# Archived Information

**[New Jersey's High School Summit]{.underline}**

The \"Reinventing New Jersey\'s High Schools\" summit was held on
September 22-24, 2004. This event provided teams of educators from 30
different high schools (rural, suburban, urban) the opportunity to
participate in keynote sessions with national level experts and
practitioners, brainstorm solutions with districts facing similar
challenges, swap effective instructional practices and communicate with
educators with comparable roles and responsibilities. Most importantly,
this summit also offered multiple opportunities for school teams to work
in small groups. Working with a trained facilitator, each team began to
develop an action plan for the \"re-invention\" of their high school.
Each participating school was required to send a six-person team
comprised of the following: the superintendent, the principal, a
teacher, a parent, a student and a board member.

The summit focused on **[Rigor, Relevance, Relationships, and Reflective
Thought]{.underline}** reinforced in the works of the national speakers
to address the following:

-   High expectations for all students with an emphasis on literacy
    across the curriculum.

-   Small, focused learning communities based on student aptitude and
    interests, with an unrelenting commitment to academics.

-   Opportunities for building relationships and reflective thought.

-   A unique 12th grade program which addresses students' interests,
    needs and the transition to the next phase of their education.

-   A unique 9th grade program focused on enrichment and academics
    through interest clusters.

-   Leadership that is sustained, entrepreneurial and performance-based.

-   Professional development that is sustained, job-embedded,
    collaborative and has a laser-like focus.

-   Curriculum revision which is focused on a tight framework that is
    rigorous, and spans both Bloom's Taxonomy as well as the application
    of knowledge to the real world in unpredictable situations.

-   Data is used to make daily decisions.

    Keynote presenters included Dr. Willard Daggett (International
    Center for Leadership in Education), Dr. Philip Schlechty (Center
    for Leadership in School Reform), Dr. Ioannis Miaoulis (Boston
    Museum of Science), Mr. Raymond McNulty (Gates Foundation), Mr. Hans
    Meeder (United States Department of Education), Ms. Janice Ollarvia
    (National Association of Secondary School Principals), and Dr. Gene
    Bottoms (Southern Regional Education Board).

Prior to the summit, New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) provided
a day-long training for 30 facilitators. The training was twofold in
that it provided a review of active facilitation techniques and prepared
individuals for their role in this summit. Specific protocols were
reviewed so that these facilitators would be familiar with their role,
expectations of the team and the expected product that each team would
produce. These protocols were designed by members of the conference
planning committee. It should be noted that in addition to staff of the
NJDOE, one member of our planning committee represented the leadership
from NJ Principals and Supervisors Association (NJPSA). NJPSA was an
active partner in this process. NJPSA is also a recipient of one of the
National Association of Secondary School Principals' "Breaking Ranks"
Grants.

During their final work session of the summit, the participating teams
were asked to begin to develop their "Plan for Change". Following the
summit, schools have submitted to NJDOE more detailed plans. They have
been asked to build a focused vision around one of the specific
recommendations from the conference and outline some of the steps that
must be taken to reach this vision.

NJDOE is also planning three follow-up sessions with these 30 schools.
The first follow up is scheduled for December 10, 2004.