Hackensack High School improves standing under federal law
Monday, December 14, 2009
BY MONSY ALVARADO
The Record
STAFF WRITER
HACKENSACK — Hackensack High School is no longer on a state list of schools in need of improvement under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The school's state test scores met adequate yearly progress (AYP) for two consecutive years, which is required for the school to be removed from the list.
Administrators, who found out about the test scores last summer, credit several changes, including more students taking advanced placement courses and a stronger push for students to think about career goals early.
Mark Porto, the principal of the school, which serves more than 1,700 students from Hackensack, Maywood, Rochelle Park and South Hackensack, talks about some of the new programs at the school.
Q. What are some of the biggest changes that have contributed to the improvement in test scores?
I think the biggest change was a cultural change with the teachers. The teachers really committed themselves to saying to the students you have to go to college, you have to consider 21st century careers and college as your primary goal and if you are able to do that, meeting the demands for the test will come naturally. And I think that has happened.
Q. How has not tracking students at Hackensack High School helped?
The math department was the last bastion of what we call tracking. I insisted, with the staff on board, to all students that there is no reason why all students can't be doing college level algebra. Meaning algebra that will prepare them for math in college, and the students have risen to the occasion. The staff is requiring that type of work, and it's really paying off in the test scores as well. It could not have been accomplished without a complete buy in by our teachers. Our teachers have come to realize that there should be no different expectation of any students in our schools. Even our special education students, their curriculum, their resource center classes, are being modeled from the regular education classes.
Language Arts was my area, and we did the same thing in 2004-05.
Q. In the past you have said that even though the number of students taking AP courses has increased, scores on those tests have been low. Is there anything that the school is doing to try to improve those scores?
Yes, actually what we've been doing now is asking students to stay after school. We are offering practice tests, by doing sample advanced placement tests on Saturday. We've been encouraging more students to take one advanced class and more students to take fewer.
When we went from seven advanced placement classes to 26, we had a number of students taking three or four advanced placements. More students are in advanced placement, but they are taking one class as opposed to taking three or four. You will always have high achieving students who are taking four or five who want to try and improve rank to get into tough schools.
Students who you would say would never take an advanced placement … they are experimenting with, let's say, AP biology, taking one course, but the problem is that the rigor is so very challenging. Even the kids with one test, they may or may not be passing the test, so we are trying strategies.
Q. What are of the challenges in implementing some of the changes that have helped boost test scores?
The challenges we face are similar to the challenges that many urban districts with similar subpopulations face. Media stereotypes that our kids embrace — that rapping and basketball are more important careers than careers in health care and medicine, engineering, or education. Unfortunately, our students buy into these stereotypes and believe that swaggering and posturing is more important than carrying books to class. However, we are consistently battling these stereotypes that impact negatively on student achievement.
These stereotypes are also embraced by local "non-diverse" communities — our kids and HHS is thought of as a "ghetto" school, with violence and problem students. Ironically, I believe our diversity prepares HHS students for the incredibly diverse 21st century economy and workplace better than many other non-diverse high schools. And to match our diversity, we have incredibly diverse course offerings with technical education (auto shop, wood shop, metal shop, home construction courses, Web page, law, culinary arts) which equals the advanced placement offerings. So our diverse students are getting an incredibly diverse preparation for 21st century careers.
Q. Is Hackensack High School still partnering with Fairleigh Dickinson University and Bergen Community College in offering classes to students where they can earn college credit?
We are partnershipping more than ever with FDU Middle College, BCC with drop-out prevention program and GED … with Hackensack University Medical Center, and with local businesses and Rotary Club for internships and mentoring.
