North Hills Middle School has been honored with a prestigious recognition that cites as exceptional the school’s academic excellence, responsiveness to students’ needs and interests and commitment to helping all children achieve highly.
Middle school administrators and staff members will be recognized for their building’s designation as a "PA Don Eichhorn Schools: School to Watch" at the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education State Conference on Feb. 22 in State College, Pa. North Hills staff also will highlight their programs in detail during a presentation for attendees.
A recognition celebration will be held at the school in May with local dignitaries and politicians, presentations and entertainment from district musical ensembles, and in June, the middle school will be recognized at the National Schools to Watch Conference.
The designation notes the middle school as one of a small number of diverse, high-performing, growth-orientated middle-grades schools to demonstrate what all middle schools are capable of achieving. Schools are recognized for three years and must demonstrate progress and continued improvement on specific goals to be re-designated.
Approximately 380 schools out of more than 11,700 middle schools nationwide hold the designation, and North Hills is one of only 35 schools in Pennsylvania to be recognized in the noted program.
In addition to academic excellence and responsiveness and commitment to students, state leaders also selected the school due to its strong leadership, collaboration by teachers to improve curriculum and instruction and commitment to assessment and accountability as tools to bring about continuous improvement.
“Assistant Principal Jason Beall and I are proud to serve as building leaders for an amazing group of staff members at North Hills Middle School. This recognition is only possible because of the persistent pursuit toward excellence shown day after day by our building’s dedicated educators, counselors and support staff,” said Beth Williams, middle school principal.
In this year’s Pennsylvania School Performance Profile, North Hills Middle School made a 15-point gain in its score making it one of the highest-achieving middle schools in Allegheny County.
The process to be named as part of the Schools to Watch program is lengthy and all-encompassing. School officials draft a written application to show how they meet the criteria developed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. Schools that appear to meet established criteria are visited by state-level teams of noted educators, which observe classrooms, interview administrators, teachers, students and parents and evaluate achievement data, suspension rates, quality of lessons and student work.
About Schools to Watch
Launched in 1999, Schools to Watch began as a national program to identify middle-grades schools across the country that were meeting or exceeding 37 criteria developed by the National Forum. The Forum developed a website that features online tours of schools as well as detailed information about the selection criteria used in the recognition program. There are now 19 states across the country, which have trained Schools to Watch State Teams with more than 380 schools recognized. The National Forum sponsors the Schools to Watch program along with the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE/formerly NMSA), the National Association for Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, Learning Forward, ASCD and state Schools to Watch affiliates.