{"id":3653,"date":"2015-12-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/noble-high-school-creating-timely-differentiated-supports\/"},"modified":"2020-02-05T12:56:40","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:56:40","slug":"noble-high-school-creating-timely-differentiated-supports","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/noble-high-school-creating-timely-differentiated-supports\/","title":{"rendered":"Noble High School: Creating Timely, Differentiated Supports"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Noble\"This post is part of the series Road Trip to Maine. You can also learn about Biddeford School District<\/a> and Casco Bay High School<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

If we gave out awards at CompetencyWorks, I\u2019d give Noble High School<\/a> an award for the fourth element of the CompetencyWorks definition of competency education: Students receive timely, differentiated support based on their individual learning needs.<\/em><\/p>\n

In fact, the school is designed around providing multiple support strategies, which it does through its Academies and KnightTime (advisory\/support). They\u2019ve organized themselves so there is a web of adults for every student. It would be very hard to fall through the cracks at Noble.<\/p>\n

A Foundation of Personalization<\/strong><\/p>\n

Noble High School is a four-year public high school (with eighth grade housed in the same building) serving 1,100 students with about 45 percent FRL. It serves the towns of North Berwick, Berwick, and Lebanon in Maine.<\/p>\n

Before putting the proficiency-based infrastructure in place last year, Noble already had a strong foundation in personalization. It\u2019s been a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools for well over a decade, is a member of the New England League of Innovative Schools, and is one of the schools participating in the i3 New England Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Below are their guiding beliefs<\/a>:<\/p>\n

At Noble High School, we believe all students can learn when provided with a rigorous and personalized education. We use transparent and democratic practices to foster a community of learners that values trust, decency, and equity for all. By creating authentic opportunities for collaboration, performance, and meaningful work, we seek to prepare\u00a0students\u00a0through mastery of skills and knowledge so they may participate capably and responsibly in society.<\/em><\/p>\n

Example of long-time personalization practices include emphasizing student voice and choice, expecting students to present capstone exhibitions<\/a> every year (i.e., run student-led conferences, call Roundtables, and complete a Senior Project), and requiring students to complete sixty hours of community service before graduation.<\/p>\n

Heterogeneous Academies <\/strong><\/p>\n

Noble believes that heterogeneous grouping is important in creating an equitable environment and responding to adolescents\u2019 focus on peers and social learning. When students enter, they are placed in one of two Academies that are designed to be mixed and balanced by gender, FRL, advanced academic levels, special education, and 504. All classes are mixed except for advanced math. (The reasoning there is that an advanced math class is available starting in sixth grade, so some students need the opportunity to continue learning rather than taking algebra again.)<\/p>\n

This approach introduces an important question: If classes are academically heterogeneous, how can you make sure students have the opportunity to excel? At Noble, students can use their KnightTime to pursue honors-level work, which means that instead of being placed in an honors course (a form of tracking), they\u2019re allowed to earn it by demonstrating honors level work and earning an \u201cH\u201d on their report cards and transcripts. (AP courses are open to all students; however, students must usually complete summer assignments or a readiness assessment, so academically high achieving students may end up in a less heterogenous course.)<\/p>\n

Teachers stay with the same group of students in their Academy through all five years, working as interdisciplinary teams. Within grade levels, teachers participate in professional learning groups (PLGs) and RTI groups, create interdisciplinary units, and analyze data.<\/p>\n

KnightTime <\/strong><\/p>\n

Noble uses a block schedule with embedded professional development. Four days a week, there are four eighty-minute blocks and a forty-five-minute KnightTime. Teams use one of those blocks for planning. On Thursday, there is a late start dedicated to 120 minutes for professional development and then four blocks of sixty minutes each. This professional development time allows teachers to meet within their departments across academies.<\/p>\n

Julie Gagnon and Janice Eldridge, teachers at Noble, explained that KnightTime<\/a> is a combination of advisory and intervention. It is designed to provide a structure to support students and help them achieve success. The goal is to have students become responsible for their learning.<\/p>\n

The structure is set up so that eighth graders have an advisor for one year. When they enter ninth grade, they are assigned a new advisor, who stays with them through tenth grade\u2014a two-year process that is repeated with another new advisor in eleventh grade. The students are drawn from different academies. In response to questions about this structure, staff emphasized, \u201cThere is no right answer. We are constantly adjusting.\u201d They strive to strike a balance between the advisor being able to form long-standing relationships with the advisees while still only being held responsible for knowing the ins and outs of two different grade-level requirements and expectations.<\/p>\n

On Mondays, students meet with their advisor with the goal of scheduling how they will use the remaining three KnightTimes for that week. Students are expected to review their SMART goals, check their progress in Infinite Campus to see if they have any missing assignments, and draft a schedule to be reviewed with the advisor. Once the advisor approves the schedule, students schedule themselves into KnightTime with specific teachers through a software program called Enriching Students (Noble has 1:1 devices).<\/p>\n

Students schedule work with teachers in areas where they need help or more time. It is also possible for teachers to \u201cbook\u201d students if they know they need extra help or are starting to fall behind. Teachers said that most students in KnightTime are revising their work, getting help when they are struggling with homework, and, for some, just trying to keep up. Students working on honors projects or independent learning can also receive support during this time. If they don\u2019t have anything pressing, there are book clubs, art projects, expanded learning opportunities in the community, and other activities. The goal is to make sure that \u201cevery kid is able to find something meaningful to do during KT.\u201d As one teacher pointed out, \u201cIf you are caught up, you have choice. You lose choice by not doing the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus, on Mondays, teachers are advisors. For the rest of the week, they are either offering support within their discipline or overseeing some other type of activity. Every teacher is responsible for no more than twenty students in KnightTime.<\/p>\n

Noble has also invested in building up additional supports for students, including a math lab and writing center. The writing center is staffed by upperclass students who teach others how to proofread, revise, and improve reading. There is also a literacy center that students struggling to read can use as one of their blocks.<\/p>\n

Other forms of support include:<\/p>\n