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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. January 28, 2009: Dr. Christopher Clouet’s date with the citizens of White Plains Wednesday night at a meet and greet introduction cookies and coffee red carpet treatment at the high school has been postponed until Thursday evening at the high school at 7:30 P.M. Dr. Clouet,50,  has been Superintendent of the New London Schools for the last five years, (prior to that appointment, he was Superintendent of the Thomaston, Connecticut, public schools).

The district announced January 16, “If a site visit (to New London) and contract formalities proceed as anticipated, Dr. Clouet will be appointed in February and will succeed Tim Connors as Superintendent in July.  We believe that Dr. Clouet has the experience and record of success we were seeking in order to continue the outstanding leadership that Mr. Connors has provided.”

Thursday evening, White Plains gets to meet Dr. Cluet at the Media Center at White Plains High School at 7:30 P.M. Here is a backgrounder on what the New England School District is like.

 

Before the White Plains announcement of his selection as finalist, Dr. Clouet himself announced to his staff  one day earlier he was resigning his position in New London to go to White Plains.

The White Plains announcement of Friday the 16^th, reported “Forty-two candidates from seven states and the District of Columbia were evaluated by consultants John Chambers and Deborah Raizes of the search firm of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates.  After initial interviews with top candidates, the Board narrowed the list and expanded the interview team.  It included representatives from the Civil Service, Teachers, and Administrators and Supervisors Associations, the Superintendent’s Cabinet, PTA Council and Centro Hispano.”

_{The Board of Education Selection Process}

“Forty-two candidates from seven states and the District of Columbia were evaluated by consultants John Chambers and Deborah Raizes of the search firm of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates.  After initial interviews with top candidates, the Board narrowed the list and expanded the interview team.  It included representatives from the Civil Service, Teachers, and Administrators and Supervisors Associations, the Superintendent’s Cabinet, PTA Council and Centro Hispano.  We wanted to include as many people as possible in the final interviews but were aware that we had to maintain confidentiality, or we would lose impressive candidates.”

So what kind of Superintendent of Schools has Dr. Cluet been in New London?

A recent newspaper editorial of the New London Day newspaper, gave Dr. Clouet high marks, describing what he has accomplished in his five years. Dr. Clouet said he took the job in the New London system in 2004, traditionally  one of the worst performing school districts in Connecticut, because, according to The Day, he wanted to apply his skills in a district with a high percentage of minorities. The Day writes he has succeeded.

“The city’s schools are better today because of Dr. Clouet’s leadership. He healed the divisiveness and turmoil created by his predecessor, Julian Stafford, and replaced it with the nurturing academic atmosphere that today makes city students, teachers and administrators a top priority.

Dr. Clouet set goals and met them. But change in a distressed city like New London occurs slowly. Dr. Clouet said it would take time – years, not days – to lift New London’s schools from their “failing” status. He has instituted practices and policies to improve student standing, but progress is hard to see when you start so low that even with improvement you still earn a failing grade (on the Connecticut CMT and CAP tests) .”

The Day credits Dr. Clouet with  test scores “trending up,” and easing  “bright flight,” (Dr. Clouet’s phrase) —  that is, families in New London who can afford it now do not send their children out of district because of the quality of the schools. However, school districts outside of New London have refused to accept New London based students, even when New London offered to pay, according to a Day article of October 6, 2008

The Day terms the magnet schools for the dual-language, and the separate “science and technology” high school division of the high school, “successes,” describing the science and technology high school as “turning away out-of-town students.”  Day editors salute him for securing 95% of construction costs (above the 78% reimbursement originally) from the state of Connecticut to rehabilitate two elementary schools into magnet schools (construction now in process), by working with legislators.

The Day credits Clouet with organizing and “implementing a standard curriculum taught at each elementary school over his five years,” which The Day said  a lack of standardized curriculum had created a problem for students moving from school to school.

