LEWISTON — Lewiston schools may still be committed to a Proficiency Based Learning system for freshmen students but Superintendent Bill Webster opened the door to making some changes to the way it’s implemented.
“The transition to PBL, and any major change like this that happens to the schools, is a challenge,” Webster told members of the School Committee and a group of more than 50 parents and students Monday night. “It’s bumpy. Mistakes are made and corrections are needed. We want to minimize those as much as possible, but the idea that we should not do PBL until it’s perfect — it will never work that way.”
Webster gave committee members a six-page report outlining 33 steps the district would take to make the new grading system work for students, including making sure sophomore teachers are ready to carry on the transition by May of this year, registering students who don’t meet the standards for summer school and communicating better with students and parents.
The state-mandated, proficiency-based diploma will begin with the Class of 2018, the high school’s current ninth grade students.
It requires all students must demonstrate proficiency in all subject areas and meet other requirements specified by the School Department to move from grade to grade and ultimately graduate. Advocates say students can progress at their own pace, making learning more meaningful.
At a February hearing, parents complained that freshmen grading is inconsistent, incomplete and confusing under the new system and that students cannot tell how they are doing. Those parents said their children have lost interest in school because of the new system.
Other parents said the new grading system works well for their children and they were willing to continue it.
The complaints continued Monday, with students and parents saying they had little faith in the new system and urged the district to exempt their children.
“Now that we are seven months into the school year, we have not received what we were promised,” said Deana Kane of 21 Woodhaven Drive “This PBL was anything but ready and the more time we spend studying it the more time is wasted on our children.”
Webster said school staff were making a number of corrections to make the system work.
Grades were one issue. Lewiston’s interpretation of the system involves a new grading system that trades numbers for the traditional A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s and F’s. Webster promised to create a conversion chart to make the PBL grades consistent with traditional scores. He also said the department needed to take another look at the grade-tracking Power School software used by teachers, students and parents.
Webster said the school could look at how homework, quizzes and class discussions would fit into the grading system. Currently, the exams — called summative assessments — are the only things that could change a student’s grade. Webster said completing the homework could become a requirement for taking the tests.
“It doesn’t give (homework) weight as something that goes into the grade, but it does make a difference,” Webster said. “Absent that grade, a student cannot sit for the summative assessment.”
Committee members voted 5-2 to accept his report, with members Matthew Roy and Linda Scott expressing no support.
Member Tom Shannon said he had concerns, and noted that parents and students should have had clear course syllabuses that would have told parents and students exactly what they needed.
“What we are hearing is the safety nets are not only not in place, but some were not even designed because we didn’t know who would fall through the assessment nets,” Shannon said.
Member Paul St. Pierre agreed.
“If freshman students had been able to go home and educate their parents as to the content requirements of all of their subjects, what the expectations were, when the assessments were planned on being taken and what the milestones of the course would be, I think it would have gone a long way of gelling for the students and parents what was expected,” Pierre said.
PBL Report and Recommendations to Lewiston School Committee by Scott Taylor
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