Hartford Courant Article on Omitted Comments by Teachers and Parents

Here is a copy of an article from the Hartford Courant regarding the omission of views expressed by teachers and parents from the MJLU EER:

courant.com/community/windsor/hc-windsor-missing-data-0922-20130922,0,5273788.story

Windsor Study's Critics Ask: Where Are Other Voices?

By STEVEN GOODE, sgoode@courant.com

The Hartford Courant

5:34 AM EDT, September 23, 2013

WINDSOR — Where are the teachers? And the parents? And the community members?

Those are the questions some critics are asking about the recently released Excellence and Equity Review, which studied the causes of the achievement gap at Windsor High School.

The controversial report concluded that minority students did not receive the same educational opportunities as white students, that teachers had lower expectations for them and, in some cases, prevented or discouraged them from participating in more challenging courses.

Those conclusions were based, in part, on comments made by dozens of Windsor High School students interviewed for the study.

Marlon James, an assistant professor at Loyola University Chicago, wrote the 75-page study that was presented to the board of education in August. In the report, James thanked 250 students, 60 educators and 50 parents and community leaders who participated.

But the final report does not include the views of teachers, parents and residents, prompting a call for the release of those interviews.

"Why silence the 110 adults who participated willingly?" asked Republican school board member Cristina Santos, an outspoken critic of the study since it was proposed last year.

"I think the community has a right to know," she said, adding that she would also like to know what questions were asked.

Chris Todd, the school system's teacher of the year, echoed those sentiments at a school board meeting Tuesday, noting that about 50 percent of the staff at Windsor High participated in the study, but that none of their voices were included in the final report.

"As staff members, we can only wonder what else was said," Todd said.

Not everyone is calling for the release of more data, though.

Doreen Richardson, a Democrat and president of the school board, said that she supports the study and its conclusions as is, and understands the reason for the omission of some groups.

Richardson said the researchers determined that the sample size of comments from teachers, leaders, parents and community members was not large enough to draw reasonable conclusions. They also wanted to protect the anonymity of respondents.

Richardson said it was her understanding that 20 percent of the students at the high school participated. She said she did not know what percentage of other groups participated but believes that it was lower.

"The report would have represented a broader section of our educational community if certain board members had not undermined the integrity of the process," Richardson said. "The researchers did the best they could considering the hostile environment in which they had to work."

Tim Curtis, a former town councilman, deputy mayor and retired East Granby teacher, said he thought the exclusion of additional voices opened up the study to criticism, but said he felt that the information provided was sufficient for the town to act upon. He said the board of education could still get what is missing by continuing the study and inviting the omitted groups to come forward.

Curtis also had a theory about why the study has had such a polarizing effect in town.

"It's a good town. People are saying this can't be happening in our town," Curtis said. "But a lot of kids don't feel that way."

In an email sent to school officials Thursday, James wrote that "because this study is governed by federal law, we cannot under any circumstances make public transcripts obtained during interview."

In an email to The Courant on Friday, James said that the research team was under no obligation, "legal or ethical," to report or use all of the data collected and was charged with "documenting structural causes of the achievement gap, which is what the report accomplished, given the political constraints and resistance."

James said that some teachers, leaders and parents felt that there were no issues at the high school, "but the vast majority cited 'institutional racism' as the problem" and supported the students' experiences.

James also said the unreported interview data were called into question on the second day of focus groups, when the research team learned that students had been told by teachers not to participate in the study because: "It's trying to prove we are racists."

James did not respond when asked why that information was not included in the final report.

Further clouding the issue of how students feel at the high school is a survey taken last year. It gave the teachers high marks in many areas. When asked if their teachers believed in them, 92 percent said they strongly agreed. On the question of whether their teachers believed in their ability, 94 percent said they strongly agreed.

Santos said the survey is more indicative of students' feelings because they all participated and they rated each teacher anonymously.

"The survey says to me that this is the true voice of the students," she said.

The union representing Windsor teachers has been critical of the omission of teachers' voices in the Excellence and Equity Review report.

"We are deeply concerned that teachers' comments have been carelessly summarized and shared without having been included in the official report," Lisa Bress and Lenny Vann, co-presidents of the Windsor Education Association, wrote in an email to The Courant.

Superintendent Jeffrey Villar, who has been praised for his courage in some circles and vilified in others for championing the study, saw some validity to the questions being raised about the lack of additional voices.

"If I were the researcher, I guess I would have anticipated the criticism that exists. It was clear that this was going to be an issue — allegations that these were cherry-picked comments," Villar said.

"At the end of the day, what we have heard is that some children feel that way at our high school," he said. "That should be a call to change and I don't see it as a damnation of our staff."

Villar said the schools need to move forward with the findings in the study, such as continuing to increase the number of minority students participating in advanced placement courses and taking a look at the practice of tracking, which sorts students into different curricular tracks based on perceived abilities, interests or needs.

"The board of education needs to review the document and determine a direction," he said. "We need to look at the needs of the children and what we can do."

Copyright © 2013, The Hartford Courant