Accreditation: Trainings for Board, Admin, and Faculty

In the last few days we've trained the Board of Trustees, administration, and faculty on the new CAIS/WASC protocol that we'll be beta-testing this year.  I conducted the training for the admin at a team meeting on Tuesday. We began by reviewing the timeline of work for the remainder of this year, and then looked at the draft of chapter chair assignments the Accreditation Leadership Team had made. We're distributing the work of writing the 15 chapters for the protocol by having the relevant administrator who holds responsibility for a topic chair the chapter committee, whenever possible, and we're excited at how this involves all of our admin team in leadership work in the process.

Chapter/Topic	Chair
1. Mission	Mitch
2. Ed Program	Zaq
3. Student Learning Experience	Sima
4. Faculty and Pedagogy	Gretchen
5. Climate and Community	Laura
6. Residential Life	NA
7. Preschool	Kathy
8. Admissions and Enrollment	Paula
9. Finance	Mohammad
10. Advancement	Araxi
11. HR	Mohammad
12. Facilities	Mohammad
13. Health, Safety and Wellness	Jeanne & Cindy
14. Governance	Dobee
15. Administration	Mitch
16. Self- assessment and Decision- making	Zaq

That afternoon, Dobee Snowber and I conducted the training for the Board of Trustees at the November meeting. We structure our discussion to contained six parts: the benefits of accreditation (the rigorous self-study, the professional development, the faculty recruitment, and the marketing), the school's history of accreditation, a broad timeline for our process, a comparison of the old protocol with the new protocol we are using, some specifics about our approach, and the ways in which the Board is involved in the process:

Board member of the Accreditation Leadership Team: Dobee Snowber

Chapter 1: Mission - Executive Committee

Chapter 9: Finance - Finance Committee

Chapter 10: Advancement - Development Committee

Chapter 12: Facilities - Site Committee

Chapter 13: Governance - Executive and/or Trustee Committees

Chapter 16: Decision Making - Strategic Planning Committee

Sima Misra and I conducted the training for the teachers at an all-faculty meeting at the ECC yesterday. After reviewing the benefits of accreditation and the timeline of work, we split them into five groups and rotated each group through five stations with a few choice questions from each of the relevant program chapter. Teachers were given pens and asked to write their thoughts and comments in response to each question, and to the thoughts and comments of their peers who had rotated through that station before them. Each group ended up back at the station at which they had started, and had a chance to read what the other teachers had added to the chart paper. This highly generative activity lead to a strong sense of excitement about the ways in which the accreditation process will help us see and highlight our strengths, as well as identify meaningful areas of improvement in our program.

At the end of the meeting, we passed out forms for faculty to let us know their preferences for committee assignments. Our next step will be to gather this data, draft committee compositions, finalize those with chapter chairs, and then inform the faculty about their placements.

Mission Moments Newsletter - Volume 2, Issue 1

I feel very lucky to get to come and go freely through the classrooms at The Berkeley School (one of the perks of my job!), and I like to share what I see when I can. That's why I write the Mission Moments newsletter; it's a regular chance for me to point out moments when the teaching and learning in our classrooms embodies our mission, learning outcomes, and values. Here's the first edition of the year; if you want to see issues from last year, just search the blog using the tag "mission".

Kindergarten Readiness

A recent opinion post on CNN's School's of Thought blog by Donna McClintock offered a one-sided take on the question of when to start children in Kindergarten.

Her arguments in favor of starting almost all kids in Kindergarten at age five boiled down to two points: first, that the brain develops regardless of grade, and second, many reasons parents start children a year late have to do with their adult needs rather than the child's needs, such as peer choices, future sports success, or anxiety about separation. While she seems to have a good sense of what makes a good Kindergarten program, her view is best summed up in the line "If the program is not a true hands-on, positive, developmentally appropriate program, then perhaps redshirting is a good choice or choosing a different school might be an even better one."

For the sake of fairness, let's look at what she didn't acknowledge in her post:

-Many families don't have the financial or social capital to choose a different school other than the one their child is assigned to. Those that do are usually upper-middle class and white -- exactly the demographic that is often choosing to delay their child's start in order to try to maintain the academic and other advantages that come with white privilege.

