Matthew Santoni, The Examiner
2008-04-23 07:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

Students, parents, teachers and administrators had serious doubts about Harford County’s sweeping high school reform program, according to a nine-month study presented to the Board of Education Monday night.

Columbia-based Leadership Capacity Inc. conducted written surveys and held focus-group discussions to gauge attitudes toward the Comprehensive Secondary School Reform Program, and gave the board some bad news about what they found.

“I feel like my 11-year-old when he brought home his first C,” said Board of Education President Tom Fidler.

The controversial new “block” schedule at all high schools has had no measurable effect on student achievement, but has taken away thousands of minutes of class time, said study administrator Ronald Thomas.

Measurements such as grades, disciplinary actions and High School Assessment test scores continued improving as they had been under the old schedule system — which varied — while SAT and Advanced Placement test scores held steady or decreased, he said. Students and administrators felt the system helped; parents, teachers and support staff did not.

“If there was any agreement at all, it was that if the 82-minute periods were too long, then 45 minutes was too short,” Thomas said. He recommended the schools consider more flexible schedules, allowing some classes to meet every day or for shorter periods.

The requirement that students take more credits, including a fourth math class, also faced opposition among the study group; many felt the schools equated “rigorous” work with quantity rather than quality.

The mandatory freshman “Living in a Contemporary World” class was panned — teachers didn’t think they had enough preparation to teach it, while parents thought material such as managing income taxes, and writing a resume was more appropriate for older students. The career pathways program was similarly hobbled by bad perceptions, Thomas said, including students’ fears their decisions would irrevocably shape their future, and guidance counselors’ concerns that ninth-graders were too young to make such decisions.

The study showed there was considerable support for the broader concepts, said Michael Hickey, president of Leadership Capacity.

“We’d encourage an extensive engagement process to deal with the positive factors,” Hickey said. “The gap between the concept and the implementation needs to be addressed.”

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com