Key Themes in the Worcester Vision for Effective
High Schools
Structure, Organization and Culture
1.
Small
learning communities unified in philosophy, purpose, high expectations and
focus
2.
Three
strategies: Interdisciplinary teams, small schools, academies in large schools
3.
Personalization,
to provide the unique mixture of support, challenge, and time that each student needs in order to have a
full opportunity to learn and to achieve
4.
Schools
as learning-driven rather than time-driven, with time adapted to student
progress rather than learning controlled by time
5.
Collaboration,
with students as well as teachers working in teams and coaching groups
Academic Curriculum and Instruction
(Opportunity, Support, Challenge & Growth)
6.
Literacy
and numeracy across the curriculum to build academic competence
7.
Challenging
courses for all students—“It’s cool to be smart”—with a focus on developing
academic competence across disciplines, depth of understanding, habits of mind
and habits of work
8.
Authentic
and connected curriculum in terms of intellectual work (e.g., interdisciplinary
connections), cultures and community (learning links school and community
life), and world (local-global interconnectedness)
9.
Active
and multiple modes of learning, incorporating strategies such as coaching,
teaming, reading or writing workshop
10.
Performance
assessment, with stress on growth in terms of academic competence (mastery)
linked to MA learning standards, exemplary work samples in literacy and
mathematics, habits of mind and work, and youth development
11.
Adults
as coaches and mentors
Professional Culture and Learning
12.
Collaborative
planning and decision-making
13.
Commitment
to deepening content knowledge
14.
Mutual
support for the development of “best
practice” in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment
15.
Data-driven
decision-making, with student work samples, participation and performance data
consulted regularly by all stakeholders
16.
Collaborative
teacher preparation with higher education partners
Youth Development
17.
Students
participate in school decision-making
18.
Students
perform responsible roles such as peer mentor or curriculum project leader, and
organize demonstrations of learning
School-Community Integration and Partnership
19.
Schools
as vital, collaborative educational centers interconnected with the community
20.
Family
involvement coordinated with ethnic minority group representatives
21.
Coordinated
school-community youth development (business & youth service agencies) in
academic, health, vocational, personal, and civic domains
22.
Community
enriched curriculum—Collaboration with cultural and higher education
institutions
23.
Opportunity
for challenging courses in higher ed (dual enrollment; “Diploma-Plus”)
24.
Tutoring
and mentoring by college students and community volunteers
25.
Shared
responsibility, mutual support and accountability, expressed in governance and
organization within schools, the district and the district-community
partnership |
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