RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Encourage Awareness of Cultural Diversity: District personnel need to consider options to encourage awareness of cultural diversity through cooperative arrangements with school districts such as Manchester NH and Boston MA or others exhibiting diverse ethnic and racial populations.
2. Increase Time on Task:

   Time on task has proven to be directly related to student learning outcomes. Currently, the district supports 180 days for students and 3-5 additional work days for teachers. To improve student achievement, the Site Visit Team recommends exploring the addition of at least 10 days to the student calendar and 5 additional staff development days for teachers.

   Further, the Site Visit Team notes that in several classes observed at the high school, it appeared that students were not fully engaged in learning activities. Therefore, the Site Visit Team recommends that attention should be paid to classroom "time on task" issues, fully engaging students during scheduled class time, especially related to the end of periods and the end of the school days.

3. Recognize Student and Staff Achievement: Provide visible evidence of recognition of student and teacher achievements at the high school.

4. Clarify Articulation of Instructional Objectives and Curricular Expectations: The unusually complex governance structure spanning grades K-12 and including 34 school board members creates a particularly intense need for vertical articulation of instructional objectives and curricular expectations. The long-standing New Hampshire value of elected representation at the smallest possible level of governance may not lend itself to a more efficient cooperative K-5 unit in keeping with the national trend for the streamlining of school organizations. However, it is important to provide solutions to the problem of lack of curriculum articulation between the elementary schools and middle school, and middle school and the high school, and the economy of scale. Committees are currently in place to design scope and sequences congruent with the New Hampshire State Curriculum Frameworks. The scope and sequence in art curriculum has been developed and adopted by the Cooperative Board. The scope and sequence in science curriculum has been developed and is pending Board approval. The scope and sequence in mathematics curriculum has been drafted and needs to be revisited. Efforts are beginning for the development of scope and sequences in literacy, music and social studies. As part of these efforts, teachers need to be provided with opportunities to become more aware of specific learning objectives at each grade level in the appropriate course areas. Teachers and specialists also need to develop awareness of learning resources available in both sending and receiving schools.

5. Provide Greater Access to Technology: Discussions with computer instructors in the district, classroom teachers, students and administrators leads to the conclusion that somewhere between 5 and 20 percent of Exeter students do not have computers available for their use at home. Although the district has attempted to supply a good number of computers in the schools, an elementary student still has about an hour of instructional on the computer a week.

6. It is important for the future learning needs of youngsters to develop appropriate computer labs, transportation to and from lab sites and expansion of the concept of "check-out computers" and summer personal computer loan programs, at least for those students eligible for free and reduced price lunch.

7. Replace high school facility as soon as possible.

8. Address Differences in Student Groupings at Middle School and High School: There appears to be a difference in the philosophical approach to grouping students at the middle school and grouping students at the high school. The Cooperative Middle School approach appears to be a heterogeneous grouping within each pod, while Exeter High School students are homogeneously grouped by achievement levels. The Site Visit Team recommends that dialogue between middle school and high school staff address this apparent dissonance in order to better fulfill the stated mission of the District.

9. Increase Academic Rigor and Opportunities for College Prep Students: The Site Visit Team recommends the district review increasing rigor and opportunities for college preparatory students. While 73 students at the Cooperative Middle School, for example, are currently registered for first year algebra, only 31 freshmen are registered for geometry. This number is low in a secondary school system of this size and socio-economic cohort group. While the number of juniors and seniors enrolled in Advanced Placement courses at Exeter High School is low for the cohort group as evidenced on Graph 4, and the percentage of students taking AP examinations is low for the cohort group as evidenced in Graph 5, the numbers of students earning 3, 4 or 5 on the examination to qualify for college credit is higher than the effectiveness level as evidenced in Graph 6. The conclusion is that more students should be encouraged to both participate in AP courses and take the examinations. In addition, the Site Visit Team recommends consideration be given to offering introductory foreign languages in elementary grades
10. Provide Opportunities for Post-Graduate and Dual Enrollment Programs: The Site Visit Team noted little or no efforts to provide qualified students with opportunities for post-graduate dual enrollment. In a setting where increasing the level of academic rigor is valued by all stakeholders, additional learning opportunities at higher levels should routinely be made available to students who wish to take advantage of them. Such students would benefit from both the academic challenge and the opportunity to accelerate the beginning of their college career. The Site Visit Team recommends appropriate options be explored with area colleges and universities.
11. Review Grading Practices at the High School: There is a perception that different high school teachers covering the same subject material grade on different standards. Therefore, students enrolled in a particular course may be evaluated on the basis of differing expectations. The Site Visit Team recommends that each high school department carefully review its grading practices to assure consistency and fairness in evaluating all students’ performance.

12. Explore Parental Perception of Scheduling Flexibility and Placement. The Site Visit Team observed that Cooperative Middle School students have some flexibility in course scheduling at the 7^th and 8^th grade. Parental and student perception at the high school suggested that students have few degrees of freedom in adjusting their course schedules to meet perceived course selection needs or course rigor. It is recommended that school leadership revisit its policies regarding student course placement restrictions.

13. Strengthen Human Resources.
    1. Diversity Recruitment. A concerted effort should be made to increase the diversity among the teaching staff. This can be achieved through recruiting at institutions that have a high minority enrollment, establishing a program to assist qualified minority candidates who may be working in various support positions within the school system and community to earn their teaching credentials, and developing exchange programs with neighboring school districts that have a more diverse staff.

    2. Alternative Compensation. The site team recommends that the Board consider empowering the Superintendent to provide marketplace incentives in the employment of teachers in areas of critical need as identified by the New Hampshire Department of Education. Such incentives could take the form of initial hiring bonuses or advanced placement on the salary schedule to acknowledge work in the field (e.g., work as a scientific researcher for a science teacher).

    3. Additional Curriculum and Instruction Staff. The site team is very concerned about the lack of resources devoted to the coordination and implementation of the massive task of designing and implementing appropriate scope and sequences congruent with the New Hampshire Curriculum Frameworks. The site visit team recommends that a Director of Instruction and Curriculum be employed to support the work of the Assistant Superintendent- Instruction. It is further recommended the School Board consider adding staff at the building level whose responsibility would be to support and implement the curriculum through appropriate instructional strategies.

    4. Alternative Types of Teacher Evaluation. The site visit team perceived that the teachers’ union might be willing to explore alternative forms of teacher evaluation. It is recommended that the administration explore peer review as a viable form of teacher feedback.

14. Improve Data Collection Systems. The district is encouraged to redouble efforts to improve data collection, aggregation and disaggregation to ensure the ability to examine important factors related to educational effectiveness at both the district and individual school levels. Teacher absence is one important area in which data collection needs to be improved.

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