Video: Dr. Gibbons Outlines Middle School Plan
Following the revealing of the Middle School Transformation Plan, a set of guidelines designed to improve Bermuda’s middle schools, in the House of Assembly on Friday [July 18], Minister of Education and Economic Development Dr. Grant Gibbons and Acting Commissioner of Education Dr. Lou Matthews took the time to highlight a school performance audit conducted during the 2013-2014 school year and the subsequent goals of the Plan.
Dr. Gibbons said, “Earlier today I shared with Members of the House of Assembly summary results of a performance audit conducted to assess the quality of teaching, learning and culture in our middle schools. The audit was conducted during the 2013/14 academic school year.
“I also detailed a Middle School Transformation Plan that comprises 10 Key Action Points developed to strategically improve teaching and learning in our Middle Schools over the next three years.
“At this time I’d like to take the opportunity to inform the general public that the promise made during the past school year to address concerns about middle school education is being kept.
“The extensive audit process undertaken and the development of the Middle School Transformation Plan is in direct support of the Ministry of Education’s Mission to deliver a rigorous curriculum that meets the needs of all students and improves student learning experiences.
“A quality education in the 21st century is our aim. The Middle School audit process demonstrated the Ministry’s continued commitment to its students, parents, the broader community, and to Bermuda as a whole to improve overall student achievement and learning.
“There are three main components to the Middle School Audit Process of which I will comment on, including its objectives, the summary audit results, and the Middle School Transformation Plan 2014.”
“During the 2013/2014 school year, the Department of Education undertook an ambitious plan to audit all schools in the public system. After listening to the concerned voices of parents, educators, and the general public, a decision was taken to conduct audits starting first with our five middle schools.
The goals for the audits were threefold:
- To provide middle schools and the Department of Education with a comprehensive analysis of student learning, teaching and leadership
- To build first-hand, a collective understanding of the strengths and challenges faced at schools
- To provide direction for system support services needed to: improve teaching and learning outcomes, grow leadership capacity, improve the school climate, and engender community support
“The audit process was based on leading research conducted by the Association of Middle Level Education, or AMLE. The AMLE model is designed to transform normal schools into high-performance schools resulting in engaged and motivated learners.
“The model incorporates 16 characteristics for successful middle schools that are arranged into three broadly based areas of performance, namely curriculum, instruction and assessment; leadership and organization; and community and culture.
“Overall, the results of the middle school audits revealed that across all five middle schools there were gaps and deficiencies that showed little evidence of the 16 success characteristics in the areas of curriculum, instruction and assessment, and leadership and organization, but moderate evidence of the 16 success characteristics in the area of community and culture where there was a sense of support and advocacy for students.”
Dr. Gibbons and Dr. Matthews speak about the Middle School Transformation Plan 2014:
“In fact, most middle schools were viewed as safe places with a sense of family and community. So it is quite evident that there are needed development areas that exist at the middle school level and, having the factual benchmark audit data provides us with the impetus to target and drive change within our Middle Schools and transform them into high-performing schools.
“Toward this end, the audit findings were used to develop a 10 point Middle School Transformation Plan. 10 high impact actions will be implemented during the 2014/2015 school academic year to address the deficiencies identified in the audit findings, and to improve overall student learning and teaching over the next three years.”
“These 10 actions link directly to the 16 characteristics of successful middle schools and the broad performance groups as follows:
Leadership and Organization [Actions 1 to 4]
- 1. Develop a 21st century vision for middle school education
- 2. Provide school leadership teams with specific training to lead school improvement
- 3. Utilise a common bell schedule with standard times and opportunities for student learning, intervention, teaming and advocacy
- 4. Implement a structure for the delivery of high quality lessons across all schools and subjects
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment [Actions 5 to 7]
- 5. Eliminate ability-tracking to ensure that all students have access to high quality learning experiences
- 6. Provide focused professional development on creating active, rigorous and engaged learning experiences to all teachers and leaders
- 7. Ensure all students have academic interventions if they fail classes within the first quarter
Community and Culture [Actions 8 and 9]
- 8. Establish a mandatory standard which clearly defines readiness for transition into and out of middle school
- 9. Establish comprehensive behaviour intervention programs in every middle school
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment [Action 10]
- 10. Raise the qualifications standard for all middle grade teachers within three years
“Details of these 10 action points and how the Ministry will implement the Transformation Plan are included in the Ministerial Statement and a detailed report of the Middle School Transformation Plan which will be made public. A report on the audit findings can be found on the Ministry website.
