US News & World Report ranks Cape schools among best in country

Harwich and Nauset Regional High Schools top the national list

"If not a great education for our kids, what is the future?" - Thomas Conrad

Nauset Regional High School Principal Thomas Conrad stands in the school's "Hall of Fame" which celebrates its successes in fields ranging from academics to sports, music and the arts. Having many many paths for students to follow is one of the features which helped it earn a spot in US News & World Reports Best High Schools in America. Nauset Regional High School encompasses the towns of Brewster, Eastham, Orleans, and Wellfleet. Photo by Teresa Martin.

By Teresa Martin

Think that Cape Cod is vacation-land with little to attract full-time families with school-aged kids who are looking for good schools? Think again. US News & World Report's 2010 Best High Schools in America just named two Cape Cod high schools to its list of best in the country.

Top Grades

Harwich High School and Nauset Regional High School were two of just 21 schools in Massachusetts to be named to the list and two of only 561 schools across the country to meet the grade. The Sturgis Charter School in Barnstable also received an honorable mention in magazine's annual survey.

For All Students

The US News & World Report ranking uses a three-step process that examines how well a school serves its entire student body. It looks at not only collegebound students, but also how well average students and disadvantaged students perform.

Kevin Turner, Principal of Harwich High School, stands beneath a banner in the school's entrance that announces its goal: Committed to Success. The outcome of that focus helped propel it to a spot in  US News & World Report's Best High Schools in America ranking. (photo by Teresa Martin)

US News and its project partners School Evaluation Services looked at 21,786 schools across the US. It recognized 1750 of them for considerably outperforming their state standards.  From that group, 561 schools were further cited. Of that group 21 are in Massachusetts and two are on Cape Cod.

Commitment to Excellence

"We've been working tremendously hard the past 15 years," said Tom Conrad, who has been principal of Nauset Regional High School since 1994. The school is located in Eastham and serves Brewster, Eastham, Orleans, and Wellfleet.

What is the school's formula?

"Over time what has served us so well is focus on having the best staff that we can have, reasonable class sizes, then expecting everyone on campus - both staff and students - to work hard to take on challenges, and to be committed. It sounds old-fashioned, but serves us well," he said.

And clearly it has. In addition to the current ranking, this high school has previously been named a Commonwealth Compass School, a Vanguard School for Excellence and a National Blue Ribbon School. Fifteen years ago just 57% of graduates went on to college; last year 86% did.

Commitment to Success

A commitment to hard work and challenges is echoed by Kevin Turner, who has been principal of Harwich High School for five years. The school's ailing physical plant has been the topic of many debates over the past several years, but clearly a stellar school doesn't let bricks and mortar stop it from achieving.

"Five years ago we began a change in mindset and began with the belief that all kids can succeed," said Turner. "We raised the academic expectations for the all in the school."

The shift in mindset has delivered results. Not only in recognition like the recent US News ranking, but also in measurable achievement. In 2005, 46% of students had MCAS performance at proficient or advanced level. In the most recent set of results that figure exceeds 90%.

Three themes are critical to Harwich's results. First is internalizing an accepted fact that all students can succeed academically. Second is being inclusive of families. And third is a focus on the art and science of teaching.

Power of the Teacher

"Teaching with parental intensity" is a powerful phrase Turner uses repeatedly. He also likes to compare teaching with coaching. Both are different ways of saying that teachers cannot accept 'good enough,' and that the goal is to bring every student to the level you'd expect for your child or a player on your team.

Nauset also focuses on teacher development, support, and skill.  As Conrad said succinctly, "Give me the best teachers and I'll give you the best school."

Change is Constant

Both award-winning schools share strong leadership and a very real commitment to excellence. In addition, both strongly embrace change and say very clearly that a school needs to accept, embrace, and lead in those changes.

That means change in teaching methods, change in programs, change in structure, and change that reflects the current needs of the students. And it is change that never stops.

How does this manifest itself? Here's a few examples:

Response to Needs not Tradition

Over the years, Nauset made a significant shift from very traditional 43-minute teaching period to 85 minute classes, changing the dynamics of the environment and also allowing for a variety of teaching techniques within a class to support different learning styles.

Different Kinds of Learning

Nauset doesn't hesitate to jump in and develop different models either, models, like the Project Access program. Project Access was created 8 years ago when the school recognized that for some kinds of students the structure of coming to school 7am to 2pm simply didn't work. Instead, having work experience during the day with a 4:30-8:30pm academic program allowed them to succeed.

Curriculum, Transition, and Connection

Harwich looked at the high-risk freshman year and made big changes in the transition process from middle to high school, including both social and curricular connections. It created a freshman team, sent 9th grade teachers to the middle school, brought 8th grade teachers to the high school, aligned curriculum, and connected parents to the process, all with a goal of creating a solid high school foundation on all levels.

Never Rest

"Once you get to your goals how do you sustain? We have to be always asking: what's next? We have to not be afraid to change, not afraid to try different thing, and not afraid to change our culture," noted Turner.

"We can never be lulled into thinking we've accomplished everything," said Conrad. "That's not the mindset of this school."

Teresa Martin is a well-known Cape Cod technology leader who has served as  C.E.O. of the Cape Cod Technology Council and currently is Vice Chairwoman of OpenCape which is dedicated to fixing the Cape's dropped cell calls and upload issues. Read Teresa's tech blog, Cape Eyes here.