CHATHAM HIGH SCHOOL
50 Woodbridge Avenue
Chatham, NY 12037
(518) 392-4181
Brian F. Howard, Principal
461 students, grades 9-12
37 teachers
Rural public school
85% go on to college
Expecting the same high standards
of every student has changed culture
this rural schooland let its community
see kidsgood work at close range.
Even in the grocery store checkout
line, you can tell how deeply ingrained
the practice of tracking once was
in the schools of rural Chatham,
New York. "Oh, you don't want
to hire him for that," a teacher
recently overheard one woman tell
another in casual conversation.
"He was a general student!"
Some two decades after high school
graduation, that label still stuck
to a man now in his 30s. Paradoxically,
the residents of this one-stoplight
town set among rolling hills near
the top of the Taconic Parkway so
valued competence in their educational
fare that they had long served up
very different courses to the "general"
and the "honors" student.
To analyze 19th-century British
novels with future carpenters and
farmers seemed unnecessary; those
kids should learn to balance another
kind of book and leave literature
to the college-bound.
But these days all that has changed,
as Chatham High School enters an
era in which both workers and whiz
kids must think harder and use more
practical know-how to succeed. Five
years after it joined the Coalition
of Essential Schools, this school
has done away with tracking altogether
and established the same demanding
curriculum for every student. In
the offices and shops of this middle-income
community, young people are trying
out their school skills through
projects that link work and studies.
And whether they are headed for
college or a construction site,
they share a common expectation
of excellence.
"The cream will always rise
to the top," observes Chatham
senior Paul Flint. "But now
it seems as if everybody has been
lifted up."
The numbers bear out his perception.
All ninth-graders, for instance,
now take the demanding Earth Science
course once reserved for college-bound
kids, and 87 percent pass the New
York Regents exam at its end. Not
only do eleventh-grade history classes
have "much better classroom
dynamics" since students are
heterogeneously grouped, but on
last year's Regents test more students
than ever scored over 95, teacher
Mark Pearson observes. And SAT scores
have held steadily above state and
national averages, although more
students are taking them now.
Students say they appreciate the
variety of methods teachers now
use to coach all kids towards higher
expectations. Phyllis Palladino's
twelfth-grade English classroom
"has no back," someone
notes--no place into which a timid
or reluctant learner can disappear.
Instead, at tables and chairs grouped
around the room students work together
on one of four separate unit projects,
with the teacher moving quietly
from one to another. Several kids
gravitate to a raised carpeted platform
that extends into the room as a
kind of stage. At one station, a
student with reading difficulties
can listen with headphones to Sartre's
No Exit on tape while the
others read it in print. On a large
"quote board" students
post memorable or familiar references
they come across in movies or outside
reading.
College Coursework for Some
Chatham's courses have also become
more demanding for those who have
traditionally succeeded in academics.
In fact, juniors and seniors who
write (and orally defend) a college-level
paper in their English class may
now receive credit from the State
University of New York at Albany
for a modest fee. Even "AP
students" work alongside peers
who are at other levels, though
they fulfill extra requirements
and take the Advanced Placement
test at year's end.
"It used to be that even honors
students didn't expect to work very
hard to get A's," says English
teacher Faye Sninchak, whose students'
exhibitions one university evaluator
has called "the equivalent
of college work." Now, other
teachers confirm, all kids work
hard, completing "exhibitions"
or projects that require learning
in depth.
During his junior year, for example,
Paul Flint put together a comprehensive
economic history of the Ford Motor
Company, complete with graphs, charts,
and model cars. Such individual
projects now substitute for the
three-hour standardized state Regents
exam that once capped the two-year
Global Studies course in ninth and
tenth grades, says social studies
department chair Tom Gavin. "Before
the waiver, we lost all of May in
reviewing for the test," he
says.
