Williamsport Area School District
Patricia A. Lowery, Ph.D. – Superintendent

The Williamsport Area School District is committed to excellence and continuous improvement in its educational programs. Noted below are achievements and programs, which we are proud of. These, we hope, will supplement the data compiled by Standard and Poor’s to give a fuller picture of our district.

MISSION STATEMENT:

The mission of the Williamsport Area School District (WASD) is to ensure that all students acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to maximize their potential.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND DISTINCTIONS:

Over the last two years, students at the Williamsport Area High School have earned fourteen recognitions for academic excellence from the National Merit Corporation, to include seven Finalists in that rigorous national competition. Our students are perennial winners in the National Council Teachers of English and Scholastic writing competitions. Our music programs and student publications programs garner national recognition, and our students each summer are matriculants at the prestigious Pennsylvania Governor's Schools Programs in Agricultural Science, Computer Science, Fine Arts and Performing Arts Schools, Teaching, and International Studies. Our Technical Education students last year earned 75 completer certifications from the state, and we proudly host chapters of National Honor Society, the National Art Honor Society and Vocational National Honor Society among our school's immense selection of extracurricular and athletic offerings.

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS:

Advanced Placement Material: With more than fifty honors and advanced placement level courses in all major disciplines, our students are well prepared for intense academic performance. Our most recent information supports this assertion; while testing in Spring, 2002, twenty-nine students sat for forty-four different exams, including Calculus AB and BC, English Literature and Composition, Economics, United States Government, European History, Biology, and Physics. Three-quarters of scores attained by our students were at the 3, 4 and 5 levels of attainment, with eight perfect scores. We plan to expand our course offerings in the honors and advanced placement arenas in accord with the district's strategic plan. In part as a result of the Honors/AP framework here, our best seniors are annually admitted to some of the most prestigious schools in the nation, Cornell, Bowdoin, Duke and Yale recently among them.

Foreign Language: WASD has a FLEX (Foreign Language Exploratory) program open to all eighth grade middle school students who are reading on grade level. The FLEX program is a full-year experience including French, German, and Spanish. The high school offers four levels each of four languages: French, German, Latin, and Spanish.

Arts: The arts are a basic academic offering within the WASD, where the arts play an active role in the comprehensive education of all students. All students, kindergarten through 8th grade, have daily arts experiences. Over half of the high school population elects an arts experience every day. Comprehensive and sequential curriculum offerings are available throughout K-12 in visual arts and music. Drama, multimedia, and cinematography are offered through interdisciplinary projects throughout the district and as electives at the high school level. Dance is integrated into several high school programs. Cutting-edge technology is integrated throughout the K-12 arts curriculum. These rigorous and creative programs incorporate the national standards for their respective arts areas. The visual arts and music programs have won awards and recognition for excellence at the state and national levels.

Career & Technical: The WASD offers sixteen Career and Technical education programs in state-of-the-art facilities. All programs include both an occupational component and Tech Prep component articulated with post-secondary schools. Programs are offered at the Williamsport Area High School in a comprehensive and integrated manner with academic offerings. The Williamsport Area High School is also a High Schools That Work site and utilizes its student achievement goals for school improvement. The career and technical programs are geared to support both industry standards and academic standards.

SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS:

The WASD prides itself on a K-12 full continuum of special education programs and services for students with various exceptionalities. The District employs over 90 classroom and itinerant teachers who provide many specialized services to the District's 1200 identified students. Although innovative programming exists at both the elementary and secondary levels, some of program's specific highlights are as follows:

The elementary special education program offers students opportunities to work within the general curriculum with the Balanced Literacy Program. Students participate in research based reading activities including guided reading and guided writing which are geared to individual students' levels. The elementary special education staff is well versed in providing appropriate accommodations and adaptations based on students' individual needs.

The secondary special education program features a comprehensive "school to work" component, which allows students to participate in paid and nonpaid employment opportunities within their community. A classroom component is paired with the work program with the goal of reinforcing necessary employability skills to include interviewing, getting along with others, and preparing a resume. For students with more severe disabilities, the high school life skills support program offers an outstanding array of practical academic skills, job training, independent living skills, and food preparation and presentation. The secondary special education staff is extremely adept at providing adaptations and accommodations to the general curriculum for students who have difficulties with reading, writing, processing information, and mathematics.

FACILITIES AND RESOURCES:

New Construction/Major Renovations: The district has been heavily involved in construction and renovation projects during the past two years. Completed during the summer of 2000 were additions and renovations to the Williamsport Area High School (Vocational Project) and the Roosevelt Middle School (Roosevelt Project). A major renovation to the J. Henry Cochran Elementary School (Cochran Project) is complete as of September 1, 2001. The Vocational Project involved a large addition to the Williamsport Area High School to house the district’s vocational programs and major renovations to the high school’s auditorium to improve acoustics, lighting, and HVAC. The Roosevelt Project involved major renovations to the existing school, including a spacious library and two science laboratories. The Cochran Project involved a complete renovation of the existing school and the addition of a multipurpose gymnasium, cafeteria, kitchen, and stage facility. This project provided the entire infrastructure to accommodate modern technology and communication requirements, as well as air conditioning to provide climate control and extended school year opportunities. The project provided a state-of-the-art educational facility, while preserving the building’s original architecture. The School Board and Administration is very appreciative of our community’s support of these wonderful improvements to our facilities.

