Emails between Denise Bresson and a parent

Color coding: Original email is black. Ms. Bresson's reply is red. Parent's comment is blue.

Good afternoon,

Thank you for sharing your concerns and questions. I wll answer them in an e-mail as well as I can, but due to the complex nature of curriculum and instruction, I often find that face to face conversations are easier for both parties. A Q&A document is on our web site at www.portageps.org. If you think of additional questions after my response, it might be of assistance. We also have informational meetings scheduled for November 4, 6, and 17. Additional meetings will be scheduled if necessary. Also, I would be very happy to meet with you personally, just give me a call at 323.5163. I have responded within the text in red. Have a nice day.

Dear Denise,

Following up on our phone conversion last week I have written down some questions and concerns I have after reading about the proposed science curriculum changes in the Gazette. First let me preface this by explaining that one of my daughters has recently graduated from Portage Northern and the other is currently a junior at Portage Northern. We have been in the PPS system for 3 ½ years after moving here from Ohio. Therefore any curriculum changes should not directly impact my family.

Since we have only lived here a short time our acquaintance base is rather small, but I have heard enough to question why PPS would continue on with the Integrated Math program. Students attending major universities are finding that after successfully completing 4 years of high school math they are testing into remedial math, basic algebra or are required to take a college level algebra class before they attend their chosen university. All of these students graduated with high or highest honor from PPS and a few were National Honor Society members. After listening at a parent meeting to the many parent complaints I find the administration's stance that this will be reviewed in 3 years disturbing as many more students will have to suffer the consequences unduly. I understand that there were some issues regarding communication in the past concerning mathematics. The mathematics department, principals, district administrators and counselors have been working on this issue. The issues are not communication to the parents, the communication problem is that administration will not listen to the fact that students are failing math at the college level after graduating from Portage schools through the integrated math program. Who is going to pay for remedial math courses at $300-$600 a class. Will Portage guarantee success to their students like Rockford School District? My fear is that PPS is taking the same pathway with the science curriculum and there will be a number of students and their parents that assume this required science curriculum would prepare them for university when in fact it will not. The new curriculum process is very thorough, and includes parent communication avenues, course choice suggestions, and a substantial professional development component that involves teachers, counselors, and principals. I would argue that the process has not been as thorough as first thought since at every parent informational meeting the information has been changed. One father's comment was "I feel like you are making this up as you go along". So do many other parents. I like the idea of all students being exposed to 4 disciplines of science, however with the proposed 2 year mandatory curricula it will require higher level students to double or triple up on college prep required science courses or science IB courses. This seems to be closing the door on other essential high school opportunities such as band, choir, art, journalist, drama, etc. Under the proposed plan, a student such as this entering HS would have many options. One would be to take the Honors level Chemistry/Physics, then move into Honors Biology/Earth. In the 11th and 12 grade, the student could take the following: 11th grade IB Physics HL or IB Chemistry HL or IB Biology SL 12th grade IB Physics HL or IB Chemistry HL or IB Biology SL This has been revised as parents have pointed out college bound students must take at least two of these disciplines to meet admissions requirements or to succeed at the college level in science courses. Therefore they will have to double up on science course. Administrations' answer is 8% of students double up now (this is by choice at this point). That should rise significantly under the proposed plan. For many to meet college requirements this will not be by choice. · Note that taking the HL course is actually taking the 1st year of a 2 year course There are many other course sequence options that I would be happy to share. A chart in on the WEB site that overviews many of the options. Currently, there is a significant overlap and sequencing issue at the HS level. This is due in part to the fact that the first year of the IB courses are designed to be the introductory High School level of the course. Therefore, for many students, the first year of the IB course has repeated content. Yet for many others- who can make the choice in 8th grade which IB HL course they wish to pursue- the content is new. See chart below. It indicates the overlap between students who take IB and their 9th and 10th grade courses. You'll note that the chart below shows that physics does not have a large overlap- that is due to the fact that in the current program most of our students take Bio/ Chem/ then Physics.

