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Did you know?
During reviews of our controlled choice policy, Patty asked questions and insisted on full information. The result: reversal of an administration recommended policy decision that would have dramatically reduced options for low income families. Instead, a better solution was developed that increased options for all families. That's Patty's type of leadership: asking the right questions, insisting on full information, and working towards a better solution. |
Writings/news
Nolan campaign hoping for a "recount-proof" showing on Tuesday. The Committee to Elect Patty Nolan has had volunteers door-knocking, hosting events and gathering endorsements. "I am hopeful but honestly having won by just 19 votes last time it's still an uphill battle due to some great challengers. I want a recount-proof margin this time," added Nolan. "I am an issues-based candidate, which is tough even as an incumbent. Most voters vote for people they know from growing up here and that means they don't consider me." At a reception hosted by Liz Adams aimed at private school parents who want to support and know more about the city's public schools, state rep Jonathan Hecht spoke of Patty's ability to help him learn about how state issues affect local school districts. Hostess Liz Adams spoke of Patty's willingness to build bridges and work hard. At an event in North Cambridge at Cornerstone Cohousing, Nolan spoke about the need for learning from other districts and high performing schools in order to improve our schools. Recently at an event hosted by Art & Betty Bardige, Nolan spoke passionately about one of her signature initiatives — raising the level of math instruction in all schools. Individual endorsements continue to come in, showing an impressive diversity of support. Long time Cantabridgians Lynn Hassett and James & Nancy Daley are joined by newcomers like Andrew King & Mary Wissemann. Several members of her Ward 9 Democratic Committee like Kathy Reine and Helen Glikman are on the list, and the Ward 6 Democratic Committee endorsed Patty for the fourth time in a row. Former School Committee candidate Alan Steinert and state senate candidate Tim Flaherty are on the list of endorsers, as well as Harvard sociologist Christopher Jencks. For a list of endorsers, see Endorsements The campaign is especially pleased by the endorsement by the Cambridge Chronicle. In 2005, in their first endorsement, the Chronicle hoped that Patty would continue "pointing out inconsistencies in the budget numbers and advocating on behalf of parents" and if elected "would continue to be a thoughtful presence at meetings — this time with a vote." This year the Chronicle endorsed her as someone "who will help guide Cambridge Schools in the right direction and help move forward with the Innovation Agenda." "It's telling that the Chronicle was on target about Patty in her first race. She's done what she promised and lived up to the hopes of parents across the city" noted volunteer campaign manager Trish Marti. "She has been able to move the district forward on a number of issues, doing the hard work to make change, from raising expectations in math to identifying lapses in information, to better governance. Most importantly, she walks the walk of focusing on higher expectations for all students." Treasurer (and husband) David Rabkin noted that "Patty's got momentum, even though she has run a low budget campaign and taken the 'No robo-calls pledge.' "
Letter: Outreach important year-round
For those of us involved with our school district, fall is the time to analyze MCAS results and adjust to the new school year. And for us candidates, it's a time for campaigning, door-knocking and meeting voters. One thing that has struck me as I speak to people around the city is how interested people are in green initiatives, yet how difficult it is to get behavior change and spread the word about all that is going on in our city. There are many exciting ways the school district is doing its part. In conjunction with the city and utilities, a number of school building have had energy savings improvements. The recent reopening of CRLS showcased other great energy-efficiency improvements that are making the school healthier for staff and students, saving money and lowering emissions. It's about a year since another landmark initiative -- the hiring of a full-time sustainability manager for our school district. Under the leadership of central administration, our district now has a sustainability plan on our website, weekly updates to all staff and a resource for ideas on making the district operate more sustainably. This week another school, the Peabody School, joined the pioneering King Open and Graham and Parks Schools in composting and fully recycling lunch. This summer students in a variety of programs focused on environmental education. Students at the media lab produced some incredible films with an environmental focus. At several MSYEP sites, teens engaged in learning and teaching about energy and cost-savings by taking simple steps. The Climate Emergency Action Group continues to extend the work of Green Decade Cambridge and search for ways to engage people. The volunteer-led CPAC keeps working at accountability coupled with calls to action. It will take all of us to reach our climate goals. Let's keep the campaign spirit of outreach on other issues going year round. -- Patty Nolan, Candidate for School Committee
