The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Graduation rates surpass Connecticut average
Officials attribute gain to innovative, creative ways of teaching
MIDDLETOWN — Public school officials are pointing to specialized programs that target incoming high school freshmen as one of the factors that helped boost graduation rates to a five-year high.
Middletown Public Schools’ 2018-19 graduation figures surpassed the state average by 11 points — at 97 percent. Connecticut’s median figure during that period was 86 percent, according to Superintendent of Schools Michael Conner.
The city is designated by the state as an Alliance District, which targets 33 of Connecticut’s lower-performing education systems, qualifying them for additional
Education Cost Sharing funding. That aid includes new Dell computers for the classrooms.
Figures show the district also exceeded the state average for all students by 3 percent over the five-year study period.
The data shows that federally reported statewide on-time graduation rates, for most student groups, are at their highest levels in Connecticut since 2010-11, according to the district.
Conner sits on the the state Department of Education’s Governor’s COVID-19 Learn from Home Task Force, comprised of several superintendents from across the state.
“We know if kids aren’t engaged and aren’t successful that (first) year, there is a very small percent of kids who will actually get through high school in four years if they’re not successful freshman year,” Middletown High School Principal Colleen Weiner said.
Around five years ago, the district implemented a pilot program that instituted several types of interventions to prevent incoming high school students from falling behind. Last year, MPS was able to partner with the Middlesex YMCA’s network to add additional guidance counselors, for example.
“It’s such a pivotal year. What we see is we’re able to get them over the finish line their freshman year when they’re engaged, take more academic risks, and take more vigorous courses in the future,” including Advanced Placement options, selection of which by students “went through the roof,” Weiner said.
Similar to other public schools throughout the state, including HaddamKillingworth, Middletown implemented an optional pass/incomplete grading system during the last semester of the current academic year due to the pandemic.
“We chose that system to ensure we had the most equitable grading policy possible. We didn’t want to have any student who didn’t have access,” Weiner said.
“Since we were outside the brick and mortar, we know that when we’re in the building, that’s when we’re able to level the playing field, and ensure everyone has the resources they need,” she said.
Each quarter counts toward 25 percent to a student’s overall grade.
It wasn’t only young people who experienced a learning curve, Weiner added. Staff underwent extensive training during the two weeks after the state forced schools to close in mid-March amid the COVID-19 outbreak to prepare for distance learning.
That led to a number of collaborations across grade levels. “It was a lot for teachers, but they were amazing. They got really creative,” Weiner said.
One of the biggest considerations in designing these virtual learning programs was the “COVID slide,” a result of less face-to-face and individualized education over the last 12 weeks of the academic year, Conner said.
It is similar to the “summer slide.”
Students were affected on two levels, he added, including a potential loss of learning gains. “When a student steps into school and has a teacher just teaching, there are going to be some type of learning gains that student is going to experience,” he said.
“Now, because of pandemic, it created a lot of disparities between access,” including those without internet access, or whose parents are essential workers and need to leave their children at home to complete their work by themselves, Conner said. They were still guided by teachers, who engaged with their students via live meetings or recorded videos.
“We might not know what is going on versus two parents who are educators and stay on top of their child more,” he added.
When students are together in an equal learning environment in the classroom, the potential loss of learning gains is significant. That rate is predicted to reach 49 percent by Sept. 1, Conner said.
The district is also collaborating with Equal Opportunity Schools to address the issue. This is all part of MPS’s plan of student-directed learning, which gives youth more control over their education.
They also benefited from a recent 30-student focus groups consisting of students and community members who help guide their paths. “If a student doesn’t have a sense of belonging, they’re not going to be a success,” the principal said.
The achievement gap due to the COVID slide is anticipated to exacerbate this by around 25.6 percent, Conner added. Thirty-six percent of the gap is predicted to affect those in grades seven to 12, the superintendent said. “Add that to the historical summer slide. Now you have students all over the place.”
Between March 13 and the end of classes in June, it is expected there will be a significant regression in achievement. “It might be six, seven, eight months behind within the pandemic,” he added.
“Curriculum development and articulation has to change, teachers practices have to change, the traditional model of education has to be fundamentally augmented, and we’re going to have to put an emphasis on tier supports and interventions for students — with decreasing budgets,” Conner explained.
With more children now qualifying for these services, with limited resources, “this is where the level of creativity and innovation has to take place, he added.
For information, visit middletownschools.org.