Roxbury Preparatory Charter School
Address: 120 Fisher Ave, Roxbury, MA 02120
Website: http://www.roxburyprep.org/
Phone number: (617) 566-2361
Type of school: Charter school
Roxbury Preparatory Charter School , a public school that serves grades 6-8, prepares its students to enter, succeed in, and graduate from college. Roxbury Prep is founded on the philosophy that all students are entitled to and can succeed in college preparatory programs when:
1.
the curriculum is rigorous, engaging, and well-planned;
2.
the school emphasizes student character, community responsibility, and exposure to life’s possibilities; and
3.
a community network supports student academic, social, and physical well-being.
Roxbury Prep helps students gain admission to outstanding public and private college preparatory high schools.
Core Values : To prepare students for success in college and beyond, the Roxbury Prep community adheres to the following values:
Scholarship : We think critically and aspire to and achieve academic excellence.
Integrity : We are honest and ethical in our words and our actions.
Dignity : We have self-respect and honor our heritages.
Responsibility : We are accountable for our decisions and our actions.
Perseverance : We are resourceful, work hard, and always strive to do our best.
Community : We use our talents to make positive contributions to our communities.
Leadership : We act on the principle that if we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.
Peace : We resolve conflicts with compassion and help others to do the same
Social Justice : We endeavor to make our society more just.
Investment : We are reflective, act with foresight, and invest in our futures.
Character : Student achievement depends upon a positive, safe, and vibrant school community. To ensure high academic standards, Roxbury Prep maintains high personal standards. The school enforces a dress code and a strict code of conduct. The result is a safe environment that allows Roxbury Prep students to celebrate learning and recognize each other’s talents. Weekly advisory class deepens student understanding of the school creed, including social justice and leadership.
Advisory Curriculum : Roxbury Prep’s advisory curriculum is based on the premise that our students’ success in college and in life mandates mastery of academic as well as life
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skills. Every Friday, students take part in an advisory class, with the following goals in mind:
1.
to teach students to think critically about themselves and society;
2.
to build community among students and teachers through positive social interaction and common experiences;
3.
to develop students’ literacy skills; and
4.
to teach students how to be positive players in their own education and in the development of the community.
This past year the sixth graders learned explicitly how to model good scholarship by engaging in lessons on how to study and prepare for exams. In seventh grade, students spent time in smaller breakout groups where they had the chance to discuss and reflect on relevant current events and academic and social issues. Eighth grade students discussed the meaning of community and leadership, studying the speeches and writings of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
School Day : A typical school day at Roxbury Prep consists of:
A Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) period from 7:45 to 8:15 AM.
Rigorous college prep Math, Science, English, Social Studies, and Reading classes from 8:15 AM to 3:15 PM.
Athletics and visual and performing arts Enrichment classes from 3:15 to 4:15
PM.
Approximately 72% is eligible for the Free or Reduced Price Lunch Program.
Small classes that are focused because of Roxbury Prep’s outstanding teachers, strict Code of Conduct, and mandatory uniforms.
Drop Everything and Read (DEAR): Based on years of educational research, the
DEAR program promotes student literacy by providing students with the opportunity to regularly read for pleasure. The program requires all teachers and students to read silently and independently for the first twenty-five minutes of school Monday through Thursday.
Students and teachers also use DEAR journals to correspond every two weeks with one another on topics related to their reading. Students are asked to choose their own DEAR books and to make enjoyment the highest priority in selecting their daily reading. With the help of some very generous supporters, the Roxbury Prep Literacy Center has developed an extensive book collection to support DEAR.
Enrichment Program : Roxbury Prep academic classes end at 3:10 PM, but all students remain at school until 4:15 PM for an extended-day Enrichment program. Roxbury
Prep’s Enrichment program ensures that students remain engaged in productive and healthy activities during a time period traditionally neglected by urban public schools.
During this time, students engage in a variety of athletics, as well as visual and performing arts activities. With the support and expertise of local artists and teachers, students receive the much-needed opportunity to express themselves through drawing, painting,music, singing, drama, and athletics. Students also perform and present their work in Community Meeting and at special events.
In addition, core academic teachers (of math, science, English, reading, and social studies) hold Office Hours during Enrichment. During Office Hours, teachers revisit
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critical academic skills and concepts with students who have not yet mastered class material.
Community Meeting : Every Friday, the entire student body and staff gather for
Community Meeting to celebrate the week. The meeting is hosted by students and includes presentations by academic classes, Enrichment classes, the 8th Grade Word
Wizards, and Readers of the Week. Families and friends are always welcome to join in this celebration of our mission and culture of achievement.
The highlight of Community Meeting is the awarding of the Spirit Stick. In a highly anticipated skit at the end of the meeting, the Spirit Stick is awarded to the student whose actions during the week best embodied the values of the Roxbury Prep Creed. This student proudly carries the Spirit Stick with him or her during the next week and then hosts the next Community Meeting.
Student Demographics: As of September 2008, Roxbury Prep enrolls 232 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students.
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All of the school’s students are students of color.
Approximately 72% is eligible for the Free or Reduced Price Lunch Program.
75% of the student body lives in the adjacent neighborhoods of Roxbury,
Dorchester, and Mattapan. The remainder lives elsewhere in Boston.
Our Results
At Roxbury Prep, student achievement is our bottom line. Roxbury Prep staff and families acknowledge that strong performance on standardized tests is necessary for acceptance to the country's best high schools and colleges. Throughout the year, students will take the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), the Stanford 9
Achievement Tests, and the Secondary School Admissions Tests (SSAT). Results of these tests provide accountability to goals of high student achievement.
