In 1991, the U.S. Department of Education selected South Brunswick High School in central New Jersey as a Blue Ribbon school. The award was based on the school's leadership, curriculum and instruction, organizational vitality, and such objective indicators of success as student achievement and attendance, and teacher attendance.
South Brunswick is still a good high school. But it is feeling the growing pains afflicting the entire region as suburban sprawl encroaches on what once was predominantly farmland. Students new to the school district—or, in some cases, new to the United States— have been steadily entering South Brunswick schools for the past several years, resulting in proportionately more African-American, Hispanic, and Asian students. Students and staff at the high school must cope daily with a changing environment in desperately cramped quarters. How do they rate their Blue Ribbon school?
Polling the Students
Last spring, if you had shoved your way through the crowded halls, you would have observed students who felt powerless and teachers who were anxious. Richard Kaye, the long-time principal, was about to step across the field to head the middle school. Willa Spicer, the district's assistant superintendent, was serving as interim principal.
In early May, Spicer suggested that teachers elicit students' views on the most critical issues facing their school. I took her suggestion one step further and made it a class research project.
The students I chose for the research were a heterogeneous group of 38 seniors who had elected to take my “Journeys” course. At the time, this untracked humanities course, which I co-taught with Chris Davies, was the school's only interdisciplinary course (it combines English and social studies) and one of only two team-taught courses (the other being science). By mid-May when this independent research project began, the group had become very cohesive; Chris and I were close to the students, and the students were close to one another.
I had learned a lot from spontaneous learning activities in the past. This time, I was to learn about the impediments to student research in a traditional high school where administrators, teachers, academic departments, and students are compartmentalized.
The Good, the Bad, the Critical
As Chris and I had agreed beforehand, I told my Journeys students that the new principal was interested in making changes and had requested their advice. I had their rapt attention immediately: they had not been given a big new assignment late in the year; they were not going to be quizzed on their reading. They were being asked to do something real. And someone valued their advice!
I suggested they begin by writing in their journal what their school should continue doing and what it should change, pondering at the same time why students fail. After 15 minutes or so, they began to look around the room. I helped them out by writing four column headings on the chalkboard: “Critical Factors at South Brunswick High School,” “Continue Doing,” “Change,” and “Why Students Fail.” I then asked for a volunteer to record their suggestions.
- Racism
- Problem kids from other schools
- Really, really bad teachers
- Discipline
- Crowded halls
- Crowded classes
- Violence
And what about discipline—did they mean the lack thereof or too much? “Come on, Mrs. Lott, you know what students get away with in this school,” they responded in exasperation, as though I were from Mars. “Discipline's just not consistent!”
- Journeys (either these seniors were buttering me up or they really enjoyed such courses).
- Team teaching.
- Project Promise, an alternative school housed in trailers behind the high school.
- Student Personnel Services, which is staffed by guidance counselors and school-based psychologists.
- Extracurricular activities.
- Do away with the Community Involvement Personal Educational Development (CIPED) program. I had heard good things about this program, which requires juniors to work at community sites every Wednesday for two semesters. But most of my students didn't like it.
- Do away with hall monitors. These non-educators are paid to sit in the hall to make sure students have signed passes.
- Strengthen teacher hiring criteria and inservice education.
- Toughen discipline policies.
- Increase parent involvement.
- Implement greater penalties for failing a course (a surprise). Some students were permitted to repeat courses in summer school, which students perceive as being easier.
- Add semester courses. Most courses now run for a full year with four marking periods. Students would like to have an opportunity to begin a new course in mid-year.
- Explore rotating schedules. That is, vary the times certain courses meet each week.
- Give fewer standardized tests. (The state is requiring more difficult standardized tests in English and math.)
- Offer students more academic options.
- Have more hands-on learning (for example, museum trips).
I was somewhat depressed by the list of critical issues, yet stimulated by the energy and excitement in the classroom. I asked my students to jot down which items they wished to research and continue to work on the rest of the week. Highly motivated, they met in groups and planned their work with little assistance.
- Have you ever failed a class or had a student who failed a class while you have been in this high school? (check one)__Yes __No
- [[[[[ **** LIST ITEM IGNORED **** ]]]]]
- Which do you feel is the number one reason that students fail?
The number one reason students gave for failure: students don't care. This was followed by lack of motivation, not making school their first priority, and lack of support at home. Among teachers, by contrast, lack of parental supervision or support was cited most often as the prime cause of failure, followed closely by not making school the top priority.
The list of reasons was the one the Journeys students had dictated, in the order they dictated it (their answers had flowed as swiftly as a river after a storm).
- What grade are you in?
- What ethnic background are you from?
- Do you feel there is a racial problem in your school?
- Have any specific incidents happened to you?
- Do you have any friends who are of a different race from you?
- Do you know any students who are racist?
- Do you have any racial prejudices?
- Do you feel that any teachers are prejudiced? If so, name an incident.
- What can the school do to improve racial harmony?This survey is strictly confidential.
Technical Difficulties
My students found that carrying out their research was much rougher than planning it, even though we had firmly told them to conduct themselves properly.
We permitted students who were writing questionnaires to use school computers that were available in the computer room. There, they worked independently, assiduously, and quietly. The problem was this: Teachers must sign up weeks in advance for the single room and specify how many students will be involved. Unfortunately, I had not known in advance exactly how many students would be using the room or if they would be using it at all. Some teachers graciously allowed us to use idle computers, but others complained, even though their students did not fill the room. Worst of all, because I had not followed procedure, the school's technology supervisor banished my students from the computer room for the rest of the school year.
