It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away. I hope all of you have had a great month since my last post. This post will feature some clarifying points on the Dale St. ensemble pilot.
Dale St. Music Pilot -What does a Dale St. School education look like with an additional 90+ hours of instruction a year?
The Dale St. music pilot has become a topic of conversation in our community and I think it's important to provide some clarity around the issue and help clear up some misconceptions that have surfaced. The pilot moved ensemble practice for band, orchestra, and chorus from during the school day to before school. Prior to this pilot, students had one instrument lesson, one general music class, and a 45 minute ensemble practice per week. Our students still enjoy one lesson and one general music class during the school day. It's important to understand that nothing was cut, instead the time for ensemble practice has changed to before school instead of during the school day. Elementary ensembles outside the school day is a model that has seen years of success in other preeminent music programs such as Weston and Wellesley. We remain committed to maintaining the excellence of the Medfield music program. A program that everyone in our community has come to value and enjoy. This pilot is an effort to study a simple and compelling overarching question: What does a Dale St. School education look like with an additional 90+ hours of instruction a year?
The decision to change the music schedule and not another content area was a result of careful examination of the academic and specialist schedules at Dale St. That process illuminated that music was the only special content area that met three times a week during the school day and many classrooms at Dale St. had science and social studies instruction only 2 days a week. Initial feedback from the the classroom teachers' experience with increased instructional time has been very positive. In addition, 63 of our students are able to participate in both band/orchestra and chorus; a great opportunity the previous model did not allow.
In addition to collecting qualitative data through teacher feedback and parent questionnaires, this pilot will also be discussed by a committee examining the school day in all three elementary schools. The committee is comprised of parents from all three elementary schools, each elementary principal, classroom teachers, special education teachers, representative teachers from the specialists (including Mr. Dexter from the Music Dept.), two school committee members, and Chris McCue Potts from the Medfield Music Association. This group will study the current models and provide recommendations for an improved structure in all three buildings. The goal is to elicit feedback from parents and teachers in early March. This will give the committee time to analyze the data and make thoughtful and informed recommendations for the 2015-2016 school year.
In addition, Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Olsen will be examining an ongoing trend of attrition from the music program. We are seeing participation in music and band programs drop significantly as students enter Blake Middle School. It's important to get to the root cause of this trend and consider how we can support students' continued participation in our outstanding music programs.
In closing, this pilot is about expanding learning opportunities for all students. It's about a belief that the most important interactions during the school day take place between the teacher and student. It's about centrality of the classroom. I acknowledge that having ensemble practice before school is less convenient for some parents, especially the transportation. I ask you to let the pilot process "play out" and please participate by giving honest feedback on the survey.
I wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving.