Sensational Summer School — not an Oxymoron
With summer upon us, it's time to be serious about solutions to the educational crises of low expectations and unengaged youth. We support a bold solution: extend the school year for every student. As policy makers, we have proposed requiring ALL students, starting with middle grades, to be engaged in meaningful learning for several weeks during the summer. If we're serious about achievement and preparing students for a global economy, we must address summer learning loss. Just as Democrats and Republicans need to come together, education advocates need to work together. We -- a black man raised in Cambridge public housing born after the sixties and a white woman raised in suburbia with two Ivy League degrees born before the sixties — have bridged our differences to advocate for this controversial solution. When's the last time a Massachusetts student had to help with the family harvest? Right. Yet our school year has a ten-week gap. As you read this article, some students are reinforcing skills — through courses, camps, family vacations, museum visits or other activities. Others are losing them. Ask any teacher how much time they spend getting students back to where they were in June. Too much. As Cambridge School Committee members we are acutely aware that our city's public schools should be able to solve this problem. We spend twice the state average ($26,000 per student), and proudly claim Harvard, MIT and many other world class institutions and companies. Yet here, as elsewhere, achievement gaps persist across most groups and many academically strong students feel unchallenged or unsupported. Less than half our black and low income students are proficient in MCAS (slightly less in ELA and far less in Math) and a large proportion of academically motivated families opt out of our public schools or never move to Cambridge in the first place. Taking aim at these problems, our district is restructuring our middle grades. We propose including summer as an integral part of our school year. We applaud Massachusetts' extended learning time initiative, but it is not the only answer. Many ELT schools, including the two in our district, do not outperform other district schools. And dramatic school improvements occur in many schools with standard hours. We believe that if the ELT initiative focused on extending the school year combined with intensive teaching the results would be more conclusive. Convincing educational research compels us all to rethink our aversion to mandating summer learning. As TIME magazine noted "By the end of grammar school, low-income students had fallen nearly three grade levels behind, and summer was the biggest culprit. By ninth grade, summer learning loss could be blamed for roughly two-thirds of the achievement gap." A Nellie Mae Foundation study and a recent RAND study found compelling evidence that students without educational summer activities slide back. This effect is particularly acute for students who struggle, including students with IEPs. But also true for students of all backgrounds and aptitudes. Successful programs replicate like Breakthrough and SummerAdvantage deserve replication. Both programs show impressive results with diverse students, marrying the excitement of young teachers with engaging classes. By the measures of MCAS and college matriculation Breakthrough shines in Cambridge. Similarly, CitizenSchools demonstrates that well-trained volunteers can have positive impact during the school year. All three programs cost effectively produce measurable results. What if every student had an engaging educational summer experience? Summer classes can catch up students who are behind and inspire those who are ahead. Students of every flavor and academic record need encouragement, challenge and nurturing. Along with classes in the basics, summer programs should offer robotics, biotech, philosophy and poetry. Our own children, solidly middle class, have been transformed by engaging summer opportunities. Some are skeptical and decry a "loss" of summer. But it wouldn't be a loss if the summer programs were fun, inspiring, AND educational -- a cross between camp and summer school. Making it mandatory takes away the stigma and making it fun takes away student resistance. The idea is now on the table. We hope it is seriously considered, as part of Cambridge's restructuring. And if it works, we hope Boston then Massachusetts follows. We have a dream. Let's make it real. Patricia Nolan and Richard Harding are School Committee members in Cambridge. The views expressed are their own.
More in-depth information on
NOTE: as with all things Patty does, she is thorough and thoughtful. Her responses are quite substantive. Her answers are longer than others, because she has accomplished so much and believes you deserve the full story on her approach to the job.