We had just as much trouble copying questionnaires. Students are forbidden to touch the copiers. And in our compartmentalized high school, each department gets its own paper supply. Because our project occurred at the end of the year, when social studies and English departments are concerned about their paper supplies, Chris and I found ourselves prohibited from using the copier. Unbeknownst to me, one impatient student went to the art room to copy her survey herself, and both of us were reprimanded.
The Journeys students were working harder than they had all year, yet among school personnel, our course's reputation plummeted. This was minor, however, compared to the fracas that ensued when our students distributed their questionnaires to their teachers. “Why are your students asking all these questions anyway?” “All these questions are only going to cause trouble.” Chris and I decided to explain ourselves on a one-to-one basis.
Polling Staff
- How many times do you see your counselor during a school year? (check one)__1 __5 __10 __ more
- In which way does your counselor help you: Personal matters? School related matters? Other?
- After talking to your counselor, do you feel as though you've learned something? (check one)__Yes __No __ Sometimes
- Do you have access to your counselor when you need him or her? (check one)__Yes __No __ Sometimes
- Do you like your counselor? (check one)__Yes __No
- What do you need from Personnel Services that may not already be offered?
The staff believed the survey was unnecessary because the guidance department itself surveys student attitudes each year. I was asked whether I had seen my students' questionnaire (I had), and was told that the question “Do you like your counselor?” had no bearing on a counselor's performance.
I reassured them that my students generally held a favorable view of their department. But they were still concerned about how the questionnaire would be used and who would see it.
- (check one) __ Male __ Female
- How many years have you been teaching?
- How many classes do you teach in one day?
- On average, how many students do you have in each class?
- In all, how many students do you teach?
- How much extra time do you usually put in planning/grading out of school each day?
- How much time do you usually spend each day helping your students out of class?
- If your workload was less, would you spend more time outside the classroom helping your students?
- Would teaching another class each day alter your ability to teach effectively? How?
- Do you have tenure?
- Do you approve of tenure? Why or why not?
Polling Schools Nearby
Chris and I encouraged our students to research the curriculums, schedules, and activities at neighboring schools and to set up their own appointments. A group interested in extracurricular activities and school spirit was curious to see whether students elsewhere were more unified and whether they got involved in more activities and sporting events. They interviewed students and distributed a questionnaire at Sayreville and South Plainfield High Schools.
- How do you feel about violence in your school?
- Do you think it has an effect on the way you or other students learn?
- Has the level changed since you have been here? (check one) __Yes __NoHas it gone: Up? Down?
- What is the punishment for committing a violent act against another student? Do you think it is too rough? What do you feel it should be?
- Do you feel that students think before they fight because of the consequences?
- Why do most kids fight?
Most students at both schools thought violence had increased and that it had a lot to do with overcrowded conditions and different sorts of students enrolling. Most also wanted more severe sanctions.
Two groups of students were interested in curriculum and schedule changes and more student options. They expressed the desire to visit schools outside the district that had programs different from ours. They discussed how they would dress and practiced interviewing techniques, and I checked their questions and phone manner in advance. Although they managed to set up an appointment at one private school, they were rebuffed by the public schools. “Everyone said they weren't in charge, and when we asked to speak to a person in authority, that person said the same thing,” the students lamented.
I found it no easier myself. After talking to a succession of department heads, assistant principals, principals, assistant superintendents, and one superintendent, I finally made appointments for my students to observe classes in other settings and to interview professionals from other districts. Unfortunately, one neighboring district confiscated their surveys, finally returning them with the explanation that the district would not participate because the surveys appeared unscientific.
Journey's Findings
After two weeks, Chris and I asked our Journeys students to write up their findings, stating their purpose, procedure, analysis of data, conclusions, and recommendations. They then presented their reports to the whole class and led a discussion about them. Their findings were interesting. Some recommendations may very well reflect the thinking of their peers across the country. They also expanded their knowledge of education and generally grew as a result of their experience.
I continue to be baffled, however, about why a simple class assignment, designed to encourage graduating seniors to ask questions about their own education, met with such stiff resistance. South Brunswick High School is going through a period of growth and change, but it is still a first-rate school. Yet, when students asked questions about its structure, they sometimes met with open hostility and the specter of professionals protecting their turf. Moreover, my colleagues, various administrators, and personnel from neighboring schools often questioned my own motives and teaching style.
Chris and I were not revolutionaries; on the contrary, we were following through on a suggestion from our principal. Perhaps we unwittingly broke two unwritten rules: (1) Outside the classroom, only teachers are supposed to ask questions—especially questions about the operation of the school; and (2) In a factory-model school, teachers should not cooperate fully with administrators, who have power over teachers.
Our Project's Payoff?
Six months after we concluded the research project, South Brunswick Township voters passed a referendum for a new high school, which should be ready in about three years. Plans are also afoot for a freshman school within the new school. Based on Ted Sizer's Horace's School, it will have a separate time schedule, and students will have the option of taking interdisciplinary courses.
Further, our present school has gone through some restructuring. Under Spicer's influence, a faculty senate and a student senate have been formed, and they convene together periodically. An interdisciplinary 10th grade American studies course, combining literature and history, will be taught for the first time in the 1995–96 school year. Semester courses will be introduced in several electives.
In addition, discipline has become more consistent. And teachers have been given individual photocopier codes, unrelated to their departments. Although we still lack easy access to the computer room, I sense a general relaxation of unnecessary rules.
In my good moments, I like to think that my Journeys research assignment had a little something to do with these changes. And since the point of restructuring is to improve education, why shouldn't students have a say in how it's done?
