Report on Winter 2002 Focus Groups

Charter School Teachers

Primary School Teachers

Middle School Teachers

St. James Catholic School Teachers

Report Prepared

by

Rachel A. Hickson, M.A.

Jackson, New Jersey

Report on Winter 2002 Focus Groups

This is a report on a recent series of focus groups with school teachers working in Red Bank, New Jersey. Data were collected January 15 and 22, and March 12, 2002.

Each part of this report -- especially the Executive Summary -- is designed to be used as a stand-alone document.

The Red Bank Education and Development Initiative (hereafter RBEDI or "the Initiative") is in its early stages of planning and data gathering. The Initiative elected to conduct focus groups with teachers working in local schools, as part of its developmental work on understanding the "school environment."

The focus group results are intended to provide teachers’ perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of students in Red Bank schools, and to offer early suggestions on the direction(s) the Initiative might take in amelioration of student difficulties.

Four focus groups were held in Red Bank, Jersey. The group composition was as follows:

Charter school teachers

Primary school teachers

Middle school teachers

St. James Catholic school teachers

 

The groups were held on the evenings of January 15 and 22, and March 12, 2002, at Oakland House Restaurant in Red Bank. (All participants received a gift certificate.) A total of 33 teachers took part in the groups.

Groups lasted about 90 to 105 minutes each. Teachers first completed a self-administered questionnaire and a card sorting exercise; they then moved into a moderator-led discussion for the balance of the time.

The focus group project was developed by the Internal School Environment subcommittee of the Initiative, with members Michael Stasi, JoAnn Hartswell, JoAnn Kowit, Linda Milstein, Josephine Lee, Barbara Horl, and David Tarver.

The Initiative made all logistical arrangements as to group location, hospitality including a deli supper, audio-taping and respondent gifts. The Initiative also led the recruiting process. Sub-committee members observed each of the focus groups.

Rachel Hickson, an independent social research consultant in Jackson, New Jersey, was hired by the Initiative to conduct the project. Hickson, an applied sociologist, designed the study protocols, moderated the focus groups, and prepared this report.

Copies of all project materials are in the Appendix to this report.

Focus group discussions, in which about a dozen people meet with a moderator to discuss a topic in depth, are a terrific way to learn what people are thinking and feeling about that topic. Highly qualitative information can be gathered since the moderator can probe continually for richer ideas and impressions throughout the group session.

Focus groups are not representative of the population as a whole. Results should be viewed as directional rather than definitive in a quantitative sense. However, since a large number of Red Bank public school teachers participated in the interviews, the findings can be viewed as more definitive than similar results might be in other circumstances.

Audiotaping is typically done at focus groups, as the most accurate way to capture the comments made during groups.

The Red Bank groups were taped, but professional quality taping equipment was not used for these groups. As a result, many teachers’ comments were not captured verbatim because their voices were not captured with good reproduction on the tape. The group memos contain some verbatim comments. Only comments which could be captured accurately from the tape have been included in the report memos.

The composition of these groups was atypical of focus groups, because in each case the participants know one another. (Typically, this would only happen in "employee" focus groups.) While this familiarity may have helped foster a comfort level within the room quickly, it may have also discouraged teachers from raising some sensitive issues. In the MS group, teachers seemed to have difficulty even stepping out of their school roles in front of one another; they referred to each other as "Mr. Jones" and "Ms. Smith" throughout the group, rather than using first names.

CS teachers (10): These teachers are for the most part very young and extremely dedicated. They deal with many personal and social issues of students in addition to, and sometimes instead of, academic issues. They have high hopes for their students and refuse to discuss students using any negative terms. Many of these teachers do not have children yet, or even spouses, who would compete with the great deal of time they put in at the CS. Burnout of teachers can potentially be a major hazard for this program.

 

PS (12): This group includes many extremely experienced teachers (including several with more than 20 years). They have devoted their careers to education of children in primary grades. They are trying hard to meet the vast array of needs of Red Bank children within the context of their school day. They seem very interested in the intent of the Initiative and want to help in carrying it out.

 

MS (7): This group suffered from small size (low turnout) and from a tendency to defer, particularly at the beginning, to one teacher who seemed to be the group spokesperson.

 

These are mostly mid-career teachers (5 to 15 years experience) who appear to fear they are getting the students too late to address key issues of academics, social skills, and personal liabilities. They do not indicate that their school gives much support for the social and non-academic needs of students.

 

STJ (4): Only four teachers from St. James School showed up for their focus group, so this group also suffered size-wise. These are experienced teachers who have focused their careers mostly on Catholic school education. St. James School is located in Red Bank, but otherwise appears to have relatively little in common with the other schools. These teachers did not volunteer negative information about the school environment and may have felt uncomfortable doing so. Parents play a very strong role in the school and are heavily invested in a successful outcome. (A key theme of this group was the strong and important role of parents in helping the school and the students to succeed.) Students at St. James, barring a very few extreme exceptions, do not suffer the material hardships that affect educational outcomes elsewhere in Red Bank.

