GUILDERLAND — While the rushed implementation of the Common Core Standards in New York State was poor, “They are superior to the standards we had previously,” said Demian Singleton, Guilderland’s assistant superintendent for instruction.

He explained why: “They place a needed focus on literacy, not just for English language arts, but across all content areas,” he said. “Over time, various iterations of testing focused on content, causing a loss of close, deep reading and writing well in multiple disciplines.”

In addition to the focus on literacy, the emphasis on numeracy is good, too. “In math, the shifts in Common Core are valid and sound,” Singleton said as it focuses on a problem-solving rather than a rote approach.

One problem, he said, is more difficult concepts are pushed down too far, into lower grades “Students have to be developmentally ready,” said Singleton.

But, he noted, Guilderland students have responded well. “We were proactive in our shift to math,” he said.

One of the biggest problems with the rushed implementation of the Common Core, and the immediate state tests is that teachers were not given a chance to learn about the standards before they had to teach them.

A survey by Education Week showed that teachers on average in the states that adopted the new standards had fewer than four days of Common Core training for math and English language arts combined.

“Everyone is needing professional development,” said Singleton.

New York State created instructional modules on the Common Core, which are posted on the EngageNY website. English language arts modules, for example feature “authentic reading materials” that include published works typically encountered by students in daily life, such as in magazines, books, or newspapers.

While the modules are not mandated, some districts adopted them without modification, Singleton said.

“We did not,” he said, while Guilderland fully understood the repercussions since tests could be based on them.

“The modules were too restrictive and did not place enough focus on problem-solving, not letting students think creatively,” he said.

This is true of both the math and English language arts modules, he said, adding, “We gleaned pieces here and there.”

Singleton went on, “The standards don’t tell districts how to teach; they say: Here are the desired outcomes.”

Young students learn best if their parents understand what they are expected to know. While Guilderland had some building-level programs for parents last year, this year district-wide evening sessions are planned for parents, Singleton said.

More training is always needed for staff, Singleton said. “The problem is time,” he said, noting it is problematic to pull teachers out of classrooms.

Guilderland continues to hold traditional workshops where outside experts teach local staff. In October, Kim Sutton, a national expert in math instruction, will work with elementary teachers.

“But the most important piece,” Singleton said of educating staff, “is what we do within our setting, entrenched in our daily operations.”

Over the past five years, Guilderland has started “embedding expertise,” he said, having teachers serve as coaches for other staff. For example, there is a math specialist at each elementary school who works “side by side” with classroom teachers. Similarly, English language arts coordinators serve the same role, he said.

Meeting special needs

The big news when Guilderland presented its annual state report card to the school board in June — based on state test scores from the previous year — was that the district had achieved what the state calls “adequate yearly progress” for all student groups and in all accountability areas.

In 2011, Lynnwood Elementary School did not meet this mark and landed on a list of Schools In Need of Improvement. “It’s a hard pill to swallow,” Superintendent Marie Wiles said at the time. But she went on to say, “We have to look at this not as a curse but an opportunity” to serve students better.

The Guilderland district has five elementary schools; Lynnwood draws special-education students from throughout the district. This June, Lynnwood’s principal, Alicia Rizzo, told the school board, “I’ve waited four years to say this: Lynnwood Elementary now stands with the other Guilderland schools and is a school in good standing.” Her words were greeted with applause from the Lynnwood staffers seated in the gallery.

Rizzo said the work involved “drilling down” through the numbers to the names of individual students to set targets for them.

Singleton said this week that the embedded coaching model has worked well at Lynnwood, which has two literacy coaches on the staff, helping to close the gap. The “literacy collaborative” model involves weekly and even daily classroom coaching. “It’s a constant conversation,” he said.

If special-education students from across the district weren’t all housed at Lynnwood, Singleton said, the school would not face the yearly challenges it does to meet the state requirements. But the district sees benefits to having the students grouped together since services and supports can be brought in and tailored to best meet their similar needs, Singleton said.

“Honestly,” he said, “it doesn’t work well under New York State accountability rules, but we accept the challenge of that.”

Singleton went on, “The staff as a whole embraced delving into student needs and being more diagnostic — not teaching to the middle but to individual needs.”

With the new school year, he said, “We’re going to ratchet it up,” making the literacy coaches into full-time posts, rather than half-coach, half-teacher jobs.

Closing gaps

In its dissemination of test data — most recently the assessments in grades three through eight — the state has highlighted gaps in performance based on gender (listing male and female results separately, side by side), race (listing American Indian, Black, Hispanic, White, and multiracial), handicaps (listing general education students next to students with disabilities, and English proficient next to limited English students) and wealth (listing not economically disadvantaged next to economically disadvantaged.)

“Even if the state didn’t do it, we would look at subgroups closely,” said Singleton.

Data for Guilderland, like districts across the state, shows test scores for girls largely higher than for boys; shows Asians outperforming other groups, followed by whites; and shows students from poor families or from families where English isn’t spoken struggling.

Altamont Elementary School, it was announced in June, received a $75,000 Reward School Dissemination Grant. Altamont has the highest percentage among Guilderland’s five elementary schools of students who receive free or reduced-price lunches. The school had a small achievement gap between overall population and economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.

A key to success in closing gaps, said Singleton, can be Response to Intervention, which identifies struggling students early on and targets teaching to meet their needs. RtI has been successfully used at Altamont.

Asked about differences in race, Singleton said those gaps are more pronounced in urban schools, adding, “There have been complaints that state tests are not responsive to cultural differences.”

He also said that what happens at home is important. “Are students reading nightly?” he asked, giving an example.

“Those differences may have an impact and we may need to provide intervention to catch up,” he said. With Response to Intervention, he said, “We don’t wait for a student to fail; we intervene and monitor progress.”

Continuing with the example of a student not reading at home, and struggling, Singleton said, there would be an individual consultation with the child, and adjustments made in the classroom as progress is monitored.

“If he’s not responding, the student would work with a reading specialist in a small group for eight to 10 weeks.”

If that doesn’t work, the third tier would involve a one-on-one intervention with a reading specialist.

Guilderland has used the Response to Intervention model for four to five years, Singleton said concluding, “We don’t wait for a student to flounder.”

The gender gap, Single said, is a national phenomenon and some believe the Common Core will help engage boys more with its hands-on approach.  Also, he said the story-based reading that has dominated in elementary schools is “not always the most engaging for boys.”

The Common Core will shift elementary-school reading to a 50-50 balance, with half of it fiction and half of it non-fiction, rather than the current 90 percent fiction, he said. In high school, the Common Core calls for a ratio of 70 percent non-fiction and just 30 percent fiction. “That is a telling shift, responsive to career ambitions,” said Singleton.

Singleton recalled that the “mantra” for state tests in the early part of this century was they were “a snapshot in time,” and he noted, “The end goal is to graduate with a Regents diploma and success in the Regents exams.”

In almost every high school subject, 90 percent of Guilderland students scored at or above Level 3, out of 4, on Regents exams, meaning they had reached proficiency.

“I would encourage people to remember, state tests are not a be-all and end-all,” Singleton concluded. Rather, he said, people should ask, “Are kids happy, engaged, enjoying learning?”

Singleton went on, “I’m pretty proud of how we’ve navigated new waters. We’ve gone carefully and cautiously, keeping our philosophy intact. That may be why you don’t hear as many complaints here.”