-The curriculum in Kindergarten has been accelerated to become what First Grade used to be - a phenomenon well documented in both the academic literature and news media, including articles in Newsweek (2006),  The Washington Post (2007), and The Chicago Tribune (2010). So pushing children who may or may not be ready for Kindergarten into First Grade academics makes little sense.

-The research of the impact of redshirting is extremely mixed, despite her claims: some research suggests that boys and low-income students have significant benefits to waiting a year, and that starting Kindergarten too soon can have significant negative effects.

-Brain development is not only regardless of age, it is also unique to every child. Simply because a child is five does not mean s/he is neurologically ready for the work of Kindergarten. And simply because five year old child spends a year in a preschool or bridge-K program does not mean that it is a wasted year for neurological, academic, intellectual, social, and/or emotional development.

That these and other important factors were left out of the piece is predictable; what truly annoyed me was the style of the piece. I'm all for substantive conversations that encompass differing opinions on important topics, but let's be honest about how we are approaching the discussion. Although initially positioned as an objective perspective, starting with the "Kindergarten redshirting different for each child" title for the post, the piece is in fact an unstinting push to get age 5 children into Kindergarten, right up to the very last line that tells readers who choose to take another year for their child "While it may be too late to get him into the original kindergarten program you wanted to, do not allow him to waste this critical year of opportunity." I'm glad that Mrs. McClintock recognizes the characteristics of a good Kindergarten, but I wish she could have been more transparent and direct about her views at the outset of the article.

At TBS, we believe that age is not the determining factor in Kindergarten readiness, and that's why we have a Transitional K program at our Early Childhood Center. We recognize that Kindergarten readiness means ready child, ready family, and ready school - a chronologically young child may thrive in Kindergarten, while a chronologically old child may do better in the TK program. Our "cut off" date is September 1, and we work closely with each family of a child with a fall birthday to determine whether the Explorers program or our Kindergarten will be a better fit.

Tying academic curriculum to real life

This week I came across some marvelous examples of how TBS faculty work to tie examples of real life experience into the academic work of the classrooms.

In Sweet Briar Creek (a second/third grade classroom), the students set up a polling station on Tuesday (the day of the elections). The topic of the vote was the re-naming of the Sweet Briar Creek blog, and each student took a turn as a poll worker. The polling station included a voter register, voting booth, ballots, ballot box, posted times when the polls were open, and even "I voted in Sweet Briar Creek" stickers.  The work wasn't limited to the day of the election, however; while guiding prospective parents on a tour the next morning, we encountered the students working in groups to count the ballots. They began by checking, and rechecking, each ballot for any irregularities, such as multiple votes (those that were found to be irregular were referred to the teachers for arbitration). They then counted, and recounted, the ballots to determine which of the candidates had won.

Instead of learning information about candidates and issues, as is often the basis for a study of elections (though not always developmentally appropriate for 7 year olds), this approach included both giving students the experience of participating in voting themselves, and also an understanding what it takes to actually put on an election. By simulating all steps of the process, students developed a genuine sense of the importance of voting in our society, and why we use it as a decision-making tool for issues that matter to many people, getting at our learning outcomes of interdependency (the society of the class), creativity (coming up with candidate names), critical thinking (doing the voting), and discipline understanding.

[Side note: During my first visit to the class on Tuesday, I was turned away from voting, because I was there at a time when the polls were closed; it was a tremendous a real life moment for me, as an adult who read about the long lines and struggle to get access to polls in places like Florida and North Carolina, to have that experience myself. I've asked the teachers if I can come in to speak with the students about my perspective on this project, and my experience with it, and also to hear from them about what their experiences.]

In Strawberry Creek (one of our fourth/fifth grade classrooms), the study of the election included learning about the Electoral College. In order to give students a direct experience of how it works, the teachers asked the students first to vote about which pet they liked more, cats or dogs. The teachers then had the class offer pros and cons for each pet, which they wrote down for all to see. Finally, the teachers had students re-vote by private ballot, this time tying each student's ballot weight to the number of Electoral College votes that the state s/he had done his/her recent state study on (e.g. the vote of the child who studied Louisiana counted x9, the vote of the child who studied New Hampshire counted x4, and the vote of the child who studied California counted x55). While the results were the same (dogs won), the students were able to witness how weighted voting changes the way national candidates might choose to campaign.

