowledge about what goes on in schools. Business needs to understand the problems faced by schools and students
- We underestimate the power one person can have on children and the value of mentors and working with students one-on-one. It is important to think about how we can personally impact each student and not just think in terms of dealing with 1500 students in a school
- We need tools that can help us assess "willingness to learn" and to understand how that can be affected by personal and social circumstances in students' lives
- If students are DPS' customers, why can't schools figure out how to "sell" kids on learning? Businesses figure out how to sell them CDs, clothes, and cars. If businesses try something and it doesn't work, they try something else. Why can't schools adopt the same approach?
- We should also try to see parents as customers and figure out how to engage them more effectively
- Business actually goes to its customers and asks them what they need. It would be good to seek students' opinions on what school should be like. Students are engaged as leaders right now in many activities. Students would bring a valuable perspective to the Commission. Could we add students as Members?
- Could we survey DPS graduates to get the perspective of students who have gone through the system?
The discussion then moved to the question of "What issues would you like to be sure the Commission explores as part of its work?" Members suggested the following:
- The intersection of economics, race & ethnicity and academic achievement. What are some best practices for addressing the impact of these factors on achievement?
- A financial briefing on what it costs to run a high school
- Best practices for high school improvement and reform
- Ridiculous innovation
- Breakdown of participation by race, ethnicity and gender of participation in AP (Advanced Placement) and IB (International Baccalaureate) courses and programs
- A look at how the DCTA contract might promote or inhibit change
- An assessment of why students and certain groups of students fail. Look at some of the experiences students have had and what we know about why they succeed or fail
- What do we know about why students succeed?
- What kind of challenges do high school students face? How do the challenges in the high schools link with changes that need to be made at the middle and elementary level?
- What is the product of the schools? We often do those things with which we feel the most comfort. If the product of the institution is "learning," then that suggests very different approaches then if the product is "teaching." We should think about schools becoming "learning" institutions and about how students learn and gear our recommendations to that objective.
- What assets exist in the community that could be tapped to support the schools?
- The role that character and values play in school and student success
- How do we move from good to great? What are the processes that can draw out internal motivation and result in schools becoming places of respect and achievement?
VII. Overview of DPS Secondary Schools - Sally Mentor-Hay and Wayne Eckerling
Following the discussion, Assistant Superintendents Sally Mentor-Hay and Wayne Eckerling presented a power point Overview of DPS High Schools. (Handout available.) The presentation contained information on the number of secondary schools, membership by ethnicity, results of high school satisfaction surveys of parents, students and teachers, the performance of 9th and 10th graders on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) and 11th graders on the ACT assessment, AP course taking and test taking, participation in advanced courses, graduation rates, performance in 9th grade English and Algebra by grades, and the percentage of DPS graduates who needed remediation in postsecondary schools. The information was displayed by race and ethnicity.
Commissioners raised many issues and requested additional information in a number of areas. Some highlights of the discussion included:
- About half of students say they don't feel safe in their school. While there is no local data to tell how this correlates with student performance, there are national surveys that indicate there is a high correlation between perceptions of safety and performance.
- About half of students say they don't feel respected at school. The district is implementing a character education program as one way of addressing this issue. It was pointed out that the term "safe" has caveats. For example, a student might say, "I feel safe as long as there is an adult around or as long as I'm with my friends."
- Several commissioners asked that the survey data be disaggregated by grade, by school, by gender, and by response item. This information is available and can be provided. It was pointed out that at the high school level there is more consistency across high schools in the responses to these issues and that the numbers are generally worse at the high school level.
- The response to the student survey on "leadership" indicated that about half the students feel positive about their school leadership. It was noted that 65% of the principals are new to their schools over the past 3 years and 23 schools will have new leadership this fall. At the high school level, the majority of high schools have had new principals in the past 3 years. One key issue for the district is the capacity and development of principals.
- Commissioners asked for a profile of principals and assistant principals.
- There was interest in knowing how the DPS turnover rate and satisfaction of leadership compares to national data, and the question was raised as to whether students actually know what "quality of leadership" is.
- Commissioners asked for the racial/ethnic and gender breakdown of teachers in the high school. DPS estimated about 80-85% white and 10-15% African-American and Hispanic.
- Commissioners would also like information on the Algebra Project.
- From standardized tests like the ACT we can see that some students leave DPS well prepared for college. In fact, of the 8 students in Colorado who received a perfect score on the ACT, three were from DPS. It was noted that we don't want to jeopardize the success of students who are succeeding in considering recommendations for systems changes.
- Commissioners asked what do we know about whether successes are by design or by default. What do we know about what are we doing well and why certain students are succeeding?
- There are a number of methods for calculating the dropout rate and DPS asked for advice on which method they should be held accountable for and track. There was considerable discussion about the continual "churn" of students through schools and in and out of the system. The question was raised as to what the "churn" was throughout the district and at different schools and why? It was pointed out that one issue has to do with large numbers of students whose parents return to Mexico during part of each year. Questions were raised as to how to deal with the problem of churning. One suggestion was to have a standardized curriculum across the schools. However, others felt that other solutions could be devised once there was a thorough understanding of the issue.
VIII. Communication Plans and Meeting Calendar
The Commissioners decided that the Chairs should be the spokespersons for the Commission, noting that such a practice is fairly standard procedure. It was suggested that a standard statement be developed that Commissioners could use to talk about the purpose and work of the group. Leanna Clark volunteered to help with such a statement.
Dr. Horrell reviewed a number of points regarding what Commissioners might expect in the course of their work including communication, reflection, and beginning to think about the final report. Commissioners indicated a preference for e-mail communication for receiving correspondence and information. She asked that they use the journals provided to capture ideas and inspirations that could be included in the report.
It was suggested that the Commission develop a website that would be linked to the DPS webpage and that references, meeting notices, articles, etc. be put on the website.
Commissioners were asked to let Trish McNeil know by May 25 whether they would be attending the Colorado Association of School Executive's (CASE) High School Summit on June 10 and 11.
The Commissioners agreed on the following meeting dates:
June 18 - 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Education Commission of the States
July 9 - 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
August - no meeting
September 10 - 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
October 8 - 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
November 12 - 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
December 10 - 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
January 14 - 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:05 p.m.