Pittsfield NH School District

The performance of high schools around the country is receiving a significant amount of attention from state and federal policymakers, business interests, and communities as we continue to learn more about the challenges our education system is facing in the new global economy.  High schools are being asked to revamp their curriculum, methodology, and teacher and student relationship paradigms in order to better serve the needs of students, communities, and our state and local economies.  In today’s global economy, America’s ability to compete depends on our ability to prepare high school graduates to be successful in an increasingly knowledge-based economy.

- National Conference of State Legislatures 

It’s not hard to see that that our high schools need some attention. 

Disappointing test results in international comparisons of reading, math, and scientific literacy; a dropout crisis with estimates of 7,000 young people dropping out of school per day in our nation; college professors reporting that students are not able to adequately able to comprehend complex reading material; low voter turnout; employers telling us that newly-hired employees tend to lack in written communication skills, leadership, and work ethic; no, it’s not hard to see that our high schools need some attention.

Despite dramatic changes in the world outside the walls of our schools, inside the walls of today’s typical high schools, we’d find that things look a good deal like the high schools that you and I attended, whether it was five, ten, fifteen… or even fifty or sixty years ago. 

If you visited today’s typical high school, you’d find the day divided into seven or eight periods with each period devoted to the same single, unconnected subjects that have been in place for over a hundred years.  After school, you’d see just about the same teams and clubs that you could have seen in the 1930′s.  School would be in session for about the same length of time per day and for about the same number of days per year.

Sure, there have been attempts to update things a bit.  When Sputnik was launched in 1957, our federal government called for stronger math and science programs in the interest of national security.  When President Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence in Education issued its report A Nation at Risk in 1983, the Commission called for higher standards, a longer school day, a longer school year, and more technology in the schools, among other reforms.

But it still seemed that the more things changed outside of school, the more things remained the same inside.

Fortunately for our students and our society, we’re finally seeing some initiative for real change in our high schools.  Our regional accreditation agency, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, is expecting students to leave high schools armed with 21^st Century Skills; our New Hampshire Department of Education is providing leadership for redesigning high schools to support the acquisition of real-world competencies; and high-powered, national collaboratives like the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills has identified topics such as global awareness, health literacy, critical thinking and problem solving, flexibility and adaptability as new basics for our high school graduates.

This is good news for our Pittsfield students.  And it’s good news for our community and our society at large.

During the winter and spring of 2009, our school district hosted a number of open community forums that began a community conversation about what our schools should look like and what we should expect our graduates to know and be able to do when they receive their diplomas.  Building on this foundation, a group of students, community members, and educators convened in November 2009 to begin to create a vision of a Pittsfield Middle High School that would better serve our students.  And over the years ahead, this vision will serve as inspirational guidance as we redesign Pittsfield Middle High School.

What are the essential elements of this vision?  What changes can we expect with our redesign?

• Curriculum: identified core curriculum of essential learning; specific graduation requirements in terms of what graduates will know and will be able to do; senior projects; development of skills needed for success in career, college, and citizenship.
• Methodology: project-based learning; options for demonstrating course competencies; inquiry-based instruction, driven by questions and relevance; personal learning plans developed by each student; close collaboration and mutual support between regular education and special education teachers and staff; strong relationships with families and student-led student/parent/teacher conferences; development of extended learning opportunities that will enable our students to take advantage of learning in our greater community.
•  Organization: the development of a site council to open up decision-making to students, community, and staff; flexible scheduling of the school day; dedicated time within each week for professional staff development and team planning / monitoring of student progress.

• Student/Teacher Relationship: higher expectations; commitment to the learning of each student; advisories organized to address a broader variety of relevant student needs; teachers in roles of coaches supporting student learning.

Certainly, technology will play an important role as we achieve our vision.  How could it not?  Already, observers are calling the current generation of youth the Net Generation.  It should come as no surprise that our Net Generation is behaving a bit differently from earlier generations.  Today’s Net Generation is accustomed to instant gratification and connections, uses the web regularly for multiple purposes including learning and self-expression, is nearly constantly connected to others, and views multi-tasking as a way of life.

Fortunately, observers also tell us that our Net Gen-ers have not lost the sense of altruism and idealism that have long been a positive characteristic of adolescents and young adults.  Net Gen-ers want to make a difference in the world and want to do interesting and worthwhile work.  We have every reason to be optimistic about today’s young people; we just need to change our ways to give them the education that they will need and that they deserve.

This exciting transformation will take time, time measured in years and not marking periods.  And we’re fortunate to have a few important factors in our favor.

One of these assets if our size.  In the past, large schools with plenty of options for students have been seen to be the ideal.  More recently, however, small schools, with strong relationships among students and staff, flexibility to make quick changes in response to student needs and changing conditions, and willingness to access resources outside of school have been viewed as a preferable model.  Many formerly large schools have been divided into smaller units and organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been strong supporters of the movement to scale down the size of our high schools.

Another asset is the availability of successful models.  Many small alternative schools and charter schools have emerged over the last twenty-five years.  In fact, members of our visioning team have been inspired by visits to several such schools in Massachusetts and New York.  In our visits, we found engaged, excited learners taking charge of their own learning, and we found outcomes in terms of class discussions and student work that more closely resembled college-quality than that produced by typical high school students.

And a third asset is the support and energy for this process displayed not only by our faculty and staff but also by many Pittsfield citizens who have learned about our plans for the new direction for our schools.  This support is greatly appreciated and is essential to our success.

Yes, I stand with those who believe that our schools, particularly our high schools, need to do a better job in preparing our young people for success in careers, college, and citizenship.  I’m also very excited to be a part of this vital transformation of our own schools here in Pittsfield.

Respectfully,

John J. Freeman, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools