Last night Pittsfield Middle High School premiered our video In Charge, the first of what we hope to be six longitudinal videos documenting different aspects of their work redesigning their school around student-centered learning.
The event was a lot of fun - they literally rolled out a red carpet! We had a great discussion that included school staff, families, leaders from the NH Department of Education, and representatives from project funder Nellie Mae Education Foundation.
The 13-minute video shows how this small rural school uses Student-Led Conferences, in which students prepare a portfolio of work and lead a presentation with their parents, adviser, and an invited guest. Attendance at the conferences is much higher than that of previous Parent-Teacher Conferences.
We are currently in production on two more videos: on one the school district's administrative re-organization that replaced its two principals with a Dean of Instruction and a Dean of Operations; and one about its Extended Learning Opportunities program, in which students can pursue job shadows, internships, and community service for high school credit.