Excellence in Education

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Westwood Regional Jr./Sr. High School Proposed
Revisions to the Jr./Sr. HS Master Schedule
"Excellence in Education"
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Objective

• Westwood Regional School District One-Year Action
  Plan Objective 6B.1
• Convene an advisory team comprised of
  administrators, supervisors, teachers, parents,
  and students to research and complete field
  visitations on a new model for scheduling the
  Jr./Sr. High School

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Rationale

• school personnel have been bombarded with
  reports on the inefficient use of school time
  (Canady Rettig,1995).
• the world is flat (Freidman, 2005).
• Global competition has led to an increased desire
  for 21st Century Skills (CEO Forum, 2001).

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21st Century Skills

• Digital age literacy
• Effective communication
• Inventive thinking
• Teamwork/collaboration
• Critical thinking
• Problem solving
• Think outside the box

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21st Century Teaching

• Authentic instruction and assessment
• Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)
• Application, analysis, synthesis/creation,
  evaluation
• Real world integration/connections
• Construction of meaning
• Production of knowledge

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Existing Challenges

• Current schedule
• 12 minute offset
• 19 shared teachers
• Extended Sr. High homeroom
• Increased student enrollments
• Increased graduation credit load

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Current Schedule
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Research Team

• Research Team consisted of
• 10 administrators/supervisors
• 10 teachers
• 4 students
• 4 parents
• 7 subcommittees
• Communication, Finance, Facilities, Contract
  Policy, Curriculum, Scheduling, and Research

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Research Team Members

• Administrators/Supervisors
• Benevento, Brogan, Carroll, Cascone, Connelly,
  Gorman, McGowan, Mei, Perl, Seipp
• Teachers
• Bialkin, Botsford, Lynch, Moffo, Peterfriend,
  Philhower, Phykitt, Pisciotta, Schwartz, Winters
• Students
• Arsi, Cush, Fanale, Lewites
• Parents
• Cush, Fanale, ODonnell, Wertalik

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Potential Concerns

• Challenges of longer class period
• Student absences potentially magnified
• Rotation can be initially confusing
• Flexible substitute coverage is difficult to
  obtain
• Overuse of a teaching methodology may result in a
  longer feeling period
• Need for a more comprehensive staff development
  program

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Potential Benefits

• Benefits of longer teaching period
• More instructional time
• Opportunity for more in-depth study
• Increased teacher collaboration
• Less fragmented school day
• Increased student-centered activity and
  instruction
• Enhancement of resources for students with
  disabilities
• Decreased disciplinary issues

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Site Visits

• River Dell High School (60 min)
• Emerson Jr./Sr. High School (60 min)
• Morris Hills High School (90 min)
• Teaneck High School (90 min)

Other Schedules Reviewed

• Ridgewood, Mahwah, Northern Valley,
• Cresskill Jr./Sr. HS, Cedar Grove,
• Verona, and more.

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Questions

• Would less course content be covered? No
• Will too many topics be covered per period? No
• Will students lose focus with longer time? No
• Will the extra time be used for homework? No
• Will inconsistency in contact time result in loss
  of mastery of concepts? No

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Findings

• Overall, the questions concerning longer periods
  of teaching time underscore the importance of
  proper training, lesson planning, and
  supervision.
• Teachers must master a minimum of five
  instructional strategies to engage students
  directly in the learning process and should aim
  to master seven or eight (Queen, 2006)

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Proposed Schedule
1 (61) 800 901 2 (60) 904 1004 3 (54)
1007 1101 L (54) 1104 1158 5 (54) 1158
1252 6 (60) 1255 155 7 (60) 158 258

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Advantages

• Longer periods allow for greater mastery of
  concepts.
• The rotation of periods allows for variety,
  resulting in improved attendance and interest.
• Clubs and activities, guidance meetings, extra
  help, etc., can be conducted during lunch
  periods.

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Advantages

• Health and physical educational classes will not
  be affected, with science labs flowing 25 minutes
  into lunch period.
• Senior Option 2 and Vo-tech programs can be run
  during the AM or PM sessions.
• The instructional length of the school day would
  equal 640, which is greater than most NJ
  regional schools.

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Implementation Plan

• Support to date
• Handed out proposal to all staff
• Faculty meetings
• Department meetings - 18 hours
• Staff development workshops
• Mock schedule run-through
• Professional Development day - 7 hours
• Strategies, learning styles, rubrics, graphic
  organizers, and department specific topics.

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Implementation Plan

• Support planned
• Survey staff, students, and community
• Faculty and department meetings
• Staff development workshops
• Continued walk-throughs
• 2 professional development days

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Questions Comments
Excellence in Education