Superintendent David Aderhold announced a smooth school opening for the 9,700 district students at the September 8 school board meeting, but the meeting itself was not so smooth. The main topic of discussion centered on the district’s Accelerated and Enriched (A&E) Math program. Scores of parents showed up to oppose a district recommendation to eliminate the fourth and fifth grade segments of the A&E program.
Preceding the flurry of parent A&E comments were presentations reviewing the overall Gifted and Talented Program. The first presentation was an external report conducted last spring by Virginia Burney and Kristie Speirs Neumeister, educational psychologists from Ball State University. Maurice Hawk principal Patricia Buell then presented the district’s internal review of the G&T program.
After Buell’s presentation, board members Louisa Ho, Taylor Zhong, and YZ Zhang immediately asked her about the possible elimination of grade four and five A&E program. Ho asked how the district envisions challenging fourth and fifth graders, and Buell said a more inclusive action plan was needed, a vague response that drew disapproving murmurs from the parents in attendance.
Zhong asked if an expansion of the A&E program was possible, to which Buell responded, “I don’t know if that’s the solution” while reiterating the goal of inclusiveness. Fellow board member Zhang noted the A&E program has existed since the 1970s, and he asked whether changing the selection process or expanding the program would be better alternatives to addressing the issues of the A&E program.
The A&E program offers replacement math classes from fourth grade through eighth grade. Students testing into the program go to an A&E math classroom instead of attending math with their class. A&E entrance tests begin in third grade and students can test into A&E through the seventh grade.
According to Martin Smith, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, fewer than 50 students participate in the A&E program for grades four and five, or five to eight percent of Village School students and roughly 10 percent of Millstone School students. More than 90 percent of A&E students are Asian, and more than 80 percent are male. Most of the parents in attendance at the meeting were also Asian.
The district’s G&T program internal report recommended the elimination of the grade 4 and 5 program and the provision of math teachers to assist in math program development for all students. The report cites data that “shows no statistically significant difference” in outcomes for students who started the A&E program in elementary school versus those who started the program in middle school. At the meeting, Smith said half the students in the district’s culminating math course, Multivariable Calculus, were not in the A&E program.
Smith also questioned whether third grade is a “developmentally appropriate” stage to evaluate students. He reported third graders excelled at the memorization and algorithmic aspects of math but fell short in their handling of the “underlying conception of why the math is being done.”
The internal report recommends moving A&E identification to grade five, for grade six program admittance, a change in evaluation process which would take into account “multiple data points” over multiple years. This would expand the talent pool through consideration of all students. Currently the parents self-select the A&E pool, Smith says. An estimated 75 to 80 percent of students take the qualifying A&E test.
With respect to the A&E testing, the district’s internal report states it “creates anxiety for some students” and the “perceived importance of the A&E test has created an industry of test preparation in the community.”
The external G&T report recommended additional programming at the elementary school level, and board member Isaac Cheng asked how this recommendation reconciled with the one to get rid of A&E.
Aderhold said Cheng raised “a good point,” adding that this was the first time the board is hearing these recommendations and the that “next level of work” involves the development of an action plan by the curriculum committee. The superintendent noted it took three years to implement more than 90 special education recommendations.
“We currently do not know the full recommendation,” Aderhold says. He added the Princeton school district moved away from its early enrichment program, and that the A&E program “isn’t what made WW-P excellent.”
In a preview of the public comments to come, board member Zhong said he has been told parents moved to WW-P for the A&E program, to which Aderhold responded, “I hope not, that’s not a good reason.”
After the meeting, Smith said this was the beginning of serious discussion and review of the recommendations, and that usually there is a three to five-year plan for implementation. The elected school board will make the final curriculum decisions. Smith and Adherhold advised parents interested in the eventual gifted and talented action plan to stay involved by attending board meetings and reading summary notes posted online.
During the public commenting period, more than a dozen Asian parents expressed support for the current A&E program and voiced concern about the district’s elimination recommendation, which in their view diminishes the math curriculum and denies upper elementary students a superior math education option. In response to testing anxiety and talent pool concerns, multiple parents suggested changing the evaluation criteria while preserving A&E for grades four and five.
“We are more concerned with an effective math program,” said Yunqing Li. “A proposed program for grades four and five is nowhere to be found at the moment. What doesn’t work with the current mainstream math program?”
Lakshmi Narasimhamurthy expressed support for the A&E program, noting it is a program for the “rare and exceptional.”
“Why not introduce a new program for the good kids?” she asked. “And another A&E program for science?”
Another parent, Ming Pan, argued that concerns of a demographic imbalance and test prep stress arising from the A&E program represented “disproportional scrutiny,” noting that there are similar issues in the district’s athletic programs, which receives more resources.
Jennifer Howard, a physician residing in West Windsor, raised non-academic concerns that might support the decision to terminate the program.
“Think of the whole child and look at the gender disparity,” Howard said.
Added Howard after the meeting: “It’s not just academics. What doesn’t get brought up is, what are the psychosocial ramifications? Younger children are at higher risk of mental illness.”
Jeremy Zhang, a senior at North and co-president of the math club, praised his fifth grade A&E math teacher. He did not enter the fourth grade A&E, which he said “was a shame,” and he spent the year disengaged before his fourth grade teacher encouraged him to try again for the fifth grade A&E.
Zhang’s comments on not making the fourth grade A&E stuck with board president Tony Fleres.
“Asking a third grader places a lot of stress on them,” Fleres says. “If they don’t make it, there’s still opportunities.”
Added Fleres: “This is a start of a process. Give the administration an opportunity. Nobody wants to stop something that is working. Everybody at the table wants what you want. Let’s develop it, and see what comes up.”
Before the A&E discussions, education psychologists Burney and Neumeister presented their external report of the G&T program. They surveyed nearly 2,000 parents, students, and teachers, praising the district’s effectiveness: 48 percent of students taking AP exams scored fives (the top score possible), 28 percent scored fours, and 17 percent scored three. District SAT averages exceeded state and national averages, with 607 in critical reading, 638 in math, and 617 in writing.
At the same time, the consultants were alarmed at the number of negative comments at the high school level regarding student stress and academic overload, which led to disengagement and dislike for learning. The presenters recommended de-emphasizing performance goals and rekindling the love of learning.
Other challenges the consultants found include a perceived lack of challenges at the primary and A&E level, as well as a lack of opportunity for creative thinking development compared with critical thinking. Burney and Neumester recommended reviewing science and math programs to address the perceived gap in challenges at the K-8 level, and professional development to foster thinking in novel, independent problem solving.
Cluster grouping was also recommended. Smith, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said clustering “uses criteria to make placement decisions,” and that a fuller definition is available in the internal gifted & talented report on the district’s website, www. ww-p.org.
The internal report defines clustering as “the practice of placing a group of students identified as gifted, high achieving, or high ability together in a heterogeneously grouped classroom with other students.” The “programmatic approach” with GT teaching specialists can help “integrate the gifted program with the general education program.”
