NEW: 4 Schools Selected to Represent RI at Regional Conference on High School Innovation
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Four Rhode Island public schools—Central Falls High School (Central Falls), Smithfield High School (Smithfield), and Ponaganset Middle School and Ponaganset High School (North Scituate)—have been invited to represent their state at a regional conference on effective strategies for improving teaching and learning in the 21st century.
The conference, High School Redesign in Action (newenglandssc.org/conference), will take place March 22–23, 2012, in Norwood, Massachusetts. It is sponsored by the New England Secondary School Consortium, a regional partnership committed to high school innovation, in collaboration with the departments of education for Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. All the selected schools have made significant progress raising student achievement, graduation rates, college-enrollment numbers, or other indicators of educational success.
“As we work together to advance learning and to close achievement gaps in our middle schools and high schools, it’s important that we maintain high standards and that we provide students with the support they will need for success,” said Deborah A. Gist, Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. “Many Rhode Island schools are exploring new strategies for improving student achievement and increasing graduation rates, and I am pleased that four of our secondary schools will attend the High School Redesign in Action conference to share and showcase their ideas.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“The Rhode Island Foundation has been proud to support the Consortium and its work,” said Denise Jenkins, grant programs officer at the Rhode Island Foundation. “The Foundation is dedicated to funding efforts that will lead to higher graduation rates and student achievement. It is impressive that these five states have been able to work together identifying and sharing best practices to move reform forward.” The Rhode Island Foundation has provided funding to support eight Rhode Island high schools—including the presenting schools—as an extension of the Consortium’s League of Innovative Schools initiative, a multistate network of secondary schools working together to improve their programs and performance. The League’s goal is to promote the exchange of best practices and innovative improvement strategies among schools throughout the region.
Dramatically improving low-performing high schools is a challenge being faced by school districts throughout New England, and at Central Falls High School, teachers, students, parents, and administrators are tackling school improvement head on. The school is establishing standards for excellence in teaching, providing teachers with training to improve their skills, addressing low graduation and high drop-out rates, creating personalized support systems for students, and improving school culture by successfully engaging and mobilizing parents and community members.
Ponaganset Middle School and Ponaganset High School are working together to implement comprehensive academic support systems designed to help struggling students and make sure they stay in school and graduate prepared. The two schools have learned that ensuring student success cannot wait until ninth grade—it requires a strong partnership and ongoing collaboration between the middle school and the high school.
Using Race to the Top support, proficiency-based graduation requirements, and the new Common Core State Standards (corestandards.org), Smithfield High School has established clear learning outcomes for all students that are reinforced by instructional strategies, assessments, and professional development. The school’s work has focused on balancing accountability (holding everyone to high standards) with capacity building (giving every teacher the support and training they need to succeed).
The New England Secondary School Consortium is a regional partnership working to advance forward-thinking innovations in secondary education that will empower the next generation of citizens, workers, and leaders. The Consortium’s goal is to ensure that every public high school student receives an education that prepares them for success in the colleges, careers, and communities of the 21st century. The Consortium is funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (nmefoundation.org), the largest philanthropy in New England focused exclusively on education, and it is coordinated by the Great Schools Partnership (greatschoolspartnership.org), a nonprofit educational-support organization in Portland, Maine. The Nellie Mae Education Foundation has committed more than $2 million to support the Consortium, which includes $1 million in partnership grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
