jackiedoherty.org

A true New Englander, I stocked up on food supplies early today (along with thousands of others apparently, considering the traffic). My family is all home now and grateful to be here. With the Christmas lights twinkling and the white powder adding its soft magic to my street, my neighborhood looks like a Norman Rockwell painting. Thankfully, I don’t have to go out tonight as everything has been postponed, and I’m looking forward to an evening of baking cookies and hanging with my family. So Old Man Winter do your thing…

School officials can draw a collective sigh of relief as members of the state’s Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA) team are winding down their audit of Lowell schools. Since Monday, the team has been interviewing teachers, administrators, staff, students, and school committee members, as well as observing classrooms across the city and visiting schools—some for all-day sessions. The general consensus among the staff is “optimistic” that many of the areas sited as weaknesses from the last EQA audit three years ago show great progress and the district will receive a good report. Some of the specific areas of concern from the last audit were around curriculum, whether it is consistent across the district and standards based (considered horizontal alignment), and whether it supports effective transitions for students (vertical alignment).  These areas, among others, have received extensive focus over the last few years. For instance, all third graders in Lowell now work with the same math curriculum and have specific standards they’re expected to learn that year (such as multiplication tables to 12). That is horizontal alignment. Eighth grade math teachers have also worked closely with freshmen high school teachers to align curriculum and expectations, so students learn what they need to be better prepared for future courses (an example of vertical alignment). There are many other areas EQA reviews—too many to list here—and many address student learning, which should also demonstrate marked improvement based on recent innovations around remedial support and increased challenges for high-achievers. The city will continue to get some low marks for failing students and dropout rates that exceed the state average, but it is expected this year’s report will recognize the accomplishments around student learning, as well as indicated what still needs to be done. More on that later, when the results are in.