School News For Summer, 2006

Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District
Massachusetts
The Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District completed its second year of Demonstration Site work. All students in the district have taken the My Voice^© student survey and the results were shared with the schools’ respective staffs. Currently, the two middle schools in the district, Nathaniel H. Wixon (NHW) and Mattacheesse Middle School (MMS), are working on implementing Aspirations based systemic change. At NHW, the team is working on building communication in order to improve the sense of Belonging and Leadership & Responsibility among both staff and students. Recently, all three administrators and three members of the Aspiration Team met to discuss underlying assumptions and the understanding of one another’s roles and goals. There are also projects at NHW to improve student discipline (Leadership & Responsibility) and student to student mentoring (Heroes).

MMS is working on both a peer leadership and peer mediation project in order to improve the conditions of Heroes, Leadership & Responsibility, and Confidence to Take Action. Increased attention is being paid to the student newspaper in order to increase student voice. The schedule at MMS is also being discussed in order to more equitably distribute time in the schedule (Sense of Accomplishment) and try to find room for Fun & Excitement.

Portsmouth School District
Portsmouth, NH
The Portsmouth School District has an Aspiration Team in year two of the aspirations work at Middle School and a district-wide elementary Aspiration Team finishing up year one. All students in the district have taken the My Voice^© student survey. Being in the vanguard of the work in Portsmouth, the Middle school has made major strides in understanding some of the systems that are at work and how, in some cases, they impinge on the 8 Conditions. Among the interesting issues being studied is the way in which ability grouping is leading to the unintended consequence of a gender segregated school. In fact, over time classes in the 7^th and 8^th grade have become increasingly mostly male or mostly female. The consequences of this can be seen in both the survey results and in various discipline issues that arise in the school. The team is working on understanding the complex issues involved and considering appropriate interventions. They also plan to involve more stakeholders as the topic of ability grouping can be a controversial one.

Other projects at the elementary school include: attention to the schedule, character education, peer-to-peer mentoring between faculty, state mandated standardized testing, and physical plant concerns.

The elementary Aspiration Team gathers staff from each of the three elementary schools and is learning the 8 Conditions. In addition to the opportunity to discuss professional issues with colleagues from other buildings, the team is previewing learning in systemic change in order to consider possible projects for next year. The three principals of the elementary schools also meet monthly to discuss aspirations.

White Mountains Regional High School
Whitefield, NH
WMRHS just completed its first year as a Demonstration Site. The team met regularly to learn about the 8 Conditions. The school took both student and staff My Voice^© surveys. The results were shared with all faculty members as well as with the student body. In addition to orienting the entire faculty to the work, meetings were held with department heads and teachers new to the school. The administrative team meets regularly to prepare for the structural changes that are the work of years two and three.

From the sharing of the data with the students, an Aspiration Team of 24 students drawing from each grade level was formed. They have challenged themselves to work on improving healthy choices in the school cafeteria, improving respect for diversity among their peers, and improving a sense of school pride.

Our Mother of Sorrows and St. Ignatius
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The NCCSA is working with two schools (Our Mother of Sorrows and St. Ignatius) in West Philadelphia that are becoming one school under the title St. Katharine Drexel Project. Though only .9 miles apart, the two schools have very separate identities and histories. The NCCSA is providing various services to this community as the schools work to create a new model for Catholic school administration. Time is spent leading professional development sessions in the 8 Conditions with faculty, assisting in strategic planning meetings with head administrators, and training student leaders. In mid January, the NCCSA helped to facilitate the first official gathering of students from both schools. In December, the NCCSA created and administered a Parent Survey for the St. Katharine Drexel Project to measure parent concerns over the transition. Results have been shared with school leaders and the schools are responding to issues revealed in the data. Students will take the My Voice^© Catholic Student survey this May.

Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted
Waltham, Massachusetts
The NCCSA continues to make a significant contribution to student aspirations and faculty development at Our Lady’s School. As part of their third year experience, students have taken the My Voice^© survey and the data is being analyzed and compared with the Year I data. Focus group discussions with students helped us to find deeper meaning in the data collected from the surveys. Subsequently, the student council has received leadership training from the NCCSA and is producing a series of skits to perform to their peers on conflict resolution. As the faculty analyzes various systems within their school, training increasingly focuses on sustainability concerns for the aspirations work beyond 2006.

Worcester, Massachusetts
24 Catholic schools, 140 sixth and seventh graders, 35 chaperones, 22 college students, and 2 Aspirations leaders all participated in the second annual Student Leadership Conference last January. Assumption College students, trained in Aspirations work, volunteered as team leaders, supporting large group activities and facilitating 12 different workshops three times over the course of the day. Meanwhile, chaperones (principals, teachers, coaches, parents) were given a 2-hour seminar on the 8 Conditions and Student Aspirations programs.

Assumption College
Twenty-two student leaders are being trained in the condition of Belonging in preparation for this year’s Freshman Orientation program. Inspired by Student Aspirations work, this year’s orientation theme is "You Belong."

Recreational Sports Camp @ Assumption College
Youngsters participating in this summer’s Recreational camp will benefit from camp leaders and counselor training in Student Aspirations. This year’s program is putting campers’ Aspirations first and events second as they prepare to engage hundreds of youth from around Central Massachusetts.

St. Bernard’s Elementary School
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
As a result of the first Student Leadership Conference in June 2005, St. Bernard’s School of Fitchburg has created the school’s first student council.