Katherine Brennan/Rogers School - Connecticut State Department ...

James Hillhouse High School
School Improvement Grant – Section B: Descriptive Information
Hillhouse that included representation from the Assistant Principals, teachers and guidance, to share information on the
SIG grant. The Hillhouse group, which has been involved with studying the Smaller Learning Communities concept for
several years, was very positive about the prospect of transforming the school into a new, more effective model.
This group provided valuable insight and feedback into the needs of Hillhouse.
Each member on this initial SIG planning group provided information to the teachers at Hillhouse and used a set of
guiding questions around the SIG component requirements to ask the entire staff for additional comments,
recommendations, etc. as the school planned for the Smaller Learning Communities model. This was accomplished
through departmental and school wide staff meetings. The feedback was given to the Central Office administrators for
review and consult.
It is anticipated that scheduling of students and staff into the new Smaller Learning Communities will occur before the
end of the school year. In conjunction with the Hillhouse Parent Group, parents and community members will be invited
to a series of orientation and information sessions about the new Hillhouse Smaller Learning Communities High School
before the end of this school year and prior to the beginning of the school year. Incoming ninth graders will begin school
one week prior to the rest of the school for orientation and testing. Parents and incoming ninth graders will be invited to
a special orientation session.
The Hillhouse parent group was informed of the potential of transforming the school into a new Smaller Learning
Communities model through the opportunity of the SIG initiative. Although there was little time to provide overall
insight and consult for SIG with relevant stakeholders and parents, the redesign team (new Hillhouse principal, Director
of Instruction for Turnaround / Transformational Schools, ACES PDSI Support Team, assistant principals and Teacher
Leaders) will
establish a “rollout” plan to include a timeline for informing parents, relevant stakeholders, and community partners.
They will also develop a series of workshops, seminars and/or other platforms for consult and collaboration in the
successful implementation of SIG. Processes for parent/community monitoring of the implementation process will also
be considered. There will be a major orientation session for all parents in September. This will be followed up with
additional full school scheduled workshops throughout the school year. In addition, each SLC will provide seminars for
parents within there focused areas throughout the school year. It is anticipated that with increased communication, there
will be greater support for the SLC model, as well as greater parental and community partnership geared toward insuring
success for all the students at the school.
B6
Not applicable to Hillhouse
B7
The Superintendent did not apply for Hyde School to be part of the SIG initiative as it is becoming a new magnet school
for sports, health and medicine. We are confident that the current administrator will be able to move Hyde forward as a
new magnet high school.
We are excited about developing a system that allows for greater engagement of the parents and community as we
transform Hillhouse into a vibrant, high achieving model SIG high school.
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