School Panel Review Follow-Up Report

Matthew J. Kuss Middle School, Fall River

October 30, 2000

Team Members: Denise Delorey (Team Leader), Peter Davies, Kathryn Riley, Richard Raiche

The Matthew J. Kuss Middle School

The Kuss Middle School was on of eight urban middle schools referred for panel review in the Spring of 2000 as a result of critically low levels of student performance on State MCAS assessments in 1998 and 1999 and declining MCAS results from 1998 to 1999. The Panel Review was conducted in May 2000. Panel findings at the Kuss School were mixed. Serious concerns identified were:

• The school improvement plan lacks primary focus and does not prioritize initiatives to improve student achievement. The plan:
  • fails to address impediments to learning created by school climate
  • Does not identify strategies to support improved achievement by large percentage of students for whom English is a second language
  • Does not contain specific professional development objectives and for the 2000-2001 school year.
  • Does not provide for instructional guidance and support to improve classroom practice
• The school is functioning with an interim principal and lacks the leadership needed to guide and support faculty efforts to improve student achievement;
• District support for the school's improvement efforts is insufficient.

On consideration of the panel findings, the Commissioner deferred action on determination of under-performance for a period of 90 days to permit school and district officials an opportunity to address the concerns identified by the review panel. A $25,000 school improvement support grant was provided to support school improvement planning and professional development initiatives over the summer months.

The school submitted a general plan and budget to utilize all of the $25,000 ESE grant to fund four committees that would be formed to work over the summer on the following: Leadership, Parent and Community Involvement (School Linked Services), Student Service Center, and School Policy. The committees reportedly met weekly. A written progress report describing the work of the committees was submitted to the Department on September 15, 2000.

The Scope of the Panel Review Follow-up Process

The task of the Panel Review Follow-up Team was to determine whether actions taken by school and district personnel over the past 90 have remedied, to a significant extent, the deficiencies identified in the Panel Review Report and highlighted in the Commissioner's letter of June 12, 2000.

The Follow-up Team consisted of four members: a practitioner who served on the original panel, an experienced school performance evaluation consultant, and two members of the Department's Accountability and Targeted Assistance staff. The Follow-up Team used the same protocol for its site visit that was used for the Panel Review, but focused its inquiry on the main concerns identified during the original Panel Review.

The Follow-up Team reviewed the original Panel Review Report, the Commissioner's determination letter, the school and district response, the Kuss School's summer action plans and budget for use of the $25,000 school improvement grant, and the school's September 15, 2000 progress report to the Department. A preliminary Follow-up Team meeting was held to analyze this information and consider the actions reportedly taken by the school over the summer. The Team visited the Kuss School on September 25, 2000 for a day of meetings and interviews with members of the Leadership Committee, three other committees formed this summer, and faculty, classroom observations, and discussions with district administrators.

Follow-up on Areas of Concern Cited in the Panel Review Report

Focus on Improving Classroom Instruction

One of the key concerns identified in the Review Panel Report was the lack of a primary focus for initiatives to improve student performance. In interviews and meetings with staff and administrators, the Follow-up Team found that a coordinated strategy focused on improving instruction has yet to be developed for the Kuss School.

In response to the concerns stated in the Panel Review Report, the school used the $25,000 school improvement grant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to form four committees: the Leadership Committee, the School Linked Community Committee, the Social Service Center Committee, and the Discipline (since renamed Policy) Committee. In a progress report submitted to the Department, the Kuss reported a high level of staff participation over the summer in the four committees. The products generated by the committees included:

• revised discipline forms and procedures in the Student Handbook,
• an orientation night for entering 6th graders and their families,
• a plan for activities designed to increase parent involvement using resources available from a Department of Education School Linked Services grant, and
• renovation of cafeteria space for a new Student Service Center to centralize and coordinate guidance and services for students with behavioral and emotional problems. (On the day of the follow-up visit, the Student Services Center was not open, but renovations appeared close to completion. Nor had it been staffed with a Coordinator. Staff members, including the school psychologist, reported that the Center should be open in a couple of weeks staffed by visiting service providers and parent volunteers.)