In Cambridge, a tale of two districts:
There is a district with truly enviable and laudable graduation rates for all students. In a state and country with a real drop out crisis and truly tragic statistics on education levels for low income and students of color, over 90% of African Americans and low-income students finish high school. A district with a school listed in the Boston Globe as top of the state for 8th grade Science MCAS results — overall. And that's for a class where a majority of students are non-white and about half low income — outpacing schools with no diversity. A district where parents can choose public Montessori or Spanish bilingual schools. Where no one pays for school buses or sports, average class size is 18 and the arts have flourished despite tough economic times. That's Cambridge. There is a district with 12 out of 13 schools on the just released watch list for poor MCAS performance, including 6 in restructuring. (And even the one school not on the list did not make adequate yearly progress.) A district where nearly a quarter of parents opt out of regular public schools and many academically strong students report not being challenged. A district where average 2009 MCAS proficiency of African Americans is an embarassing 35% — half that of white and Asian students, and only a little higher for Latinos at 42%. And while the 2009 MCAS shows some welcome progress in the Latino-white achievement gap, there's no progress on the African American achievement gap and some slippage in the low income achievement gap (low income average proficiency stayed about the same, while non low income increased.) That's Cambridge. A tale of two districts. What to do? Be inspired. Be encouraged. And be realistic. There is a wonderful sense of optimism and excitement in our schools, among our families, and in the community. Rather than focus on the bad news or dismiss the good, we can hold both in our heads and work together on addressing our problems, which we all must own. And unlike many districts agonizing over how to keep the budget balanced, our $25,000 per student allocation gives us tremendous opportunities, if we use it well. A key to our success in meeting our challenges will be to resist the calls for more emphasis on testing. While MCAS shows us some areas we need to watch, it would be precisely the wrong answer to respond with an obsession on the tests. I already hear some saying the test results show we need to focus more on the tests. That is exactly the wrong answer. We have too much of that already — our own market research and my own experience as a parent say so. More would be counterproductive. Less might well be the trick.
MCAS is not and should not be the sole measure of any school, student, teacher or district. While it is useful for some measures, it is a means, not the end. And Cambridge can take heart. Our new superintendent came from Newton. That district not only does better on MCAS than Cambridge in the aggregate — but in virtually all subgroups, most by double digits. Almost half of Newton's special education students scored proficient, compared to only a fifth in Cambridge. And the story is similar for African American, low income and Latino students. Most importantly, higher achievement did not come from more teaching to the test, but engaged teachers, intense focus on educational needs, deep commitment to family involvement and inspiring leadership at every level. Cambridge, with our exciting new superintendent, who is already making waves by being highly visible in our schools, talking to teachers and stopping to chat with crossing guards and custodians, can certainly build on our past success and fulfill our mission to: "be the first diverse urban school system to work with families and the community to successfully educate all of its students at high levels."
Letter to the editor, Cambridge Chronicle:
Dear Editor, These days everyone is green. And trying to outgreen each other. As elected officials with long histories of personal, professional and political efforts on behalf of the environment, we applaud environmental initiatives. We have participated in Walk/Ride Days, enjoyed the offerings of City Sprouts, helped weatherize neighbor's houses with HEET, swapped our own incandescents for CFLs, promoted transit alternatives with Cambridge's Energy Smackdown team, spread the word about the Cambridge Energy Alliance's work and more. They're all good efforts, but they're only a modest start to the serious lifestyle changes needed to make a real difference in climate change. We must be honest and recognize that our efforts to date, both individually and collectively, are insufficient. Despite our city's lofty goals and wonderful rhetoric, we have failed miserably in reducing our own emissions. The City's recent hearing on climate emergency made the state of the climate emergency crystal clear. The hearing also provided reason for hope. [Video of hearing on city website, and summary at CEA website.] The world, as we know it, does not have to end if we can muster the personal and political courage to change the way we live. But that is going to be very, very tough. All of us need to be held accountable for our own carbon and emissions footprint. We need to be doing little and big things -- including some things others consider unnecessary or wacky, whether it's giving up meat or promoting composting toilets at home and school. On a daily basis we need to discourage car use, radically change our consumption patterns, mandate following energy audit recommendations, avoid long distance travel and, on every level, make it morally irresponsible not to conserve. The word "emergency" was not used lightly when discussing climate change. Our response, individually and politically, must reflect the massive nature of the challenge.
