Summary of the findings of the May 2008 visitation by The New England Association of Schools and Colleges:

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) recently provided Timberlane Regional High School with the Visiting Committee Report.  This report is the culmination of a ten-year cycle of continuous school improvement.  The commission provides commendations and recommendations that serve as a guide for the next cycle.

The Timberlane staff and numerous community and parent volunteers under the guidance of a steering committee chaired by Associate Principal John Leary prepared a detailed self-study that conducted surveys of teachers, students, parents, school board members and community members.  The commission’s report supports the findings of the self study.

The visiting committee of 17 evaluators spent four days at the high school last spring.  The evaluators reviewed documents, met with administrators, teachers, other school and system personnel, students and parents, shadowed students, visited classes, and interviewed teachers to determine the degree to which the school has met the qualitative Standards of Accreditation of the Commission.  Those standards are:

Teaching and Learning Standards

Mission and Expectations for Student Learning

                                                Curriculum

                                                Instruction

                                                Assessment of Student Learning

Support Teaching and Learning Standards

                                                Leadership and Organization

                                                School Resources for Learning

                                                Community Resources for Learning

The report has been forwarded to the Commission on Public Secondary Schools which will make a decision on the accreditation status of Timberlane Regional High School.

The following is an overview written by Richard Kraemer, the chairman of the visiting committee:

Teaching and Learning at Timberlane Regional High School

It was with evident pride that the school displayed in every classroom and every corridor its mission and expectations for learning.  These displays were second only to the wide-spread celebration of student work, especially the product of the outstanding art classes.  The mission and expectations for student learning have driven some of the current work on the curriculum and it is showing some signs of being acculturated into the thinking and actions of the school.  When the established expectations for learning are imbedded in the school community’s thinking the rubrics that have been developed to measure the success of the expectations’ implementation will find their way into the classroom. The rubrics have yet to take on a significant focus in the school’s culture.  The faculty must finish this task and implement the results as soon as possible.  As the mission is revised and reviewed during the next five years, special attention must now be paid to the involvement of parents and students in the process.

Curriculum has been developed for the core areas, but these will need to be revisited to ensure that the expectations for student learning are embedded in them.  It is noteworthy that so many curriculum documents have been developed and that there is new thinking on the development of new electives that will incorporate contemporary fields of student interest.

A few rubrics have been developed t measure the implementation of the expectations for learning, especially for the assessment of writing skills.  Many teachers are proficient with the rubric implementation while other teachers are uncomfortable with their daily use in the classrooms.  Thisis also true of the variety of the assessments employed by classroom teachers.  There have been many efforts to implement portfolios and other creative assessments, but the predominant assessment tool continues to be best categorized as ‘paper and pencil.’  The school has committed itself to analyzing the data generated by the students taking their external examinations.  The strong staff development devoted to the development of curriculum has benefited the school.  As the school moves forward in implementing its mission, similar efforts will be needed to develop a database of assessment results that are specific to the school’s expectations for learning to inform efforts to improve both curriculum and instruction.  It may be necessary to provide professional development in variety of assessment and in curriculum development and use.

Support of Teaching and Learning at Timberlane Regional High School

The administration and teacher leaders are actively engaged in working collaboratively and in a common pursuit of improving their school while also engaging in appropriate celebration of the accomplishments that are found within the school. All constituent groups expressed their satisfaction with current leadership and endorsed the belief that the views expressed by both the appointed and informal leaders represent the best thinking within the school. The challenge to leadership will be to develop a consensus on ways to better utilize time to effectively support student learning and to develop a school-wide system that ensures that each student is known well by an adult in the school.

Although the community has struggled with financing its schools, its members have articulated as well as demonstrated in numerous ways their commitment to their children and to the school system that educates their children when they have found the issue to be of importance. They have successfully maintained their existing facility and provided resources that have been appropriately utilized within the school, yet they have not responded to some pressing issues such as the need for additional rooms and flexible spaces. The children have benefited from the support they receive through the library, special services, the guidance department and the nurse. All of the professionals found in these groups are working diligently to appropriately utilize available resources to benefit all children. The children have also received continuous support through the superintendent and his office. All are currently being confronted with a need to prepare for an eventual increase in student enrollment which will challenge the present facility’s capacity and the need to design the new areas with the same intentionality as was used in the design of the Performing Arts Center.  Design aspects of the existing building that require rethinking and redesigning as well as projected needs that will be best met through an expansion of the present facility.  The community has shown its ability to support the best in the status quo; it will soon be called upon to create something new that is worthy of its ideals and its care for its young people.

In addition to these observations, the committee report is condensed into the following set of commendations and recommendations.

Mission and Expectations for Learning

Commendations

1. The concise and clearly written Mission Statement and Expectations for Student Learning
2. Adoption of the 6+1 writing rubric and writing traits scoring rubric
3. Use of the 6+1 rubric across the curriculum to improve writing

Recommendations

1. Create the conditions for greater school and community awareness of the mission and expectations          
2. Clearly define each of the academic, civic and social learning expectations
3. Create performance measures for each of the civic and social learning expectations
4. For each of the three academic expectations, clearly articulate the targeted level of successful achievement identified in the rubric
5. Develop and implement a set of indicators by which the school will assess their progress in achieving school-wide civic and social expectations
6. Establish a process by which the mission statement and expectations for student learning guide the creation of procedures, policies, and decisions of the school
7. Regular review of the mission and expectations is necessary to insure its viability and relevance

