ALLENTOWN – Allentown High School (AHS) is truly committed to becoming a premier high school, according to Stephan Cochrane.
The Upper Freehold Regional School District’s assistant superintendent of curriculumand instruction presented theMillstone Township Board of Education with plans for the future of AHS at the board’s Jan. 28 meeting. Millstone has a send- and receive-student relationship with the regional school district as the township does not have its own high school.
Cochrane, who started in his role as assistant superintendent in the regional district this school year, said that AHS has “incredible and caring people” and offers the feeling of a small school within a comprehensive high school. He also said the school has classes tomeet the needs of students at all levels.
“There is a sense of belonging, a sense of every child being known,” he said.
Cochrane said that in 2004-05,AHS had offered six Advanced Placement (AP) courses and 11 percent of the student body took them. Last year, the school offered 13 AP courses and 23 percent of students took them. For 2009-10, the school has a goal to offer 15AP courses and to have one-third of students participating in them.
According to Cochrane, 29 percent of students in the state take AP courses and 27 percent of students in Monmouth County take AP classes.
The assistant superintendent explained that AHS has block scheduling, with 85- minute periods. This allows for the in-depth study of literature and English composition and raises the level of thinking in all disciplines, he said.
The school implemented a writing clinic last year and has a new English supervisor, Joann Snook. Cochrane said that the English department has had a great deal of professional development.
The school added another AP course in mathematics this year. Modification of the block scheduling is being considered for next year so that algebra will be a full-year course, he said.
The school also has a new math supervisor, Lynn Folino. Supervisors have three teaching blocks but are released from one each semester to engage in supervision, he said. AHS students are “steeped in science,” Cochrane said. Science will have a new supervisor and theAP Biology and Chemistry classes will have a full-year block next year. He also said that the curriculum would be revised next year to include performancebased assessments in biology and eventually in all courses.
The school’s social studies curriculum currently has fiveAP classes: Government, American History, European History, Macroeconomics and Psychology.Next year, a college-level track of U.S. History I and II would be added.
The school has eight history teachers and two federally funded grants that help to develop the highest quality of instruction inAmerican history, according to Cochrane.
The school has added an AP Spanish course and an AP online French program. Cochrane said that online instruction allows the school to provide smaller courses that do not warrant the hiring of newteachers.
AHS has plans to add an AP Computer Science course. Cochrane said the school uses technology to raise the level of rigor and relevance in all courses. He said every teacher has wireless access to the Internet.
The school has plans to offer more sections of its popular theater arts and chorus classes, he said. Full-year band and chorus classes are also being considered, he said, as are courses in public speaking, photography and computer graphics and AP art and music classes.
Millstone Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Donahue said it has been wonderful working with Cochrane. She said her district would like to partner with AHS in its endeavors.
Upper Freehold Regional School District Superintendent of Schools Richard Fitzpatrick, a father of seven children, said that if he would not put his child in a school’s learning environment, he would not put another parent’s child there either.