Back to School: Melrose High School

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Melrose High School is back in full session on Wednesday, Sept. 1, and like the students throughout the district, high school students should get used to seeing two teachers in each classroom.

Co-taught classrooms have been in place at Melrose High School for a few years, but Principal Joe Dillon said the school is now focusing more on co-teaching, as opposed to teaching in small groups. He said that it's "very powerful" to have both a general education teacher, whom he called a "content specialist," and special education teacher, whom he called "instructional specialist," in the same the classroom.

Dillon said his terms for each teacher are reflective of the comprehensive approach of co-teaching, rather than pigeon-holing each teacher into one area only.

"We don't want (the special education teacher) to focus only on those students who have special needs, but with their abilities, they can have an impact on all students in the classroom," he said. "And, vice versa, the content specialist will do the same."

The key this year, Dillon said, will be providing sufficient professional development for both teachers regarding what an ideal co-taught classroom looks like and how it operates.

"It's not even the splitting up the duties as much as, how do two professionals interact within a classroom setting," he said, adding that both teachers should be viewed by students as equals, instead of one teacher as the 'real' teacher. "How do they share those responsibilities and share teaching and instruction — for all students."

High school prepares for re-accreditation visit this November

The biggest item on the high school's agenda this year is re-accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Fifteen educators from across New England "will be living with us" from Nov. 7 to Nov. 10, Dillon said. The high school staff has spent the past 18 months in preparation of the visit and re-accreditation process.

"Every faculty member has been a member of one of the seven standards committees," Dillon said. "They've completed their reports, presented their reports to the faculty, they're in the final editing phase now ...  it's a great opportunity for us to get a perspective on what we're doing and how we're doing it from a separate set of eyes. That has been our focus."

The NEASC re-accreditation process ties in with goals that the high school staff has been pursuing for the past few years, Dillon said—namely, in the area of curriculum, instruction and assessment. More specifically, the high school wants to solidify core assessments to ensure that regardless of what level course Melrose High School students take, they are all exposed to the same core material.

"Granted, if we're talking about an honors class, the depth and pace will be different, but the core curriculum that the students are exposed to should be the same, regardless of the level," Dillon said.

Teachers providing peer review

An initiative that began last year will expand this school year—high school teachers examining student work as a way of providing constructive criticism to each other regarding their lesson plans.

"We had a pilot of 12 teachers who spent three days last summer and continued during the year as a study group," Dillon said. "That group has expanded by another six teachers this summer. It will definitely have an impact on all teachers in the classroom. That's been a very exicting professional development opportunity, spurred by teachers and led by teachers."

As an example, Dillon said an English teacher gives a project or assignment and it doesn't work as well as the teacher had hoped. The study group of 18 teachers, across disciplines, can review the assignment, the results and offer feedback, whether the assignment was clear enough, if the assessment was appropriate, or otherwise.

"It's a great opportunity for teachers to dialogue and also to really critically look at student work," he said. "It's not just looking at the assessment—it's looking at everything that led up to the assessment."

More information online for teachers and students

Melrose High School is also introducing EdLine this year, a web-based teacher's website and program accessible to students and parents. EdLine will provide templates so each teacher at the high school will have consisteny websites that students and parents can go to for information about assignments and more.

Dillon said EdLine will be given a soft opening of sorts early in the school year, before it's rolled out to the entire faculty.

"As we know with technology, some teachers take to technology very quickly and aggressively, and some are a bit anxious," he said. "We want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to know what they're doing around the use of that technology."

Dillon said EdLine will be a "terrific communication tool," especially at the high school level, where outside of e-mail and conferences, parents don't have as many opportunities to connect with teachers in comparison to the middle school and elementary school levels.

"This gives the teacher and equally important the students an opportunity to see what they've missed, what's coming up and, again, it's a needed communication tool in today's age," he said.

New Melrose High School Teachers

• Margareet Bauman, part-time Social Studies Teacher
• Christopher Brodowski, Chemistry/Physics Teacher
• Jeffrey Carovillano, Assistant Principal
• Antonio DiSanzo, part-time Italian Teacher
• Roser Gine, Math Department Chair
• Lauren Luongo, part-time Science Teacher