C i t y o f M e t h u e n A n n u a l R e p o r t : 2 0 1 2events, many parents are volunteers in classrooms and media centers. They also have beenwelcomed as guest speakers and chaperones.In an effort to improve communication with home, Tenney staff is increasingly utilizing technology,including Twitter, Connect-ed, e-mails, e-newsletters, and teacher web pages. Teachers have alsoreached out with e-mail "blasts" to parents and by providing on-line grade and assignment programs.At the Tenney, parents are invited to share and celebrate the successes <strong>of</strong> their children. Parents arewelcomed at awards assemblies. The Tenney has started "Wonderful Wednesday." EveryWednesday staff members make an effort to call or write a quick note sharing positive news about astudent.The Tenney also includes parents in a number <strong>of</strong> events designed to build community. Zumba andkickboxing nights, sponsored by the health and physical education departments, math and literacynights, hosted by our academic coaches, and plays and concerts produced by our fine arts teachershave brought a number <strong>of</strong> families to our school. The Tenney staff continues to work to improve ourpartnership with parents by promoting a number <strong>of</strong> other activities, including Title 1 Family Night,assemblies, assorted fundraising events, and Mama Tenney, a family dinner night.<strong>Methuen</strong> High School<strong>Methuen</strong> High School is a grade nine (9) throughtwelve (12) public high school educatingapproximately 1800 students. Students enrolled in<strong>Methuen</strong> High School are both economically andethnically diverse. <strong>Methuen</strong> High School housesmultiple special education programs, honors and APprograms, dual enrollment programs with MerrimackCollege and NECCO, and many extracurricular andathletic activities and teams. During the renovationproject scheduled to be complete in August <strong>of</strong> 2014,school administrators and the building projectcommittee are preparing to construct a 21 st century high school with fully equipped science labs,wireless access throughout, 1:1 ipads program, state <strong>of</strong> the art fine arts classrooms, and much more.<strong>Methuen</strong> High School is proud to have made a commitment to significantly increase the number <strong>of</strong>students who participate in and receive credit for Advanced Placement courses in Biology,Chemistry, Physics B, English Literature and Composition, English Language and Composition,Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Statistics, European History, United States History, Psychology, SpanishLanguage, and Studio Art. The main goal <strong>of</strong> the Advanced Placement Program at <strong>Methuen</strong> HighSchool is to encourage students to take the most rigorous academic courses available in order toincrease college readiness. The Advanced Placement program is specifically designed to close theachievement gap, allow equal access to Advanced Placement courses, and therefore increase college101
C i t y o f M e t h u e n A n n u a l R e p o r t : 2 0 1 2readiness for all students. It is a wonderful example <strong>of</strong> what can take place when students dedicatethemselves to working hard academically and teachers and administrators work extremely hard toprovide students the necessary academic support that is required to succeed in rigorous coursework.<strong>Methuen</strong> High School enrolled fifty-nine (59) students with forty-one (41) <strong>of</strong> them attaining aqualifying score <strong>of</strong> a 3, 4, or 5 in 2009. In <strong>2012</strong>, 554 students were enrolled in AP courses with 218received a qualifying score <strong>of</strong> 3, 4, or 5.In response to the state mandate that schools design an improvement plan each year, <strong>Methuen</strong> HighSchool has developed this School Improvement Plan (SIP). It is the product <strong>of</strong> an annual reviewconducted by the high school staff. The plan addresses the areas <strong>of</strong> test data, state standards,instructional approaches, pr<strong>of</strong>essional development, school initiatives, and parent/communityinvolvement, all with the goal <strong>of</strong> raising student academic performance. A team composed <strong>of</strong>teachers representing each department has worked collaboratively with administrators in a processknown as Performance Improvement Mapping (PIM). PIM is a model for planning ongoingimprovement. A large portion <strong>of</strong> the PIM process is aimed at test data analyses, primarily the MCAS.The high school PIM team met several times to analyze data and discuss the effectiveness <strong>of</strong> schoolprograms in relation to the mission statement, district goals, state standards, and the New EnglandAssociation <strong>of</strong> Schools and Colleges (NEASC) teaching and learning standards. From the dataanalyses, the team developed Performance Goals, Learning Objectives, Improvement Objectives, andAction Plans.An important initiative influencing the <strong>Methuen</strong> High School SIP this year is the preparationnecessary for the planned NEASC accreditation team visit in 2013. One requirement prior to the visitis the school self-study, a process currently being undertaken by staff committees. As part <strong>of</strong> this, theSIP team is matching the school programs with the most recent identified NEASC standards: CoreValues, Beliefs, and Learning Expectations; Curriculum; Instruction; Assessment <strong>of</strong> and for StudentLearning; School Culture and Leadership; School Resources for Learning; and Community Resourcesfor Learning. In addition, the school accreditation subcommittees have been examining and makingongoing refinements to the mission statement and curriculum/instructional approaches, with an eyetoward adjusting the selected processes and programs to accommodate the NEASC teaching andlearning standards.102The high school’s Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Development Plan, in concert with the district’s goals, is based uponthe belief that teaching is a highly skilled craft and that all students can achieve at high levels, giventhe appropriate learning opportunities in the classroom setting. Pr<strong>of</strong>essional development needs toprovide support for teachers to develop curriculum, to deliver instruction effectively, and to assessstudents’ learning on a continuous basis. Specifically, pr<strong>of</strong>essional development <strong>of</strong>ferings mustexpand teachers’ knowledge <strong>of</strong> subject matter, increase knowledge <strong>of</strong> standards-based curriculum,instruction, and assessment, and help teachers to make data-driven decisions in order to reduce theachievement gap.