Brooks High School

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Brooks High School. Because of its demographics, it is considered a disadvantage school. Test scores are below the state average.

To enhance students' learning and performance, Brooks has introduced 3 new programs. The first program is block scheduling where they have grouped English and math in the first block. Secondly, 7th grade teachers have a teacher assistant. When you enter the class, you can't tell who is the teacher and who is the assistant. Both work side by side in planning and helping students. "Catch up" is the last section of the program. Twice a week for 15 minutes low performing students are sent to the "hub" where they spend time working on individual programs on a computer program called Lexius. ( Matt, I hope I'm spelling this correctly.)

Also, they have a wide selections of electives which include: mountain biking, junior computer programs, photography, a variety of cooking classes, and model making.

A big thank you goes to Matt Donaldson who gave us a guide tour of the school and discussed the school's new programs. He also explained a literacy and math project called " the band". The students create their own band. The project incorporates math, writing, design, creativity and interviewing.

At the end of the day, we left with new ideas to add to our "tool boxes".