Education Week - February 25, 2015 - Special Report - S43

EDUCATION WEEK LEADERS TO LEARN FROM
February 25, 2015 n
S43
edweek.org/leaders
" I always knew education was my passion.
Even as mayor, it was about what I could do to better the lives
of people, and most importantly, students."
A. Cardona, the performance and evaluation
specialist for the district.
But "Dr. Benigni came in and immediately
changed that mindset," Mr. Cardona said. "He
raised the bar and said, 'We are not going to
take this. Our kids deserve better.' "
Collaboration Matters
Mr. Benigni's first victory came less than a
year into his tenure as superintendent, when
he freed up an hour of time each week to devote
to teacher collaboration and professional
development.
It was an initiative the district had come
close to accomplishing under the previous superintendent,
when efforts to release students
early were halted by a busing conflict with a
local private school.
Meriden Federation of Teachers President
Erin D. Benham said that when Mr. Benigni
discovered no one in the district had reached
out to the private school personally, he made
the trip himself.
"A couple of weeks later, we were back at
the table," Ms. Benham said, describing Mr.
Benigni's enthusiasm as "something you want
to go along with-it's hard not to."
Mr. Benigni said that undertaking required
a level of understanding and collaboration
between management and the union that set
the tone for how business would be done moving
forward. And its success helped pave the
way for the superintendent's more ambitious
proposals for ensuring Meriden's students
would get more learning time: full-day kindergarten
and expanded days at three neighborhood
elementary schools.
"Launching that successfully and making
sure that all views and opinions were represented
put us on our way to doing bigger and
better things," he said.
In 2011, representatives of Meriden's union
and management team were invited by the
American Federation of Teachers to attend a
conference organized by the National Center
on Time & Learning-a Boston-based nonprofit
devoted to researching and supporting
expanded-learning-time initiatives.
Confident that Meriden's students could
benefit from more time in school, the district
applied for a $450,000 aft Innovation
Fund Grant to expand instructional time at
Casimir Pulaski Elementary with a focus on
writing, the stem subjects-science, technology,
engineering, and math-and healthy
living.
The district received the grant June 1, 2012,
and opened the doors to its first expandedlearning-time
program in August of that year,
said Ms. Benham. "Looking back now on the
amount of work we did and what we accomplished
in two months, it was incredible."
Hammering out the logistics of the re-engineered
school day with parents and teachers
was challenging.
"This was high impact," Principal Coffey recalled.
"We were messing with people's schedules
at home. We were talking about students
waiting for buses at 7 a.m. when it's not too
light out. You can imagine the skepticism, resistance,
and fear of the program."
But through negotiation and "real compromise,"
Mr. Cardona said, Mr. Benigni managed
to win over union support for controversial
changes, including the use of community
organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club
and the ymca to help staff the program.
"That's the type of leadership Mark brings,"
Mr. Cardona said. "He brings out the best in
people and organizations, because he'll give
them an authentic seat at the table."
Mr. Benigni, who began his career as a
special education teacher in Meriden, said
he learned the importance of transparent
leadership while navigating the "unique
but connected worlds" of education and
politics.
During his tenure as an assistant principal
in the neighboring Berlin district, Mr. Benigni
was elected city councilor, and then four-term
mayor, of Meriden. He returned to the district
as superintendent in 2010, after two years as
a high school principal in the nearby Cromwell
district.
"I always knew education was my passion,"
Mr. Benigni said. "Even as mayor, it was about
what I could do to better the lives of people,
and most importantly, students."
Measuring Gains
Today, students at Casimir Pulaski,
John Barry, and Roger Sherman elementary
schools receive an additional 100
minutes of instruction each day with technical
and financial support from a publicprivate
partnership known as the time
Collaborative. Led by the National Center
on Time & Learning and backed by
the Ford Foundation, the initiative has brought
expanded learning time to schools in 16 districts
across Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts,
New York, and Tennessee. (The foundation
also underwrites coverage of more and
better learning time in Education Week.)
"We didn't want it to be paper and pencil,"
Mr. Benigni said of the programs, which
focus on building background knowledge and
honing lifelong skills through "high-quality
enrichment." Electives like woodshop, scrapbooking,
and guitar-designed by teachers
based on their own passions-are infused
with writing and math activities that complement
core academics.
In a district where barriers such as poverty
and lack of transportation have long
inhibited access to enrichment activities,
Meriden's leaders view the mere availability
of such programs as a milestone. But they
are aware that the initiative's long-term success
relies on measurable gains in student
achievement.
To that end, Mr. Benigni points to positive
results at Pulaski, which entered its third
year of expanded learning time last fall.
Scores on the most recent state tests, in 2013,
showed strong improvements in mathematics,
reading, and writing at all grade levels.
As a result, Pulaski advanced to the classification
status of "progressing," which is the
second-highest rating in the state's five-tier
accountability system, and received recognition
as a Connecticut School of Distinction.
In response to mixed test results at
Barry, the district sought additional resources
and supports for the school's expanded-learnPOSITION:
Superintendent
DISTRICT: Meriden Public Schools, Meriden, Conn.
EXPERTISE: Extended Learning Time
LESSONS FROM
A LEADER
>> Community
Involvement
Involve all stakeholders in the
education of students.
>> More Time;
Better Time
It's not just about adding more time.
That additional learning time must
be used well to benefit all students.
>> Students at Center
Give students a voice and choice,
and engage them in studentcentered
learning.
ing-time program through a School Improvement
Grant it received from the state of
Connecticut in 2014.
While Barry faces particular challenges-
including the highest poverty rates and the
greatest mobility rates among the three expanded-learning-time
schools-Mr. Benigni
said recent scores from the district's internal
benchmark assessments showed promising
improvement (The district cannot yet account
for achievement gains at Sherman, which
began its expanded-learning-time program
last fall.)
But Mr. Cardona said he believes some of
the most palpable examples of the program's
success are harder to convey through data-
including the ways in which partnerships
with local organizations have set up "informal
mentorships" that have strengthened community
bonds, increased staff diversity, and
inspired students in the district.
"When our students walk into the building
and they see a person of color leading
something, that's a very good thing," he said.
"Those relationships make them feel like they
can be a karate master, own their own business,
or direct the Boys & Girls Club one day."
Mr. Cardona said the program has inspired
teachers as well.
"I can't put into words the feeling that you
get when you're a part of something and you
know you're doing good things for kids," he
said, "but that's the feeling that you get when
you walk through our schools. And that wasn't
here before. Mark brought that here." n
Mark Abramson for Education Week
http://www.edweek.org/leaders
Education Week - February 25, 2015 - Special Report

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - February 25, 2015 - Special Report
