Special Progress Report
Stoughton High School
February 1, 2003
I. Describe the process that the school is
using to develop, revise, and adopt the school’s statement of mission and
expectations for student learning, in particular noting the inclusiveness of
the students, parents, faculty, community, and school board.
In May,
as recommended by the NEASC “follow-up seminar,” the principal met with the
faculty of Stoughton High School to explain the follow-up process. The principal
convened a follow-up committee comprised of new and veteran staff members, with
one teacher representing each department. We also included parents and
students. The committee met two times in June. All members read and
internalized NEASC’s Guide to Developing
and Implementing the Mission. Initial Draft: 8/01. The Guide clarified the
process of developing and implementing the mission. The principal also met with
the School Committee and parents. In each venue, the committee and the
principal addressed the highlighted
recommendations enumerated in the NEASC report. The committee scoured university web sites to identify
performance assessment tasks that align benchmarks with assessments that
measure what is important and that incorporate higher level thinking skills.
During
the month of July, the Mission Statement Committee set out to develop clear,
measurable school-wide expectations for student learning in the school’s
mission statement, which will drive curriculum, instruction and assessment. The
Committee rethought its mission with respect to the school’s shared beliefs and
fundamental principles of teaching and learning. As a result of this collective reflection, we discarded the
original document and set out to rewrite a more coherent mission statement. The
narrative portion is written in language that speaks to our core beliefs as a
school and directly connects the narrative to expectations for student
learning.
The
follow-up committee identified eight common expectations for student learning,
including performance levels in four areas, and ranging from exemplary
to failing.
To ensure that we were on the right track, we enlisted the help of Ms. Katie
Spinos, Assistant Superintendent for the Burlington Public Schools and Linda
Hayes, Principal of Burlington High School.
The follow-up team met with Ms. Spinos on July 30th and Ms.
Hayes and Ms. Spinos on July 31st.
Ms. Spinos also met with the department chairs and the follow-up team
again on August 25th. The
meetings were extremely valuable.
Department Chairs and the follow-up committee agreed on common
assessments that were linked to learning expectations. One concrete result of
the meeting was the agreement to identify common curricular concepts to be
tested in midterms and finals in core courses.
It is hoped that this will yield useful data on teaching and
learning. Their suggestions and
recommendations are being incorporated into the special report and the two-year
report.
A number of decisive
steps have been taken to assure wider participation and shared decision-making
from students, parents and community members:
·
All
students, through their social studies classes, reviewed, commented, and
critiqued the eight expectations for learning. The principal met with a
representative group of students whose recommendations prompted the committee
to re-think the mission statement and the learning expectation rubrics.
·
Parents
who came to open houses in November were encouraged to comment on all aspects
of the expectations for learning.
·
Parents
and the community at large were given an opportunity to meet with the follow-up
committee for clarification and commentary.
·
The
Stoughton High School Council met and affirmed the Mission Statement and
Learning Expectations.
·
The
High School faculty met and affirmed the Mission Statement and Learning
Expectations.
·
The
Stoughton School Committee read, critiqued and approved the Mission Statement
and Learning Expectations.
·
The
high school rubrics that have already been developed and are being developed
will
receive the same rigorous examination as the Mission
Statement and the school wide rubrics.
II. Provide formal opportunities for faculty to
reflect on their teaching practices, on student work and on assessment
practices.
·
Teachers’
schedules provide for ten unassigned periods in a seven-day cycle. These
periods are made available for curriculum work. They have been part of the
teachers’ contract for the last eight years.
·
Departments
meet the second Thursday of each month to work on curriculum.
·
The
school system hires substitutes to replace teachers who spend one or two days
assessing student work, reflecting on curriculum and making strategic
curriculum changes.
·
Staff
Development Day, 10/25/02, was devoted to creating departmental rubrics based
on the rubrics prepared last summer on student expectations. All departments created their specific
rubrics with a number of characteristics in mind:
¨
All
rubrics contain criteria to grade from exemplary to failing.
¨
All
rubrics contain reasons that support the claim and contain reasons that explain
failure to support the claim. All
departments have received The Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring
Rubric, created by Facione and Facione, which presents an excellent
conceptualization of the entire spectrum.
