Superintendent Reveals More Information on Proposed Academy

Friday, December 19, 2014

Patrick Sargent, GoLocal Worcester Contributor

On Thursday evening, Worcester Public School Superintendent Dr. Melinda Boone revealed more details on the proposed Academy for Advanced Learners at Doherty Memorial High School. As reported by GoLocal, Dr.Boone initially presented this idea to the Worcester School Committee earlier this month.

One question about the Academy was presented to Dr.Boone by School Committee member Tracy O'Connell-Novick. O'Connell-Novick asked how the decision to choose Doherty as the Academy location was made. "In terms of how the location was selected, why are we having it at Doherty? I ask the question because of the demographics of the district. It seems like the school that's least likely, in terms of a choice for a program of this nature, to put it at a school, to be blunt, that is the most middle-class and most white. It seems kind of an interesting choice," said O'Connell-Novick.

Dr.Boone said, "This is a district-wide program. It’s not limited to any one school and Doherty is the most centrally located high school. For ease of transportation and access, that was the purpose. If we are making this available to all our students, how do we facilitate access to the program transportation wise."

As proposed, the Academy for Advanced Learners will be an International Baccalaureate (IB) program for grades nine through 12. Students will be required to complete six international baccalaureate courses and will have to take special examinations in grades 11 and 12.

School Committee member Brian O'Connell suggested the city takes its time with the academy and to not 'get so far down the road' before the administration gets ahead of itself. O'Connell expressed his concern that the Doherty community may not be able to handle an academy at that location.

”Doherty has a number of concerns, not so much in terms of the program, but in terms of school capacity to absorb the program. The school has larger classes, it’s limited in terms of space, and we all know Doherty struggles with limitations in technology.”

Admission Criteria a Concern for School Committee Members

The IB program is recognized by higher education. The academy will be a highly competitive school with a maximum attendance of 250 for students in grades 9-12. The target initial year is the 2016-2017 school year and enrollment would being with an entering 9th grade class and possibly 10th grade class.

The admission criteria is an application, grades from previous year and current year, standardized test scores, transcripts, a student essay, a recommendation from one core academic teacher, and attendance and discipline histories.The application process will be coordinated by members from the district and applicants will receive an overall scored based on an admission rubric. Scores will be weighted and granted for completion of certain pre-requisites. A lottery will be held if applications exceed attendance limit.

“The other concern that I have is to make sure that we haven't yet finalized our plans in terms of not only what we are going in the siting of the school, but in terms of the criteria of admission to the school," said O'Connell. "The criteria presented by the administration clearly avoid the prospect of having a test. A test that is designed specifically for admission to the program. And I suggest that it is the exact opposite direction from the one we should be taking.”

“All students are gifted, but not all students are gifted with the academic capabilities or the synapses to be able to handle aggressive academic work and significant volumes at a very high level. And whether our program really adheres to those standards becomes subjective.”

“Testing alone is not a perfect indicator of someone’s success. We are seeing that with SAT testing. There are far more skill sets beyond just taking a single test to measure whether you can be successful at something as rigorous as the IB program," said Committee Member John Foley.

The committee and administration will hold a public hearing within the next few months. According to Mayor Joe Petty, "The Superintendent is going to go out and do a site visit to address space issues and logistics. By August, we will have an advisory committee. Once the school committee votes on it in April, we will have the advisory committee set up in August and then we will have one year of planning."

Superintendent Reveals More Information on Proposed Academy

Admission Criteria a Concern for School Committee Members

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