Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth received approval from the Herricks school board at last Thursday night’s meeting for the school district to participate in an international high school learning system that he said could raise academic standards at Herricks to another level along with other New York State school districts.
Bieriwirth’s pitch was for the Programme for International Student Assessment, a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in more than 70 countries of 15-year-old school pupils’ scholastic performance on mathematics, science, and reading. He said the international student assessment learning system is based on a principle of encouraging students to apply knowledge learning in school to real-world problems to encourage a creative application of what they’ve learned.
“This is to me the most professional application in the world. It’s nice to be ranked by Newsweek. But what do you do next?” he said, referring to the magazine’s inclusion of the district among the top school districts in the country.
Bierworth said the Programme for International Student Assessment is based on principles including commitment to universally high academic achievement for all students, attracting the most talented teachers to the most challenging classroom environments, incorporating incentives and accountability in the education system and permitting flexibility and autonomy at the school level in a given district.
At Thursday’s meeting, Bierwirth proposed the district commit to participating in Programme for International Student Assessment tests in math, science and reading to be administered in the fall among a sample population of 75 15-year-old students randomly selected. The tests, he said, are scored on a six-point scale, with a high score of six given for the most creative answer to a test question.
As an example, he cited a sample question about measuring the area of Antarctica. The student is presented a map of Antarctica and a mileage scale and asked how he or she would propose to measure the area of the very irregularly shaped land mass. No answer is necessarily considered incorrect, but the explanatory answers are rated on the creativity of their approach.
“We want to benchmark ourselves against other school systems around the world,” Bierwirth said.
Participation in the testing program will cost $7,500 – $1,000 for each of the 15-year-olds who participate in it, he said.
Bierwirth said the most successful education systems in the world, including those in Korea, Finland, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and the Netherlands have applied the system with success since it was introduced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 1997.
The U.S. currently ranks among the middle of the pack among other nations, according to Bierwirth, after being considered to have one of the best educational systems worldwide in the 1960s and 1970s. He said the socio-economic disparities in commitment of educational resources in the U.S. is one of the distinguishing aspects of the country’s educational system.
“There is a greater correlation between socio-economic status and quality of education in the U.S. than any other country in the world,” Bierwirth said.
He said he is currently trying to convince 30 of the top school districts in Nassau County to participate in Programme for International Student Assessment with the idea of sharing information about academic instruction after test scores are reviewed to determine ways that each district might improve its education strategies.
“We want to build a learning community of top school districts who want to become better,” Bierwirth said. “This is about learning what it is we need to do to become better. We have committed to preparing Herricks students for college and beyond.”
In the long run, with other school districts participating, he said he hopes to demonstrate improved academic standards to the state education department to discourage the proliferation of standardized testing that he said has become a politically motivated initiative in the state.
“I hope you will take the great leap of faith,” he told the Herricks school board trustees, and unanimously, they did.
In other developments:
• The Herricks board voted to award a contract to Connor Sports Court International to replace the floor of the middle school gym at a cost of $130,000. Helen Costigan, Herricks assistant superintendent of business, said the floor had “buckled” because of moisture beneath the middle school and students had been injured while playing on it. Costigan said a vented floor surface will be installed to prevent moisture from warping it again in the future. Bierwirth said the money for the work could be drawn from the district’s unallocated fund balance because the needed work was prompted by a health and safety emergency.
• The Herricks board also approved a contract with BOCES not to exceed $225,000 for installation of new security cameras to enhance security at district schools. Bierwirth said BOCES would be bidding on security cameras on behalf of school districts throughout Nassau County.
• The board approved issuance of tax anticipation notes not to exceed $14.4 million to cover district costs in anticipation of receipt of taxes levied for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014. Costigan said the district issues the notes to cover salaries and other costs before expected tax revenues are received by the district.
• The board voted to accept the sale of $6.17 million in bond anticipation notes at a net interest rate of 0.28 percent, or $17,708 to TD Securities.
