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Noble High School
North Berwick, ME
School Type: Public
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School Setting: Rural
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Level: High
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School Design: Essential School
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Content Presented By:
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The Education Alliance at Brown University
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National Association of Secondary School Principals
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The Mitchell Institute
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Summary
The practice:
Adapting School Organization to Promote Student Success
Administrators distribute power among the staff and students. They also encourage the adaptation of school policies and structures to meet the learning needs of students.
- Large, rural high school (9-12) of roughly 1150 students grouped in fifteen small, independent learning communities.
- Integrated learning teams consist of an English, science, social studies, and math teacher, special education teacher, and guidance counselor; teams have common planning time and a core group of students.
- Teachers create a more customized, personalized environment for students.
- Teams are small learning communities that, given the opportunity to carve out their own identity, can become safe havens for kids, and can generate a great sense of belonging.
- Heterogeneous teams are more equitable for teachers, too. Everybody teaches everybody. There is no tilting the hat to the veteran regarding who gets "the best kids."
- Integrated teams are a great first step to creating small autonomous schools within a large school.
- Talented, veteran teachers took the lead in increasing graduation requirements for all students, making four years of rigorous mathematics, and four years of science, including chemistry and physics, required. At all levels, the school redefined its standard of excellence to include all learners.
After more than thirteen years of implementation, continuous rethinking and tweaking, Noble High School is a place where everyone learns more every day and asks better questions. The journey of change has positioned the school to meet the challenges of helping every student acquire rigorous academic skills and concepts through a strong, equitable program grounded in core principles.
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