On a completely different note, in 5th grade math on Wednesday, the students' lived experience became a high-interest leverage point in their study of data and statistics. Working in table groups, the students categorized and then taped candy wrappers from Halloween onto posters as a group, before identifying the mean, median, mode and range of group consumption. For some, the act of classifying was the exciting part; for others, the creation of the display; and for others, getting to work in small groups with their peers kept them motivated. For all, the mathematical calculations became an object of intense interest, both to know the group's internal nature better (some groups were high on chocolate, others on chewy treats) and also to compare to their classmates (who had eaten the most candy? the least? how did each person's consumption compare to the group's average?).

Last Night's Parent Ed event on Zones

Many thanks to the parents who showed up last night for the Parent Ed event on our use of the Zones of Regulation curriculum in the K-5 classrooms!

Kate's presentation began with the big idea of the Zones, moved into what the actual Zones are, and then on to the lessons and implementation that teachers have used in the classrooms. She also showed some videos kids in the 4/5 classrooms had made showing possible facial expressions of someone in one zone or another (here's the link to the videos on Strawberry Creek's blog).

We then moved into a conversation about extending the Zones language and approach to the home environment. Of special interest was the question of what to expect, and how to work with, a child in the red ("stop") zone; what's happening on a neuro-physiological level during that sort of emotional experience; and ideas for engaging children in physical activities that allow them to have their emotions without self-judgment, express those feelings to others without perceiving judgment, and then releasing it without having to talk.

Parent Ed event on Happiness in Children

Classroom names for 2013-14

This week, amidst the many other initiatives, urgencies, and responsibilities that I manage, I began thinking about how to decide which current classroom names go with each physical and grade/level classroom next year. Currently our two K/1 classrooms are called Blackberry and Laurel, and our two 2/3 classrooms are called Sweet Briar and Temescal. Four distinct possibilities arose as I thought about making the transition to the K, 1/2, 3 classroom model.

Option 1: K/1 become K and 3, and 2/3s become 1/2s
K = Blackberry
½ = Sweet Briar and Temescal
3 = Laurel

In this model, all current K/1 and 2nd grades students will be in a classroom with a different name from this year. This option eliminates the possibility that some students have prior classroom names continue while others don’t - which may or may not be a benefit, depending on the experience and needs of specific children - and it creates a dimension of consistent experience for everyone. Having new names for all classrooms might also reinforce the conceptual differences between the prior grade structure (our current K/1 and 2/3 model) and the structure we'll have next fall.

Option 2: "Max-Mix" of K/1 and 2/3 becoming 1/2

K= Blackberry*
½ = Sweet Briar** and Laurel*
3 = Temescal**

In this version, one current K/1 becomes the new K while the other becomes a 1/2, and one current 2/3 becomes a 1/2 while the other becomes the 3rd grade. This would create name continuity for some current students: those who go into the new 1/2 with the name of their current K/1, and those who go into the new 3rd with the name of their current 2/3. The problems I see are that a) the other K/1 and 2nd grade students would be shifting into newly named classes, thus creating divergent experiences for students rather than parallel and consistent, b) most teaching teams are likely to change (though of course it's impossible to say since the process of determining teaching assignments is just beginning) which can lead to confusion for teachers and students in a class where a teacher continues in the room of the same name when the program is explicitly meant to shift, and c) the faculty has agreed that we want to deliberately examine and re-place K/1 students into the 1/2 classes as part of our placement process at the end of the year, and this introduces a hard-to-predict variable.

Option 3: K/1 become 1/2, and 2/3 become K and 3
K= Sweet Briar
½ = Blackberry and Laurel
3 = Temescal

This creates name continuity for any current K/1 student who is placed into the 1/2 classroom that has the name of his/her current K/1. It also provides name continuity for half of the current 2nd grade students, who would continue on in a classroom with the same name. The big question to me here is, does shifting the current K/1 names to become 1/2 names work FOR or AGAINST our goal of creating more developmentally-targeted classrooms? Will the children who continue on have a dissonant experience as they learn how the expectations, routines, structures and practices of the classrooms are both new and familiar, or will having the same name - again, at this point without having any idea who the teachers will be - make it easier for them to make this transition?

Option 4: The names stay with the physical room, regardless of the class/grades within it.