This critical thinking rubric is posted in each classroom in the school
and has been explained to each student. The rubric was reviewed and endorsed by
the High School Council. The rubric was made available to parents for comment
through our cable access channel. As is the case in Writing Across the Curriculum, the committee expects that rubric to
ultimately help students to perform better by using it as a self-assessment
tool.
·
On
11/14/02, a group of directors, curriculum coordinators, high school and middle
school teachers met to coordinate the transition from middle school to high
school.
·
Academic
directors created a unified rubric for students wishing to enroll in honors
courses at the high school.
·
A
faculty committee is preparing an exit evaluation form for all students.
The committee expects that this evaluation instrument will
yield important data for teacher assessment.
·
Teacher
Parent Conferences that take place after the first marking period are also
useful as an assessment tool. (Every teacher has a direct phone line and every
parent has access.)
·
The
faculty follows the learning standards that come from the Massachusetts
Frameworks.
·
The
principal is in the process of creating a Faculty Advisory Committee for
Curriculum and Instruction.
·
In
November 2002, departmental representatives met with members of the Special
Education Department to discuss and reflect upon teaching practices and
methodology to improve student performance.
Other formal meetings will follow with other departments.
III.
Describe steps taken to increase the rigor and challenge of lower
level courses through a focus on such things as critical thinking, higher order
thinking, and the application of knowledge.
Directors
consulted and used Content Knowledge, A
Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 education 3rd
edition, John S. Kendall and Robert J. Marzano, as well as material from the Foundation for Critical Thinking, which
included questions using the elements of thought, universal intellectual
standards, kinds of questioning, problem solving techniques, and checklists for
assessment.
One
invaluable source that is moving Stoughton High School faculty, students and
administration to a higher level of critical thinking and curriculum reform, is
the adoption and the purchase of Critical Thinking Handbook: High School, A
Guide for Redesigning Instruction published by The Center for Critical Thinking.
This is one compendium that
truly takes faculty and students from theory into practice. In addition, Why
Critical Thinking? has been
identified as an excellent guide that offers a rubric for Universal
Intellectual Standards that include: Clarity, Accuracy, Precision, Relevance,
Depth, Breadth, and Logic. Plans are in
place to purchase copies for all teachers.
All academic departments are applying this template to their specific
subject matter. Additional texts
include: Critical Thinking Handbook: A Guide to Redesigning Curriculum; Learning to Think Things Through; The Art of
Redesigning Instruction; Socratic Questioning and Role-Playing; The Greensboro Plan: Reasoning and Writing
into the K-12 Curriculum. Additionally, an assortment of assessment
videos has been purchased by the school system for ongoing curriculum
development.
·
Directors
and their respective faculties have ongoing discussion about the various ways
to implement a shared design for critical thinking that will become a habit of
the mind for students and teachers.
·
Included
will be an examination of the characteristics of critical thinking, the
elements of thought, benchmarks for reasoning, intellectual rubrics and a
“template for analyzing the logic of an article,” that can be applied in all
subjects.
The goal
of the Stoughton High School faculty and administration is to move our students
from “unreflective thinkers” to “master thinkers.”1
To that end, academic department directors in English/Language Arts,
Mathematics, Social Studies, Natural and Applied Sciences, and Foreign Language
have responded to NEASC’s query concerning steps taken to increase the rigor and
challenge in lower level course, as they relate to critical thinking, higher
order thinking and application of knowledge.
Over the past five years the English department has implemented
several changes, as listed below, to increase or reinforce the rigor for all
students in English courses.
·
Dropped the standard level of English 9, thereby raising the level
of expectations for these students who have been incorporated into the 9
College Preparatory level.
·
Expanded the Required Summer Reading assignment that had just been
for honors students to include all incoming grade 9 students.
·
Assisted with the establishment of required summer reading across
the curriculum. All grade 10 students
must now do summer reading assigned by the Social Studies Department.
·
Revised the required reading for grade 10 students so that all
students (10 Standard – 10 Honors) now read selections from Beowulf
and The Canterbury Tales, as well
as Macbeth, Lord
of the Flies, and other required texts.
As a
result of the system-wide initiative, Writing
Across the Curriculum, established a minimum number of Type III and/or Type
IV writing assignments per term for all students.
·
Created Open Response MCAS style questions that all students do in
the grade 9 & grade 10 courses in preparation for the MCAS exam.
·
Added additional non-fiction readings to all courses, but
especially to the grade 9 and grade 10 English courses to strengthen all
students’ critical reading skills of that genre.