The paper states: “Today New London schools can measure student progress toward meeting state standards and improve teaching practices to better help students. And the city is closing the performance gap between minority and non-minority students. “

The Day calls the Cluet years a success:

“Dr. Clouet will be hard to replace. His critics have been vocal, but so have his supporters, including this newspaper. Five years ago New London schools were in disarray, and not only has Dr. Clouet put them back on track, but he’s pointed them on the road to recovery. It’s a shame to lose him.”

What do the district’s scores on the two Connecticut statewide assessment tests say about the New London School District?

The scores on the 2008 Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) for elementary schools and middle schools and the 2008 Connecticut Academic Performance Test – CAPT (administered in 10^th grade) and evaluated by  an independent test score think tank, known as Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN ) are analyzed at http://www.conncan.org/action_center/great_schools/reportcard_rankings_elementary.asp?indicator=Performance%20Gains&city=New%20London

ConnCAN describes itself as “ a statewide outreach, education, and research organization with an active member network of parents, teachers, students, and business and community leaders across Connecticut.  Board members a who’s who of educational, information industry leaders and it is funded privately. The Board and major supporters are listed on the ConnCAN website.  

ConnCAN states the Connecticut State Department of Education reports the percentage of students scoring at a level above Goal, using the terms Advanced, and below, using the terms “Proficient,” “Basic,” “Below Basic.” ConnCAN uses the Goal standard “to set the bar for rating schools at a level of performance reasonable to expect of students” within their goal level.

New London Performance Against the State

Based on results of the Connecticut CMT and CAPT Tests,  ConnCAN reports New London  ranks 75^th  of 123 Connecticut School Districts of similar demographics with 16% of its approximately 3,000 students scoring within the State Goal Range. 

The 5^th Grade elementary schools in New London, based on the 2007 tests ranked 147 of 154 districts with 37%  scoring “within goal range.” The state 5^th grade elementary average scoring above the Goal is 62%.

The Bernie Dover Jackson Middle School ranked 161 of 162  of similar demographic districts with 21% of its students scoring “within goal range” compared to 65% of the state  students in similar demographic districts. The White Plains Middle School in the year 2006-2007 saw 64% of its 7^th, 8^th and 9^th graders pass the State Standard in English Language Arts, and 66% pass the Math .

Of the 172   New London 10^th Graders taking the CAPT Test, 16% met the State Achievement Goal contrasted with  51% of similar district students meeting the state goal. At White Plains High School in 2006-2007, 87% passed satisfactorily on the New York Standard.

A Closer Look

At the  five  New London elementary schools, Harbor School, Jennings School, Nathan Hale School and Winthrop School, those elementary schools collectively are ranked 75^th of 152 elementary schools of similar demographics, and increased the number of students meeting their goal by 2%. Note that statistic is a measure of the student increase in meeting state goals, not the total percentage meeting the state Goal.

The Middle School, the Bennie Doyer Jackson Middle School was ranked 161 of 162 Schools of similar demographics in the state, according to the ConnCAN website. The Jackson Middle School saw 21% of its students scoring “within the state goal range” compared to the state average of 66% of Middle School students surpassing the state goal.

The New London Interdistrict School for Arts and Communication did better, with 34% scoring within goal range compared to the state average of 66%

The high school is ranked 29^th of 33 high schools of similar demographics. It saw 16% of its students score “within the state goal range,” compared to a state average of 51%.

An  NEASC  (New England Association of Schools and Colleges)Report released this week (January 27) notes that on the  Connecticut Academic Performance Test the high school recorded the following record over the last 5 years of students who reached the “Proficiency” Levels (not the higher
Goal level). The data show improvement in “Proficient” 10th Graders over the five years.

Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) – 2003- 2008 New London High School

 

Class of 2008           2007     2006           2005      2004          2003

Reading

NLHS                          51.0%            47.5       55.4              59.7     43.5            45.7

Connecticut              82.6%              79.7      79.9              79.5         79              77.9

 

Writing

NLHS                         75.6%            52      52.8               61.1           52.6               47.3

Connecticut               88.2             82.2      81.9               82.6          84.5              81

 

Math

NLHS                        45.7             40.8       40.7               47.6       41.0                38.1

Connecticut               79.7             77.2       77.9               75.7       76.4               74.3

 

Science

NLHS                        53.4              53.7       54.8               54.7      52.5               51.1

Connecticut               80.5              81.4       82.2               82.7      81.7              80.7

 

 This Just In: NEASC High School Report Disappoints on 2009 Accreditation Review

 

The report is just out from 12 inspectors from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) the organization that “accredits” schools in the state by inspecting them every 10 years. The organization accredited New London High “with warnings” in 1999 and removed it from the warning list in 2003, the Day reports.

The  NEASC report  released this week, suggests ways the New London High School can be improved and praised the atmosphere Clouet has fostered at the high school, writing “Many teachers go well beyond contracted responsibilities to provide instruction and materials to students, often on their own time and at their own expense. The report is critical of the high school curriculum,  the physical state of the high school building, (which received a new coat of paint among other improvements prior to the NEASC visit, and praises the commitment of teachers.

In the overview, the NEASC writes of New London High School based on its visit in the fall of 2008,

The curriculum at New London High School has not been clearly or comprehensively

developed and articulated consistently. There are no current curriculum guides to ensure that a

challenging curriculum is being delivered to meet the needs of a wide range of students or to

ensure alignment with state standards. Although each curricular discipline has assumed the

responsibility for one or more schoolwide academic expectation, each discipline will eventually

need to take ownership for all of the academic expectations, and this aspect of curriculum

development should lead to the connection of the various disciplines and interdisciplinary

activities.

 

To achieve these ends, the school administration and the faculty will need the time and resources to collaborate on a regular basis. Finally, expertise in curriculum theory must be

developed in faculty members by professional development to make the changes that will align

and integrate the curriculum with the mission and expectations for student learning to allow it to guide the delivery of curriculum in a predictable, measurable way.”

 

 You may read The Day article at http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=a15b50bf-884c-41b6-98d2-a1c2caeb3ba8

The actual report  of NEASC visit is available on the New London Day website at http://media.theday.com/gbl/media/dynamic/pdfnews/NEASCreport.pdf

Clouet’s State of the School Report.

Clouet’s  State of the Schools Report to the New London Board of Education, delivered January 8 analyzes elementary school progress as positive based on the Dynamic Indicators of Early Reading Success tests administered in the fall of 2008: “There are significant trends among  (elementary) grade levels. The most significant gains were in the first, third and fifth grades. They moved the most number of students from below to “proficiency” and goal.”

In the first grade by November, 2.70% more First Graders tested were moved from .8% to 3.5%. In third grade, 6.8% were scoring at Goal level or above in September, and by November that was raised 2.20% to 9.7%. In fifth grade, children moved from 13.5% scoring at State Goal Level to 27.2%, an increase of 13.7%

The Cluet State of Schools Report states that number of  elementary children scoring at the Proficiency Level  (the level below the state Goal), had increased significantly. The children scoring at the “Proficiency Level” increased 2.3% to 32.4% of children taking the test, with First and  Third grades showing the biggest improvement, 17.2% more gaining  the Proficiency Level in first grade and10.5% more attaining Proficiency in third grade. 

The Superintendent Report shows that the number of children scoring at levels Below proficiency was 61% in September and 8.70% students moved out of that level to where 47.8% of Grades 1 to 5 were scoring at 49.3% at Proficiency (below the State Goal) and 52.2% Below Proficiency.  Now in its fourth year, the Clouet curriculum appears to be yielding success. 

