TPN: The Pitsco Network
DC: Dennis Clancy
TPN: Tell us about the Paterson School District.
DC: “This is my second tour of duty here. It’s a very unique district. Our population is very diverse, with students speaking approximately 37 languages. Over half our students are Hispanic, another third are African-American, and we have a fairly large Arabic population too. It’s a district with about 27,000 kids and 50-some school sites. The Paterson Public School District has had problems with old facilities, most of them never renovated. It used to be a wealthy mill town, but as industries moved overseas, the city became economically deprived. Our district facilities are old and in need of repair.”
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TPN: What have been your main successes in two stints (first one in 2004-2005) as interim superintendent in Paterson?
DC: “During my first time here, we cleared up our financial issues and opened two new schools. We’re opening two new schools this year, also. That’s all the new schools they’ve had in the past 20 years. We’ve also implemented a pretty rigorous restructuring plan, which is saving the district millions of dollars over the next few years. Given what everyone is facing economically, that’s been an important step. I’ve found my experience in Paterson to be successful and enjoyable.”
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TPN: Which Pitsco solution did you implement first?
DC: “We put Geophysical Systems in our high schools. I had used the Synergistic Systems in Morris (N.J.) and was impressed by the electronic student management system. The special ed and bilingual population there did pretty well in the science components, so we brought Synergistics into the ninth grade here.”
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TPN: What was your first encounter with a Pitsco lab?
DC: “When I was in the Morris School District in the late ‘90s, we designed an instructional media center for the middle school program. We built it in time for all students to receive instruction in science and math in the media center, which had 24 stations for each subject. It worked very well. Then, in high school, we put in a geophysical systems lab for all students. We were receiving an influx of students, new to the country with language problems. We discovered that these students could function in a collaborative learning situation with other kids and be successful. The labs provided an opportunity for students to get the content down while receiving language support. The same thing was true for our special education students – it facilitated inclusion for students with special needs too.”
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TPN: What else have you implemented in the Paterson district?
DC: “In eight of our high schools, we now require Geophysical Systems in the ninth grade. Each of our large comprehensive high schools has three Synergistic labs, and we also have them in our career academies and smaller high schools. We wanted every ninth grader to have the instructional technology and use it. We also have a few Synergistic labs at the elementary level.”
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TPN: What other educational innovations are you implementing?
DC: “We’re looking now at a total inclusion model for the ninth grade. We discovered that our performance in special education and limited English proficiency is not where it should be in the high schools. Pulling out students and giving them separate course work is simply not beneficial. Your company came out with the Pre-Algebra and Algebra programs. We’re evaluating how these work in our middle schools (this semester), with a plan to possibly put those into a total inclusion schedule in our high schools. We lose about 50 percent of our high school students. Before they graduate, they leave. Our goal is to get them through the ninth and tenth grades and then we think they will stick it out. We believe that if we integrate this technology into our ninth-grade curriculum, students will successfully get algebra under their belt and move into geometry earlier.”
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TPN: Tell us about BUILD Academy, an offshoot of Star Academy.
DC: “There is no question that we needed an alternative program for students having trouble. We also wanted to create an accelerated program, with a whole different slant, for students who are capable and need to make up credit. In looking at the Star Academy’s intent and goals, our feeling was, ‘if you’re in a district where students need pre-algebra and algebra at a high school level, you’re running behind.’ So instead of looking at this as a remedial program for students who are disaffected, we created a middle school program for students who have ability and just need to do it differently. The BUILD Academy is a leadership program. Students go there by choice. Rather than look at it as a deficit model, we’re looking at it as an enrichment model.”
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TPN: Why is the BUILD Academy version of Star Academy necessary?
DC: “Unfortunately, 50 percent of our ninth graders fail algebra. When 50 percent of your students aren’t passing, there is something wrong. Basically, the students are reading at the fifth-grade level. You cannot offer traditional instruction – the kind of instruction that requires a lot of reading – to students with significant reading problems. We’re going to push the envelope a little bit at the middle school level. We’re going to help students change their personal expectations. If they believe they’re in an accelerated learning program, I think they’ll learn better than if they think they are in a remedial program. I believe they’ll rise to the occasion.”
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TPN: How can the relevance of math be taught or instilled?
DC: “The current thinking in the country under NCLB has been test preparation. So much of our instruction is textbook based with a lot of repetition. Many times, students pass the test but they really don’t know the content – they can’t problem solve beyond the test question. I’ve always felt that the hands-on element, the learning application part, is something that many teachers aren’t comfortable with. For those teachers who are good, who love to teach, the lab provides support and frees them up to do what they are best at. From that perspective, the instructional technology covers the basics and allows good teachers to add those all-important enrichment activities, which allow the program to grow.”
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TPN: How does a teacher’s role differ in a Pitsco lab?
DC: “It’s not the lab necessarily; it’s the learning environment created by having teacher and computers work together on the delivery of curriculum. Teachers need to understand that we are not implementing computer-mediated instruction to get rid of them. Some people even say, ‘You’ll be able to put someone who is not a math teacher in that room,’ which is not the case. Actually, it is just the reverse. Imagine what a teacher who understands mathematics can do with this kind of program.”
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TPN: How are you working to overcome the high dropout rate in Paterson?
DC: “From our current freshman class of about 2,000, we’ll see about 1,000 students graduate. If half of them don’t finish school, they’re now the parents of more kids. Part of what attracted me about Star Academy was the idea of the parent and the student involvement. You need to do that. There are great people here who want to do well. It’s just that in many cases, some of these people have to drop out. They have to work. We’re looking at afternoon and twilight programs where young people can come in and utilize technology to get their credit, allowing them to work during the day and also have those options that a diploma provides.”