·
Reviewed and voted to continue to use the established departmental
rubric that identifies the specific elements that will determine whether an
essay is A, B, C, D, or F.
·
Continued to require all grade 11 students to complete a writing
portfolio assessment based upon several specific, required writing assignments
completed throughout the grade 11 English course.
·
Changed from semester courses to year courses in grade 11,
minimizing college-bound students’ opportunities to take easier, standard level
electives in their junior and senior years to fulfill their English
requirement.
·
Added a second AP English course so students may now take AP
English: Language and Composition in grade 11, and AP English: Literature and
Composition in grade 12.
·
Required that students who take AP English must take the AP exam
to earn AP English credit.
·
A student who fails any English course in grades 9-11, must pass
at least two of the four terms to be eligible to attend summer school to make
up the course.
·
Students can no longer take multiple years of English courses in
their senior year to fulfill the required four years of English. They must now pass each year, or qualify to
attend summer school, if they are to be eligible to graduate in four years.
·
Created department rubrics with descriptors for Reading, Writing,
Speaking, and Listening so that all students in grade 9 will know what they
must be able to do to be Advanced or Proficient, as well as what constitutes
Needs Improvement or Failing in these skills. Similar rubrics for all students
in English courses in grades 10-12 are also being developed.
Mathematics:
Mathematics is a tool designed for the purpose of solving
problems. Therefore, the focus of all mathematics courses is problem solving.
The level of the course determines the degree of difficulty. However, it is the
philosophy of the Mathematics Department that all students should be able to
solve problems from all strands of mathematics as noted in the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework and The National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics Standards. These include
Number Sense; Patterns, Relations, and Algebra; Geometry and Measurement;
Probability and Statistics. Rigorous content is outlined in the curriculum
guides for every course taught in the mathematics department.
Appropriate
inquiry-based problem solving to aid student understanding and critical
thinking is a part of all classes. Challenging problems are presented daily
through class openers and/or class discussion. The individual teacher for each
class determines behavioral objectives. The teacher also states student-learning
expectations on a daily basis. Rigor is present in the decoding of material,
note-taking systems, and student analysis of data.
To meet
the goal of rigorous problem solving in the SHS Mathematics Department teachers
are provided with the following resources:
·
A
curriculum guide which is in accordance with the Massachusetts Mathematics
Curriculum Framework
·
The EXEMPLARS program – A collection of
challenging performance-based, extended response mathematical tasks. These are
scored using a prescribed rubric. The tasks have been written in accordance
with the NCTM frameworks. They are especially demanding to students with below
grade level ability.
·
The ACCELERATED MATH program – A computer-based remedial program that allows
students to progress at their own rates and set higher goals for
themselves. The program provides
students with immediate feedback and diagnoses their strengths and weaknesses.
The program’s objectives are in line with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. Therefore, students
who have performed poorly on Grade 8 and/or Grade 10 MCAS tests are placed in
Math Lab settings to improve their future test performance. In addition, the
Math Lab teacher and the computer program address rigorous extended response
questions.
·
Projects,
presentations and lab work are outlined in each curriculum guide. These are
assessed in a rigorous manner using a point-based rubric.
·
Advanced
Placement and higher-level courses demonstrate rigor through their difficult
content and pace.
·
A
rubric-based assessment system for all other areas of the mathematics class is
in the developmental stage.
The Social Studies Department has taken the following measures to
increase challenge and rigor throughout its curriculum. Rubrics have been developed to align with
student expectations. Included are nine
rubrics that range from oral presentations to take-home essays.
·
All students will be encouraged to take responsibility for their
own learning.
·
Students will evaluate their beliefs by contrasting them with
opposing beliefs.
·
Students will sharpen their critical thinking skills by using
vocabulary such as “claims,” “assumes,” and “implies.”
