There's lots of buzz in the air around a recent story in the NY Times about how one of the largest high schools in Massachusetts went from dismal to dazzling with a new strategy that included writing lessons in every class, in all subjects.
A decade ago, only a quarter of Brockton High School's students were passing statewide exams. Fully a third of the students never graduated. The school's principal and teachers decided to do something about it, and they did. They went back to basics, and declared that reading, writing, speaking, and reasoning had to be the focus of the school's teaching.
Among their strategies: a rubric to help teachers understand what good writing looks like,faculty meetings focused on teaching teachers how to use the writing rubric, and a wide range of writing exercises, in all classes. One science teacher, for example, required her students to write out, step by step, how to make a sandwich. Students even write in gym.
The school's strategy has continued to evolve, always emphasizing quality of instruction and raising students' expectations.
The year after all this started, test scores had risen, dramatically. Ten years later, Brockton outperforms 90% of the state's high schools in language arts scores.
Notably, these results fly in the face of theories that widespread academic excellence is impossible in a large school.
I can't help but notice that of the four key elements in the school's approach mentioned above, two of them are hallmarks of WriterCoach Connection: writing and reasoning (or critical thinking).
Find the full NY Times story here.
Bob Menzimer