Wallingford Schools join regional innovation group

As published in the Record Journal on Friday March 15, 2013

By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
evo@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@ericvoRJ

WALLINGFORD – The town’s high schools will be joining the League of Innovative Schools, a group aiming to improve school programs by connecting teachers and administrators in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.

For teachers and administrators, the League of Innovative Schools is a “professional learning community,” where educators can learn about programs at other schools, said Stephen Abbott, director of communications for the organization.

“In a professional learning community in a school, teachers meet together regularly to discuss research, student work samples and lesson plans (with the goal of) improving,” he said. “The concept is that it’s a professional learning community for schools and teams of educators who want to improve. We provide the opportunity for them to meet and talk.”

Abbott said the schools in the group are committed to making a change that will have a positive impact on students — or what he calls “educational innovation.”
“It’s more about schools recognizing where they can do better and making a commitment to improve. It’s about questioning assumptions and conventions ... and exploring new methods and opportunities,” he said.

Plans include video-conferencing equipment and more project-based learning.
School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said he is excited to be a part of a group looking at the latest ways to change.

“I’m very excited about being invited. (This will) offer the school district and staff a tremendous amount of professional development opportunities,” he said. “It will also allow parents to learn more about the strategies we may employ for coming years in Wallingford.”

There are 53 schools in the League of Innovative Schools, 12 of them from Connecticut. Like Wallingford, each school is making the transition from traditional learning to a system incorporating mastery-based learning, according to Janet Garagliano, the Connecticut liaison to the New England Secondary School Consortium.

With this system, students must achieve a set of predetermined standards before moving on. If they don’t meet the standards, the students continue working until they do, she said.

Garagliano said she has been aware of the work being done by Menzo and his staff in the school system.

“I think because they’re going at it (change) in a very methodical way, it will lead to lasting change,” she said. “He’s not approaching it as if it’s a fad ... he’s being very intentional in going about initiating change. To me, it’s a series of changes that will take hold and have an impact.”