·
Students and teachers will develop History’s Habits of the Mind
1 that emanate from the Bradley Commission on History in the
Schools, 1987-88, p.9. (see below)
v
Understand the significance of the past to their own lives,
both private and public and to society.
v
Distinguish
between the important and inconsequential, to develop the “discriminating
memory” needed for the discerning judgment in public and personal life.
v
Perceive
past events and issues as people experienced them at the time, to develop
historical empathy as opposed to present-mindedness.
v
Acquire
an understanding of diverse cultures and shared humanity.
v
Understand
the interplay of change and continuity, and avoid assuming that either is
somehow more natural, or more expected than the other.
v
Prepare
to live with uncertainties, realizing that not all problems have solutions.
v
Grasp
the complexity of historical causation, respect particularity, and avoid
excessive generalizations.
v
Avoid
the temptation to seize upon “lessons” of history as cures for present ills.
v
Recognize
the importance of individuals-both good and evil.
v
Appreciate
the non-rational, irrational, and the accidental in human affairs.
v
Understand
the relationship between geography and history.
v
Read
widely and critically in order to recognize the difference between fact and
conjecture, evidence and assertion, in order to frame useful questions.
Below is a list of ways that the History and Social Sciences Department focuses on higher order
thinking in our standard level classes:
·
Students are required to analyze a variety of primary source
materials, such as editorial cartoons, historical photographs, and paintings.
·
Frequently, students are presented with the art and music of an
era under study and must synthesize a variety of examples to deduce the ways in
which such items reflect the time period.
·
Students are regularly presented with critical thinking questions
and are required to respond.
·
Students are given Type III writing assignments, which require
higher order thinking skills and research prior to completing the assignment.
·
Students are required to create graphic organizers that enable
them to synthesize and organize their work.
The Science Department at Stoughton High School continually strives to
provide each student with the basic scientific knowledge and skills necessary
to function in a society ever more dependent on science and technology. The purpose of science is to provide the
individual with a systematic method for investigating the world around us,
while technology provides the tools that make our existence in the world more
efficient and enjoyable. It is vital
that all students develop skills in both these areas in order to participate
fully in today’s society.
Students
at Stoughton High School are offered a wide variety of challenging courses in
all four major areas of science: biology, chemistry, physics, and earth
science. Through the course of normal annual review and in response to the
recent NEASC visit, the Science Department has taken the following steps to
increase the rigor and challenge of lower level courses:
·
Rubrics have been developed and are being
implemented to ensure consistently high standards in student performance and
assessment at all levels of instruction.
·
Engineering/Technology has been added as a new category
in Stoughton High School’s Annual Science Fair competition. This fair is open to all students in all
levels of science education. It is hoped that this new category will appeal in
particular to students in the lower level courses.
·
Science Olympiad Competition is open to all students at
Stoughton High School. The Science Olympiad is an organization devoted to
improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest and
motivation in science, and providing recognition for achievement in this academic
area. Students who participate in these
competitions learn the value of cooperation and teamwork as they develop their
scientific skills. Emphasis has been
placed this year on recruiting more students from lower level courses to
participate. Many of the Olympiad
engineering activities are being incorporated into the curriculum of these
lower level courses.
·
MassBioEd Grant was awarded to Stoughton High
School for purchase of biotechnology equipment in order for students to
participate in labs that are on the cutting-edge of science such as DNA
fingerprinting, and gel electrophoresis.
The purpose of the grant was specifically to bring this technology to
all levels of biology classes. In the
past only Advanced Placement and Honor students were exposed to this level of
biotechnology.
·
Earth Science lab materials were purchased through the normal
budget process in order to increase the opportunities for these students to
participate in laboratory investigations of important earth science
topics. Three lab kits were purchased:
physical oceanography, plate tectonics, and the solar system. These kits are designed to develop the
student’s ability to gather data, process information, formulate conclusions,
and communicate ideas. These students
will be able to apply previously acquired knowledge and skills to the process
of science. They will be actively “doing science” rather than studying about
it.
·
Teacher Training is being provided on Professional
Development Day and on numerous early release days to train teachers in the use
of new materials specifically designed to bring hands-on activities to the
lower level courses within the Science Department. Investigation, experimentation, and problem solving are key areas
to be addressed at these training sessions.
Foreign Language:
The
Foreign Language Department has increased the rigor and challenge of lower level
courses by developing lessons and assessment tools that require critical
thinking and dispositions and the application of knowledge.
Even
though the main focus of first and second-year language classes is the
acquisition of basic communication skills, students use critical thinking when
they make cross-cultural comparisons and as they learn to analyze how language
functions. As their reading and
listening comprehension increase and they are able to express themselves more
fully in the new language, they sharpen their critical thinking skills.
The
Foreign Language Department developed departmental rubrics for Speaking and
Writing to ensure consistently high standards in student performance. We will continue to develop such rubrics for
the other skills: listening and reading.
