Weekly News and Notes

Good afternoon,

A few updates from UHS this week:

Scheduling Nights

We will have the following evenings established as nights to discuss planning for the 2020-21 school year:
Grade 11 (current juniors, rising seniors): February 5, 2020: 6-8 p.m.
Grades 8-10 (current grade 8, freshmen, sophomores): February 13, 2020: 6:30 p.m.
Grade 7 (rising grade 8): Tentatively scheduled for February 25, 2020, 6-8 p.m. or March 2. We will send out final details next week.

Our students will make course selections and discuss future planning the week following February break, and we intent to meet with the students February 12-13 as well.

Unified Volleyball

Many thanks to Ms. Burns and Ms. Smutok, two of our Special Education teachers who also coordinate programming in the Learning Lab. This week, UHS hosted Douglas High School in Unified Volleyball, and it was a great event for our Spartan community. As we look to build more inclusive opportunities, our hope to expand Unified Sports for all students, since it is a great opportunity to build relationship, create a culture of inclusion, and show support for students of all different types of learning and abilities.

Hosting Colleagues This Week

UHS remains a "destination school" for programs looking to replicate some of what we are doing in building relevance for students in our Innovation Pathway programs. This week, we hosted Seekonk and Monomoy High Schools, who are looking to implement engineering and/or Innovation Pathway programs at their schools. It was amazing to see our students in action, and even better to have them sharing their successes in these classes with professionals from afar. Kudos to the teachers and students in these programs for keeping students enthusiastic about learning!

When Challenges Occur...

High School can sometimes be a difficult time for parents and students alike. We are not immune to many of the societal challenges that come up, from mental health, to social challenges, to physical health, to vaping. Fortunately, our Student Support Team has a number of resources available to families. While the School Counselor or Administrator may be the best first step, we may connect you with other relevant resources, including Adjustment Counselor, Psychologist, or School Nurse, as well as connections in the community. We find that when we are able to connect school, home, and community supports we have the most success. Often times, families are concerned about academic progress being hindered when school is missed while dealing with health or other concerns, but we can assure you that we work closely with the teaching staff and families to build appropriate plans for each individual situation.

Week That Was

As you look through the Week That Was video, you will see many examples of the great things happening at UHS: Science Olympiad competitions, applied learning and critical thinking, Pathway programs, new opportunities for students learning in the Community, and partnering with other schools. We hope this gives you the same sense of pride in our school that it does for us!

Have a great weekend!

Weekly News and Notes

We have several updates from UHS this week.

Program of Studies Revisions Approved

At this week's School Committee meeting, our revisions to the Program of Studies were approved. Accessible on our school website, we are providing the link below so that families can get a sense of the full gamut of course available. Additionally, there are some summaries to the changes that are available via the school website. Most of the documents regarding course selection for 2020-21 will be updated in the next week or so, and we plan on holding assemblies with students and evening events with families in the couple of weeks.

The Program of Studies is accessible here.

Scheduling Nights

We will have the following evenings established as nights to discuss planning for the 2020-21 school year:
Grade 11 (current juniors, rising seniors): February 5, 2020: 6-8 p.m.
Grades 8-10 (current grade 8, freshmen, sophomores): February 13, 2020: 6:30 p.m.
Grade 7 (rising grade 8): Tentatively scheduled for February 25, 2020, 6-8 p.m. or March 2. We will send out final details next week.

Our students will make course selections and discuss future planning the week following February break, and we intent to meet with the students February 12-13 as well.

Second Semester

Second semester starts on Monday, which means, for many students, some schedule changes. We are asking students to follow schedules that are provided them - even if there may be something desired or needed as a change. If there is a mistake or problem with the schedule, the student should initiate a conversation with the counselor or reach out to the teacher of the class (for example, occasionally a student will be placed in a more advanced elective without having taken the foundational course).

We will also be holding a half-day in late February for parent-teacher conferences, which will be available only in the afternoon.

Cobot Program at WPI

A number of our 7th and 8th graders joined two of our teachers this week for the first day of a six-week course at WPI, in which our students are going to use industry-standard technology, robotics, etc. Unfortunately, we were only able to offer the program to nine total students, and we had more than 30 indicate interest! However, we are hoping to continue to add these programs in the coming years to improve access and provide more students with these opportunities.

Grant Resources for Learning Opportunities

We also have had the good fortune of earning a couple of grants that will support classroom instruction and curricular adaptations. Through our Innovation Pathway partnerships, a number of our teachers will be spending time during school vacations and weekends shadowing some of our local industry professionals and adapting learning to fit those skills. Additionally, we have the opportunity to provide some unique professional development opportunities for our teachers, including some training on motion capture technology, laser engraving, and unmanned aircraft licensure. Moving forward, all of these will become opportunities for our students as well, and we actually have some students in the first cohort of "drone pilot" licensure this spring!

Communication Survey

Last week, the superintendent shared a communication survey. If you have not shared your feedback, please consider doing so - it is very brief! It can be accessed here.

Have a great weekend!

Michael Rubin, Principal
Uxbridge High School

Weekly News and Notes

Good morning!

Our weekly news and notes are coming out today instead of tomorrow, since there is no school tomorrow for students. We wanted to provide some updates in advance of midyear exams and share some thoughts on some things that have come forward from students.


