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EDUCATORS STILL SEARCH FOR THE WRITE STUFF NEW BOSTON PROGRAM AIMS TO HELP KIDS GET THE LEAD OUT
March 17, 2002
Alice Gomstyn, Globe Correspondent
EYE ON EDUCATION
Jane King once asked a sixth-grader to write a five-paragraph essay on what good sportsmanship meant to
him. In the first paragraph, the student presented a short list of behaviors and qualities, including
courtesy and "not being a sore loser." In his next four paragraphs, he restated the list, over and over.
The student was unable to develop his ideas in writing, said King, director of instruction at John
McCormack Middle School in Dorchester.
He's not alone. Boston's most recent MCAS scores show 65 percent of seventh-graders and 57 percent of
eighth-graders scored "failing" or "needs improvement" in English. Students "don't work with their
thoughts well enough to have any real meat," King said.
Boston school and city officials hope an initiative called WriteBoston will help improve scores and
put some "meat" into the writing produced by middle- and high-school students. Although still in the
planning stages - the program's executive director starts next week - at least two facets of the program
already are being discussed: Teacher workshops led by educators specializing in writing instruction,
and school visits by prominent authors who will discuss students' work with them.
But if ReadBoston, a sister program to WriteBoston, is any indication, school
officials face a tough challenge.
A privately funded city initiative launched in 1995 to promote reading among students in elementary
schools, ReadBoston has provided schools with more books and has enlisted teachers, parents, and
community members to work more together. The program's initial goal was to have all third-graders
reading at grade level by 2005, but Rick Weissborg, one of ReadBoston's founders, conceded that
the program's original aim is still far from reach: Less than a third of Boston third-graders
demonstrated "proficient" reading skills on the latest MCAS exam.
Weissborg acknowledged that although nearly all of the city's 80 elementary schools have received
books and tutors from the program, ReadBoston officials are concentrating most of their efforts on
25 schools that have demonstrated the most interest in the reading initiative because of limited
resources.
"We're trying not to spread too thin so we can do work well in a reasonable number of places,"
Weissborg said, citing success at the James Otis School in East Boston, which is now in its
third year with ReadBoston. The percentage of Otis fourth-graders who scored "proficient" in
the English portion of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam increased from
zero in 1998 to 16 in 2001.
One of WriteBoston's goals will be to reinforce among older students the reading skills stressed
to younger students by ReadBoston, said Theresa Lynn, executive director of ReadBoston. "It
provides a nice continuum of literacy programs for Boston youth," she said.
Virginia Ordway-Macrina, headmaster of the Odyssey Academy at South Boston High, agreed that
the two programs are intertwined and that developing students' interest in reading is critical
to WriteBoston's success. Students in the academy are slated to participate in WriteBoston this
coming school year, along with students at McCormack Middle School and Boston High School.
"Kids who don't read generally don't like to write," Ordway-Macrina said.
Duane Deallie, an eighth-grader at McCormack who enjoys horror novels, said certain assignments
motivate him to write more than others. "Sometimes I like writing; sometimes I don't," said Deallie, 14.
A recent project to create a newspaper was challenging but fun, he said. "It was a nice paper,"
Deallie said.
Teachers at McCormack said they are eager to learn about other ways to encourage students like
Deallie to express themselves through writing. "[Students] lack any convincing reason to write,
a real reason to write," said Maggie Lodge, a humanities teacher. "The approach we have been
using is really formulaic. We need to focus on what they have to say, not just what we want
them to say."
Eye On Education is a partnership between The Boston Globe and WGBH Television, with WILD-AM and El Mundo.
SERIES HIGHLIGHTS
Some elements of Eye on Education, an initiative that looks at how education reform and standardized
testing are shaping Boston public schools.
March 27, "Basic Black," WGBH-TV, 10:30 p.m.: "The Teaching Mission" looks at the challenges facing
African-American educators in Boston.
March 28, "Frontline," WGBH-TV, 8 p.m.: "Secrets of the SAT" follows Bay Area high school seniors
through the college application process.
March 28, "Frontline," WGBH-TV, 9 p.m.: "Testing Our Schools" investigates how the quest for higher
test scores is changing public education.
March 28, "Frontline," WGBH-TV, 10 p.m.: "Inside the Teenage Brain" explores research about teenage
brain development that gives new explanations for why teens behave the way they do.
April 1-5, "Classroom Voices," WGBH-FM (89.7 FM), 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m.: "Teen and Teacher Radio
Diaries" explores the firsthand experiences of Boston Public School students and teachers. (Spanish
diaries will air at 5:30 p.m. on WRCA 1330 AM.)
April 2, "Greater Boston," WGBH-TV, 7 p.m.: A profile of the Penikese Island School, a private,
nontraditional secondary school located off Woods Hole that serves troubled boys ages 15 to 18.
April 3, "Greater Boston," WGBH-TV, 7 p.m.: Three panelists - Jerry Howland and Elvis Henriquez,
teachers at English High School in Jamaica Plain; and Kathleen Dawson, a math coach at Charlestown
High School - are reunited to look at education reform and how it has changed local classrooms
since November 2000.
April 3, "La Plaza," WGBH-TV, 8 p.m.: "Diplomas and Dropouts" follows two students at Charlestown
High who must still pass the MCAS to graduate.
April 4, "Greater Boston," WGBH-TV, 7 p.m.: An analysis of the Latino community's high dropout
rate; a look at one area high school that has managed one of the most dramatic MCAS turnarounds
in the state.
April 4, "A Day in the Life," WGBH-TV, 8 p.m.: Discover life inside Dorchester's Jeremiah E.
Burke High School.
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