February 02, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Teacher "team" work causes uproar

by Alexandria Rocha

Fearing a massive overhaul in curricula and structure, concerned parents came out of the woodwork last week after learning ofthe Palo Alto school district's plans to extend a controversial teaching method at its three middle schools.

The method, called "teaming," in which a small group of teachers share a common pool of students, is widely used at all three middle schools.

While Terman Middle School has been entirely teamed since it opened in 2001, both Jane Lathrop Stanford and Jordan middle schools has only been partially teamed since the early '90s. Although it will happen over several years, the district is planning to fully team both JLS and Jordan.

Two weeks ago, the Board of Education held an informational meeting about middle school teaming. After a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons, parents left the meeting more confused than when they arrived.

While those who support teaming said it gives teachers a chance to coordinate curricula and discuss their shared pupils, others who are more weary said it wastes teachers' time and shoves out electives.

E-mails about the meeting began circling among parents and a mysteriously-authored Q-and-A describing the dangers of teaming surfaced.

In a quick effort to clear the air, Superintendent Mary Frances Callan and board member Cathy Kroymann held another informational meeting at Jordan to answer concerned parents' questions and to provide background on the teaming project. About 50 people attended.

"This is not new," Kroymann said. "Moving teaming forward was always on the plate."

Teaming, in fact, in some form has been around for decades in middle school districts across the country. Locally, many middle schools are teamed, including the San Mateo-Foster City School District.

In seventh- and eighth-grades, a team consists of four teachers (math, science, social studies and English), who share a pool of about 130 students. Each grade has two teams.

The students move from class to class normally, but the key to teaming is the children are common to those four core teachers. While the students are in their two daily electives, their core teachers have prep periods where they can meet if desired. For example, at JLS the team meets once a week.

Electives at Terman are scheduled during fourth and fifth period to allow for that meeting time. Though it will not be exact, the district's plan is to provide a similar sort of prep-period structure at JLS and Jordan.

Teachers admit they will likely not discuss every student during their short meetings. However, many say it will allow time to develop plans for students falling through the cracks, as well as time to coordinate test times and homework deadlines.

The idea does not sit well with everyone. Some just don't see the benefits of having teachers meet, while others object to the constrictions on electives kids will be eligible take. "Do teachers have to meet to discuss their schedules? Can't that just be put on a spreadsheet or an e-mail?" said Angie Ball, a mother of a Jordan seventh-grader, during the meeting two weeks ago. "It seems like all these benefits I'm hearing can be addressed much more easily than this very complicated issue of teaming."

The main issue is that parents feel that teaming will cut down on the elective choices students will have, since electives will only be offered during two periods a day. That could limit the variety and number of electives a student could take.

For example, at Terman, which is fully teamed, students last year could not take both orchestra and French because they were offered in the same "elective period." However, Principal Larry Thomas said that only affected four students.

Another "cost" of teaming, Thomas said, is that it limits the number of physical education classes Terman can offer at the same time because of space. This year the school has five physical education classes held at the same time.

"In a completely non-teamed master schedule, I would have spread those P.E. classes out better, to give better flexibility for our facility," he said.

Callan added that with teaming each middle school student will take two electives, as always.

Another discussion on middle school teaming will be held at the board's meeting Feb. 22.

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