To read Dr. Clouet’s complete Superintendent’s report, go to: http://www.ci.new-london.ct.us/content/27/default.aspx

Clouet, based on a reading of his Superintendent Report is very driven by data and appears to look at data in different ways, gleaning trends and zeroing in on problems.  Cluet writes “Common Formative Assessments have been developed district wide. At the elementary level these assessments are developed at the grade level data team meetings. The assessments are developed based on grade level expectations and or CMT strands of identified concerns.”

According to the NEASC report, the school district has 60 days to make the report public and state reasons why an implementation plan cannot be put in place.

High School Success

Clouet delivering his State of the School District Report two weeks ago in New London pointed to the increased graduation rate at New London High of 85%. (Coincidentally 85% is the White Plains High School graduation rate, however White Plains High students score substantially higher on the New York State assessments).

Dr. Cluet begain installing the curriculum standardizing when he took over as Superintendent in February 2004, indicating that it would be the year 2009-2010 before the complete effects of his curriculum changes could first be evaluated.

Minority Success: A New London Positive.

The Elementary Schools, according to ConnCAN,  rank 20^th of 33 demographically similar Connecticut districts in performance of African-American students with 35% of Blacks achieving the statewide goals and beating the state average of blacks exceeding the State Goal (34%)

In the Jackson Middle School, 2008 results show Jackson ranking 27 of 34 demographically similar schools with 24% of the black population of students meeting the State Goal as opposed to 39% of blacks in similar districts.

In the Hispanic population the percentage of Hispanics meeting the State Goals in 2008  at the Elementary Level  was 30%, or 34^th of 43 similar districts, compared to the state average of meeting the State Goal of 35%.

At the Middle School Level, 14% Hispanics in the New London Jackson school met the State Goal, while 38% was the average of similar districts for Middle School Hispanics.

In New London High School on the CAPT Tests (given only to 10^th graders, involving students who appear to have only been subject to the Clouet changes at the eighth and ninth grade levels, we believe,) 11% of Hispanics met the state goal while 20% of other sophomore Hispanics met it statewide.

Achievement Gap Gains  Outpace Connecticut Counterparts

New London Elementary Schools, in 2008 CMT Tests are ranked 5^th of 32 districts in the average difference with white students within goal range. New London’s African-American black students are scoring  16% lower than their White classmates within the state goal range, compared to the state average gap of 40%. This may reflect that the Clouet program is making significant progress as it works its way up the system.

At the Middle School Level where African-American students came under the Cluet curriculum effect approximately  first through 5th grades, we believe,  the Bennie Dyer Jackson Middle School is ranked 7^th of 33 similar districts with an Achievement Gap lag behind Whites of 20% compared to the state average of a 43% gap.  

High School Though Behind In Scores, Ahead of Rest of State

Turning to High School, Based on ConnCAN statistical analysis, African-American  New London10^th graders lag behind whites in performance,  but are closer to their white counterparts than the rest of the state’s similar schools. African-Americans in 10^th Grade under Clouet are closing the state achievement gap scoring 32% below white counterparts “within goal range” on the CAPT Test, but New London’s gap  is 10 points better than the massive 42% gap  shown by the rest of the state. 

In White Plains High School Statistics from 2006-2007, by contrast  White Plains African-Americans lag 16% behind the scores of the white population passing achievement tests doubling the catch-up pace of New London.

Middle School Gap Closing Working Better Than White Plains

At the White Plains Middle School,  based on the 2005-2006 analysis of the achievement gap, the latest year the district went into analysis in public on this subject, African-Americans passing the standard performed 42% less than whites at the elementary level on the English Language Arts achievements, and 24% less on the Math. New London’s Elementary Schools are showing a 16% lag behind whites in 2008.

At the White Plains Middle School, in White Plains,  the 2005-2006 8^th Grade ELA and Math achievements in White Plains showed that African-Americans performed 37% behind white students scores who made the achievement standard. In New London in 2008 the African-American gap was 20%.  However, the White Plains scores on the New York 8^th Grade Assessments are considerably higher.