With all of this in mind I would like to have the following concerns and questions addressed:

As taken from PPS information "state universities of Michigan have agreed that to be eligible for regular admission to a four-year baccalaureate degree program, a high school student must complete the following course requirements:"

Biological/Physical Science - 2 credits required; 3 credits strongly recommended, including 1 credit of biological science and 1 credit of physical science. At least 1 credit of a laboratory course is also strongly recommended. According to the universities that we contacted in Michigan, they do not follow this any longer. Although I have been informed by a parent that it still appears on college applications, the admissions office is not looking for the course names. Instead they would like to see upper level (IB/AP) science choices and a well rounded science education. You can review their comments in more detail on the WEB site. Then why is this still in your high school course information book, on your web site, and on 5 different college web sites. Denise's answer. The web sites are wrong. A parent also did follow-up calls to the same universities and received quite different answers.

1. Since approximately 96 % of all PPS attend university will one semester of Physics and one semester of Chemistry in 9th grade meet the required 1 credit of physical science? Right now, as reported by students on exit surveys- 60+ percent of our students are attending 4 year universities. Another 30+% report that they are attending a two year college or university. The others are either undecided or going into the military. Universities have stated that our proposed program will meet their requirements for admission. Just as in the past, those students going to a 4 year or 2 year college would be encouraged to take 3 or 4 years of science, depending on the individual's post-graduate plans. Integrated math met admission requirements but students are failing math courses or testing into remedial math. Must we have them struggle in math and science. One semester of chemistry will not have them ready for college chemistry, but will graduation them from high school. One semester of Physic with no math will not have them ready for college Physics. We have asked to speak with the science teachers about this issue as we would like to hear their input and have been told "no" by administration.

2. Will Chemistry/Physics or Biology/ Earth science be lab or lecture oriented classes? If lab would they meet the 1 credit of laboratory course that is strongly recommended? Again, according to the universities we contacted this is not a consideration for admissions. Also, we would still recommend more than 2 years of science to HS students Again, on 5 college web sites a lab science was highly recommended.

3. Has a committee member contacted universities to see if the proposed change meet or exceed admission requirements? Yes, See WEB A parent also did follow-up calls to the same universities and received quite different answers.

4. How are you able to condense a full year curriculum into a semester curriculum and still cover all aspects of that discipline that were taught in a full year course and meet the same benchmarks? Many of the concepts that used to be taught in the full year course, that were "beyond" the minimum recommended science standards will be moved to the level II course. These courses are known as "senior science", but were renamed a few years ago- because 10th, 11th, and 12th graders take the course. What is wrong with teaching "beyond the minimum"? When asked if this "watered-down" the curriculum the science teacher present answer, "well yes." Is this the direction Portage schools are taking?

5. Prerequisites into 2nd level science courses currently recommend a full year of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. How will students meet the recommendations without a full year curriculum? The prerequisite will be adjusted to be consistent with the courses and student's needs.

6. It is highly recommended that a student applying to attend a top university take the most challenging courses offered by their high school. At PPS this would be the IB courses. If a student is to meet all 3 credit recommendations that would require them to take Biology at an IB level (2 years), Chemistry at an IB level (2 years) and Physics at an IB level (2 years). Along with the other required math, social studies, foreign language and English language arts. Could a dual curriculum be run? The proposed curriculum for non-college bound, Business College bound or undecided college bound, and retain the current curriculum for science bound or top university bound students? Since many 14 year olds are not ready to make these decisions could a required course freshman year introducing all four of these disciplines be introduced allowing 3 years to meet all recommended university prep requirements? Many plans were reviewed and considered as this proposal was in the development phase. Due to the uniqueness of Portage, the numerous offerings, and the existing programs, the proposed plan was in the best interest of all students. I can discuss these with you in person if you would like more detail. I hear a dual curriculum may be up for more discussion now, but until this last informational meeting it was not going to be considered. Notice this option was mentioned one month ago (see date of correspondence) and not until 2 days before the vote was it even considered a viable option. So the question is did this option make it any farther that Ric Perry and Denise Bresson during this time. A dual curriculum is what many parents would like to see, one for science field college-bound students and one for business college-bound or non college-bound students.

