Watchung Hills Administrators Say Students Already Benefitting From Reforms

Everyone, it seems, has an idea or two for improving schools, from politicians to pundits.

But when it comes to redesigning the school day or opening communication between teachers to share best practices, look no further than Watchung Hills Regional High School for some examples of effective school reform.

In the last few years, the school has transformed the meaning of a "school day," and instituted an Internet system of tracking teachers' lesson plans and student performance that is helping the school continue to improve when many are stumbling.

The steps towards reform began when school administrators were faced with a suddenly-expanded student body, high turnover of staff, and federal- and state-mandated curriculum requirements in the mid-2000s—and were frightened.

"When I first came here (superintendent's position), it was clear with all the changes coming, we would not be able to sustain," Superintendent Frances Stromsland said in a recent interview. "We looked at various issues and problems we would be confronting and took them to some of the best minds confronting these issues."

Some of those minds happened to be at Harvard University, where a study group began looking at the high school operations from a different perspective. Thank the study team for the school's innovative rotating class schedule, which enables students to study more classes without shortening the classes to fit them all in one day.

The study team noted the inefficient use of teachers' time and school resources with different lunch periods, so the school has one lunch period for everyone.

And the study team noted the supervisors spend a lot of time gathering information about how teachers were doing, making sure they included required material in lesson plans, and not much time looking at what worked best.

Now, the school uses "curriculum mapping" to enable teachers to see what's working in other classrooms, as well as allowing the supervisors to follow the progres of classes, students and teachers.

As with any change, there was resistance, what Science Department Supervisor Jeffrey Charney calls the "ToWaDi Princple": "That's the way we've always done it."

"With reform, you always have some teachers who feel it's too daunting, too challenging" Dr. Charney said. But many also saw the benefits for the students, as well as themselves.

The net effect has been the school's ability to expand innovative programs, such as the pre-engineering certificate program (where graduates receive a 2-year college certificate), the Experimental Research Design program, a self-study program enabling students to create their own field of study with their work graded by portfolio assessment rather than "Read a chapter, take a test," as Dr. Charney called it.

"The experience of a research project teaches a lot more about the science, the students learn by leaps and bounds," Dr. Stromsland said. 

Dr. Stromsland pointed out the innovations employed at the school were not expensive new programs, but changes in allocations which are helping save money in the long run.

As the district contends with increasing student enrollment and ever-tightening fiscal requirements, administrators believe these reforms will prove crucial to maintaining the programs and education offered at Watchung Hills.

"We have a lot of positive things going on here," Dr. Stromsland added. "It wasn't the same environment that is now (when the changes were first implemented)—it was a very carefully engineered effort."