In the White Plains academic statistics available in the 2006-2007 report card, New London Middle School compares favorably  with the White Plains Middle School where in 2006-2007  African-Americans lagged behind white students passing the standard by 26%. New London’s Blacks are just 20% behind the White students. Of course, the New London overall percentage of students passing is well below White Plains, but the achievement gap narrowing is there. 

Hispanics

Hispanic-White performance gaps are also closing the gap between white and Hispanic scores (within the state goal range) ahead of the pace of similar districts.

In elementary schools, New London is ranked  14^h of 43 districts  with an average 21% gap between Hispanic and Whites’ performances passing the  Goal compared to a 39% gap for the rest of the state.

At the Jackson Middle School the gap rating is 24^th of 39 similar schools with Hispanics 30% behind whites in average scores (within goal range) while the state average is a 43% gap.

Turning to the high school, again, and the CAPT test administered to sophomores, the  2008 students were in fifth grade when Cluet arrived. In the 2008 tests, New London is ranked 34^th of 43 districts, with a 35% gap between Hispanic and White student test scores.

Hispanics in  White Plains score slightly less than New London Hispanics on Achievement Gap Closure

Taking into account that Hispanics in New London take a different test, the Hispanics in the elementary grades in New London are closing the gap better than White Plains, faster, though White Plains scores are obviously higher. But it should be remembered that New London has the highest percentage of Hispanic students in Connecticut.

Since White Plains has not addressed the Achievement Gap publicly since revealing the 2005-2006 scores, WPCNR makes this comparison on the 2005-2006 White Plains tests.  In 2005-2006 at the White Plains elementary 4^th grade level Hispanics lagged 37% behind whites in ELA, and 25% behind whites in Math, compared to 21% behind whites in New London.

At the Middle School 8^th grade level, White Plains Hispanics achieved at a rate 37% behind white students on the English Language Arts and Math Tests and  compared  to New London’s Hispanic/white score gap of 35% in 2008. In the 2006-2007 White Plains School Report Card Hispanics scored 28% lower than whites passing the New York State 8^th Grade Achievement Test , indicating White Plains has made a big stride in closing the gap an increase of  9% in score. White Plains High’s 28% gap is ahead of New London’s Hispanic achievement gap by about 7%.

However, it should be observed 87% of White Plains students pass the New York Graduation standard while only 16% of New London High students meet that goal. A total of 51% of New London high students, remember attain “Proficiency” level, as the NEASC points out.

 At the High School Level White Plains Hispanics passing the standard in 2006-2007 lagged 28% behind white students, compared to New London’s 10^th Grade gap of 35%. It should be noted though that White Plains High School had 87% of students passing the high school achievement tests after 4 years.  New London saw 16% per cent pass the Connecticut CAPT test in 10^th grade in 2008 , though New London graduated 87% of its high school students.

Connecticut  Education Lag

Connecticut was recently criticized by the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement now in a news release describing its 2008 State of Connecticut Public Education Report, which makes international comparisons between Connecticut student performance and foreign country student achievement.

ConnCan reports, “Connecticut students score below Hungary on Math, a country with one-quarter of Connecticut’s per capita income.” It notes “poor and Hispanic students in Connecticut score below Moldova, a country whose per-capita income ($2,900) is approximately five percent of Connecticut’s ($54,117). African-American students (in Connecticut) score just above Egypt and Palestine.

ConnCan analysis also revealed that Connecticut education is weak in science, writing Elementary and middle school students took state science tests for the first time in 2008, “performing worse than in reading, writing, and math. Only 55.2% of fifth graders met the state goal in science, while an average of 64.3% met goal in other subjects. Again, ConnCan reports, “Poor, African-American and Hispanic Fifth graders performed particularly poorly on the science test, averaging 12.9 points lower than in reading, writing and math.”