Working together this summer seems to have empowered and energized some of the staff and increased their sense of ownership in the school. In the absence of a permanent principal, or a focused plan for improving student performance, the staff worked on what they understood to be areas needing improvement, and did make progress in some areas. The coordination of School Linked Services, the addition of a part-time bilingual parent liaison, and new efforts to increase parent involvement are good first steps that will help provide the foundation for the success of efforts to improve student performance at the school.

During the follow-up visit, it appeared that morale among some of the staff had improved over last year. When interviewed during the Follow-up Team's visit, some teachers reported that they felt that things had changed at the school since the Panel Review - that the school seemed "quieter" and "more orderly," and "positive" with fewer students were coming to school late, and teachers having more control over what goes on.

The Follow-up Team was told that the school has put in place procedures to address the issues of absenteeism and discipline. The impact of any new procedures the school has implemented to curb absenteeism and prompt improved student discipline was not evident during the follow-up visit. The Team's review of the absentee list for September 22 (the last school day before the visit) showed 66 out of 571 students attending the Kuss School counted as absent that day, with an additional 45 students tardy (arrived by 11 am). A cross-check between this list and the school register showed that nine students (out of a class enrollment of 22) were absent from one 7th grade class, with two other students arriving late. During the follow-up visit, the Team found the corridors to be for the most part quiet, but observed students in several of the classrooms acting out. In one class, an observer found a 6th grade class out of the control of both a teacher and an aide. In another, a sleeping student remained in the classroom for several minutes after the bell ended the period and the other students had left the room.

Notwithstanding the faculty's efforts over the summer, the Follow-up Team found that the Review Panel's key concern about the lack of focus on improved instruction remains largely unaddressed. There are discrete initiatives under way at the school to support improved instruction. For example, the school's Leadership Committee met with district curriculum coordinators over the summer. Benchmark questions were given out at the beginning of the school year to all staff, and academic curriculum meetings were scheduled in September and October for social studies, math, language arts and science to introduce the benchmarks and show teachers how to use them. A reading specialist in place, who is working with each of the grade level clusters. A Title I position for a teacher to work with staff on writing across the curriculum has been approved, but as of the date of the follow-up visit that position had not yet been filled. Some teachers have been trained in the Connected Math Program, which will continue this year.

However, these various initiatives are not part of a coordinated strategy focused on specific instructional goals. In the 17 classrooms that Follow-up Team members visited, the learning environment and instructional practices observed evidenced no discernible improvement from those recorded last May when the Review Panel visited the Kuss School. Classrooms are dingy, with few visually stimulating displays. Team members saw no significant celebratory presentation of student work in evidence in the school. The level of student engagement observed was low, and classroom observers found that instruction remains teacher centered. Students were often not on task; and there were disruptions in several of the classrooms visited. One room, with a science class of 15 students, was locked from the outside. In the classrooms where students did appear to be on task, Team members noted that interaction between teachers and students was minimal. No cooperative learning strategies were in evidence.

Another key concern in the Panel Review Report also remains to be addressed. The Team found no evidence that the school or district have made significant progress in the development of specific professional development plans tied to the accomplishment of district and school improvement objectives. The new principal will have to provide strong instructional leadership to direct the focus of the faculty's efforts toward the development of a positive learning environment, with high expectations for classroom instruction and student performance. This will require the development of a comprehensive professional development plan to train and support staff in their efforts to improve the quality of instruction at the school.

Leadership to Spearhead School Improvement Efforts

At the time of the Panel Review in May, the Kuss School was headed by an acting principal and district administrators were considering the reappointment of the individual on leave from that position as the permanent principal. The School had experienced a change of principals five times in the last ten years. The Review Panel was deeply concerned by the lack of stable, effective leadership to direct improvement efforts at the Kuss School. The Panel urged the district to take prompt action to ensure the appointment, without undue delay, of a permanent principal to plan for and guide improvement initiatives in advance of the start of the 2000-2001 school year. In the interim, the Panel was hopeful that the school's faculty Leadership Team, led by its Vice Principal with support from the district's Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, could begin work on some of the issues needing attention.

