Executive Summary. Middle College at North Carolina A&T State University

Transcription

1 Middle College at North Carolina A&T State University Guilford County Schools Mr. Eric Hines, Principal 1601 East Market Street - Hodgin Hall Suite 105 Greensboro, NC Document Generated On March 29, 2013

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 4 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement 6 Additional Information 8

3 Introduction Every school has its own story to tell. The context in which teaching and learning takes place influences the processes and procedures by which the school makes decisions around curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The context also impacts the way a school stays faithful to its vision. Many factors contribute to the overall narrative such as an identification of stakeholders, a description of stakeholder engagement, the trends and issues affecting the school, and the kinds of programs and services that a school implements to support student learning. The purpose of the Executive Summary (ES) is to provide a school with an opportunity to describe in narrative form the strengths and challenges it encounters. By doing so, the public and members of the school community will have a more complete picture of how the school perceives itself and the process of self-reflection for continuous improvement. This summary is structured for the school to reflect on how it provides teaching and learning on a day to day basis. Page 1

4 Description of the School Describe the school's size, community/communities, location, and changes it has experienced in the last three years. Include demographic information about the students, staff, and community at large. What unique features and challenges are associated with the community/communities the school serves? The Middle College High School at NC A&T University A Description of the School's Purpose, Responsibilities, and Aspirations: The Middle College High School at North Carolina A&T University was founded in 2003 as a collaborative effort of the Guilford County Schools and NC A&T University. Its mission was to graduate male students in the Guilford County Schools who were struggling to find success in the comprehensive high schools they attended and were in danger of dropping out. It was hoped that with the many resources offered by the University"and especially those of the School of Education"and the small-school environment of the Middle College, these atrisk students would, for the first time, experience a high level of academic success and would even be able to take some University courses. In January, 2006, the Middle College applied for, and was awarded, a grant by the North Carolina New Schools Project to become a Learn and Earn School. Learn and Earn is a project funded through Gov. Easley's office that is creating Early College High Schools (ECHS) across the state. These schools are located on the campuses of institutions of higher education (universities, colleges, and community colleges) and share the following major characteristics: They are small (a maximum of 400 students, and many are currently half that size) and have their own school number from the Department of Public Instruction (this gives them the same autonomy as other schools in their district). They offer students a grades 9-13 curriculum that guarantees a high school diploma and two years of college credit (or an Associate's degree if the school is located on a community college) at no cost to students who successfully complete the program. They target middle school students (a) who are willing to accelerate their high school studies and begin taking college courses while they are still in high school, (b) who may prefer a small-school environment to that of a large, comprehensive high school, (c) who may, in fact, be at risk of not thriving in a large high school, (d) who are under-represented in normal college student populations (e.g., first generation college-goers; low socio-economic status). They and their college or university partner agree to (a) develop a seamless transition from the state-required high school curriculum to University courses, (b) foster collaboration between public school teachers and university faculty to ensure alignment among course offerings and to share pedagogical strategies consistent with a small school design that includes greater relevance between school work and the world of adult work, and (c) work collaboratively to identify and overcome barriers that will prevent accelerating students' progress toward a college degree. Learn and Earn schools are supported with a five-year grant that funds three full-time positions (two student-support positions for the high school and a liaison position hired by the college or university) and provides funding for professional development for high school teachers and administrators. As a Learn and Earn school, the Early/Middle College High School at A&T has an exciting"but daunting"mission: to prepare every student for success in both college and the 21st Century workplace. Such a commitment is unique among North Carolina's public high schools, and the New Schools Project is working hard to find small-school designs and existing models that will help these new schools and their partners know how to engage their task. Page 2

5 On the one hand, the task is simplified because research is finding that many of the skills and knowledge necessary for success in college work and 21st Century jobs are the same: Knowing where and how to find information on a wide range of topics Knowing how to evaluate that information and apply it to a given context Being able to think critically about an issue, and to use critical thinking to solve problems Being able to work collaboratively with others Behaving ethically and honestly On the other hand, although in recent years high schools have talked about teaching these and related skills and dispositions to students, very few have figured out how to do so even for most of their students, let alone all of them. The Middle North Carolina A&T is a single gender high school comprised of 127 males. Our school includes grades 9-12 and we are located on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University. The Middle College is housed in Hodgin Hall, the old Education Building on campus. Three years ago, we were located in 4 different locations including a church that is adjacent to the university campus. Through building strong relationships with the university, we are now in one location occupying every classroom in Hodgin Hall. This change drastically increased the amount of instruction time for our students and created closer relationships throughout the school. Our school demographic is made up of 96% African American, 2% Caucasian, and 2% Hispanic. Our students come to us from Middle and High Schools all across the Guilford County Schools district. Our staff of 18 is comprised of 10 females and 8 males. The racial make-up of our staff reflects more of the racial make-up of the district. One of the challenges we face is our ability to more racially balance our school to reflect the demographics of the district. While we market to all ethnic groups and schools, we seem to attract mostly African American male students. Our unique feature is that we were the first all-male public high school in North Carolina and the only single gender school to be located on an historical black college campus. Page 3