Sincerely,
Selected pieces from 2007 below
Nolan: Research shows schools Last year, the School Committee authorized qualitative and quantitative market research to "determine the possible causes behind the decline in enrollment, assess potential new programs, how to attract more residents into CPS and measure overall satisfaction with the school system." We recently received a report on the survey part, and look forward to a thorough report on the other half of the project, a synthesis and summary of the focus groups. The project will inform our work as a district. The results confirm some of our district's great aspects. Almost all of our parents believe that their children are getting a quality education, and are appropriately challenged and appreciate wonderful teachers. Tremendous affirmation of hard work all around. Of course, both current and withdrawn parents identify some areas we fall short, which should inform us on continual improvement. Unsurprisingly, withdrawn parents score our performance lower than in-district parents. One surprising finding: Majorities of current and withdrawn parents believe our district does too much teaching to the test. Based on other answers, this finding doesn't appear to be an MCAS rejection sentiment, but a more nuanced sense that we have focused too much on testing, not enough on excellent education. The report debunks at least one myth: overwhelmingly those surveyed who withdrew cited academic quality as the single most important reason; just 8 percent cited housing or transfers. Those who left care deeply about public education — a whopping 86 percent would have preferred staying. The survey confirmed another issue: behavior is a problem. Of those who left, 57 percent said that "classroom behavior issues played a large part" in the decision. And a significant portion of our parents, 37 percent, agree that "bullying is a real problem for my children." Those who deny this problem should read the report. Acknowledging a problem is the first step to solving it. For too long, we dismissed people suggesting this issue needed addressing. I hope now we discuss solutions and listen to the voices speaking. In classrooms where teachers reach all students and get them engaged, behavior problems disappear. This finding might mean we need to help some teachers develop better strategies around this topic. There is one glaring lapse: the survey left out people attending private, parochial and charter schools — ignoring 20 to 30 percent of our school-aged population. How can we increase enrollment and market share without talking to people who never entered? I hope we will include all families. As one independent parent put it, most "do care about the public education system in the city that they live, pay taxes and raise their children in." Many would prefer to be in our public schools, and struggled with the decision. There are too many results to cover briefly — on controlled choice, middle schools and other issues. Summarizing: it is great to have real market research. The project yielded discomforting results and positive ones. If we openly face the former and celebrate the latter, our district will continue on the march to where we belong: at the top of the state, make that country.
Patty Nolan is a member of the School Committee.
Letter distorted image
Cambridge - Solid analysis and intellectual honesty are hallmarks of my participation on School Committee. Thus, it was personally disappointing to read Nancy Walser's article last week, which distorted my positions for political purposes. It is a disservice to the public and needs to be corrected. I wrote a balanced summary of a market research project, designed to understand why people leave, why people don't enroll and concerns district parents have. I noted two lapses, based on my professional experience and comments by two national public opinion professionals. Paying for qualitative research and focus groups without getting a written report was an oversight. Leaving out the 30 percent of residents who never entered our public school district and were in the contract as an explicit focus was, as well. I encourage people to watch the June 5 meeting with the survey presentation (www.cpsd.us/ceatv/sc_archive.htm). Why spend money on comprehensive market research and ignore the full range of findings? If we tout only the positives and gloss over problems, how will we solve the problems and be credible policymakers? For example, to assert parents are satisfied, with "only 5 percent expressing dissatisfaction," when almost half stated they might leave misrepresents the findings. The firm we hired labeled that high number "a clarion call" to action." Most of us love our schools and appreciate our strengths and tremendous achievements. But we also have concerns. I do hold our district to higher standards, since I believe Cantabrigians do not want to be compared only to low-income districts, as the administration does, who spend on average half what we do. We should celebrate our strengths, but surely our high spending levels, phenomenal teachers, and incredible community can get us to the top of the state. I did help organize forums with award-winning public schools that have excelled with many types of students, especially low-income. A majority of our elected officials co-sponsored these opportunities to learn from others, just as others learn from Cambridge, which also excels in many areas. Does the fact that some such schools are public charter schools mean we shouldn't learn from them? Anyone can find votes where I stood on principle and voted my conscience, as you can with all of us. Please judge each of us by our full record, not a subset distorted for political purposes.