 

 

The key issue in addressing students’ school performance in Red Bank public schools appears to be the tension between meeting academic demands and meeting personal needs.

Teachers were asked where the priority of their own school appears to fall. As the figure below suggests, along a continuum, the CS seems to place greater priority on addressing individual students needs and deficits. The PS seems to place similar weight on both personal needs and academics. The MS teachers are expected to focus on academic achievement and are left to deal with the personal issues of students on their own.

As personal/material needs appear to be a non-issue at STJ, it would be irrelevant to place the Catholic school along this continuum. The focus can be almost exclusively on academic achievement when the material needs are being handled by attentive parents at home.

Both in specific exercises and throughout the discussion, all three groups had chances to mention what they like most and least about working at their current school. All the groups mentioned at least some of the following things they like about their school.

Some of the things the teachers like least about working at their school includes:

It is notable how few administrators there are to work with all of these schools. Each school has only one primary adminstrator -- a building principal -- to handle virtually all administrative duties. This is especially notable in the PS, which has close to 600 students. The PS has one additional administrator on a part-time basis; the MS does have a full time vice principal, but it has half the number of students of the PS. Even the STJ group, which was overwhelmingly positive about the school environment, finds the number of executives inadequate.

The teachers in each group made a list of words and concepts describing their students. Here are some descriptions common to all the groups:

While asked to discuss students in terms of positive and negative attributes ("what do you like least about working with your students?"), the teachers could not or would not do this. The CS teachers seemed particularly unwilling to express anything about students in a negative way, but this was in fact the case in all three groups.

Teachers in all groups note that the students in Red Bank schools (not St. James School) seem to be without goals and dreams for themselves, and that not much seems to be expected of the kids.

The PS teachers note that 20 percent of their students are from Spanish-speaking homes. Though there is an ESL program, and other supports for these students, the perception is that Hispanic students has many special needs that are not being adequately addressed. Though there may be Spanish-speaking students at the other schools, the teachers did not spend time talking about these students’ needs.

The CS teachers have a policy to address students’ non-academic and social needs. This in fact appears to be the priority for them, and they say that the"majority" of students are needy. That is, these students have not been parented. Teachers must be teachers, parents and social workers, the CS teachers say. Many students have not had functional adults taking care of them. Many students have no personal skills, yet they are left to fend for themselves at home. One CS teacher, who has worked in Newark, says the socioeconomic needs of Red Bank students are "really pretty extreme."

Teachers in the other groups do not insist that the vast majority of students are seriously needy. However, they are not in agreement about the proportion of students with serious non-academic needs. MS teachers seem especially reluctant to characterize their students as disadvantaged. However, their descriptions of the students during the course of the group would point to this conclusion. In any case, teachers do seem to agree that many students do not receive the needed amount of parental guidance appropriate to their age group.

Teachers in the CS/PS/MS groups say they keep soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and the like in their classrooms, for students who need them. One CS teacher described buying shampoo for a student, then driving to the student’s house to wait while the boy shampooed his hair.

Yet teachers in the public schools do not appear to describe "the majority" of their students in this way. The fraction of students the PS would consider very disadvantaged is hard to pin down. The MS teachers say relatively little about the specifics of difficult or impoverished home situations. The PS teachers indicate that up to about 40 percent of students are in pretty difficult straits, but the estimate varies greatly from classroom to classroom. The STJ teacher who used to work in Red Bank public schools said that about half the students appeared materially needy, but not as many as people might expect.

Students seek affection and bonding with teachers because they may not get it at home. Teachers note that students in more middle-class communities do not turn to their school teachers for affection.

Teachers in all group mentioned that students need their teachers to help in commending and celebrating their achievements, as commendation may be lacking at home.

As mentioned above, there is a key tension between the need to achieve academically and the need for teachers to meet individual student deficits which stand in the way of this achievement.

Teachers in all groups perceive it takes time with the Red Bank public school students before the focus can be on academic performance and test scores. CS and STJ teachers say there is a strong need to help build up self esteem and confidence in these students before they can be competitive with academics.

In general, it is difficult for CS/PS/MS teachers to discuss academic performance separately from discussions of student issues, problems, deficits, and parental apathy (see more below). There is also a concern that formalized academic tasks, especially standardized tests, do not all play fairly to the strengths of different students. Teachers in these three groups say they continuously adjust lessons to address the varied learning styles of their students.