Doing well on paper-and-pencil tests
was no guarantee that students had
learned how to think, Chatham teachers
discovered. "Some of our high-achieving
students felt intimidated at first,
interacting with a variety of youngsters
rather than just the teacher and
a select group," English teacher
Phyllis Palladino observes. "They
weren't used to making mistakes
and taking risks as part of learning."
At the same time, she adds, some
kids are now succeeding who had
never before had the experience
of excellence.
A Context for Success
A large part of Chatham's success
lies in the new ways it has linked
learning with the larger community.
A thriving work-study program lets
seniors earn credit as they explore
career options with mentors from
local business and professional
offices. Seniors in Dodie Gearing's
Government course may spend 25 to
50 hours volunteering for local
service groups from schools to soup
kitchens. Both these programs are
monitored closely to ensure that
students gain in academic skills
from the experience. "I learned
more in one day about fractions
and ratios than I ever did in school,"
one boy told Work-Study coordinator
Kathy Stumph after his first day
shadowing a local craftsman. "We're
comfortable with letting them stumble,"
says Stumph cheerfully. "The
safety nets are in place. They learn
early and in an authentic context
what happens if they don't meet
their commitments."
Chatham's culture is collaborative
in other ways, too. Every student
is assigned to a teaching team of
math, science, English, and social
studies teachers, who share daily
planning time. Students in need
of extra hall get after-school coaching
from teachers every day. Parents
and kids serve on all important
committees.
This community still values hard
work and a good high school education,
but its expectations have clearly
shifted since the school set the
hurdles higher for all students.
While most of these students get
a taste of the workplace before
graduation, 85 percent of them now
say they will go on to college.
And whether they end up mechanics
or mathematicians, these days their
schooling aims to make thinkers
of them all.
Unifying the Seniors' Courses,
a Focus on Transition
How does one make the transition
from a demanding senior-year course
load to the world that awaits after
graduation? Chatham answered by
creating two cross-curricular requirements
all seniors must complete to show
they have mastered the "exit
skills" the community identified
as necessary for the diploma.
During the first half of the year,
each senior creates a "curriculum
vitae" binder including a self-portrait
in writing, a formal resume, a post-graduation
plan, a personal budget including
sample tax forms, an analysis of
his or her learning style, an application
for work or a college application
essay, and two letters of recommendation.
In the second semester, each student
prepares a thirty-minute 'multi-dimensional
presentation" that draws together
and reflects on a theme linking
all the year's coursework. By October,
the student will have identified
the work's focus - such as "power"
or "hypocrisy" - and begun
to address it using and "essential
question" that takes on different
shades of meaning in different areas
of study. (Power, for example, could
relate to forces and vectors in
physics, to government and social
institutions, or to literary themes.)
Keeping a weekly journal that reflects
on their readings and insights,
the seniors come up with their culminating
projects, to be evaluated by a panel
of teachers, peers, and other community
members during presentation weeks
in May and June.
June brings the community to the
"Senior Expo," a fair
that celebrates each graduate's
journey through the high school
years. At tables throughout the
gaily decorated gymnasium, each
senior sets a tri-fold display board
describing the year's accomplishments,
whether they be works of art or
high-tech projects. A long roll
of paper extends the length of the
hall, with "footsteps"
tracing each senior's feet, name
in one, "Where you're going
from here" in the other.
Chatham seniors describe the year
as an extraordinarily empowering
experience. Because the twelfth-grade
teaching team in thoroughly integrated,
they may budget their own time,
moving freely between classrooms
or to the library as long as they
sign out. Their course syllabi are
often flexible enough to let them
design their program to fit a special
interest or focus. "Because
I decide what to do, and when, and
how, says one senior girl, "my
work means more to me."
PERFORMANCE: Progress Reports from
the Coalition of Essential Schools
Number 11, November 1994
Editor: Kathleen Cushman
A continuing series describing areas
in which Essential Schools are demonstrating
significant progress toward change
using the Nine Common Principles.
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