This past school year saw extensive, and at times heated, political debate and discussion over Newton Public Schools (NPS) budgetary priorities. How do these numbers and spending categories shape what students and educators do every day? Fig City News interviewed Principal Kim Lysaght of Brown Middle School, who discussed how Brown is evolving its approach alongside the district’s priorities.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
FCN: How do educator “Teams” work at Brown Middle School?
KL: We have two different types of teacher collaborative teams. One is Grade Level Departments (GLDs) who all teach the same subject, at the same grade level. They meet weekly to plan curriculum, share best ideas, bring their respective strengths, and create common lessons and assessments for students. An example is the Global Goals event that was coordinated by the three 6th grade social studies teachers. The GLDs make sure we hit all of the marks that are required for students as they go through their grade levels. The GLD structure has been around for a long time, since I was teaching, maybe 20 years ago now!
The other structure is the multi-subject team that teaches a group of about 85-90 students all year, comprised of a math, science, social science, and English Language Arts teacher. They also meet weekly, along with a counselor, administrator, and a special educator. The special educator could be part of a citywide program, or is one of Brown’s general special education teachers and is the case manager for students with IEPs on that team.
FCN: How is that structure evolving?
KL: This year, each team has a team leader, and utilizes what we call a Function Impact Matrix (attributed to Elisa McDonald), which looks at both the functionality of the team as well as its impact on student results. They ask questions like how would you facilitate a situation where X happens or Y happens. Since [Superintendent Nolin] began, we’ve implemented several student assessments such as Star Math. We’ve been using iReady for reading for a number of years. The teams also look at social-emotional learning (SEL) data. We have a platform that’s called Sown To Grow, where our students weekly will enter data on a five-point scale about how they’re feeling on Friday.
The team looks at data for those students they share, and if there’s a student that we’re concerned about, we all can take a look at their larger picture, not just an anecdote about what happened in their last class. The data may tell us we’ve got a lot of kids who need some reinforcement on, for example, fractions. So then the math teachers can work with their teammates to reserve time with those students during their extension block.
Similarly, a guidance counselor can bring SEL data to the table and ask the teachers what they’re seeing in class. Do we need to reach out to a family if there’s a pattern of feeling down? It’s looking at the whole child as a team. We’ll continue that work next year in helping facilitate the team leaders making those meetings as impactful as possible.
FCN: To clarify, the administrator, counselor, and special educator work with multiple teams?
Yes, the counselors are assigned to about two teams each, sometimes three, depending on how the caseload breaks down. The administrators, assistant principals Matt [Bailey-Adams], Julian [Turner], and I each have three. The special educators are generally assigned to the teams with their students.
FCN: What results are you seeing?
KL: We definitely can see the growth scores in the math and reading universal screeners. We’ve found that we’re doing pretty well overall as a school. I think it’s because of the alignment and the shared planning that the teachers do together, that they were able to produce better educational opportunities.
It’s not just during the team meetings. We’ve devoted about four different faculty meetings to really digging in. We call it a deep dive, and we spend the time examining where we saw the most growth, celebrating that with the kids, but also where we see a lack of growth and then trying to decipher what we should do next.
FCN: Are the team leaders generally classroom educators, or administrators like yourself?
KL: Team leaders are classroom teachers who volunteer. They’re amazing people. They give their time to run these meetings because they see that the results are better when meetings run well and they’re “all in.” So I am blessed to have some really amazing educators here who step up.
FCN: Are these team meetings during the school day?
KL: Yes, they happen during the school day, once every 6-day cycle. [Brown class schedules vary by subject day-to-day over a 6-day period, and then repeat.] That time is sacrosanct; it’s always the team meeting time. However, teams themselves meet informally constantly. Their classrooms are generally near each other, and they’re always working together. GLDs function similarly. There’s a formal meeting once each cycle, but then there’s also a bunch of other times that they’re collaborating.
Next year we’re looking at adding some Wednesday afternoon faculty time to also do that work and make sure that they have enough time; digging into the data is time-consuming, and it’s hard when the bell’s about to ring and you’ve got kids coming in the room. So giving them extra time I think is important.
FCN: While you can’t comment on specific students, could you provide any discrete example where this process of looking at data really helped?
KL: In addition to SEL examples when we’ve had students experience challenges, math is a clear example. Our math teachers have been able to create little intervention groups based on the results that they’ve seen in the Star data. During a block of time we call extension, when our ensembles [i.e., choruses, bands and orchestra] happen, there are fewer kids the core teacher team has to supervise. So the team will take the group that needs the extra help, and the math teacher can take them for a full 30- or 60-minute slot, while the rest of the team has students do their independent reading or homework, or get extra help in another area. Some teachers have worked together for many years in a row and want to support each other; that’s the beauty of having that time. There is some flexibility, but it’s complex because we’re trying to fit many things into one chunk of time.
FCN: Administrators have sometimes referred to Newton’s middle schools as the “middle child,” compared to the public attention on issues affecting elementary and high school students. What additional resources would have large positive impacts on middle school student results?
KL: Hopefully in the future we will get interventionists as well. We don’t have a math interventionist, and we have a half-time reading specialist. The rest is all on the general education teachers to deliver extra support. So that’s something we’ve been asking for, for a while, and the budget constraints have been impacting us. I think that’s a priority for next year. We certainly need it.
Depending on where students were when COVID hit, we’re seeing more holes in subjects like reading. Around third or fourth grade, learning to read should become reading to learn. So, if the learning to read part was limited, then that has impacts down the line. Each year I think we’re making some strides and getting it back, but the foundational piece remains weaker, and we’re playing catch up.
FCN: The need for interventionists has been a theme at NPS this past year.
KL: Many times when general-education teachers are doing interventions, they’re creating the intervention. We don’t have a host of materials that have been practiced based on specific child needs. This adds to teachers’ work: on top of planning for their regular classes, they have to plan for interventions, and some students require intervention in more than one subject. There’s some difficulty in deciding where to focus the intervention.
I’ll go back to the fractions example. Even though that’s not necessarily what the curriculum is doing in eighth grade math, should an eighth grade teacher put the curriculum aside and just work with these kids on fractions if they need that? An interventionist would do that, and have the materials that would be targeted. That’s something that I’d love to see more of. I know right now there’s a good amount of it in the elementary level, which is great, but it’s our turn. So I’m hopeful that the budget in future years will accommodate that.
Global Goals
As noted in the first interview question, Brown’s 6th graders conducted an open display of their research into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with parents invited to the Brown cafeteria the morning of June 17 for breakfast and student presentations.
