Bentworth Middle School redesignated as ‘School to Watch’
California University of Pennsylvania
Bentworth Middle School is being recognized as a Don Eichhorn School To Watch for the third time.
As a School to Watch, Bentworth Middle School had to pass a thorough application and evaluation process based on four criteria: academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity, and organizational structures and processes.
The middle school will be recognized at the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education State Conference on Feb. 22 to 24 at the DoubleTree Pittsburgh-Greentree. It also will be recognized nationally with all the other recognized Schools To Watch schools across the country in Washington, D.C., at the National Forum’s National Schools to Watch Conference on June 26 to 28.
Pennsylvania Schools to Watch state leaders select schools based on academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and organizational structures and processes.
“This can all be attributed to the community, the students and staff at Bentworth. (Middle School principal) Dave Schreiber has done so much to work with the staff to understand middle school students, and he has grown and built a culture where they are doing great things,” said Bentworth Superintendent Scott Martin.
The Schools to Watch selection process is based on a written application that requires schools to show how they met criteria developed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. Schools that met the criteria were visited by a state team, which observed classrooms, interviewed administrators, teachers, students, and parents, and looked at achievement data, quality of lessons and student work.
Schools are recognized for a three-year period, and at the end of three years they can reapply to continue to be recognized as a STW school. They must demonstrate progress on specific goals in order to be redesignated. Unlike the Blue Ribbon recognition program, Schools to Watch requires schools to not just identify strengths, but to also focus on areas for continuous improvement; thus the three year redesignation. The redesignation process is based on the schools’ continued growth since their last Schools To Watch recognition.
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 researched based criteria developed by the National Forum. The forum developed a website (https://www.middlegradesforum.org/) that features online tours of schools, as well as detailed information about the selection criteria used in the recognition program. There are now 20 states across the country, which have trained Schools to Watch state teams, with more than 650 schools recognized across the country.