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Commendations
Core Values, Beliefs, and Learning Expectations
- The core values, beliefs and learning expectations that reflect the priorities of the community
- The
pervasive acceptance and commitment to the ideals of core values,
beliefs, and learning expectations by students, staff and parents
- The
variety of opportunities to reinforce and re-teach the core values,
beliefs and learning expectations through various school initiatives
Curriculum
- The
hard work and dedication of teachers to implement the curricula and
co-curricular activities with the available provided supplies, funds,
resources, materials, and technology
- The school's comprehensive
and varied course of studies and curricula, including courses at
different levels, implemented with care by dedicated educators,
purposefully designed to give current students a comprehensive education
- The
most current curriculum model that integrates current standards,
provides substantive lists of instructional strategies and assessments
and the written curriculum that uses essential questions and big ideas
and emphasizes higher order thinking
- The clear curricular
coordination at the course level with their partner high school and
across staff, and a defined process for curriculum revision, review and
adoption
- The regular collaboration of staff, especially in data
teams and in the use of common assessments that shows the staff is
clearly committed to implementing the district curriculum
Instruction
- The
preponderance of teachers that frequently personalize instruction,
engage students as active and self-directed learners, and emphasize
inquiry, problem-solving, and higher order thinking
- The active use of student self-assessment and reflection to inform instruction
- The willingness and commitment of the staff to utilize technology in order to enhance instruction
- The use of data teams to develop common formative assessments and analyze data
- The effective use of data team time by many teachers to discuss student performance in order to inform instruction
- The continual informal collaboration among teachers in order to improve instructional practices
- The collaborative work opportunities for students in all content area lesson
- The teachers at BCHS who are highly motivated to maintain a high level of expertise in their content areas
Assessment of and for Student Learning
- The BCHS faculty's utilization of a wide array of assessments, both formative and summative
- The common formative assessments that are implemented and used on a regular basis
- The faculty's commitmentto meet on a regular and formal basis to collect, disaggregate, and analyze student data
- The faculty's work to modify instruction based on the outcomes of the data-team meetings to better meet students' needs
School Culture and Leadership
- The safe and respectful atmosphere and positive school culture developed and spear-headed by the principal
- The
use of block scheduling for in-depth learning and professional
collaboration and the school's commitment to collaboration through
scheduled release time every Wednesday afternoon
- The passion and
commitment to improving the school environment and to work consistently
to engage students in the learning process
- The strong presence
and leadership of the building administrators that sets the tone during
the school day, during passing times, and at school events
- The respect and responsibility that is afforded to students
- The BCHS atmosphere that is inclusive and equitable
- The
school-wide formal process that provides students with regular contact
with at least one adult member of the school community and remains with
that adult member throughout their entire stay at BCHS
School Resources for Learning
- The interpersonal relationships with all students that foster a sense of community
- The extraordinary efforts of BCHS to support at-risk students
- The support offered to students via the ninth grade team
- The proactive commitment to survey the community to inform programming decisions
- The
diversity of support services available for identified students
including special education, Section 504 of the ADA, and English
language learners
Community Resources for Learning
- The positive school culture and meaningful relationships between students and staff
- The organization and professionalism of the maintenance staff maintaining the physical plant and facilities
- The staff's creativity and dedication in attempting to build meaningful connections with outside stakeholders
- The creativity of teachers to find funding for extra-curricular activities
Recommendations
Core Values, Beliefs, and Learning Expectations
- Develop and implement a formal plan to ensure the core values, beliefs, and 21st century learning expectations drive curriculum, instruction and assessment in every classroom
- Develop
and implement a formal plan for regular review of BCHS's core values,
beliefs, and learning expectations based on research, multiple data
sources, as well as district and school community priorities
- Develop a deliberate system to ensure the learning expectations are implemented with fidelity in all classrooms settings
- Develop a process whereby BCHS can focus on their own respective core values, beliefs about learning and 21st century learning skills and not be impeded by the shared curriculum and decisions that are made concerning BEHS
Curriculum
- Ensure
that all curricular areas receive sufficient financial resources,
including technology, equipment materials and staffing needed to
implement the curriculum and meet the learning needs of all students
- Implement a plan to identify and integrate the school's adopted 21st
century learning expectations explicitly in curriculum documents to
ensure all students have the opportunity to learn these skills, and
include explicit cross-disciplinary learning experiences in the written
curriculum
- Clearly identify the curricular review timeline and
expectations and formalize plans to increase curricular alignment across
grade levels, subjects and schools, including sending schools.
- Update all curriculum documents, particularly science, to the curriculum format model approved in 2013-14
- Implement
a plan for more formal monitoring of curriculum implementation to
ensure the written curriculum is the taught curriculum
Instruction
- Develop
and implement a plan to provide formal opportunities for teachers to
regularly examine their instructional practices in order to ensure
consistency with BCHS's core values, beliefs, and 21st century learning expectations
- Develop and implement a plan to ensure increased opportunities for cross-disciplinary lessons and activities
- Provide professional development opportunities for teachers focusing on differentiating instruction
- Develop a plan to ensure sufficient financial and logistical support for content-based professional development
- Implement
a plan to ensure there are differentiated instructional strategies and
methods in all courses for acceleration, remediation and specific needs
of populations such as English language learners (beyond specific ELL
courses), special education students, and free/reduced lunch students
Assessment of and for Student Learning
- Develop and implement a process to assess individual student progress in achieving the school's 21st century learning expectations using school-wide analytic rubrics
- Develop and implement a process to communicate individual student progress in achieving the school's 21st century learning expectations to students and their families and the whole school's progress in achieving the school's 21st century learning expectations to the school community
- Ensure the applicable 21st century learning expectations are communicated to students prior to each unit of study
- Ensure timely corrective feedback is provided to all students to revise and improve their work
School Culture and Leadership
- Develop a focused clear professional development plan that is aligned with the school's focus and vision
- Define
specific goals and objectives for the advisory program and design a
model for teachers to implement across the school community
- Review the scheduling protocol and implement scheduling practices that balances class size across all disciplines and all levels
- Create
additional opportunities to improve upon the strong, positive, and
collaborative culture that exists, in order to encourage more parental
involvement in the decision-making processes of the school community
School Resources for Learning
- Develop
and implement a process for guidance, health services, library media,
and special education services to use relevant data, including solicited
feedback from students and parents, in order to improve services
- Develop
appropriate referral services are in place in guidance and health
services to meet the mental health and social support needs of students,
particularly those at risk
- Commit appropriate library/media
services provide a wide range of materials and technology to support the
schools implementation of curriculum, and is responsive to student's
interests, needs, and independent learning
Community Resources for Learning
- Engage
the community and the district's governing body in a process to ensure
dependable funding for a sufficient professional and support staff, a
full range of technology and support, and sufficient instructional
materials, supplied, and equipment
- Implement a plan to fund and support technology infrastructure and training needed to drive 21st century learning for students
- Develop
long range plans to address programs and services, facility needs,
enrollment and staffing, technology, and capital improvements
- Develop
a plan to increase the provision of the elective courses that have been
eliminated due to staffing decreases to reduce the number of students
assigned to study halls
- Create ways to improve community and school partnerships with local businesses and higher education institutions
- Develop a comprehensive documented plan to create meaningful partnerships and engagement with families