PATTY NOLAN
Open letter to reject negative campaign Dear selected leaders who know me: I know that you stand for principled campaigns, constructive dialog, and voting on issues, not innuendos. I also believe that you know I always act with integrity, even if you don't agree with me on all issues. I respect that you are busy, but I believe this request is important. I am asking you to join me in rejecting a negative campaign. A group called Progress for Cambridge is engaged in a subtle misinformation campaign and distorting the record of School Committee votes. The group was set up to endorse a slate, Nancy Tauber, Gail Lemily Wiggins and Stefan Malner. I have asked those candidates to reject the campaign run on their behalf. If you are a supporter of any slate member, please ask them to reject the tactics of misinformation. I have a policy of not responding to personal attacks in kind, but I do correct misinformation. Below is the letter sent with specific examples of how I believe the group's information is flawed enough to be worthy of a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth award. I believe any ethical candidate would disavow much of the website content. If you agree, please let the group and/or the candidates know. The candidates are not behind this misleading campaign. I am calling on them to disassociate themselves from those engaged in the misinformation. I understand why I would be a target. I have been effective and have accomplished a lot in my first term, and clearly am able to work collaboratively, since none of us can get anything done on our own. Many times I acted on principle, even at political risk. I have stood up for transparency and full information, the whole story, not just part. Whether it is asking for full examination of our extraordinary budget of $23,000 per student or pointing out that despite a wonderful, even stellar graduation rate of African Americans and other groups from high school, our district continues to have a 30 point Achievement Gap in proficiency for African Americans and lags many districts with fewer advantages, or calling for public input into major decisions, I have stood up often. But it still hurts, personally and our democratic process. I remain optimistic that most of us don't want negativity and misinformation to win in Cambridge. Please join me in asking for a rejection of the Progress for Cambridge tactics.
Sincerely,
************ letter sent by email Oct. 29, 2007 ********** Dear School Committee candidates Nancy Tauber, Gail Lemily Wiggins and Stefan Malner: I respect each of you. If you are elected, and I am re-elected, I look forward to serving with you. Each of you have campaigned constructively and with integrity. I personally appreciate that you are willing to serve and that you each have an important perspective to add to the campaign. Thus, I request that you publicly reject the endorsement of the Progress for Cambridge [PFC] group, take all mention of them off your website and materials, and refuse to allow them to use your name, until they stop the misleading, irresponsible campaign being run on your behalf. The PFC campaign calls for collaboration on the School Committee and more members who advocate for the district, not individual schools or neighborhoods. The implication is that none of the incumbents are being collaborative or advocating for the district, a baseless charge. Moreover, the PFC gathered a selective, biased and misleading list of School Committee votes which were picked with the goal of discrediting many incumbents, but especially me. That the list doesn't include all votes, nor even all split votes, not even all votes related to the same issues, is proof that there is an intent other than to inform the public. It is clear that the PFC is engaged in a subtle misinformation campaign which involves distorting a few selective votes with the specific intent of raising doubts about my commitment to the district and my values. It is a sad day for Cambridge when such negative campaigning takes place. I hope you will reject that approach. This is not about my not wanting my record and votes known. Quite the contrary. I always publicly explain my votes, especially controversial ones. I am proud of votes I've taken, whether I've been part of a 7-0 vote, a 6-1, or anywhere in between, and whether I voted with a majority or minority. This IS about a misrepresentation of a number of votes. Here are just 3 examples, and there are others on the list just as misleading:
1. School Choice motion
The full story:
2. Report card report motion
The full story:
3. Controlled choice policy change motion
The full story:
When I asked Gail & Nancy last Thursday to disavow the PFC and ask the group to stop spreading misinformation or reject their endorsement, you both said you didn't know some votes on the list were falsely and misleadingly presented. Now you know. I look forward to your response to my request to reject the endorsement of this group, whose tactics lack integrity. Let's all pledge to campaign positively.
Sincerely,
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