6 School's Purpose Provide the school's purpose statement and ancillary content such as mission, vision, values, and/or beliefs. Describe how the school embodies its purpose through its program offerings and expectations for students. The purpose or mission of the Middle NCA&T is to provide a single-gender, innovative, nurturing environment where young men are offered exceptionally challenging education opportunities that support academic development at the highest level. The vision at the Middle NCA&T states that the staff and students will establish a community environment that fosters proficient learners, productive citizens and lifelong learners for the 21st Century. The Middle College High School at North Carolina A&T State University was founded in 2003, as a collaborative effort of the Guilford County Schools and NC A&T State University. It is the first all-male high school in the state of North Carolina. Its mission then was to graduate male students in the Guilford County Schools who were struggling to find success in the comprehensive high schools they attended and who were in danger of dropping out of school. It was the hope that with many resources offered by the university, and especially those of the School of Education, that these at-risk students would, for the first time, experience a high level of academic success and would even be able to take some university courses. In January 2006, the Middle College applied for, and was awarded, a grant by the North Carolina New Schools Project to become a Learn and Earn School. Learn and Earn is a project funded through the Governor's office that is creating Early College High Schools (ECHS) across the state. These schools are located on the campuses of institutions of higher learning (universities, colleges, and community colleges) and share the following major characteristics: They are small (maximum of 400 students, and many are currently half that size). Small classroom sizes with a large class being 15 students. They offer students in grades 9-13 a curriculum that guarantees a high school diploma and up to two years of college credit at no cost to parents of students who successfully complete the program. They target middle school students (a) who are willing to accelerate their high school studies and begin taking college courses while they are still in high school, (b) who may prefer a small-school environment to that of a large comprehensive high school, (c) who may in fact be at risk of not thriving in a large high school, (d) who are under-represented in normal college student populations (e.g., first generation collegegoers; low socio-economic status). As a result of our vastly changing society and collaborative efforts with Guilford County Schools, North Carolina A&T, and NC New Schools Project, we felt the need to revisit our school's vision and mission. No longer could we be content with just graduating young men from high school but rather we felt it was imperative that we prepared them for college, career, and the 21st century. Thus, "Our mission is to provide a single-gender education that will establish a school culture raising educational achievement in an innovative, nurturing environment where young men are offered exceptionally challenging education opportunities that support academic development at the highest standard". This was accomplished through a paradigm shift in our school. We began to utilize school wide strategies and practices that studies showed produced success in male students. The first thing I realized was in order for our school culture to produce the success we envisioned for our young men, we had to have the right staff members in place. It is vital that our staff members love "Other People's Children" and do whatever is necessary to help them succeed. Our success as a school has everything to do with staff members buying into the mission and vision of the school. Through team meetings, Professional Learning Community meetings, data is analyzed and decisions are made collaboratively to ensure success for our students and school as a whole. Secondly, we focused on creating and building strong relationships. The old adage that "children don't care what you know, until they know that you care" was very evident in our school. Realizing that our students and parents are our customers caused us to look at how we do business in the area of customer service. As a Page 4

7 principal, it was my goal to build teacher leaders in our school. In order to be an effective leader in any organization, one must be willing to serve. In modeling being a servant, we have created an environment where children feel confident, safe, and enjoy coming to school every day. When the culture of our school improved, so did the attitudes of the students, which produced successes academically. Thirdly, the instructional practices implemented in our school produced success in our male students. We have made a concerted effort to move away from "sit and get". Through renovating our classroom instruction we moved to best practices that fostered success in male students. Through utilizing Powerful Teaching and Learning strategies, movement, and technology, we have seen monumental improvement in the learning of our students. At the Middle NCA&T we collaboratively believe and value the idea that every child can learn, and failure is not an option. We embody these values as a school be creating opportunities for all students to receive individually what they need in order to be successful. Our staff works to create a comfort level and safe environment that produces a culture that fosters success in students. This environment is one that embodies sharing among students, staff, and parents which creates a village that challenges all stakeholders to strive for excellence and increase our success as a school. Throughout the school, we have collectively implemented strategies that raise accountability and expectations for our students. With making students college and career ready we realized that there were changes we could make as a staff to help ensure the success of our students after they have left our building and moved on to college or career paths of their choice. We have seen our school turn around in two short years, thus enjoying great successes with students who in any other environment may have become a statistic. We have grown from a low performing high school to one who has achieved high growth and AYP (Annual Yearly Progress). We have a graduation rate of 100 percent, of which 99 percent were African American males. In 2011=2012 school year we graduated 20 seniors. Out of the 20 young men, 100% were accepted into someone's university.. Our SAT scores have increased by an average of 294 points which was the second highest growth in the district in The future is very promising for our young men who attend the Middle College at North Carolina A&T. No longer do they feel that the most they can hope for is a high school diploma. Our young men know that they have options after high school. We do not spend a lot of time looking into the rear view mirror. Our young men enjoy the panoramic view of the windshield because it gives them a greater perspective of where they can go. Regardless of the obstacles and stereotypes unfairly thrust upon our young men, they know that "We get even by succeeding". Page 5

