• Why a Freshman Academy
• Goals & Foundations of the Academy
• Student Support and Academy
Programs/Culture
• Year 1 & Year 2
• Teacher Collaboration & Instruction
• Year 1 & Year 2
• Year 3
• Successes & Challenges of implementation
• Questions

• National Research
• CHS Data
• Programs previously in place for 9 th graders
• Freshman Orientation: 3 hour event, 2 days before the first day of school
• Individual teachers and staff members, guidance counselors, deans, administrators, social workers, coaches, club advisors

• Year 1: Focus on students and program development
• Year 2: Began shifting the focus to instruction

• Transition from middle to high school
• Academic support
• Social/Emotional support
• Policies and discipline

• 8 th grade student and parent outreach
• Monthly events held in different locations (middle schools or high school) and at different times of day
• Familiarize students and parents with the building and high school policies
• Intro to High School Week: voluntary program that mixes academics with “high school skills”
• Freshman Orientation: 3 hour event two days before the first day of school

• Remedial sections for core subject areas (mandatory)
• Academic Intervention meetings: students, teachers, parents (mandatory)
• Peer Tutoring program: during the day, pull-out model for 3 weeks at a time (mandatory)
• Homework Center: 4 days per week, core subject area teachers (voluntary)

• Teacher Advocate program: one-on-one meetings for general student support (mandatory/assigned)
• Repeating 9 th grade student meetings: data review and goal setting (mandatory)
• Peer Mentor program: Juniors and Seniors matched with 9 th grade students for the year (voluntary)
• Social Worker groups: learning values and problemsolving (assigned/voluntary)

• Pre-referral system:
• Discipline system before an official discipline referral
• Used for minor infractions
• Students process behavior in order to return to class
• Universal Procedures
• Common for all Academy core classes
• Support students in transition to high school

• Efforts to create programs that were unique to the
Freshman Academy and a culture where students self-identified as being members of the Freshman
Academy.
• Emphasis on the importance of a successful
Freshman year to a student’s overall high school career
• Focus on personalizing the educational experience of each
Freshman Academy student

• Early College Awareness
• College visits (over 100 students each year)
• CHS Alumni Assemblies
• Connection to 8 th grade staff
• Peer observations and meetings between 8 th & 9 th grade teachers
• Data sharing at the end of the school year (at-risk students)
• Student Feedback sessions
• Quarterly “Focus Lunches” to obtain student feedback on academics and Academy programs

• Recognition and Motivation
• Monthly assemblies with topics pertaining to academic success and future goals
• Quarterly recognition awards for attendance, grades, and effort (public recognition at assemblies)
• Incentives program in class: “Devil Dollars”
• Freshman Academy parent outreach
• Positive feedback for parents as well as intervention meetings
• Academy culture & identity
• T-shirts, buttons, bulletin boards

TEACHER COLLABORATION &
INSTRUCTION
• Established Professional Learning
Communities that consist of 9 th grade teachers
• Provided structured collaboration time during the school day
• Implemented early release day and after school professional development meetings for Freshman Academy staff members

A professional learning community is made up of team members who regularly collaborate toward continued improvement in meeting learner needs through a shared curricular-focused vision.

The benefits to the staff and students include a reduced isolation of teachers, better informed and committed teachers, and academic gains for students.
Hord (1997b) notes, "As an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen as a powerful staff-development approach and a potent strategy for school change and improvement."

• A Shared Mission, Vision, Values, and
Goals
• A Commitment to Continuous
Improvement
• A Collaborative Culture
• Supportive and Shared Leadership
• Supportive Conditions

A PLC is a collaborative venture.
“Isolation is the enemy of learning.
Principals who support the learning of adults in their school organize teachers schedules to provide opportunities for teachers to work, plan, and think together.”
NAESP, Leading Learning Communities: Standards for What
Principals Should Know and Be Able to Do

• Interdisciplinary teams made up of core subject area teachers
• All team members teach 3 to 5 freshman classes
• Meetings are held during an administrative duty period twice per week
• Meetings are mandatory for all members (some have volunteered but not all)

• Collaborate on lesson plans/ideas
• Discuss common practices (UbD, Key 3)
• Discuss Freshman Academy practices (universal procedures, incentive program, recognition program, immediate interventions)
• Evaluate student data
• Discuss individual students (progress, problems, ideas, interventions)
• Meet with individual students and/or parents

A PLC Coach is a person who supports a
PLC team in using effective teaming practices and in using data to determine students’ progress. At times, the PLC Coach will ask questions that allow a team to reflect on its own practices and processes (or lack of practices & processes). At times, the PLC
Coach will make recommendations based on best practice. In all cases, the PLC Coach will respect the professional expertise of the teachers with whom he/she is working.

• Creating and working as teams
• Understanding the importance of de-privatization of teaching/classrooms
• Struggling with implementation of new Academy procedures
• Wanting immediate results
• Sustaining energy and commitment

• Year 1: Monthly early release days
• Year 2: Two staff meetings (Aug. &
Feb.)
• Professional Development pertaining to 9 th grade staff/students

• Year 1: Focus on students and program development
• Year 2: Began shifting the focus to instruction
• Year 3: Separate positions
• Grade 9 Coach: Instruction
• Grade 9 Outreach worker: Students
Focus on instruction
New message to students… just need for knowledge, not credits

• Chelsea High School graduates will be selfaware, adaptive, socially competent and literate community members.

• IF we have a purposeful and systematic approach to instruction with collaboration and reflection THEN our students will learn, be confident, and be ready for our future.

• MassGrad Student advocates
• Targeted attendance interventions
• Academy-wide goal setting (core classes)
• “Why Try?” groups with deans, social workers and guidance counselors
• High-achieving student support
• Honor Roll/High Honor Roll
• “Above C-Level”
• Monthly staff meetings: Professional Development

• Beginning the launch of a 9 th grade portfolio project that aims:
• To build connections for students and teachers about the impact that daily choices have on establishing and achieving college and career goals
• To demonstrate college-readiness and careertechnical skills by showing progress made from freshman to senior year
• It is hoped that the portfolio will travel with students and be built upon throughout their high school experience

• Fostering Academic Support Together (FAST)
• Student Support Team model
• Coordinating systems of support vs. one-time interventions
• Maintaining programs without grant funding, such as peer tutoring
• Improved parent involvement/connection

• Obtaining longitudinal data from 3 years of the Academy
• Bridge Academy
• Grade 10 house
• Attendance
• Connection with 8 th grade staff
• Transfer/mid-year arrival students
• Sustained parent involvement
• Temporary grant funding

• Quarterly grades (all classes and core classes)
• Promotion to the 10 th grade (required classes AND credits) vs. repeating 9 th graders
• Attendance rates
• Drop-out rates
• Community & Teacher Advocate program participants
• Intro to High School
• Peer mentor program participants

• Questions?
• Comments?

A Short Bibliography for More Information about
Professional Learning Communities
Failure is Not an Option: Six Principles that Guide Student Achievement in High Performing Schools , Alan Blankstein, 2005
Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities , Robert Eaker, Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, 2002
Leading Learning Communies: Standards for What Principals Should Know and Be Able to Do , NAESP, 2002
On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities , Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, Rebecca DuFour (Editors), 2005
Professional Learning Communities At Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement, Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker
Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don’t Learn , Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert
Eaker, and Gayle Karhanek, 2004