IV. Establish an ongoing cycle of planned curricular revision that is
based on student assessment.
Implicit
in this report is a structure for continuing an on-going cycle of planned
curricular revision based on student assessment.
The
following are standing committees that meet monthly:
·
K-12
English/Language Arts/Reading Curriculum Committee
·
K-12
Mathematics Curriculum Steering Committee
·
K-12
Foreign Language Curriculum Steering Committee
·
K-12
History/Social Studies Curriculum Steering Committee
·
K-12
Science and Technology Curriculum Steering Committee
·
Grade
8/9 Task Force Committee
Administrators
review the data of students at-risk in the structure of a Building Based Support Team that include subject matter teachers,
guidance counselors, an administrator and an adjustment counselor. The team
makes recommendations to the principal about students whose behavior,
attendance, relative cognitive ability, or any other education factor has red
flagged them. This on-going process has helped scores of students who would
otherwise “fall through the cracks.”
The introduction of departmental rubrics
helps subject matter teachers analyze more carefully the relative success of
their lessons and make necessary adjustments. Certainly the process of
rewriting the mission statement, along with student expectations and rubrics,
has centered the faculty and administration. Having students participate in
rubric construction and revision helps us to better plan for curriculum.
On-going
meetings between the Special Education Department and regular education has
already yielded results that will help in planning future curriculum efforts.
Faculty,
administrators, and students are in the planning stages of setting up a curriculum
committee made up of members of the various departments focusing on critical
thinking, interdepartmental articulation, and curriculum mapping.
The
introduction of The Critical Thinking Handbook, which the faculty is currently
familiarizing themselves with, is a resource that offers subject matter
teachers alternative assessment strategies that allow them to critique and
redesign their teaching strategies.
no longer
rely on facts for facts’ sake. Students
are learning to evaluate evidence, clarify issues, and follow those principles
that comprise critical thinking. Assessing student learning based on critical
thinking as compared to traditional teaching methods is an additional method to
evaluate and plan for curricular revision. Critical Thinking Handbook: High School, A
Guide for Redesigning Instruction, has already illustrated to teachers
the value of redesigning instruction.
Every
marking period, guidance counselors review report cards and warning notices and
meet with students who are in jeopardy.
Guidance counselors routinely share data with administrators and
teachers, and they are in constant communication with parents.
Vertical
articulation between 8th and 9th grade teachers has
helped refine curriculum choices in both the Middle School and the High
School. The Grade 8/9 Task Force Report
of 6/13/02 that included a student survey generated short-term and long-term
recommendations to “improve each student’s academic and social transition from
middle school to high school.”
Some of
the findings from this Task Force are listed below:
¨
The
amount and difficulty of homework, and the demands of teachers are much greater
in the high school than in the middle school.
¨
Homework
for students in “college” classes is not a “major stumbling block.”
¨
Homework
is a major stumbling block for students in “standard” classes.
¨
Attendance
and tardiness are seen as problems by both 8th and 9th
grade teachers.
¨
“Standard”
students have homework assigned to them much less frequently, and they
typically do not do their homework, regardless of the amount given.
Both faculty and administration acknowledge the need for a
more consistent dialogue between the Middle School head teachers and High
School academic directors. The success of this report and the data culled from
the survey will help to increase the dialogue.
The
faculty spent the entire Staff Development Day on October 25, 2002 developing
rubrics and other methods to assess students.
In addition, five members of the English Department spent two days
revamping the 11th grade curriculum, guided by rubrics developed by
the department.
Five
members of the Social Studies Department met this fall to create a 12th
grade curriculum to include consumer economics, ethics, civics education,
transition to college and the world of work, using rubrics that have been
developed this summer and fall. Additional rubrics are being developed. Teachers use their curriculum hours during
the week to work on rubrics. As of this date, every department has written
departmental specific rubrics. Individual
teachers have developed their own rubrics to support departmental and school
wide rubrics. They will continue this
process until all rubrics have been completed.
Much of
the decision-making process, which includes students, parents, and faculty, was
addressed earlier in this report. As was noted in our self-evaluation, and
again during the visitation, it is difficult in a community where most parents
work to get parents to have a “meaningful” role in decision-making. To reiterate, there is a process that
ensures that students, parents and the professional staff do have a meaningful,
if not equal, role in the decision-making process.
·