Midyear Exams

There are several schools of thought on midyear exams, and, as you can imagine, with a staff of more than 50 educators and almost 600 students, we hear a lot of those perspectives. In that spirit, we are going to outline some of the reasons we offer midyear exams at UHS, though it is a practice we are reconsidering as we move forward.

1. Exams help determine where students are. In terms of skills and content, midyear exams give students (and staff) an idea of the most important topics from a course, so that we can push critical areas into semester two as needed.

2. Exams give students experience sitting for a longer assessment. Given PSAT's, SAT's, and MCAS, we try to model some of the exam experiences so that students have some idea of that type of process before they take the actual test.

3. Some exams do not have study guides. As we share with the students, there is no one way to "study" for AP tests or College Board tests. As such, we define some of the topics that could come up on the test, but because the assessments are modeled after College Board experiences - particularly in Honors classes - we find students looking for specific questions or guides, in the hope that regurgitating what teachers give them will be sufficient. We obviously try to avoid that experience and try to get students to apply some of what has been learned, which is what MCAS, AP, SAT, ACT, etc. will require of them. In fact, we model some of the questions off of the very questions we get back from those assessments, so students have even more familiarity.

4. Some summative experiences are project-based. Particularly in the extended core, like the fine arts, the summative "exam" is more of a final project than a final exam, that shows that the student can "do" what the class has attempted to teach over the course of a semester.

While next week's school days are half-days, the faculty and staff are in the building for full days. We use the half-days to provide students who are missing opportunities to finish work to catch up, to review with teachers, and to finalize any work from courses that end at the mid-year point. It also allows our teachers to assess student work, norm grading expectations, and contact counselors for students who may need interventions.

We value the experience of midyears, as they likewise allow us to hit the reset button in advance of quarter three. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your student's counselor.

Connections to OLV

Earlier this week, we were saddened to learn of the news from Holy Cross, which resulted in the passing of an Uxbridge resident who attended OLV as a primary/middle school student. When events such as these tragedies occur, we mobilize our support team, and we work closely with families, community, and other schools to ensure that our staff and students are appropriately supported. In situations such as this, which may not directly affect our school as a whole, we similarly attempt to support our neighbors in the community, particularly since the connections between our students and families, either as family members, friends, or neighbors, may be quite tight. As such, our counselors and administration work closely to support staff elsewhere - not because it is a requirement, but because it is the right thing to do.
As such, please reach out to our administration if and when something tragic occurs. We have explicit procedures in place to help.

Second Semester Schedules

If for some reason there is a course change required or requested, counselors will be the first line of contact. In most cases, it is difficult to make changes for second semester. However, if something occurred at the end of first semester that makes a change the best course of action (for example, a student does well in an introductory class and wants to attempt a second level in a half-year course), we can attempt to maneuver the schedule.
We also have some post-secondary course opportunities available to juniors and seniors, including drone licensure and other for-credit courses at Quinsigamond Community College.

Course Selection for Next Year

We will be in touch next week with dates for course selection assemblies and meetings with parents and students. Our hope is have these meetings in February, and then we will begin the process of course selection with students right around the February break.

College Acceptance Wall!

The next time you are in the building, check out the Wall of Acceptances: more than 60 schools are represented!

Have a great long weekend.

Mike Rubin, Principal

Weekly News and Notes

We have a few updates from UHS this week.

Midyear Exam Schedule

We will have half-days for midyear exams From January 21-24, and there is no school on Friday, January 17 for teacher workshops. Our schedule for midyear exam week will be:

	January 21	January 22	January 23	January 24
7:30-8:55	F Exam	E Exam	D Exam	C Exam
8:55-9:05	BREAK	BREAK	BREAK	BREAK
9:05-10:30	G Exam	A Exam	B Exam	Makeup Period

OTHER INFORMATION:

• All exams will be taken in the period designated. No exam may be rescheduled without administrative approval.
• Seniors in half-year courses will be exempted from the final exam if they have a grade higher than 90.
• Seniors in full-year courses will be sitting for exams, regardless of average.
• If a class is offering an alternative assessment, students must still report for the day of the exam. Consider including a presentation component or course evaluation for that day.
• In case of snow, the exam day will move to the next day, and exams will push to the following week.
• January 16th  the schedule will be G, A, B, C, D, E. F

Course Selections for 2020-21

We will begin the process for selecting classes for 2020-21 in February. Our hope will be to send out dates for the information sessions in the next week or so. If you have specific questions regarding your student's schedule or class options, please reach out to your child's school counselor.

Unmanned Aircraft Certification

This spring, we have the opportunity to offer a drone/unmanned aircraft certification course, which will prepare students to take the examination with the FAA entitling a student to a Part 107 license. There are fees associated with this course and the FAA test. The class will be offered online through King Schools in California, but purchase of the seat will entitle the student to lifetime access to practice tests and curriculum.  The licensure test will have to be scheduled at any one of the sites in Massachusetts.

The cost for the course will be no more than $125.00; we are working out specifics.

To become a pilot a student must:

• Be at least 16 years old
• Be able to read, speak, write, and understand English
• Be in a physical and mental condition to safely fly a drone
• Pass the initial aeronautical knowledge exam

If anyone is interested, please contact your child's guidance counselor.

Week That Was

Here's a look back at the past week at UHS!

Have a great weekend!