The appointment of a permanent principal for the Kuss School was delayed until after the district hired its new Superintendent, Robert M. Neely. Superintendent Neely assumed his post in Fall River on August 21, 2000. Thereafter, a principal search was conducted with Kuss School staff and parents participating in the process. The Search Committee included four members from the Kuss School Leadership Committee formed this summer, and two parent members of the Kuss School Council. The committee recommended Darlene Devaney, who was hired by Superintendent Neely. She assumed her position as Principal of the Kuss School on September 25, 2000, coinciding with the day of the Follow-up Team's visit.

The Superintendent cited a strong instructional background and an understanding of middle schools as significant factors in Ms. Devaney's selection. She spent last year as an instructional coordinator in the Providence, RI Public Schools. In a meeting with the Team on her first morning, the principal appeared confident of the possibility for change at the Kuss, based partly on assurances she received during the selection process from the faculty about their need for, and willingness to accept, strong and creative leadership. The Team was encouraged by the new principal's middle school leadership experience and demonstrated strength in staff development. These assets should be of great value to the Kuss School. The Team notes, however, that this is Ms. Devaney's first position as principal. She will need assistance and support from experienced educational administrators, and from the Kuss faculty, to successfully implement needed initiatives to improve classroom instruction at the school.

It is worth noting that during the summer the Kuss School lost its Vice Principal in charge of curriculum implementation, Virginia Kuss, who helped guide the faculty's work over the summer. Ms. Kuss, who the Review Panel expected to be a significant contributor to the success of the Kuss School's improvement efforts, left the school this summer to assume the principalship of one of the district's elementary schools.

District Support

While the Kuss School has gained a new principal who shows promise, progress on efforts to enhance the quality of curriculum and instruction at the school have been dealt a blow by the recent resignation of the district's Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum. Dr. Condon played a lead role in directing efforts to improve the district's curriculum and instruction to help students meet new State performance standards. The Review Panel had expected Dr. Condon to provide instructional leadership at the district level that would support the Kuss School's implementation of curricula across content areas that are aligned with the State learning standards. During the Panel Review, Dr. Condon was identified as a key player in the coordination and delivery of the focused professional development and instructional support needed by Kuss School faculty to support initiatives to promote and support improved student performance. Dr. Condon's departure removed a key condition considered favorable to the likely success of plans to improve the performance of Kuss School students. The district's Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction position is presently vacant.

At the time of the Follow-up Team's meeting with the district's new Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent who served as the district's interim superintendent over the summer, a specific plan to support and assist Principal Devaney in her new position, and to provide district level guidance and oversight to ensure the implementation of needed improvements in curriculum and instructional quality at the Kuss had yet to be formulated.

Conclusion

In the judgement of the Follow-up Team, at present the conditions are not in place to ensure improved student performance at the Kuss School. Considerable work remains to be done to develop coordinated strategies focused on improving the quality of instruction and supporting improved student performance. The new principal needs to revive the planning process at the school, and incorporate existing initiatives into a sound, unified plan.

The Team is hopeful that the school's new principal will be able to provide needed leadership and guidance to support improvement in the school's instructional program. However, Ms. Devaney is untried in this role. This fact, and the loss of Dr. Condon's support at the district level, lead the Follow-up Team to conclude that State guidance in the planning process, and significant ongoing support for the implementation of needed improvements in curriculum and instruction, will be required at the Kuss School. The recent appointment of a permanent principal to lead the school, coupled with the apparent willingness of a number of faculty to actively contribute to efforts to improve the school's performance, are hopeful signs. The Team is optimistic that with State assistance needed improvements at the school can be achieved.

District response to the Follow-up Report, [ PDF ]