Advanced Placement Classes: Agenda Item Tabled Until May 22
The regular May 8 School Committee meeting contained a busy agenda, including presentations regarding Science & Technology Education (STE) and History & Social Studies curriculum, the formation of state-mandated School Councils, and a detailed analysis and presentation on Advanced Placement (AP) courses within NPS.
The meeting began with two public commenters speaking against the reduction of full-time Kindergarten aides, and an additional speaker who challenged the conclusions of the aforementioned AP analysis by stating that most colleges still accept AP credits, and that factors such as expansion of mixed-level classrooms and flight to private schools were not considered as explanatory factors in the district’s drop in AP math scores.
Following this, Superintendent Kathy Smith gave her regular update and cited the efforts of the PTO Council in promoting Teacher Appreciation Week, and also discussed how to encourage replies to the survey about the school calendar year.
Liz Butler Everitt, K-8 STE Curriculum Coordinator, shared how NPS has evolved its programming to adhere to Year 2016 changes in the STE framework for education, and she stated that improved K-2 STE lessons were a goal for the 2023-2024 school year. Ms. Everitt also said that the language used in NPS STE education “privileged a white discourse,” giving the example of minority children not using the terms “balanced” and “unbalanced” when learning about magnetic force. To remedy this, NPS STE has shifted instructional methods to first emphasize concepts and then afterwards introduce shared vocabulary.
Alan Ripp, K-8 History & Social Studies curriculum coordinator, then updated the School Committee on the past 5 years of changes in areas of focus, such as inclusion of sections on Asia and India in 6th grade. However, he cited impact bargaining due to last year’s budgeting as affecting the resources available to implement curriculum changes. School Committee representative Paul Levy (Ward 6) asked about whether the district had policies regarding student use of artificial intelligence tools such as Chat-GPT, and Mr. Ripp stated the district was working on developing rules.
Following a presentation by NPS General Counsel Jill Murray Grady on the legal context for School Councils, and substantive discussion between the School Committee and NPS administrators on election protocols for the individual school-level Councils, Peirce Principal Andrea Vargas gave a presentation on the School Improvement Plan formulated by the Peirce School Council. Principal Jackie Mann then presented the Day Middle School Improvement Plan. Newton South High School Principal Tami Straus then presented the NSHS Improvement Plan, with parent Jenn Martin discussing traffic and bicycle safety in the context of multiple students being struck by vehicles while commuting to and from NSHS.
The Peirce, Day, and NSHS presentations were not yet posted to the School Committee Meeting Materials page as of this writing, but they can viewed on NewTV’s video of the meeting at approximately 2:00:00.
The final item on the planned agenda — discussion of the AP scores and class analysis — was tabled to the May 22 meeting due to the length of the previous discussions and the late hour. However, prior to adjourning, several School Committee members requested additional information to be included in the report. Examples include analyzing potential data discrepancies between AP data on the DESE website and the data in the School Committee analysis (Rajeev Parlikar), more information on why certain historical prerequisites to AP classes were deemed “unnecessary” (Chris Brezski), deeper analysis of two-three representative tests such as English, Language, and Calculus (Cove Davis), and further disaggregated data by specific “1” to “5” scores (Kathy Shields and Mayor Fuller).
