Progress Will Persevere in Danbury Education

On April 26, data from a recent workshop event entitled the Community Conversation will be revealed.  Presentations at that meeting exposed educational  accomplishments and achievable goals ahead.

Data from the Community Conversation workshops is the result of sixty-six community members including parents, community leaders, teachers, students, administrators, and business people who attended an event entitled A Community Conversation on April 5 at Danbury High School.

Presentations made by administration and Board of Education members highlighted changes made in the past year, as well as the direction of the high school in the future.

Early data released from that workshop reveals the thoughts of the attendees:

The Freshman Academy is working well, but how will block scheduling and STEM be continued through the next 3 years at DHS?

Most respondents liked the Freshman Academy, however some felt it was not for all students.

As a community we need to hear from students about their feelings about the high school.

Lack of preparation at the middle school level for the freshman to be successful.

Involve students in conferences with parents.

More use of the reverse instant messenger.

More instant feedback for students, snap grades and Engrade.

Students need more access to resources as home and parents want access to data.

More communication and engagement of all parents/guardians.

More communication between parents and teachers on a consistent kevel.

That students being blended in AP classes was not a great idea while others thought it gave all students more experiences to succeed.

During the April 5 presentation, Dr. Robert Rossi, principal of Danbury High School, talked about the de-tracking of the high school as well as increased learning expectations and open enrollment for Honors and AP students. He also noted that failing grades have decreased by half in the new Freshman Academy. Rossi spoke of previous years, “The students who failed one or more classes in their freshman year were destined not to graduate. Nobody rises to low expectations.”

“In the last two years, only 284 students took AP classes, and this year we had 463. We anticipate that there will be 1200 students taking AP classes next year, which is triple what we had before,” said Rossi.

 In order to earn college credit in an AP class, students must receive a score of 3 or higher. The percentage of students who earned college credit jumped from 75% in 2008 to 76% in 2010, with notably many more students involved.

Danbury High School was recently honored by the College Board with a place on it's AP Achievement List for opening its doors to a significantly broader pool of students. DHS is one of less than 400 school districts in the nation to receive this designation.

The data shows that 10% of DHS courses are offered at Level 2, which is less than high school rigor. Further, 68% of the students attending these classes are minority, 95% have a grade point average of less than 3.0, over 60% of the students in these classes are males and the failure rate is higher in Level 2 classes than at other levels.

 During 2008-2009, 49% of freshman had at least one F in one course in one marking period, and 24% of these freshman had more than one F. Further indications of disparity were that 37% of English language learning freshman failed to earn 25 credits, and there were twice as many changes to move students down rather than moving them up.

A recent interview with Dr. Meghan Martins, associate principal, explored the changes further. “This year we are building Honors classes and gathering data for Honors and AP classes. Students are being exposed to higher levels of education.”

 Data shows that only 6.4% of DHS minority students took AP classes in 2008, and the current goal is to increase the participation by 10% in 2012.

 Danbury Board of Education Chairman Irving Fox said, “We have to take steps to bring the schools to a world class level. It's the community members who are the guardians of the school system.”

 Board Vice-Chair Richard Janelli said, “It is so important that every parent get involved in school. We need more community effort, we can no longer fall solely on the educators. We are years behind where we should be.”

According to Meghan Martin, “As of last year there was no curriculum in place, and now we have consistent standards throughout the school. This year, the CMT scores went up in every area. In the past, only honor students had labs, now all students have labs. In the past all ESL (English as a Second Language) students had all of their classes in ESL. Now, the ESL kids are being dispersed into mainstream classes.

 “We had to de-tract the schools because that is what is best for all of the kids, said Martin. “In the past, to take an AP class, you had to be in the Top Ten of the class. In social studies, that meant you had to show superior ability. It made very little sense. People said that was the level that kids could function at, but the kids didn't move up, they tended to move down instead. This has been a difficult process but you can't de-tract and not have a new curriculum.”

 Martin continued, “We would love to have more tutors. Being involved in your children's schools is not only about bake sales. We need to be more clear about what we mean by parent involvement. Follow up on your kids homework, be in communication with the teachers, make sure kids are in school on time, know when to take the texting and Facebook away. Encourage them to use the Tutoring Center during and after school. They can take the late bus home on Monday and Thursday. In the Tutoring Center, there is staff to help and students who have failed can make use of the credit recovery software. We have 19 titles that help students fulfill their graduation requirements. These will assess a student's needs and provide practice. They can either get a grade or just get support.”

 In an interview outside of this meeting, Caroline LeFleur of Danbury's Children First said, “No matter the income level or culture, children are more likely to succeed socially, academically, in every way, when the parent is involved in their children's education. Going to a PTO meeting is one way to be involved, but learning at home is critical.”

 Danbury schools are facing challenging times ahead, but educators believe it is possible to keep the focus on the positive. According to Rossi, “We now have multiple teachers teaching multiple AP courses. We now have kids coming in on the weekends, we have over 100 kids coming in on some weekends. The fact that our students are testing well is a good indicator that our population is doing well. AP classes are the highest predictor of college graduation.”