Curriculum

Commendations

1. The development of curricula which are aligned to State Standards and district goals and which make use of core competencies
2. The ongoing cycle of curriculum review and revision
3. The implementation of a comprehensive curriculum format which is used school-wide
4. Efforts made by the media specialist to reach out to her students and staff and improve the atmosphere of the media center
5. The development of Professional Learning Communities

Recommendations

1. Identify the curriculum areas which have responsibility for the academic expectations of problem-solving and researching and gathering information
2. Complete and implement the sequence of curricula for all instructional areas, including elective courses, Evening Division, and Summer School
3. Ensure that regular and extended learning opportunities meet students’ needs without compromising curriculum, rigor, or high expectations
4. Design and implement activities that provide authentic application of curricular goals and objectives and develop higher order thinking skills and practices for all students, no matter the course or level
5. Provide time within and across departments for professional development activities that address curriculum review and implementation
6. Ensure that the curriculum template includes instructional activities and assessment strategies, including the use of school-wide rubrics

Instruction

Commendations

1. Teachers who use technology in their instruction have dramatically increased the educational opportunities of students
2. Those teachers who have made connections across disciplines
3. Initial attempts to personalize learning for students
4. The evident content expertise of the faculty
5. Initial efforts to promote discussions of instructional strategies

Recommendations

1. Develop a strategy and timeline for the immediate implementation of the school-wide rubrics to ensure that they are universally used in instruction
2. Embed in the regular practices of the school varied and creative assessments to ensure rigor and challenging expectations for all students
3. Implement authentic assessments to promote higher order thinking in all classes
4. Institute a supervision and observation process that includes feedback from a variety of sources which provides direction on how to improve instructional strategies to positively affect the quality of students’ learning
5. Provide sufficient time and a structure for teachers to collaborate and reflect on instructional strategies that will improve student learning

Assessment

Commendations

1. The adoption and use of the 6+1 Rubric as an assessment tool
2. The efforts made at the start of each lesson to clarify the learning expectations
3. The initial steps that have been taken to develop a variety of assessment strategies
4. Efforts to engage the faculty in discussion of authentic assessments

Recommendations

1. Ensure that the rubric for all academic expectations are in use in all classrooms
2. Collect data to assess whether or not the students and the school are achieving their social and civic goals
3. Embed school-wide and academic expectations in assessment practices
4. Provide dedicated scheduled time to be trained in approved rubrics
5. Provide dedicated scheduled time for faculty members to work together to settle on uniform ways to apply the contents of all of the academic rubrics
6. Develop and implement a process which uses the school-wide rubrics to assess individual student progress in achieving the academic expectations
7. Communicate individual student progress in achieving the school-wide academic expectations, based on a set of rubrics, to students and their families

Leadership and Organization

Commendations

1. The principal has sufficient autonomy from the superintendent and school board
2. Development of creative and unleveled courses
3. Level of trust and support between administration and faculty
4. Degree of caring exhibited by all staff members toward students
5. Student recognition

Recommendations

1. Increase genuine participation in the decision-making process for all school and community constituents
2. Ensure that all students, no matter the course or the level, have multiple opportunities to practice higher order thinking and to be involved in problem solving
3. Establish daily teaching loads that support the need for personalized education and empower and enable all teachers to use contemporary teaching techniques that allow the learning needs of all students to be met
4. Implement a formal comprehensive program which personalizes the educational experience for every student and provides an adult in addition to the guidance counselor who can assist the student in achieving the expectations in the mission

School Resources for Learning

Commendations

1. The high volume of users and wide spectrum of services and programs offered through the health services department

2. The existing plan to upgrade existing technology on a five-year schedule
3. Support of the curriculum through the media center
4. The variety of library/media center learning resources that are designed to support student needs
5. The welcoming attitude and work ethic exhibited by the media center staff

Recommendations

1. Develop formal program evaluation tools to garner feedback to improve services in the guidance department 

2. Provide additional administrative support in the health office and the media center to maintain records and better serve the needs of students

3. Increase personalization of and access to services in the guidance area
4. Provide appropriate media center access for students participating in the Evening Division
5. Update the methods used for maintaining the library media collections
6. Increase seating in the media center to accommodate more than one class at a time
7. Evaluate the ratio of regular education to special education students in inclusion/co-taught courses to ensure that it complies with state and federal regulations as well as current research in best practice

Community Resources for Learning

Commendations

1. Active support of the music boosters in inspiration for and creation of the PAC
2. The support and involvement of the members of the community provided by local businesses
3. The collaborative budget process

Recommendations

1. Comply fully with ADA handicapped access.
2. Increase technology and equipment
3. Provide a facility and faculty that support all aspects of the curriculum that exists today and will be needed in the future and meets the needs of all student learners
4. Complete all repairs to the roof
5. Immediately address all health and safety issues including ADA regulations and cleanliness

6. Investigate and propose solutions for school safety issues related to traffic congestion outside the school
7. Develop, fund and implement a plan for maintenance and on-going repairs of the facilities
8. Develop a new five to ten year capital plan for improvement of the facilities
9. Provide consistent funding for supplies

Timberlane’s continued accreditation is based on satisfactory progress implementing valid recommendations of the visiting committee and others identified by the Commission as it monitors the school's progress and changes which occur at the school throughout the decennial cycle.  Narrative descriptions of each standard and the report of the school’s progress in the ongoing achievement of those standards will be presented to the school board in September.

Donald Woodworth

Principal

Timberlane Regional High School