AB Honored for Diverse Achievements
This past September, the U.S. Department of Education honored ABRHS with the Blue Ribbon School Award, recognizing AB’s high performance on state and national-level exams and its improved academic achievement among “at-risk” students. ABRHS was chosen to receive the award along with 314 other schools nationally. The award honors AB’s commitment to student excellence. Excellence is a high standard for any school, and ABRHS has used its high quality instruction and motivated student body to reach such a standard.
In terms of numbers and statistics, ABRHS has proven its high performance levels. During the 2008-2009 school year, ABRHS scored in the top ten percent on state-administered tests. ABRHS was also one of only six Massachusetts schools to land at least 90 percent of its student body in the advanced or proficient categories on the MCAS exams.
Behind these glaring numbers, however, is a different type of student body that has also shown significant academic success. A percentage of the ABRHS student body suffers from attendance issues, social and behavioral challenges, or an inability to maintain passing grades, to an extent that these impede their success in the usual school environment. In 1994, then-principal Steve Donovan allocated funding for the development of a program to support these disadvantaged students in the high school. Assistant principal Larry Dorey and school psychologist Nancy Cohen co-wrote a proposal for an after-school alternative high school program. Since 1994, ABRHS’s alternative education initiative has helped many students reach graduation and earn their diplomas, an accomplishment that helped the school receive the Blue Ribbon award.
The alternative high school program, the School to Work Alternative Program (SWAP), began in September of 1995 with eight students enrolled. These eight students were all considered high risk for dropping out of high school. Mr. Dorey was hired as the Director of SWAP, leading a program that allows students over the age of sixteen to participate in both an academic and vocational component while successfully maintaining a 20-hour-per-week job. Besides SWAP, two other programs that form ABRHS’s alternative education system are the Merriam Alternative Program (MAP) and the transition program. MAP gives students in grades 9-12 more personalized instruction. MAP students benefit from smaller class sizes, consistent teacher feedback, and daily monitoring of their homework. The transition program is specialized towards helping freshmen in need of extra tutoring in science, math, English, and history. This program is an extension of the wing-based model of the junior high in that the transition students move between classes as one group.
In 2000, when Mr. Dorey became the assistant principal for the high school, English teacher Mr. McDonald took over the position of SWAP Director. Mr. Dorey believes strongly that the program has continued to grow and improve under Mr. McDonald’s direction. Mr. McDonald praises SWAP’s ability to keep students from falling through the cracks as they were in the day program. He explains, “Many of the SWAP kids need a small classroom setting and a personal connection with the teacher to be successful.” The approximate student-to-teacher ratio in the program is 5:1, and this personal connection makes SWAP successful. SWAP also has a strict policy regarding homework. If the students do not do their homework, they get a zero. They must get the work done and they cannot get around it. There are strict repercussions if they skirt their responsibilities or try to cut class. Mr. McDonald stresses that each alternative education program “helps kids with all different abilities and learning styles” and that “students in these programs are no different than those that attend regular school hours.” Students in SWAP are not selected based on their financial backgrounds, race, or familial structures; rather, the term “disadvantaged” applies to a student’s issues, whether they are emotional or attentional, that prevent his success during the day program.
When speaking about the limitations of alternative education, Mr. McDonald states, “We cannot save every kid, despite how much we may want to help everyone learn, grow, develop, and earn their diploma…Although we are always disappointed when kids are not successful, we will keep trying to help as many kids as possible. When kids drop out of school to pursue their GED (General Educational Development), we still try to keep in touch and…stay informed about their needs.” When asked what he perceives as the greatest weakness of SWAP, Mr. Dorey quickly points to the limited contact hours the program has with students. Students in SWAP are required to work twenty hours each week, but attend classes only two days per week. Resources are the primary limitation of this model. Despite such limitations, Mr. Dorey believes that ABRHS has come a long way in helping at-risk kids. He explains that while “people oftentimes connect the term ‘disadvantaged’ with socio-economic troubles, in a high school such as ABRHS where 98 percent of the student body go on to college, a small percentage of students are ‘academically’ disadvantaged in that their learning needs differ significantly from those of the overwhelming majority of students. Ideally, the alternative programs are helping to fill this void.” Both Mr. McDonald and Mr. Dorey thank the community for “recogniz[ing] the good things we have been doing, the varied students we have been servicing, and the programs we continue to create and maintain to help as many kids as possible be successful.”
In early November, Dr. Callen and Mr. McDonald flew down to Washington, D.C. to receive the award. Besides meeting other award recipients, they also toured the Washington monuments and listened to speeches by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the National Teacher of the Year. Both Mr. McDonald and Dr. Callen agreed that it was “very interesting to meet different teachers and gain additional insight to the different policies and programs of schools across the country.” Dr. Callen further explains, “There was no cynical quality to the conference. People were really happy to be there, and there was no competition to see who had the better performance levels and programs. Everyone knew that every school at the conference was a strong school, because otherwise they would not have won the award.” She says that upon beginning her work as principal at AB, she immediately sensed the school’s “incredibly hard-working faculty and student body.” She also congratulates AB for creating “an environment that is not too rigid. Student achievement is not the result of teachers hammering the information into the [students’] heads. We have an environment of mutual respect and trust. Students choose to be hardworking and responsible on their own. As much as our work on achievement has been amazing, our work to create a culture definitive to ABRHS has also been impressive.” And while she “love[s] that our high achievement is being honored, [she] also want[s] to try to make sure that people are living a fun, happy, balanced high school experience. ABRHS is such a strong school because it constantly examines its practices and looks at what needs to be improved and adjusted to better meet student needs. The mission statement is focused on helping students achieve academic excellence and create a respectful atmosphere. It forces both the faculty and the student body to feel more than a singular drive to succeed.”
While the Blue Ribbon Award recognizes what ABRHS has thus far achieved, “there is always room for improvement,” as Mr. Dorey says. Congratulations to every student who has helped honor the school with this award.
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