5/9/13 Notes From The Board Table

I hope everyone saw or heard about the recent Washington Post article that recognized Wilton High School as being “Among the Most Challenging High Schools in the Nation.”  This recognition follows last month’s news that U.S. News and World Report had ranked Wilton High School as number six overall in Connecticut, earning it a “gold medal” distinction among high schools nationwide.     We don’t normally dwell on these types of distinctions since they are generally based on a few select metrics, rather than on the entirety of the curriculum and school experience.  But given the national attention these rankings have generated, I thought it was worth taking a moment to offer a tip of the hat to our teachers, administrators and students who earned this success, and to the Wilton community, for its tremendous commitment to building a school system that is truly superior.   That said, I’d like to bring to your attention two significant changes taking place within the Wilton Public Schools, each of which has been mandated by the state legislature.   First, the Common Core Standards.  The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) initiative is a set of K-12 curriculum protocols that are designed to ensure uniformity in learning across all districts.  CCSS was conceptualized by the National Governor’s Association, and has been adopted at this point by 45 states.  The Connecticut legislature has mandated that the CCSS be implemented statewide beginning with the 2013-14 school year.   The Standards will affect current curriculum practices in the areas of Math and English Language Arts.  Our administrators and teachers have spent a significant amount of time analyzing the CCSS components, and determining (a) how the new requirements differ from our current curriculum; (b) how best to adjust our curriculum to incorporate the new requirements; and (c) how to integrate the changes in a way that maintains our high standards and is least disruptive to our learning environment.   One obvious CCSS-driven change was our decision to incorporate the “Math in Focus/Singapore Math” program into our math curriculum.  While we had been considering making the change for some time, the decision became apparent once we realized that the Math in Focus curriculum was closely aligned with the CCSS.  The rigor of the CCSS was also a driving factor behind our decision to implement full day kindergarten.    The CCSS will also affect student assessments.  A multi-state effort, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is being developed to assess students on CCSS curriculum topics.  That model is scheduled to be implemented during the 2014-15 school year.   However, you may be aware that Wilton has been selected to administer a “practice assessment” to “test” the Smarter Balanced assessment model thus far.  Our students in grades 3-8 and 11 will join more than one million students nationwide in the online testing, which will take place during the May 3 – 10 period.   I strongly urge all parents and community members to familiarize themselves with the Common Core.  The initiative marks an unprecedented attempt to synchronize the nation’s K-12 curriculum, and will undoubtedly be under a national microscope for year’s to come.  We have posted a “Common Core Fact Sheet” on our website, that will give you a good overview of the initiative.  For more information, I suggest you visit the Common Core website, at www.corestandards.org.   The district is also in the process of complying with a new state mandate that requires a “student success plan” for every student in grade 6 and above.    According to the CT State Department of Education, the purpose of the student success plan is to “address every student’s needs and interests to help every student stay connected in school and to achieve postsecondary educational and career goals.”  The plans are to be student-driven and individualized, and must include three core components:  Academic Development, Career Expectations, and Social/Emotional Development.   While Wilton is fortunate in that we already have in place impressive systems for tracking student progress and communicating with students about career goals and post-high school planning, a significant amount of staff time and professional development was necessary in order to comply with the state mandate.   All Middlebrook and Wilton High School students are actively engaged in creating their unique success plan.  Despite the onerous compliance process, we do think the exercise will be helpful to our students, and ensure that every student will leave the Wilton schools with a good understanding of what their next steps will be.