8 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement Describe the school's notable achievements and areas of improvement in the last three years. Additionally, describe areas for improvement that the school is striving to achieve in the next three years. The notable achievements of the Middle North Carolina A&T have shown significant growth in the past 3 years. In a collaborative arrangement with North Carolina A&T State University, Guilford County Schools provides the first and only all-male high school in the state of North Carolina. Led by its principal, Mr. Eric Hines, the Middle College counters the portrayal of African American and male students as struggling learners who lack motivation to succeed. The Middle North Carolina A&T opened in 2003 as the first all-male public high school in North Carolina. The first 5 years proved to be challenging as the school struggled to develop character and establish a culture that fosters success in male students. Over the last three years, the Middle College at North Carolina A&T has had great success developing character and educating its students. At the end of the school year, the EOC state mandated test composite score showed that 40% of the students were proficient. In the 2009 academic year, student proficiency grew to 60% with the school reaching expected growth and high growth. This was the second highest growth in the district among all high schools. In the 2010 academic school year, student proficiency grew to 72.3% with the school reaching expected growth, high growth, and AYP. By the 2011 school year the Middle NCA&T reached expected growth, high growth, and AYP with a composite score that showed that 84% of the students were proficient. This earned the school the honor of being a "School of Distinction." In 2012 the Middle NCA&T increased its composite score to 93.4% proficient and became a School of Excellence. The Middle College at NCA&T had the highest SAT growth in the district by growing 252 points in The average SAT score was The attendance rate for the last two consecutive years is 97%, up from 84% three years prior. The graduation rate for school year was 96.4%, 2011 school year it grew to 95%, and is currently 100%. Of the 20 seniors who graduated in 2011, 100% of them received college and university acceptances and presently attend colleges and universities throughout North Carolina. Of that class of 20 graduates, 7 of them attend NCA&T State University. Of the 20 seniors who graduated in 2012, 100% of them received university acceptances and accrued over $1,200,000 in scholarship money. Administrators, faculty, and staff have created an intellectual climate with high expectations for their students. Middle College faculty used research-based instructional strategies to transform their classrooms into extraordinary learning environments that encourage students to think critically and globally. With caring faculty, staff, and administrators who challenge their students to succeed and who take risks to engage their learners, the Middle College at North Carolina A&T State University is an innovative, groundbreaking school that should never be treated as an unknown jewel but presented as it is"a brilliant light on a hill guiding young men throughout the county to be ready for college, careers, and life. With all stakeholders in our school in agreement, the faculty at the Early/Middle NCA&T decided based on data that our 3 major issues for this year are: Use of Technology in all content areas Balanced Literacy College Readiness Although we have seen growth in two of the three areas, it still reveals a lack of growth we desire for our students and school. Personalization, Purposeful Design, Powerful Teaching and Learning, and College Readiness we believe will render our desired outcomes if we make them a focus for our school. We have talked about what we are doing well and what we should maintain as rituals in our school. Other conversations have been, what do we need to change and or improve, what strategies are we currently utilizing that are not rendering Page 6

9 the successes we desire, and what implementations can be put in place to ensure that every student is college and career ready once they graduate from our school? We believe that in order to reap the outcomes we desire, it is going to take the common collaborative efforts of all stakeholders. As before we plan to focus on the Growing Innovation parts of the rubric and take necessary baby steps to reach our goals, rather than overwhelm ourselves with jumping to the New Paradigms initially. While we have grown, there is still a great need for improvement. While we see evidence of moving away from isolated instruction and teacher centered classrooms, we embrace the idea that collaboratively we can implement best practices from the Powerful Teaching and Learning design principle to improve our Balanced Literacy and College Readiness. We want to embrace the use of technology in all content areas as we create this paradigm shift. We realize that everyone must be willing to commit to utilizing engaging strategies and rigor that will foster growth and success in our students. Plans have been finalized with the university allowing us to partner in initiatives and utilize vertical teaming to help ensure that we are preparing our students for success in college and career. We must continue our efforts of improvement in the area of Personalization. While we have seen tremendous growth in this area, we realize that we must do a better job working together as professionals and working to change the perception of our school. For example, we went to every Middle School where incoming students attend and visited with them. We ate lunch with them, talked about their year, and encouraged them. We are committed to finding innovative ways to increase parent involvement and visibility in our school. We have discussed and plan to implement strategies that will make our parents feel welcomed and realize that they are an important key to the success of our school. Page 7

10 Additional Information Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections. School Name: Middle NCA&T Composite Composite 93.4% High Growth High Growth & AYP High Growth & AYP 2010 Graduation Rate % 2011 Graduation Rate % Graduating Class - 100% College Acceptance School of Distinction Most Improved School NC Turnaround Performance Award School of Excellence Graduation Rate - 100% 2012 Graduating Class - 100% University Acceptance Page 8