In its overall assessment of the 2008 Connecticut state tests, ConnCan notes, Connecticut high schools showed the biggest improvement with test scores climbing 4.1%. ConnCan cautions, though that “only 51.2% of high schools met the state goal in 2008. Connecticut Middle Schools had smaller gains with 1.3 percent more students meeting goal.Elementary scores were flat.”

 

To download a copy of ConnCAN’s report on the state of Connecticut schools, go to: http://www.conncan.org/matriarch/MultiPiecePage.asp_Q_PageID_E_251_A_PageName_E_MediaRoomNewsRelease101508

New London — This is the City

  New London School District as of the beginning of 2007-2008,  served a city of approximately 26,000 persons, and the city is losing population, according to statistics offered by the Connecticut State Department of Education.  The  school district reports to the New London City Council which approves its budget, currently $50 Million, compared to White Plains budget of $184.4 Million, which is currently sitting on $190.4 Million based on extremely preliminary numbers. The district serves 3,000 students which are 33% black (975), and 45% Hispanic (1,309) and 17% white (122). A total of 634 students were reported as  “not fluent in English.”

To see the Connecticut State Education Department CMT Profile for the New London Schools, compared to the state, go to http://www.csde.state.ct.us/public/der/ssp/dist0708/dist062.pdf

To see charts of the individual New London Schools for the CMT and CAPT, go to:

https://solutions1.emetric.net/cmtpublic/CMTCode/Report.aspx and click on the New London district in the list of cities, select “State by District School Report”

 

WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. By John F. Bailey. January 27, 2009 UPDATED 11:40 A.M. E.S.T.: The White Plains Board of Assessment Review will have its hands full the next month evaluating property tax grievances, more than half by commercial properties, filed last week by residential and commercial property owners in White Plains.

Lloyd Tasch, the City Assessor reported that grievances filed with the Assessor’s Office over this year’s assessments totaled 858 properties. He said last year 500 grievances were filed, of which 179 were residential. This year, of the 858 grievances about 450 were residencial homeowners, and the rest commercial.

Tasch said the residential cases would be decided by February 27, but anticipated the remaining 450 commerical properties could be contested in court and affect the 2010 tax roll.

 Tasch said the three-person Board of Assessment Review would handle the unprecedented number of grievances “as best they can,” meeting in the afternoons each day and “going to whatever it takes.” The Board, he said, gives three types of rulings, a reduction; a denial in which the owner has not proven their case, which can be appealed to the court.

Tasch declined to estimate how much the residential cases would impact the current assessment role, which as of this moment is sitting on $288.4 Million for 2009, down from $291.8 Million in 2008. He attributed the increase in residential grievances to the decline in real estate prices in the city. He said the residential grievance effect on the assessment roll “would take it down some.” He said the commercial property grievance effect would hit the assessment roll next year.  Mr. Tasch said it would be premature to put a figure on how much the assessment roll would decline.

The figures were released coincidently at a time when the Multiple Listing Service statistics showed that the Westchester price of a median home had declined to $570,000, a decline of 10.9% in one year. In White Plains, real estate statistics show the price of a median home in White Plains has declined to about $610,000 as of November.

It should be noted that the median price statistic decline is misleading and what it shows is that high-end homes priced above the median are selling for less money, driving down the median price, which would naturally lead homeowners to conclude they might be over-assessed.

The Mean Sale Price in Westchester County of a One-Family Home (the average sale price) was $745,127 at the close of the 4th Quarter according to the Multiple Listing Service website, they analyze this decline as reflecting substantial price cutting in the upper end of the westchester market:

“The Westchester single family house median was $570,000, down 11% or $70,000 from the

fourth quarter of 2007. The year over year percentage decreases for condos and co-ops

were 7% and 3% respectively. Mean sale prices were down by even larger percentages,

indicating that there was proportionately more price cutting and less activity at the high end.

The proportion of million dollar sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 was only 15% in

comparison to 18% in the fourth quarter of 2007.”