Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to present two days of staff development for the teachers in Houlton, Maine.  During that time, I had a very interesting conversation with Marty Bouchard, the principal of Houlton High School.

Marty told me about  how he and his staff addressed an area of concern in the math department.  Marty related, “As we pondered ways to raise the bar for our students, one of the things that jumped out to us was the fact that our students, if allowed, would flock to lower level classes and take an easier route to graduate.  Our staff agreed that we needed to eliminate some of the lower level classes and encourage our students to take more rigorous classes.  I have been the principal at Houlton Jr/Sr High School for 8 years and in 2005 our school offered nine non-college prep math classes for our students. We now offer four and we are very selective with who we allow to take these classes.”

What Marty and his staff did was identify ten students, out of almost 20 who had signed up for General Algebra 1, to participate in a special pilot program. These students had enrolled in the lower level course “…as the result of a variety of factors ranging from the environment they were in away from school to low aspirations in general.” Marty explained that these students’ testing scores and assessments indicated that they could succeed in a higher level class so, after discussing the initiative with the students and their parents, they were enrolled in College Prep Algebra 1.

The objectives of the pilot class were:

  • Double up the instruction, having the class meet every day for 80 minutes rather than every other day with a math teaching professional.
  • Have the class meet first thing in the morning.  This allowed the students to start off each day together, in a family type setting, and to share successes and struggles as they moved forward.
  • Help the students catch up with their peers who were entering College Prep Algebra 1.
  • Have the students move through the entire College Prep Algebra 1 curriculum.
  • Provide the students with a small introduction to College Prep Geometry.
  • As sophomores, have the students enter College Prep Geometry.

What struck me, as Marty explained the initiative, was that they were creatively implementing a standard RtI Tier Two strategy, Repeating Instruction.  By doubling up on the time allotted to the course, and keeping the same students, of varying ability, together, Marty and his staff were able to both challenge and support the targeted students with additional instruction, supported by their peers, which is good for students of all ability groups.

With a success rate of 70 percent, and plans to implement the same ideas in the English department in 2011-2012, Marty shared the following powerful observations:

  • The students, towards the beginning of the fourth quarter, began entering the College Prep Geometry class.  After their success in College Prep Algebra 1, they had the confidence and ability to go into that class and believing that they could be successful.
  • The students, teacher, and Marty Bouchard presented their success to the school board. The student voices were powerful and you could see that their confidence had grown.
  • As we looked forward to the 2011-2012 school year, we identified 14 students that would be a good fit for the program.  The students from the pilot program met with the prospective students and told them how they felt entering the new program.  They spoke of the apprehensions and did a great job illustrating why the program should be given strong consideration.

When I see administrators, and their staff, working so hard to ensure the success of the students that they serve, I just love to share their stories with the rest of the teaching community.  What Marty Bouchard and his staff are accomplishing at Houlton High School is an excellent example of Response to Intervention and Best Practice Teaching.