The MS school teachers spoke throughout their group of "accountability." That is, students have not been held accountable for finishing homework, bringing required items to school, or completing required assignments in school. Another aspect of accountability rests with parents. Parents of PS/MS students do not check homework, review completed work brought home, or otherwise take an interest in students’ school work. In the MS/PS schools, where no mandate for their participation exists (as in the CS), some parents have little or no contact of any kind with their child’s school.

The MS teachers suggest, though they may not say this in words, that it may be too late for them to address the many needs, some of them dire, that students have, and these needs affect students’ ability to be ready to learn.

Likewise, the CS teachers suggest that the up-to-five years they have with each student may not be enough time to address their personal issues in time to be ready for high school. They would not say this in words, but this is the sense they give.

Parent involvement is perceived as having a great deal to do with student achievement, or lack of it. Many parents are apathetic to school involvement for a variety of reasons, including their own personal problems, struggles with poverty and keeping a job, and poor school histories which make them reluctant to deal with school on any level.

Students from troubled homes have parents who are dealing with too many of their own problems to pay attention to kids. These are some of the same students who, as mentioned above, may be lacking in personal skills (including the skills needed to get themselves fed, dressed, and packed off to school on time each day).

The CS requires mandatory parent conferences and the like. CS teachers perceive parent involvement to be a mandate, a requirement in order to keep their children in the school. The CS seems to be successful in getting parents to comply with the mandate, despite problems or deficiencies parents may have. The teachers think the parents sense the importance of what the CS does to help their kids, and they want their kids to be able to stay in the school.

The school policy of a weekly phone call home by the CS teacher is effective, even critical to keeping parents engaged in what is happening at school. Teachers sometimes have to call several times to reach the parent, but they do it. A MS teacher also mentioned calling home to make contact with parents.

Parents at St. James Catholic School are a different story. They are extremely involved with the school and highly supportive. Parents play a pivotal role in the success of the school overall as well as the success of their own children.

The CS can access funds more easily for any and all special experiences it wants for the kids -- trips and activities. The teachers say funds for special experiences generally come from local businesses or community groups or even individuals, as donations.

The CS teachers mention that it could be very difficult to meet certain needs of this student population, including non-academic needs, trips and special events, if they were in a traditional public school setting.

The public school teachers said that one out-of-town field trip a year is budgeted for each class, but that it needs to be planned in advance. Field trips within town (e.g. grocery store, public library, firehouse) can be handled with much less fuss. Other kinds of in-school special experiences or programs can generally be worked out, with relatively short lead time (4-6 weeks), but there are some limitations on these.

The PS teachers talk about how many of the students have "never been anywhere." A few teachers are specially known for their field trips, including trips to museums and arts events, to help enrich students’ lives.

STJ teachers also indicate that they can try new things as needed.

The teachers in the CS/PS/MS groups mention the us-them/"West Side"-"East Side" tensions of Red Bank. There seem to be two parts to this: one, that students in the Red Bank schools are not competitive with the other communities feeding into the regional high school system, and 2) that a substantial number of Red Bank school children up through eighth grade do not attend public schools.

The teachers also say that, in the same vein, communication is poor between the CS and the other public schools in town, and would like to see this improved through common gatherings and activities.

Teachers in the STJ group perceive tension between the CS and the public schools in town. "On the street" the CS is perceived as threatening funding for other schools, and having the ability to "spit out" problem students in order to keep test scores high.

Teachers in several groups mentioned very specific health-related issues that could be addressed. One example is the need for parents and children to understand nutrition. Another example is tooth-brushing. Teachers also mentioned student needs for eyeglasses, including the ability to replace lost or broken glasses.

The CS teachers mention two possible ways to address the us-them tensions in Red Bank: 1) more mentoring of students by community members, particularly around students’ skills, abilities or interests; and 2) more group activities between Red Bank students and students from the other communities so they get used to doing things together and being friendly before high school.

At the end of their groups, teachers had the opportunity to make final comments. Teachers from the public schools mentioned the need for more professional development and training, to learn about best practices and models for schools serving low-income students; and the need for other kinds of opportunities to learn about best practices, by visiting other schools and programs in New Jersey.

One public school teacher told me, at the end of her group, that when she began working in Red Bank, other schools looked to Red Bank as a model for "best practices." A STJ teacher who used to work in Red Bank public schools said that Red Bank used to be "the state standard" on integrating basic skills supports into regular classrooms and helping children with learning difficulties to be successful.

The PS teachers talked throughout their group about an "effective schools" grant that Red Bank had about ten years ago. This grant allowed for more professional supports and peer leadership among teachers. It also allowed for parent training and parent support activities. According to the PS teachers, this kind of support is definitely missed today and could make a difference if they still had it.

After the group, teachers had the opportunity to speak with observers from RBEDI about the work of the Initiative. Teachers expressed a desire to continue to work together to solve problems, by meeting with teachers from other schools.