“I’d like to thank the Middle School Principals, leaders and educators for working with the Department to complete and implement this very important Transformation Plan to improve our schools. I will add that the release of the summary audit results and the Middle School Transformation Plan is the start of a series of initiatives that the Ministry plans to implement.
“We will be updating parents, school PTAs, and the general public during the summer months and leading into the 2014/15 academic school year.
“I encourage all stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, principals, unions, and the general public to collaborate with the Ministry of Education so that together we bring about a transformation in our middle schools for improving student achievement and student outcomes.”
Acting Commissioner of Education Dr. Lou Matthews said, “The Minister has outlined the Department’s Middle School Transformation Plan. This Transformation plan identified 10 high impact actions necessary to improve the learning outcomes of students in our middle schools.
“I take this opportunity to emphasize the three key messages that underscore the plan. First, the Transformation Plan represents a fundamental shift from teacher-centered instruction to powerful, engaging, student-centered learning.”
Dr. Lou Matthews, Dr. Grant Gibbons, Dr. Freddie Evans, and Dr. Lou Simmons
“Second, the Transformation Plan requires all students to have opportunities to be successful by providing the right kinds of academic intervention, and framing positive student behavior in schools. And finally, the Transformation Plan embraces a commitment to equip all teachers and leaders in the middle schools to help students reach their potential.
“The stakes for all of us are high. In September, my young cousin will be entering his first year in one of our Middle Schools and will be a student there for the next three years. I, along with every middle school parent and family member have a personal stake in ensuring that the 10 actions that we have outlined will ensure that he and every middle school student currently enrolled or joining in September is successful.
“My concern is no different from many of the public who will view this Transformation Plan. We all have a similar story, a vested interest in ensuring that each middle school student from this moment on will be in a classroom where he or she is engaged and supported every day; in a school where leaders’ highest priority is high quality instruction; and in a system where there is a clear vision of first class education for students in this age group.
“The Transformation Plan will resonate with teachers and parents. Middle School parents have been instrumental in recognizing challenges in our middle schools, and then participating in the audits by way of interviews were instrumental in determining these 10 high impact actions.
“The transformation will also resonate with school principals who now have a clear direction forward for our middle schools. They have worked tirelessly with the Department of Education to craft the Transformation actions.
“The Transformation Plan will also resonate with Department leaders and educators because it harnesses the best of what we know about education 10 to 15 year olds globally. We know that in order to get the best out of our schools and students we must raise our standards for leadership, set clear expectations, and monitor those expectations at the school and system level.
“Lastly, the Plan will resonate with the Bermuda public whose interest in the education of middle level students over the last 17 years has been well documented. But a plan for action is not action itself. In order for us to be successful we must move from words to action.
“The Department of Educations’ Acting Director of Standards and Accountability, Dr. Freddie Evans and Assistant Directors, Ms. Laverne Simons and Terry Cox will be leading the transformation actions. Principals and their leadership teams, along with teachers and parents and Department support will abide by clear expectations, actions, and measurable outcomes, in the upcoming weeks.
“The work has already begun, but its success depends on our efforts over the next several months. We have set as our benchmark an increase in the number of students passing critical subjects by 10% over the next nine months. To be successful, teachers and principals must make sure every lesson utilizes the best strategies available to identify and close academic gaps.
“In order to increase Mathematics and English scores by 5% over the next year, Department leaders and principals must work together to ensure that every teacher is clear on what good teaching of math and English looks like and can implement lessons that are of a high standard every day.
“This Middle School Transformation Plan calls for changes in the culture of classrooms across the system, from traditional to 21st century-focused. It calls for dramatic improvements in the way educators plan, teach and structure the environments we expect students to learn in.
“Nine months from today, we anticipate sharing a story about transformation of our leadership, our instruction, our culture and it will begin with these 10 powerful actions.
“The work to be done will not be on paper. It will be accomplished in schools every day, by teachers and students; by principals and Department leaders working side by side in the same way we have in the last two months in creating this plan.
“I know it is possible because we have an interest in children. And so we ask for your support. 10 actions. One goal. Student success.”
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This is a cut and paste from previous reports. Unless you have an accountability plan included, this is more education jargon. How will these steps be measured? There would need to be transparency (publicized)in standardized test results that can be compared in one year, two years, three years if we are going to really be about something. There is no mention of what standardized assessments will be used to compare the readiness of middle school students for year to year transitions, to senior school or across other middle and private schools locally or overseas. I would want to know this as a parent in the event I transfer my child to another school.
Gee, this is positive. Nothing really bad you can say about this.
“One goal. Student success.”
Hurray!
I guess that’s why there are ZERO comments.
Correct ‘Allspice.
Shalom.
Well well well !! It seems like the same people who dropped this failure of a system on BDA are back to put bandaids on it ! Amazing the US & Canada got rid of it & we picked it up ! Talk about not being smarter than a fifth grader !!, end result counterproductive !!!
P/S I bet anyone $1.00 that if you ask 80% of the teachers in Bermuda if they approved the Mid school program being here ? They’d tell you NO ! SO WHY DID WE SET OUR CHILDREN BACK !
Most people are putting their children in private schools— why??? The middle school has failed in other countries—- do the math people, they want our kids to fail
At this point any failure of our schools is a shared responsibility. Both parties have had a go at it and the schools are still less than they should be. So it seems to me that any real attempt to make things better can only be good regardless of the author, even if it only results in minor improvements.
If you want a better Bermuda then good schools is where you start and we can’t seem to get it together, even though our schools are well funded.
I don’t know what is going to happen, but I sure hope that this particular effort has a positive effect.
this is wonderful, not unlike every other plan..let’s see how well it works in practice…finger crossed praying for success…
Indeed. Praying for success!
Well done Dr. Gibbons
Just a note . . .Dr. Gibbons is only giving the lip service as the current minister. He hasn’t done anything. Look at the dates, the audit was done way before he became minister of education or premier.
This plan is vague. Where is the meat and potatoes? How are you going to measure the success? How can you make classrooms 21st century when in fact the public schools have sub-standard equipment and no money? Who is going to measure the progress? If it’s the same people that have been at MOED all this time, why weren’t you monitoring and professionally developing people then?
I would like to see a comprehensive step by step plan of improvement rather than this surface plan.
This whole thing says NOTHING.
Look at the 10 “Action” Point – just a whole lot of words and nothing that can actually state action.
If our schools are following the British Cambridge curriculum WHY WHY WHY would we be seeking advice from North America on the middle school system which CLEARLY does not work for us? Bermudian educators know the middle school system is a failure and most were hoping that the middle school concept would be scrapped altogether. When we first revamped our system many years ago, the middle school concept was not the answer to the problem. There have been numerous alternative proposals forwarded since then but we seem to be afraid to admit that we made a mistake with the introduction of middle schools. It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that middle schools have led to the proliferation of our gang culture that we see today. Ask the teachers. Having said all of that, we must ensure that what we have succeeds (if this is the direction the current govt. sees fit to follow.)
More ‘nothing’. If you have a problem why would you not start at the beginning instead of in the Middle- they should have started the audit at the Primary level first- students do not all of a sudden have problems at middle school level. Lets get to the root of the problem please.