Election Preview

City Council 2001

Posted Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Who makes the grade?
Educational issues still dominate school board race

by Jennifer Deitz Berry

Palo Alto school board candidates have taken sides on contentious issues like land-use, fund-raising and handling of the district budget. But how prepared are they to lead the district toward fulfilling its academic goals?

In recent forums, the four candidates vying for two seats on the school board outlined their visions for improving education in Palo Alto, taking on such issues as training new teachers and improving services for struggling students.

Incumbent Cathy Kroymann said attracting and retaining high quality teachers remains one of the district's biggest challenges. Kroymann was volunteer coordinator for the parcel tax campaign geared, in part, toward raising teacher salaries.

But money, by itself, isn't enough, she said. Newer teachers, in particular, need extra support as they learn to manage classrooms, master content standards and develop a teaching style that can reach students with varying abilities and learning styles.

The state has taken away "a tremendous amount of staff development time," at a time when teachers need it more than ever, Kroymann said. Therefore, it will be important for the district to find intelligent ways to make the best use of the time it possesses.

One successful approach has been the district's ongoing partnership with Stanford educators: "Most people probably won't know we have developed over the last four years a tremendous working relationship with Stanford," Kroymann said.

Staff at the university's School of Education have helped plan the third middle school and given advice on how to use more progressive teaching techniques like project based learning and differentiated instruction. (The idea behind differentiated instruction is to create more flexible lesson plans that can be adjusted to fit each student's needs -- challenging high-achievers without overwhelming lower-achievers.) Meetings with Stanford admissions staff are also helping Palo Alto better prepare and advise students planning for college, she said.

A concern shared by Kroymann and fellow incumbent John Barton is closing the so-called "achievement gap." On average, students in some minority groups continue to score lower on district achievement measures than other groups.

Barton said the district's shift toward using multiple measures of student performance and more careful tracking of data has helped them refocus attention on students who might otherwise have slipped through the cracks. Barton helped co-author the district's "90-50" goal, which aims to have 90 percent of students performing above-average on the district's performance measures.

"I think we've changed the attitude in this school district that as we move forward we're going to bring every student with us," he said.

Accomplishments both current board members are proud of include putting into place the Academy program, offered after school and during summer, for students who need extra help in math and language arts.

Barton said he also supports using differentiated instruction and broadening Advanced Placement offerings for high-achieving students. But ultimately, he said, he's more concerned about making sure all students can read at grade level than he is about helping top students move from the 96th to 98th percentile on their reading scores.

Challenger Ivan Kolozsvari agreed. He laughed at a question asked during a forum about concerns that the district's scores on an Education Research Board (ERB) writing test were lower than many expected.

"Were they down from 98 to 97 percent?" he joked. Then added, "I really can't get upset about Palo Alto's scores. I teach in East Palo Alto, remember."

Kolozsvari said the district needed to do a better job of supporting students who aren't college-bound. He would like to see vocational education programs expanded, adding a vocational skill should be a graduation requirement for all students. "It's like having an extra language to face the world with," he said.

Kolozsvari also talked to the problem of ensuring students with special needs are diagnosed early on and -- as much as possible -- taught in regular classrooms. Having himself graduated from a university teaching program, he is concerned that schools of education lack the resources to adequately train mainstream teachers to handle special-needs students. He recommended that Palo Alto's special-education teachers spend more professional development time with mainstream teachers, instructing them to manage and support special-needs students.

Write-in candidate Barb Mitchell places her academic focus on reducing class size. She would like to see classes in all grades reduced to 24 students in subjects like math, English, history and science. She said students learn better in a more intimate environment, where teachers have the opportunity to work closely with each student. Plus, having less student work to correct allows teachers to give better feedback on homework and papers.

Mitchell admitted she didn't yet have answers on how best to improve programs for special-needs students and children from East Palo Alto and Menlo Park who are part of the Voluntary Transfer Program.

"I probably can't be much help in the first six months. There's a great deal I need to learn and listen to," Mitchell said to parents of special education students who hosted the first school board forum. "My approach would be to become informed through active parents and teachers."

It was by talking to teachers that Mitchell became convinced of the value of reducing class size. Mitchell said she believed smaller classes could also help VTP students build stronger relationships with their teachers -- something that would likely help them feel more supported. She predicted having fewer students in a class would make it easier for mainstream teachers to identify special-needs students or provide them with extra attention.

Mitchell was diplomatic on the issue of whether progressive or traditional teaching methods better serve students. "I think what's really valuable for kids is having a teacher who engages them, who makes kids want to go to school," she said.

E-mail Jennifer Deitz Berry at jberry@paweekly.com