Response from District

Administrators have made some efforts to address our concerns.

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On February 27, 2024, Lauren Tallarine, District Director of Math & Business, sent a lengthy email with details about the selection process and curriculum options. This increase in transparency is one positive improvement resulting from your support. Click here to read it.  Click here to see a response to the letter and areas of concern. Email highlights are below:
 

1. The 2024 math placement process has been changed to
   - Eliminate the meaningless work sample submitted by parents/students.  Instead, teachers will provide in class work samples. Parents and students will not be part of the work sample submission process and will not know what materials are used for evaluation.
   - Introduce a more defined list of committee review members to replace the rubric.
    

2. The science selection process has changed. Click here for information on the "new" science selection. process. Click here for the old advanced science selection from 2020-2023.
   - It incorporates an objective science exam that tests on untaught material. 
   - It introduces a teacher rating of behaviors and committee review. 
    

3. The letter does not publicly define criteria thresholds and therefore, there is no information on what score secures admission. 
    

4. The letter does not ensure process compliance in 2023.  In 2023, the district did not comply with its own policy. 

 

On March 8, 2024, selected parents met with Dr. Gaurav Passi, Superintendent of Schools, and Donald Gately, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction, to present the petition and to make suggestions about how to improve our advanced placement programs.

 

Unfortunately, Dr. Passi has decided that he will NOT form a formal committee to incorporate parent feedback at this time. He offered two reasons:
 

• He wants to collect 5 years worth of data on the program as is and then to reevaluate the program based on data.  However, we feel that we don't need more data to know that the current selection process is failing and that parents want more access and transparency on the process than we have right now. 
   

• He noted pending litigation.  However, the pending litigation is based on past violations of policy and does not stop the district from changing future policy. Any litigation could be settled, and it does not make sense to jeopardize the  future of an entire cohort of students to defend past mistakes.

 

This may not fully reflect Dr. Passi's thinking on the matter. We invite Dr. Passi will communicate his position to the community in his own words. 

 

This is disappointing and contrasts with responses in similar situations from high performing neighboring districts.  In 2019, parents in Jericho pursued a similar petition process to improve access to their accelerated science programs. Click here to see the Jericho petition with almost the same number of signatures. The administrators listened and acted.  Parents and students are pleased.  Jericho Senior High School became a Blue Ribbon School in 2021.

 

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What's Next?

We need to keep pushing administrators to revise the selection process and curriculum flexibility.  Administrators are not willing to establish a formal committee process.  They prefer to work with parents individually.  ​

 

Consider raising these concrete, actionable and no cost solutions described below in emails, calls and conversations.

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1. Revise selection processes for math and science to eliminate subjective and inaccurate teacher ratings. Click here for the latest educational research on the problems with the teacher rating scales.
    

2. Revise the selection criteria so that criteria thresholds on secure exams are pre-determined and maintained throughout the process.
    

3. Expand access in advanced math and advanced science through additional class sections.  This requires shifting existing teacher/specialist schedules and using existing curriculum materials.  This implies no new costs.
    

4. Change the content of secure exams to reflect material taught in class.  Stop the need for parents to hire tutors to teach skipped content in math and now science in order to place in advanced classes.  For instance, revert back to a 5th grade math acceleration class model and modify the secure exam for accelerated science so it only tests taught content.
    

5. Allow students harmed by the 2023 math selection process to participate in the AP Intensive Science Pathway selection process if they find ways to "catch up" on math needed. 
    

6. Expand the selection pool through a reduced or eliminated CogAT threshold.
    

7. Allow for increased access to advanced/AP science classes. 
   - Allow students to opt into AP Chem if taking Algebra 2 simultaneously
   - Allow students to take AP Bio in 9th grade regardless of advanced math participation.
   - Follow the Jericho model that allows 7th graders to take Earth Science or 8th graders to take both Earth Science and Living Environment.
    

8. Eliminate the GPA bump afforded to double accelerated science students from the additional Earth Science AP taken in 8th grade before they enter high school.