Norton High School strives to maintain a pattern of continuous growth and improvement

The dedication of the faculty and parents to providing a rich learning environment for students should be commended

Norton High School students take pride in their school

Students are well aware that teachers and support staff struggle to provide them with the best resources and programs, with a level of resources that is not commensurate with the schools needs or the ability of the community to provide for them

Student learning is the focus

There is a supportive climate

Students are encouraged to achieve

The school offers a challenging curriculum and a positive learning environment that are reflective of community values

Norton High School should prepare students to become critical thinkers and effective users of technology, who read, write and communicate effectively

Currently the mission and expectations are published in school documents and displayed throughout the school, but they need to be widely known and understood. As these become more closely connected to daily classroom practices, students will be challenged across all courses and curriculum.

Norton High School needs to develop a system to ensure that the school-wide rubrics are used consistently, enabling the students to understand how they are being assessed in their efforts.

Norton High School also needs to determine how individual student performance of the social and civic expectations will be documented and assessed.

The faculty has worked diligently to provide an array of courses that will prepare students for life after high school.  Recently courses have been cut because of budget restrictions, and some limitations on student access to a full complement of courses concern the faculty.

Teachers need to have common planning time to collaborate within their department, and time and resources should be allocated so that teachers across the curriculum have time to develop stronger connections between curriculum objectives and the academic expectations across all departments to develop strategies to ensure an equally high degree of rigor in all courses, and to develop methods to incorporate data derived from classroom assessment into the curriculum review process.

Norton High School employs a block schedule, however, not all teachers are employing varying instructional approaches during the extended time periods, and they could benefit from a professional development program that provides for training in teaching in the block.

Norton High School permits teachers to pay individual attention to students and to know them personally, however, a more formal advisory program would allow the school to personalize the students’ experiences with individual faculty members.

Student achievement is celebrated extensively throughout the school.

The greatest area of frustration for the faculty and staff lies in the area of professional development.  The combination of one full day of staff development at one extreme, and the opportunity to receive tuition reimbursement for a full semester graduate course at the other extreme, does not well match the needs of faculty members with differing experiences and needs.  Faculty members are eager to learn about best practices in regards to curriculum revisions, instructional improvement and support programs for students.

The repeated defeat of a proposal to build a new high school has influenced morale among both the faculty and students who feel that their needs are not recognized.  Consequently, Norton students are at a disadvantage when they compete with students from schools with more opportunities, and stronger programs and facilities.

The issues and challenges that adversely affect the educational process at Norton High School and are detrimental to our fulfilling the school’s mission include:  low per pupil spending, inadequate facilities and staffing, a growing number of at risk students, as well as poor communication and coordination between and amongst stakeholders, including inadequate vertical articulation between the middle school and the high school.

With regard to per pupil expenditure, Norton spends the second least amount of money of all K-12 districts in the state. Ten years ago, Norton was 19% below the state average.  Despite education reform, Norton has continued to slid an additional 6% to a current total of 25% below the state average of $6, 780.

Currently there are no programs to address the needs of severely struggling students.  An alternative program was piloted, but did not meet with success because it paralleled the regular education program in terms of credits, number of courses, time and discipline, and the school is not able to attract properly certified teachers. 

A Community Task Force has been established, but primarily focuses on a post graduation party.  There is no coherent community, parent and school partnership to address diversity, respect and substance abuse issues. 

Norton has maintained a fairly high level of system-wide proficiency, despite the ever increasing challenges and burdens that are placed upon the school, students and staff.