Taking this approach would mean taking five classrooms are involved in the name changing process, rather than four. The current Strawberry Creek classroom, which is 4/5, would change into K or ½. The current Blackberry and Laurel classrooms would also become either K or 1/2. Temescal and Sweet Briar, meanwhile, would change into a 3 and ⅘. In all cases, the exact name/grade pairing would be determined by which grades we actually decide fit best into the various classroom spaces of the site - for example, where we decide to locate the Kindergarten.

A few more thoughts
There are a few more things I'm thinking about as I bring this to faculty at this Wednesday's division meeting. 

First, I believe classroom names should be decided independently of, and before, teacher assignments, as this will put the needs of the students at the center of the conversation -- rather than the inevitable bias creep that will happen from adult preferences about what happens to classroom names if teachers already have their teaching assignments (and, let's recognize some teachers have emotional attachments to their classroom names). 

Second, I believe classroom names should be decided before student placements are made: again, this puts the needs of the group above individuals. 

Third, and finally, I believe that the emotional tenor and impact of classroom names will be most felt during the spring and fall of 2013 - after that, the naming structure becomes part of the fabric of the institution, as it is currently.

So -do you have a preference?

TBS Parent Ed event on The Zones of Regulation on Wednesday 11/7

Staffing transition in Blackberry Creek

Dear TBS families,

We want to let you know about an upcoming staffing change in the Blackberry Creek classroom. Shannon Collins will be leaving the classroom, and former TBS teacher Claire Patterson will be returning to the classroom. 

Shannon's decision is based on personal circumstance and her desire to fully meet the needs of her family, which includes three teenage children (the youngest of whom is in 8th grade here at TBS), and we fully support her: as a consummate professional, her dedication to teaching is only exceeded by her dedication to her family, and this has been a very difficult decision for her.  She has been a faculty member at The Berkeley School since 2003 and a parent at the school even longer, and she and co-teacher Lisa Chung have gotten Blackberry Creek off to a great start this year.

As you might know, Claire left the Blackberry Creek classroom at the end of last year to take a position as an art specialist and classroom teacher at a new, Montessori-based charter school in Oakland. As she has begun to share with our community, her time there has been highly educative: through her experience, she came to understand the gifts and challenges of working as a specialist teacher, and, equally important, going outside the walls of The Berkeley School allowed her to understand the unique nature of our supportive, well-resourced, and child-centered professional environment. Those understandings, coupled with other experiences, led Claire to give notice to her new place of employment in September.  Shortly after that, she contacted us to ask about the possibility of returning to The Berkeley School at some point in the future.  So when Shannon informed us of her decision, we saw an immediate opportunity to bring Claire back into the fold, minimize the impact of a staffing transition, and most importantly, continue to meet the needs of the children in Blackberry Creek.  Claire knows our program, curriculum, protocols, and traditions deeply, and she already has personal and instructional relationships with the first graders in the classroom, as well as working relationships with the other faculty, so she needs minimal time to get up to speed on instructional needs in the classroom.

Claire visited the classroom on Monday and together the three teachers led a discussion with students about the staffing transition. That afternoon we hosted a meeting with parents of children in Blackberry Creek, where we reviewed that conversation and answered parent questions about how we will maintain curricular and programmatic consistency through this change. If you were on campus this morning, you might have seen Claire leading the annual Halloween parade - a role she has had now for several years. Claire’s first full day at The Berkeley School will be tomorrow, Thursday, November 1st, in for Parent/Teacher conferences, while Shannon’s last day will be Tuesday, November 20th. During those overlapping weeks, the classroom will be staffed by all three teachers, and we will be giving Claire and Lisa additional time to meet in order to work together on planning the curriculum and instruction.

We encourage you to speak factually and clearly with your children about this staffing transition, and refrain from presenting the news in a "guess what?" or similar approach that sensationalizes the information. Our K-5 division truly is a village -- older siblings of the 21 students in Blackberry Creek are in all four of the 2/3 and 4/5 classrooms -- and we have many students who have had Shannon, Claire or both as past teachers across all grades of the school, so we know this information will spread quickly among the children. Because we expect that various children will feel a range of emotions about this change at different times,  we hope you can join us in emphasizing to your child(ren) that this transition is a process, not a single event, and give them the space to express their feelings, thoughts and questions over time.

When you see them on campus over the next few weeks, please give Shannon your best wishes, and give Claire a warm welcome.