{"id":1963,"date":"2016-03-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/wells-high-school-the-timeline-to-transformation\/"},"modified":"2019-12-16T12:54:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T17:54:50","slug":"wells-high-school-the-timeline-to-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/wells-high-school-the-timeline-to-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Wells High School: The Timeline to Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post first appeared<\/a> on CompetencyWorks<\/a> on January 13, 2016, and it is part of the Maine Road Trip series by Chris Sturgis. \u00a0<\/em>This is the fifth\u00a0post in the\u00a0Road Trip to Maine series. The first post is on lessons learned<\/a>,\u00a0the second is a look at Richmond Middle and High School<\/a>, the third looks at meeting students where they are<\/a>, and the fourth looks at moving beyond the test score with hope<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Elementary<\/a>The sign that greets you as you drive into Wells, Maine labels the town the friendliest in Maine. Certainly the young women working at Aroma Joe\u2019s, where I stopped to get my caffeine fix on a brilliant fall day, were over-the-top friendly.<\/p>\n

Wells High School<\/a> is situated along the Maine coast, serving a student population of 440 students running at about 18 percent FRL. This means the school has to mitigate a huge gap in terms of social and educational capital available to students outside of school. They are doing very well with a 98.4 percent four-year graduation rate, the highest in Maine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Principal Eileen Sheehy explained, \u201cWells doesn\u2019t lose kids. We take it as a personal challenge to make sure every student gets the help they need. If kids are failing, we feel that we are failing.\u201d On the cusp of moving into a new facility in January, Wells is also moving toward creating a proficiency-based diploma to comply with the state legislation by 2021. This is the first district I have encountered that is approaching PBL under the umbrella of compliance. Yet, even with this overtone of compliance, there was a strong commitment to doing what is right by kids.<\/p>\n

Assistant Principal Josh Gould explained that it is important to really pay attention to what is important for preparing students for college and careers. The standards are important, of course. However, at Wells High School they think that passion and persistence lead to success. Part of this is to make sure students can always get the help they need. For example, there are already strong strategies for providing extra support. Every Friday the principal runs a list of students who are failing in any class, and then staff meet with them to identify additional resources needed to help the student succeed. For those who need extra help \u2013 to understand the course content or because they fell behind on assignments \u2013 they are scheduled for the Warrior Lab. For example, students might drop an elective to spend time in the Warrior Lab. For seniors, failing has the immediate consequence of losing their senior privileges.<\/p>\n

Established by current superintendent Jim Daly, The Warrior Lab is a dedicated space with resources to help students get back on track. It\u2019s staffed with education support personnel who are ready to assist students. Tim Roche, football coach, is head of the Warrior Lab. Teachers stop by during their prep time to help students if they need re-teaching. Roche explained, \u201cWhen students begin to disengage, they are pulling themselves out of instruction. We know something is going on. We want to pull them back in.\u201d The immediate targeted intervention ensures students get timely support.<\/p>\n

Student success is at the forefront of all of Wells\u2019 decisions. Whether it be for the two students who just gained entrance to Princeton and M.I.T respectively, or if it be with the established vocational tracks, Wells uses student data on a daily basis to ensure each student has access to the resources needed. This personalized efforts led Wells\u2019 students to pass 99.02 percent of the courses they were enrolled in during the past trimester. Many of the greatest success stories are celebrated at the monthly Breakfast of Champions initiative, which in part seeks to recognize students who achieve under challenging circumstances.<\/p>\n

In order to help Wells High School make the transition, the district is adding to their capacity by hiring a team of people who have a deep understanding of personalized learning<\/a>, including Josh Gould and Stacey Schatzabel, Director of Instruction, also with roots at Noble High School<\/a>. In recent years, the school has accessed external resources to help develop common assessments and used models created by the Great Schools Partnership to aid in the development of a proficiency-based infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Their definition of proficiency-based learning emphasizes an aligned instructional system:<\/p>\n