Finally, Proof of the Value of Elementary Language Instruction

A positive return on investment in elementary foreign language instruction was the highlight of the Board of Education meeting held on Monday night, November 19, at the Quaker Ridge School. A presentation by Beverly Bayson of the Center for Applied Linguistics, an organization hired by the board to evaluate the effectiveness of the foreign language program in the elementary schools (FLES), showed very strong evidence of the benefits to Scarsdale students of offering Spanish language instruction beginning in first grade. What the evaluation showed was that not only were students coming in to the middle school with a strong base for learning Spanish, but that even those choosing to take up French in sixth grade were progressing more rapidly than those beginning French without the benefit of having participated in FLES. The Center's research also showed that the performance of students in eighth grade Spanish who had gone through FLES was at a much higher level than that of the eighth grade students measured three years ago, who had not been exposed to FLES. Overall, the administration and Board of Education were pleased with the results of this study, as they clearly demonstrated the positive impact of the District's investment in elementary-level foreign language instruction.

Immediately prior to the meeting, the Quaker Ridge PTA hosted a conversation between QR parents, the BOE, and school administrators. What was most notable was the absence of requests for capital improvements, a departure from the common practice at other schools' meetings to ask for things like building expansion or enhancements to the physical plant. QR PTA President Kim Goldban introduced the PTA board, and spoke of the PTA's attempts to build on a theme of My Quaker Ridge, where everyone is welcome and participates, and diversity is celebrated. PTA goals mentioned making events more convenient and less costly, and emphasizing school spirit through regularly scheduled spirit days and a well-decorated building.

Parent and PTA board member Debbie Hochberg took the opportunity to question the BOE about its position on state testing. Hochberg stated that she didn't necessarily think that tests are a bad thing, and she asked why the district appeared to be pushing back on state tests. Board president Liz Guggenheimer answered that the Board Of Education recognizes that it's a complex issue. "The tests themselves are not evil," Guggenheimer said, "but the one size fits all approach is problematic, as is the amount of time devoted to it."

Dr. Michael McGill, Superintendent of Scarsdale schools, added that the administration's stance is that "we don't object to all standardized tests, in fact we see a place for them. But the amount of testing isn't okay, and the tests are being used inappropriately to rate teachers based on student test scores." McGill continued, "There is very serious debate in the professional and research community about whether you can use tests to determine who is an effective teacher and who is not." He went on to say that he would have fewer problems with periodic sampling of test results then with the current system, which he called "overkill." McGill said he'd like to see teachers assessed more organically, based on results of their day-to-day work.

Dr. McGill went on to refer to a faculty-endorsed statement that acknowledges that standardized tests, under certain conditions, can have value, but that these assessments doesn't come close to defining excellence in education. In other words, the approach of Scarsdale's faculty towards standardized tests is that the state can force us to take them, but not to assign meaning to them. Still, as Dr. McGill said, while he assures the faculty that you can't look at one score and have it be anything more than "temperature-taking," at one time or another, the danger is that "the emphasis placed on test scores out in the world makes it difficult for teachers to believe it."

When QR parent Jen Rossano followed up, asking if the administration is working with teachers to ensure that test preparation doesn't take up the entire spring, the answer was that teachers are being told to continue teaching what's best for the kids, not test prep.

Tracy Jaffe is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. A past president of Heathcote's PTA and Scarsdale PT Council, Tracy has 3 children in the Scarsdale school system, and currently sits on the boards of Scarsdale/Edgemont Family Counseling Services and the League of Women Voters.