One of only 10 schools in the state named a ‘Star School’
By: Lea Kahn
The Lawrence Middle School has been named one of 10 “Star Schools” in the state Department of Education’s annual Best Practices/Star Schools Program.
School district officials will pick up the award, which also carries a $1,000 check, at the Department of Education’s Best Practices/Star Schools Program recognition ceremony and reception next month.
The Lawrence Middle School is being honored for its restructuring of the school day, which resulted in the block scheduling program for students, said middle school Principal Walter C. Woolley.
Block scheduling lengthens the classroom period from the traditional 40 minutes to 80 minutes. Students take fewer courses each semester. Rather than taking eight classes daily, they take fewer classes — but they spend more time in each class.
For the past six years, the state education commissioner has sought applications to identify those schools that can be used as models. Summaries of the winners in the Best Practices/Star Schools Program will be listed in the 1999-2000 Office of Innovative Programs and Practices Annual Report.
“The restructuring of the school day was the fundamental reason for the application (to the statewide recognition program). Block scheduling is an outline. It creates the structure to do other things without disrupting other classes. It is the innovative idea within our structure that makes the Lawrence Middle School a model for other schools,” Dr. Woolley said.
“The real reason for our Star School status is what has occurred within that (block scheduling) structure. The teachers see fewer students and they get to know them better, and the students know the subject better. They are better able to concentrate on a given subject,” he said.
Teachers have the ability to provide students with a variety of activities in a single block of time, he said. They are more capable of addressing the needs of the students in their classes and they can provide unique learning experiences within the regular school day, he said.
Although many schools have adopted block scheduling, Dr. Woolley said he thinks what makes the difference at the Lawrence Middle School is what happens during the school day and what the teachers do within that longer period of time.
“For example, we have the ability to take students to a polluted lake during science class. The students can conduct environmental tests with professional marine biologists and the classroom teacher, and they can return to class from the lake without disrupting their normal school day,” Dr. Woolley said.
Testing of the polluted lake site can become the classroom. It is a tremendous learning opportunity that the students never have had, he said. A traditional school day would not allow enough time for the students to go to the lake and return in time for the next class, he added.
Students who are enrolled in the special education program benefit from the block scheduling program, he said. The special education teachers join the regular classroom teachers to work with those students in the regular classroom.
But it is not just the restructuring that resulted in the school’s being named as one of the 10 Star Schools. Projects funded by the Lawrence Township Education Foundation also played a part in gaining the Lawrence Middle School recognition for its efforts, he said.
The LTEF awarded a grant that allowed the school to buy audio-sensory equipment so that teachers can use books on tape, Dr. Woolley said. Students can read and hear the text simultaneously, enabling them to have access to literature they would not have been able to read, he said.
“It helps with learning styles. Some students learn by hearing, some learn by seeing and some learn by doing. Students learn through one or two or all three (techniques). The teacher can take a concept and use technology to bring new ideas into the classroom,” he said.
All of the programs come from the teachers, he said. They are the result of the vision a teacher might have brought forward. It is teachers who make the difference in the classrooms, he said.
“We were very fortunate. When we had the site visit (as part of the Best Practices/Star Schools Program application), our visitor was most impressed with the outstanding quality of the faculty,” he said.
Dr. Woolley is pleased that Lawrence Middle School has been recognized as a Star School, but this is not the first time the middle school has gained statewide recognition.
The school was named one of 50 Best Practices schools in the 1997-98 Best Practices/Star Schools Program. At that time, the school was honored for its curriculum compacting program.
The program allows students to skip specific units in class if they can demonstrate mastery of the material, Dr. Woolley said. Instead, they may undertake a special project, under the guidance of adults and mentors.