by Leah Schroeder ‘13

“Feel free to ask anything that is on your minds … because what we think as adults and the policies that exist at the federal and state level may not match up with what you actually need and what will help you be successful in life,” said MCPS Superintendent Josh Starr as he introduced himself at the Student Town Hall Meeting on February 27 at Walter Johnson.

Since being named Superintendent in June 2011, Starr has sought input from parents and students. Whether it be further investigating student interest in using laptops or iPads in the classroom or looking into later start times, Starr works to ensure that students are the main beneficiaries of the educational experience.

Starr’s student-oriented approach to education aligns with his having made headline news in recent weeks for his views against the use of standardized testing as a means of evaluating teachers and students.

“I want to know how kids are doing, but ultimately the goal of education is not to do well on standardized tests. It’s to be ready to go out into the world and thrive on your terms,” said Starr at the Student Town Hall Meeting. “The question becomes how do we ensure that you have the academic skills when you leave us, but also the skills you need to be in a 21st century environment where there is more than one way to get to an answer and the extent to which you collaborate with peers becomes more important than just your technical skills. When I look at my own kids, I want them to do well on standardized tests, but I want them to be great people first.”

Board of Education member Mike Durso, formerly a long-time principal at Springbrook, has not heard much opposition to Starr’s philosophy from parents or students. “There really is a whole standardized testing backlash that is starting to spread throughout the country. Testing is never going to go away, and I’m not sure it should, but I do think we need to take a long, hard look at what I think are the excesses of testing. I think nationally we may have lost our way for one of the clichés of dealing with a whole person. It is not just about statistics, but about preparing young people for other things, being able to reason, being able to communicate, being able to work in groups.”

Durso applauds Starr’s efforts to use social media and make himself available to a number of different groups and points to Starr being a parent to school-age children as a contributor to his educational philosophy.

Starr is opposed to the use of standardized tests to evaluate teachers, which elicited concerns when the state of Maryland rejected  MCPS’ nationally acclaimed teacher evaluation system on the basis that it did not give enough significance to test scores as a means of evaluation.

“I hope we aren’t on a collision course with the state because we could be. I hope there is some compromise. It is a very cluttered landscape with teacher evaluations right now,” said Durso. “How does one evaluate a special ed teacher? A physical education teacher? A teacher who teaches electives? There are a lot of unknowns that people have not really thought through. It is causing a lot of stress and anxiety for people who are worried about their livelihoods.”

Starr believes that the best way to engage students is for teachers to build strong relationships with them, something that cannot be evaluated through test scores. “I want kids to achieve at a high level, but we know that one of the ways to get to higher academic scores is for teachers to have a strong relationship with students and to make them feel like part of the community,” said Starr.

Principal Bill Gregory also favors preparing students for the future over standardized testing, believing that students should be pushed and challenged, but that the significance of rigor and education comes from opportunities, not test scores. He wants teachers to personally reach out to students, inviting them to take advantage of opportunities and put the supports in place necessary to help them do well.

“I believe that in order for students to succeed academically, we need to take care of other more social needs. … We can have rigor, but students aren’t going to be able to meet that level of rigor if we don’t respect students, if we don’t build them up, if we don’t nurture, if we don’t have all of the other experiences that we have here at Sherwood. When Starr came on board and started talking about socio-emotional needs, it really fit into what we do here,” said Gregory.

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