Technology Hardware and Software: The district is proud to say that every classroom in each of our buildings has at least one computer. We currently have a district-wide student to computer ratio of 2.5:1. We believe this is an impressive ratio for a district of this size. An astounding 1254 of the more than 2,400 computers are less than three years old, with another 1,873 having CD-ROM capability. We have network infrastructure to all buildings within the district giving them high-speed Internet access and e-mail services through state-of-the-art wireless connectivity. Each of our middle schools and our high school has classroom level network connectivity. The general computer labs in each school have Internet access. Our software capabilities are equally impressive. A multi-media computer lab with state-of-the-art technology including video editors, digital tablets, and photo editing software is located at our high school.

Athletic Facilities: The district's interscholastic athletic program (grades 7-12) annually engages approximately nine hundred students in eighteen varsity sports, as well as cheerleading, for a total this year of fifty-seven interscholastic teams. The high school's athletic complex includes a gymnasium seating 2,400, a track and field facility surrounding the lighted football field, a newly renovated eight-lane swimming pool, ten tennis courts, auxiliary and adaptive gymnasia, and an on-site cross-country course.

CO-CURRICULAR OFFERINGS:

The high school is recognized for its healthy array of co-and extracurricular offerings. Students interested in music may join our jazz ensemble, our symphony orchestra, the nationally renowned Strolling Strings, the Marching Millionaires band, one of our six choirs, or even our men’s quartet, Gentleman’s Quarterly. Those with writing or performing interests are welcomed into our yearbook, literary magazine, newspaper, internet commerce club, student community radio program, drama club, stage crew training, and musical production. Career and leadership are focused through Student Government, Arts Honor Society, Key Club, Interact Club and class offices, as well as Peer Helpers and tutor volunteerism. Mock trial associations, Model United Nations competitions, FBLA, SADD and FHA continue the wide variety of offerings designed to provide students with opportunities to grow and excel.

Community Services:

The WASD offers a comprehensive adult education program for all residents of Lycoming County, offering English as a Second Language (ESL), General Education Development (GED), Adult Basic Education (ABE) and Independent Supervised Study (ISS). Adult education program offerings are provided at six locations throughout the county. Evening programs are offered in Williamsport, Jersey Shore, Hughesville and Lycoming County Prison, while daytime classes are offered at the Lycoming County CareerLink. Individuals have an opportunity to obtain either a GED Diploma or a Williamsport Area High School Diploma. Guidance and counseling services are available to assist any individual in setting short or long-term goals, personal adjustment, career or vocational planning and information on other educational programs and financial aid.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES:

Security or Safety Issues: The district has a comprehensive safe schools and violence prevention program. The program includes staff training, classroom instructional programs, collaborative school and community support services, and an alternative school program. A School Safety Committee comprises representatives from the school district, local police departments and city fire department, Lycoming County Emergency Planning and Emergency Services, and Susquehanna Health Systems. Meeting on a monthly basis, the committee is responsible for writing and revising policies, coordinating programs, and managing services relevant to school safety and violence prevention programs. The committee is dedicated to preventing and evaluating threats to the safety of the students, faculty, and support staff through continuous planning and training. Because of this dedication to safety and security by each employee, the district has well below the state wide average of safety and security infractions over the past two years.

Experienced and Supportive Board: The WASD Board of Directors is committed to using a focus group meeting process as an integral part of its governance activities. As a Board, they are experienced in using the focus group meeting process to remain in touch with their key constituents through planned dialogue. This broad-based, interactive, consensus-building process allows them to focus on strategic leadership that builds a constancy of purpose, a sense of direction, and shared priorities for the district. The response of the staff and community to this governance model has been extremely positive.

INITIATIVES AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:

Strategic Plan: With dynamic community involvement as our goal, the Williamsport Area School Board of Directors approved a Strategic Plan during the summer of 2002. We believe that community members and groups should be partners in developing learning opportunities for students. The strategic plan will result in moving our schools to a higher level of accomplishment for students. The planning process involved intensive staff and community input, we will keep our community informed about our progress in reaching the goals set forth by the plan and continue to involve everyone in deciding if the District Improvement Objectives have been met.

Class Size Reduction: The Elementary Parental School Choice process has enabled the WASD to reduce class size through the equitable distribution of elementary teachers among the schools. Further reductions in class size have occurred through the utilization of Title VI Class Size Reduction funds to support five primary teaching positions. Additionally, these funds support three elementary teachers, trained in guided reading, who team teach with first grade classroom teachers during the language arts block. This ensures that all first grade children in the four elementary city schools receive daily guided reading instruction.

Professional Development: The WASD has a professional development plan that focuses on the implementation of standards-based education and targets student achievement on State and National standards. The teacher’s contract identifies a minimum of six inservice days each year for district-wide professional development. Each teacher may request up to four additional professional development days. All professional employees are encouraged to take college graduate work. High-quality professional development is a job-embedded expectation for all WASD employees. We use a “research driven” model that includes training, mentoring, study groups, and follow-up activities.

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201 West Third Street, Williamsport, PA 17701
PHONE 570-327-5500 * FAX -570-327-8122
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