Roxbury Prep teachers create rigorous, internal standards and assessments
(Comps) that align with these tests. Frequent and thoughtful data analysis provides teachers and students the feedback to measure both strengths and weaknesses, ensuring that each and every class period is committed to furthering student mastery.
Student achievement is the culture of Roxbury Prep, and each success provides the evidence and confidence that Roxbury Prep's students can and should achieve at the highest academic levels.
MCAS Results: Closing the Achievement Gap
Roxbury Prep students take the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment
System (MCAS) test every spring. The charts on the right show the scores from the 2008
MCAS exams.
Once again, Roxbury Prep stands as one of the highest-performing middle schools in Massachusetts, outperforming nearly 80% of all middle schools in the Commonwealth on the 2008 MCAS exams. On five of the seven MCAS tests administered in 2008, the percentage of Roxbury Prep students scoring Advanced or Proficient was higher than that
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of the Commonwealth's White students. Roxbury Prep demonstrates with clarity that the long-standing "racial achievement gap" can and should be closed.
On the 7th grade ELA and 8th grade math MCAS tests, Roxbury Prep students ranked in the top 10 schools out of over 460 schools in Massachusetts. On both of these exams, Roxbury Prep students scored Advanced or Proficient at a higher rate than students in Brookline, Wayland, and Wellesley. Moreover, this is the third consecutive year that Roxbury Prep’s 8th graders have ranked in the top 10 schools in the
Commonwealth on the 8th grade math MCAS exam. exams.
Since joining Roxbury Prep, students have made astounding gains on the MCAS
Of the 41 Class of 2008 students who took the 4th grade MCAS exams, 15% failed the math exam, but none of these students failed in 8th grade. Moreover, only 32% earned Advanced or Proficient on the 4th grade ELA exam, compared to 90% in the 8th grade.
Of the 49 Class of 2009 students who took the 4th grade MCAS exams, only 12% earned Advanced or Proficient on the math exam, compared to 70% in the 7th grade. Furthermore, only 27% earned Advanced or Proficient on the ELA exam, compared to 94% in the 7th grade.
Stanford 9 Test Results
Roxbury Prep administers the Stanford 9 Achievement Test to assess student progress in reading, math, and English language. The Stanford 9 was administered to all
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Roxbury Prep sixth grade students in September of 2007 to establish their baseline skill levels. In April of 2008, the test was given again to measure student progress during the
2007-2008 academic year.
The Stanford 9 tracks student progress using Normal Curve Equivalents (NCE’s).
The NCEs coincide with percentiles one through ninety-nine. The total progress in a given subject reflects the difference between students’ initial performance and their most recent performance on a test.
Roxbury Prep sixth grade students improved by 11 NCEs on the reading test, 9
NCEs on the language test, and 24 NCEs on the math test in their first year at Roxbury
Prep.
SSAT and ISEE Test Results
Roxbury Prep’s seventh and eighth grade students took the Secondary School
Admissions Test (SSAT) in January 2008. Students take the SSAT in both seventh and eighth grade as a way of assessing their abilities in mathematics, language, and reading comprehension. The test is widely used in the application process for independent college preparatory schools and gives students practice taking rigorous high school and college entrance exams. Teachers address the skills assessed by the SSAT and incorporate appropriate lessons into their curriculum. Roxbury Prep students make significant progress between their seventh and eighth grade years in the reading, verbal, and math portions of the SSAT.
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Comprehensive Exam Test Results
Unlike the Stanford 9 (a national test of basic skills) or the MCAS (which assesses progress toward Massachusetts state standards), Roxbury Prep’s comprehensive assessments measure student progress toward Roxbury Prep’s academic standards.
Roxbury Prep’s rigorous college preparatory academic standards are translated into two comprehensive assessments:
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a written assignment or project (e.g., lab report or essay) that reflects the content and skill standards of the class; and/or
2.
a final exam that measures mastery of the course standards.
The final exam for each course is given first in September and then in June of each academic year. The comparison between students’ performance in September and in
June reflects dramatic progress.
If a Roxbury Prep student does not receive credit for one or two courses (because the student’s coursework or comprehensive assessment average was not above 60 percent), the student must attend summer school. If a Roxbury Prep student does not receive credit for three or more courses, the student must repeat the grade.
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Selected Readings on Charter Schools
Duncan, Arne. “Turning Around the Bottom 5 Percent.” National Alliance for Public
Charter Schools Conference. Washington, D.C., 22 June 2009.
Hill, P.T., Angel, L., & Christensen, J. (2006). Charter school achievement studies.
Education Finance and Policy, 1 , 139-150.
Hoxby, C.M. (September 2004). A straightforward comparison of charter schools and regular public schools in the United States. National Bureau of Economic
Research .
National Education Association. Charter schools. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/bare/print.html?content=/bare/16332.htm
.
Schneider, M. (2006). Charter schools: Hype or hope?. Education Finance and Policy, 1 ,
123-138.
Selected Readings on Charter Schools in Massachusetts and Secretary of Education Paul Reville
Becker, D. (Writer) (2009, July 16). Gov. Patrick Rolls Out Ambitious Charter School
Plan. WBUR News [Radio broadcast broadcast]. Boston: WBUR.
Executive Office of Education, Massachusetts. (2009). Governor Deval Patrick’s education reform package: Turning around low-performing schools and promoting innovation for all.
Executive Office of Education, Massachusetts. (2009, January 6). Charter school statement by Secretary Paul Reville [Press release].
Executive Office of Education, Massachusetts. (2009, July 16). Governor Patrick pushes to improve public schools, offer all students access to world-class education
[Press release].
Reville, P. (2009, April 16). State’s bold vision for education.
The Boston Globe .
Reville, S.P. (2006). Stop the war: A time for reckoning on charter schools. ViewPoints .
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