7. At a parent meeting at PNHS Dr. McFarlane stated that we should be prepared for budget cuts, therefore what is the cost of implementation of the proposed curriculum change? Since this is a learning expectation adjustment and course sequencing recommendation, there is no cost. We can run this program with current staff. The proposed elective course Forensic Science could be in jeopardy if there was a major budget crisis. This would be dependent upon materials needs for the course.

8. My understanding is there are parent representatives on the CIC science committee. Why aren't these parent representatives names and a means of contact made available to the general public so that concerns can be channeled through the very people that are suppose to be representing us (ie: web site)? The CIC committee is a "representative committee" that acts in a capacity to review proposals from many perspectives. The CIC proposals are also shared with PTO presidents and in many other arenas. The parent representative on the CIC are affiliated based upon the educational levels of their children. While a PTO, a task force, and other types of work committee's often choose their membership based upon their ability to communicate with others, the CIC does not choose their parent representatives in this way. What I mean by this, is that if we asked for 6 members of PTO's- then, that member could get feedback from parents and bring it to CIC. In this process, the parent representative's role is to bring to the table the general perspective of a parent. The members are not expected within their role to field questions from the community as a Board of Education member does. Does this mean parents only avenue to questions is through a school board member? When will parents be informed of changes and have a chance for input and questions. We were only made aware of the informational meetings after we requested them at a school parent meeting. Denise voiced parent concerns to the CIC saying we were satisfied with their answers. When in fact not one parent has left an informational meeting convinced this is a good route to take with science. Therefore we have been unfairly represented.

9. How do the parent representatives feel about the proposed changes? We have not voted on the proposal yet. I know that one parent representative who is not in favor of the proposed change.

10. PPS high school students are said to score above average on MEAP, ACT and SAT tests. What is your basis for the curriculum change? Student scores on standardized tests was only one factor that influenced the proposed change. The main guidance from the committee came from the state and federal guidelines for science literacy. Although we used data from grades, courses taken compared to test scores, overall GPA, science GPA, MEAP item analysis and ACT to gather both numerical and narrative data to draw conclusions, it would not be sound curriculum development to base what students should learn on a only a performance test and a norm referenced test. We want our students to understand and do much more than tests can possible measure. While you are right that many students do score well on these tests, many students do not. The state and federal mandates indicate that we must both teach the standards and ensure that all students are successful. This is part of Denise's answer from question 4; Many of the concepts that used to be taught in the full year course, that were "beyond" the minimum recommended science standards will be moved to the level II course. These courses are known as "senior science", but were renamed a few years ago- because 10th, 11th, and 12th graders take the course. Parents are being told that these semester courses meet minimum science requirements for college. Doesn't this mean any student not taking a level II course will only be taught the minimum recommended science standards? They will no longer be taught the topic in-depth unless they take a level II course. How does this seem a logical solution? It seems to me that the very at risk students you are trying not to leave behind will learn less under this curriculum then they were previously learning. At parent informational meetings the only data we have seen is MEAP results and minimum required benchmarks. If you closely review the MEAP gaps that concern everyone the students score as well on gaps as they do on redundant material.

11. Is there a model curriculum from which you have gathered data that would show these specific changes would be an improvement? See question 10 We have asked to see this data and to this date none has been provided.

12. The current concerns are that curriculum changes in science are being made to improve MEAP scores. With the state poised to replace the MEAP test with a national test shouldn't any curriculum changes be tabled? See question 10. I am concerned about where you heard that the MEAP test was the driving force. Although it will remain important to teachers and parents as long as it exists, it was in no way the driving force of our curriculum. We used points of accountability as a guideline to ensure that students were taught the material that they would be tested on- prior to testing. When the science team met- they spent the majority of their time talking about student learning relative to the national and state recommended standards for science education.

13. How and when will these changes be phased in? This plan would be adopted for the 2004-2005 school year. For current Freshmen- their current course selection will be the determining factor of the transition plan. For current sophomores, they will not be impacted. For 8th graders, they would enter as Freshmen into the new program. As a note though- the transition will vary based upon courses already taken

In closing I feel that these mandatory changes will not meet the needs of all PPS students. I look forward to your answers to the above questions and the public forum. Please let me know when the questions and answers will be available for viewing on the PPS web site.

Thank you,

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