Board of Ed honors New Mission High

backup here
Superintendent Chang is up!
instroduces Dr. Wilson, the principal of New Mission High
Wilson: a pilot school, one of 21 BPS pilot schools
"to create these educational innovation spaces"
"exam school without the exam"
college admission and social justice
"not only fierce in the classroom; we're also fierce on the field or on the court"

"our growth data...we look at it very seriously"
talk to them about structural racism..."creates purpose in our students"
a lot of data, a lot of access to advanced courses
"can't just put a student in advanced classes without intense social and emotional support"
distributive leadership teams
working towards an honors for all model; amazing how many students want to do that
Many of students are leaving our high school with six or more AP classes
from grade 9 to grade 11, all history courses incorporate research skills
senior capstone: present research and defend
"a lot of scaffolding throughout the year"..take "any time we can get to provide more instruction and support"
"loads and loads of internship opportunities"
"we are also a portfolio school...students present twice a year to families on the critical essential questions in all their courses"

McKenna: assume seventh grade choice was to take
Wilson: "whole purpose was...students were not coming into ninth grade with that gateway course of Algebra I"
"we're hoping that what can happen is we can accelerate students in the middle school"
McKenna: wondering about capacity issue in the school
Wilson: physical space
she hands it off to Chang
Chang: BPS has over 20 different grade configuration
"the first non-exam school that is 7-12"
space challenges as they are "co-located"
"we'll be able to learn a lot from the work they're doing"

Wilson: five autonomies and each is critical
budget: actual dollars on teacher salaries; can maneuver the numbers and the people I'm looking for
can craft the job descriptions; "I'm determining what I'm looking for"
scheduling:bringing in families for individual families is not an easy task, but critical
curriculum: eagerly wanting to implement curriculum that meets needs "but that to me has not been an issue" due to flexible leadership, "people are being very supportive around curriculum"
have a governing board; true supporters of me and my leadership
longevity of staff; come with entrepreneurial spirit
McKenna: asks about onboarding
Wilson: idea of honors for all "that's really hard work"
"expecting that students make it to advanced coursework by eleventh and twelfth grade"
"all students trained in AP or pre-AP through MassInsight"
distributed leadership: history all evaluate each other (after training; also give time to admin meeting)
only struggle has been over focus
"we're not going to do fifteen things well...we believe that [college] is what black and brown children need as the next stage of life"