MOHAWK SCHOOL NEXT ACTION - FOCUS GROUPS

The school has hired a third party consultant to assess implementation of the heterogenous model at Mohawk and they are looking for parents and students grades 7-9 to participate in focus groups in early June. Please express your interest to mb@mohawkschools.org. It is important there there is solid participation to express concerns! If you are not grade 7-9 family, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS TO THOSE FAMILIES YOU KNOW. See the full email from Superintendent Buoniconti below. - - - - - - Dear Parents and Guardians of Mohawk Students in Grades 7-9: As you know, the Mohawk High School and Middle School transitioned fully to heterogeneous classrooms in the 2016-2017 school year. During this transition, there have been several challenges, including concerns raised by some students and parents about math classes not being adequately engaging or challenging. Mohawk administrators are interested in getting a broader sense of how the heterogeneous math groups are working for educators and all students, what challenges they are facing, and how this approach could be strengthened to better meet the needs of all students. In order to inform next year’s implementation and develop a benchmarking evaluation system, administrators need an immediate information audit of the current status and perceptions of implementation strengths and gaps. Mohawk has contracted with an independent third party organization, the Collaborative for Educational Services (CES), to conduct this information gathering effort over the next several weeks. We are inviting parents to participate in focus groups to discuss their child’s experience in math this year. These groups will be conducted the weeks of June 5th and/or June 12th in the late afternoon or early evening. Light snacks will be provided. Each group will take about 1 hour. All parents of students in grades 7-9 are invited to participate. We want to hear from a wide spectrum of families and encourage you to step forward to share your opinion. If you are interested in participating, please contact me at mb@mohawkschools.org. We will also invite students to share their perspectives. This feedback will be done in small discussion groups at Mohawk during regular school hours. Additional information and a consent form is attached. If you do not want your student to participate in this activity, please fill out the enclosed form and return it to the MS-HS office by June 2nd. Otherwise you need not to do anything. All of the conversations about heterogeneous math classrooms will be conducted by CES Program Evaluation Specialists, who will summarize findings from all the groups in aggregate form so that individual participants will not be identified. The audit will be completed by the end of the school year, and I will share the information audit findings as well as next steps by the end of June. Sincerely, Michael