Bucks
Scanlon To Quit, Integrated Math
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Quakertown’s popular school superintendent will be moving on, we learned recently. James Scanlon has been the education chief for seven years. If the Brandywine School District offers a satisfactory contract, he will be across the Delaware state line by October.
“I’ve been very happy in Quakertown,” Scanlon told me, “but it’s time to move on.”
At 47, Scanlon may have several additional moves before he retires. I asked him if he might follow his father who was Secretary of Education under two Pennsylvania governors, one Democrat and one Republican? “That would be difficult,” he answered. I didn’t have the presence to quiz him further. Did he mean that he couldn’t become the Secretary of Education in Pennsylvania if he were a Delaware Superintendent…or did he think the odds were against him? We’ll just have to wait and see.
The comparisons between the Quakertown and Brandywine school districts are interesting. Quakertown has 5,500 students and 500 employees; Brandywine has 10,000 students and 700 employees. Scanlon’s salary in Quakertown approaches $142,000. Although the Brandywine compensation is not set in stone, his predecessor received $154,800. I’d bet that Scanlon’s salary will be greater.
Who will succeed Scanlon? His assistant superintendent, Harry Morgan is now the superintendent of the Boyertown schools. Karen Beerer, Quakertown’s former curriculum supervisor left to join forces with Morgan. And Robert Hollister, Milford’s former principal, is the assistant to Eastern Lancaster’s superintendent. “All of them have their doctorate degrees,” Scanlon continued.
Would any of them be interested in succeeding Scanlon? Stay tuned. “Quakertown has current principals who are well prepared for further roles as well,” he added.
“I’ll miss the people,” Scanlon said, “and the community. After all, education is all about people.”
We turned to an unfinished topic…the status of Integrated Math (IT). Many parents have been critical about IT, claiming that their children are not prepared for college math when they graduate from high school. Scanlon responded to the criticism by conducting an anonymous survey of math and science teachers in Quakertown’s elementary, middle and high schools.
“We wanted to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the math program,” he told me. As of ten days ago, Scanlon received 57 responses and the results were mixed.
“High school teachers said that Integrated Math increased problem solving skills,” he answered. “The weakness was in basic facts.” (I describe basic facts as memorization of tables and the like.) “The weakness in traditional math is problem solving. And the middle school survey results were similar,” he explained.
There’s an interesting contrast. “In the elementary schools, 87 percent of our students are either proficient or advanced [in math skills],” Scanlon said.
So, how will Quakertown duplicate the elementary schools’ math performance in its middle and high schools? Scanlon acknowledged that before Quakertown installed the IT math program, six years ago, problem solving was the basic problem. Six years later, it has not improved.
“The [Bucks County] Intermediate Unit is coming in October for a [IT] review,” Scanlon said. “We are constantly searching to improve student performance.”
Still, Scanlon is very proud of his record. He says that seven years ago, Quakertown’s elementary and middle school state test scores were at or below the state average. “Today they are among the highest in Pennsylvania,” he told me. “We’re among the top 20 percent of the state’s 501 districts. And the college attendance rate of graduates have increased from 68 percent to 80 percent.”
That’s a remarkable record. But the jury is out on IT. Whether Quakertown schools decide to continue, abandon, or tweak IT will have to wait further study. In the meantime Quakertown seniors start their last year in September. And 80 percent of them will be facing college math 12 months later.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith