Message from Beth Graham, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment

September 2010 

Dear Families and Community Members,

Thank you for providing me this opportunity to introduce myself in my new role as the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in the Amherst, Pelham, and Amherst-Pelham Regional School Districts.

My, how the summer has flown by! My calendar has been solidly booked, as I’ve met with members of the School Committee, community members, teachers, the K-16 Math Council, elementary and middle school curriculum leaders, high school department heads, principals and assistant principals, parents, professors, representatives from the five colleges, and members of the Amherst Education Foundation. The commitment to the success of our schools and students, and the positive feedback I’ve heard from every constituency group is overwhelming! I feel incredibly privileged to be here, and with much enthusiasm, I anticipate serving students and their families well.

I am honored to be joining a faculty and administration clearly committed to the achievement of all students, and dedicated to being learners in and about our practice. The expertise and preparation of our teachers, and the successes and accomplishments of our schools are great and many. And, as in every school district, there are issues we are committed to learning more about together. Ensuring smooth vertical transitions and curricular alignment across the districts, and engaging in a cycle of program review are just two of my several priorities. 

The work I am most passionate about is supporting our school system in its quest to become an organization that learns. Through intentional and structured teacher collaboration focused on instructional practice, by engaging in discourse that is reflective and civil, and in keeping students at the center of our work, we are certain to make progress toward our goal of supporting the achievement of all students whom we serve.

I encourage you to make every opportunity to sit with your children (or any child) as they struggle to produce authentic work as readers and authors, artists and musicians, mathematicians and scientists. How are they making sense of their jobs? What problems are they trying to solve? Their undertakings may be confusing to us (and them) at first, or different from how we remember our own learning; try to keep in mind that instructional goals, assignments, and assessments have evolved since we were last in school. To experience the satisfaction of engaging in real work, children need practice wrestling with problems and developing the habits of persistence and perseverance. I assure you that being an important adult in the lives of children does not require expertness in content. Rather, we need to listen and observe, ask compelling questions, and focus on process – in short, to be learners alongside our children. Arguably, the most significant support we can provide is to be fully present to our kids’ thinking and the meaning they’re making as they engage in the complex tasks of learning.

Thank you in advance for partnering with us in the education of your children! I look forward to meeting you, and learning from the perspective you bring to our conversation. To that end, please do not hesitate to share your suggestions, insights, and feedback with me: Please call (362-1828) or email me (grahamb@arps.org), or use the new Teaching and Learning Suggestion Box.

Thank you for your warm welcome to the districts!

All my best,
Beth