O. Henry selected as national School to Watch!
I received the call today: O. Henry is being recognized by the Texas and national Schools to Watch programs! Only 100 middle schools around the nation received this honor in the 2011-12 school year. Needless to say, we are ecstatic!
Congratulations to everyone–teachers, staff, parents, and students. Our outstanding learning community deserves this highest recognition, and best of all, we are now plugged in with some of the best middle schools and scholars in the United States. This will allow us to move to the next level of excellence!
Thanks for all your support and for sending us such good kids!
Pete Price
P.S. Here are some details about the Schools to Watch program:
Schools to Watch® is an initiative launched by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform in 1999. The National Forum is an alliance of more than 60 educators, researchers, and officers of national associations and foundations dedicated to improving schools for young adolescents across the country. The National Forum’s mission is to unite key stakeholders to speak with a common voice to leverage research, policy, leadership, and replicable model practices to drive middle grades reform.
In order to prepare students to be lifelong learners ready for college, career, and citizenship, the National Forum seeks to make every middle grades school academically excellent, responsive to the developmental needs and interests of young adolescents, and socially equitable.
Through the Schools to Watch® initiative, the National Forum identifies schools across the United States that are well on their way to meeting the Forum’s criteria for high performance. Forum members believe that three things are true of high-performing middle-grades schools:
- They are academically excellent—these schools challenge all students to use their minds well.
- They are developmentally responsive—these schools are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence.
- They are socially equitable—these schools are democratic and fair, providing every student with high-quality teachers, resources, and supports.
Common Threads
While each school faces different challenges related to its location, student demographics, levels of district support, and other factors, the Forum’s site visitors observe some common themes across all schools:
- The schools know and articulate the academic outcomes they seek. In some cases, the outcomes are prescribed by the state or district; in others the faculty have adopted the outcomes recommended by their various disciplines.
- The schools are taking deliberate steps to help students achieve those outcomes by making strategic changes in curriculum, teaching, and school services.
- The schools have set benchmarks for implementing their strategies, and hold themselves accountable for specific results. We cannot stress too much the importance of data in the lives of these schools.
- Each school strategically concentrates its energies on important focus areas. As a result, the changes in each school are burrowing deeply into its culture.
- The schools have strong, visionary leaders who can articulate challenging goals, and motivate faculty and staff to reach those goals.
