Entry #13: A consideration of 'looping'
temporarily divides the BCMS faculty
"The work you do is grand, and I know that doesn't happen overnight,"
U. S. Department of Education Secretary Richard Riley told me as we waited
to go on his Satellite Town Meeting Show on February 15. The show was about
powerful middle schools and featured myself, along with a teacher from Jefferson
Middle School, Hayes Mizell, and a parent from Washington State.
I was representing my school and talking about what is good for middle level
students. The opportunity was validating. It confirmed that our quest for
change in schools is much needed, as trying as it sometimes might be. It
confirmed that we should count ourselves fortunate because of the many resources
we have and because of the community we live in. That was the "mountain"
of my week; the valley occurred around "looping."
Visitors to our school the past year have sometimes asked why we didn't
"loop," the practice that puts students with the same teachers
for more than one year. In our two-grade configuration of grades seven and
eight, the students would just stay on the same team for the two years they
are at our school. This practice isn't a fad; it's really been around since
the one-room schoolhouses, but it was something that got left out of our
repertoire of doing what's right for students.
So we began to talk about the practice. I heard people saying a lot of positive
things, and I began to think we might be looping next year. We were discussing
this through our Consolidated Plan, and someone asked about the research
that supported the practice. That was an exciting moment! Just two years
ago, I had tried to encourage the committee to find research-based practices
and not to focus their attention on teacher opinions alone.
For research, I went to Kentucky's Virtual Library and printed out twelve
articles -- all I could find that would print -- and we shared those out
as a committee at the next meeting. There was nothing overwhelmingly negative
about the practice, and things like building self-esteem, offering a more
stable environment to students who by and large do not live in stable environments
any more, and creating a better sense of security in the school were threads
that ran through the articles. We also had two teachers who visited a school
that was looping to report out their experience. After all this research,
we had very few cons and many pros about moving to the practice. Then a
few teachers started saying what they really wanted to do.
Suddenly, the meeting swung from "We think we want to do this"
to a discussion about curriculum mapping, which we are already trying to
accomplish as a district, and how that initiating the two practices together
would be too much on teachers at BCMS. Finally, after two hours of this
type of discussion, we left the room, without a decision. I was hurt and
disappointed because I knew what we had found out, and we were allowing
our fear of change to step in the way of progress. I tried to hide my churning
inner emotions, but the people who were there knew.
Over a week later, we came together again as a committee, and we voted on
looping at the beginning of the meeting. It was the first time in the five
years I've been at BCMS that we have voted on something. We strive for consensus.
The vote was 10 to 4 for looping, and we will be moving in that direction.
Our next steps involved creating professional development opportunities
that will help looping to occur while curriculum mapping is implemented
and our "Different Ways of
Knowing" work spirals through both. The process was gut wrenching
for me, and it validated one more time that change is hard even when we
know "it's the right thing to do." I'm thankful that that valley
didn't last very long.
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