Harmony in education
BERMUDA'S education officers, school principals, and selected teachers and school representatives have been addressed this week by two distinguished visiting educators, Dr. Roger Plunkett and Mr. Rick Marquart, from the Howard County Public School System, in Maryland, 30 miles from Baltimore.
They were invited to Bermuda by the Ministry of Education to present a seminar on Excellent Teaching for Student Learning, a programme covering curriculum, instructional needs, and assessment, with the primary focus on student achievement.
The visit was arranged by Mrs. Donna Daniels and Mrs. Wendy McDonnell, senior education officers for schools. Mrs. Daniels has specific responsibility for senior and middle school principals, and for the Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy, a school for children with diverse needs. Mrs. McDonnell has supervisory responsibility for primary school principals.
Dr. Plunkett took time out from the seminar, at the Harmony Club in Paget, to talk to the Mid-Ocean News.
"I do a lot of work in professional development, helping school systems align their purposes and their visions. It is critical for all teachers to have a pre-school to grade 12 focus, because everything connects so much.
"What we are finding all around the world are people, at different levels of teaching, in isolation. Senior school people are not connected with middle school people, and that's what was and is happening in Bermuda. But that's not uncommon.
"We have found that school systems are very successful when primary school people know what middle school expects of them, and see the connection, and middle school sees the connection to senior school , and vice versa.
"What we have been doing for the past two days is developing a vision for exemplary teaching for student learning. What we want to do is identify three areas where everything is focused on student achievement. We focus on student achievement by making sure every teacher knows about the learner, every teacher knows the curriculum and its content, and every teacher knows the pedagogy, how to teach these kids. That's critical, because all students can learn.
"If there's an educator anywhere who does not believe that, they are in the wrong job. Students learn at different speeds, and, as educators, we often get frustrated. There are so many things that affect learning. In their personal lives, kids today are different from kids of ten or 20 years ago.
Dr. Plunkett earned a BA in English Education from Morgan State University in Baltimore, a Master's in Educational Administration, and a PhD from the University of Maryland. He has worked within the Howard County public school system for 27 years, including seven years as a high school principal, and has been Assistant Superintendent, School Administration for three years.
He oversees 70 public schools, working closely with the school administrators, concentrating on their instructional needs and school improvement efforts. He takes the view that principals must hold their teaching staff accountable and expect that exemplary teaching be the standard in every classroom. He is generally comfortable with the Bush administration's insistence on an elevated level of testing.
"There are three questions that all school systems must ask. What do we want for our children, how will we provide it, and how will we know that we are doing it well? The only way to answer the third question is by ongoing assessment.
"You have to have milestones. I think Bermudians know what they want for their children. I am not so sure that all of them know that we want all of our children to master certain skills so that they deserve to receive diplomas. Any school district or system is only as good as the number of students it graduates who have mastered the skills.
"Unfortunately, Bermuda has a high drop-out rate. At the same time though, there are some exemplary programmes and best practices here that can truly be repeated anywhere in the world. You have the resources here and, in addition to that, there is much to be said for some of your curriculum and some of your programmes.
"What we have to do is manage the resources and programmes so that everyone is going in the same direction, so that we are not doing what I call 'piecemeal' activity."
Dr. Plunkett holds the view, shared by many others, that Bermuda must reinstate vocational programmes, and that music, fine arts and drama programmes should be re-developed to meet the needs of all students. He believes that the basic systems and practices that obtain in his home county are broadly applicable in Bermuda, and do not need to be adjusted for discussion of local practices with Bermudian educators or students.
"I hold what I call 'what's up?' sessions with students, to find out what they are thinking and what they want to talk about. I met with students at both CedarBridge Academy and the Berkeley Institute in round-table discussions with about a dozen kids, and those students are no different from our students in Howard County.
"Clearly, kids want to know, when they go into a classroom, the answers to these questions: what do you expect of me, how are you going to teach me, and most importantly, do you know me? Those three questions are the same in Howard County as here. The children are the same. What we have to ensure is that every teacher knows the learner. That is so critical.
"Bermuda has many outstanding teachers, many who are fully committed. We were there in Howard County where you are now, and I have worked with other school districts in a similar situation. Many teachers are simply asking for greater direction on what they should be doing right now.
"The Minister of Education (Terry Lister), whom I met yesterday, is committed to doing what needs to be done here. You have some outstanding principals in Bermuda, particularly the two senior school principals, two outstanding women who are very enthusiastic, hungry to move ahead."
There is an established connection between educators in Bermuda and Howard County. Many Bermudian educators have visited Maryland, and Dr. Plunkett has done a number of workshops on relevant topics, but he does not think that it is appropriate for him to tell Bermudians what to do. "Bermuda has a lot of expertise here. It's just a matter of facilitating it, providing a framework, so that educators feel empowered to do what needs to be done. Six or seven years ago, when I was a high school principal, Michelle Gabisi, the principal of Berkeley, spent a day with me, and that was the start of the Bermuda connection. They are aware that I won a couple of major awards, and perhaps because of that, I have been asked to visit and make some presentations."
Dr. Plunkett did not accept that the apparent need to give some direction to Bermuda's educators and principals implied any general lack of direction within the local system.
"This is not unique to Bermuda. The focus has not always been on alignment and consistency. Years ago, many school systems, including Bermuda, focused on 'site-based management', meaning that individual schools were relatively autonomous.
"That approach has not been very successful. In Bermuda, as in other places, there has been a 'system of schools' rather than a 'school system'. When that happens, there is no firm foundation, and you can't build a strong house on a weak foundation. Many good things have happened here, but the Ministry is committed to ensuring that the foundation is strong enough that all children will get an exemplary education."
Mrs. Donna Daniels was confident that the seminar had achieved its objective.
"Anytime you have so many educators and expertise in a room, you will get a positive outcome. It is a 'brains trust' in action, and it is a tremendous opportunity for principals to have a meaningful dialogue and input in discussing the transitioning from primary through middle school to senior school, and in terms of recommendations for improvement."
Mrs. Daniels plans to lead a team of Bermuda educators on a visit to Howard County next week, when the Bermuda party will join in a "summit" on education, with particular reference to the education of African-American males.
Mrs. Kalmar Richards, principal of CedarBridge, who attended the seminar, was also impressed by what she had learned from Dr. Plunkett and Mr. Marquart's visit.
"The focus is on excellence in teaching and learning. What it has done is confirm that we are doing some excellent things in our schools, but it is also pushing us to take our efforts to the next level. What it is also doing is bringing us together as a group of educators, and focusing us on the main priority of student achievement.
"We are working together as a group of principals and teachers to make sure that there is 'alignment', so that we are all working similarly and in the same direction.
"For example, one of the things we worked on was assessment, and making some decisions about whether we will do quarterly assessments in primary, middle, and senior schools, so that students and parents will know that, wherever the student is in the school system, there will be quarterly assessments in English, Maths, Science, and Social Studies throughout their school years, in addition to other types of assessment.
"It was really positive. It made us think of the priorities, and focus on these. Dr. Plunkett hopes to return to meet the senior team responsible for implementing the recommendations for improvement and see the programmes develop, but insists that it is a two-way street, and that Howard County can learn from Bermuda, as Bermuda has learned from his home system.
"We are making tremendous progress today," he concluded. "Children are not the same as when I started 27 years ago. The range and quality of technological change over that time has meant that children can access and assimilate information in a way that was impossible for previous generations. Their way of thinking has changed dramatically."