Educational Program
The school’s powerful educational program and deep partnership with Clark have created a culture where academic success is universal. Beginning in the ninth grade, all students pursue a rigorous college-preparatory program consisting of all honors classes. At the same time, instruction is individualized to connect to each student’s particular level of development. There is no tracking. Instead, there are small classes, personal relationship building with a caring and competent faculty, 90-minute learning blocks, and homework sessions in the morning and evening.
UPCS has no pull-out classes. The school uses a full-immersion model for its English language learners, meeting the needs of these students within its small classes. In addition, teachers work to promote students’ social and emotional development as a critical piece of overall academic and life success. By offering a common curriculum with few electives, the school can deploy its teaching resources more efficiently than the typical high school, keeping class sizes low (22 or fewer) in core academic subjects.
To make an accelerated college preparatory curriculum accessible to all students by the beginning of high school, the grade 7–8 curriculum is designed to address the significant academic and English language skill gaps of entering students. Literacy is a primary focus of these years, helping students to accelerate their reading and writing skills to grade level as rapidly as possible. Students also spend extended blocks of time on numeracy skills, learning both the hows and whys of basic mathematic operations. And while students are developing basic literacy skills, they are introduced to the distinctive modes of analysis in the core disciplines; they begin to engage in projects where they learn to think like scientists or historians. For example, incoming seventh graders with very low reading levels learn how to conduct a sophisticated literary analysis using picture books as their texts.
Entering seventh graders attend a month-long August Academy that helps them acclimate to the school and begin their path to high academic achievement even before their first official school day. Whenever possible, teachers loop with students in seventh and eighth grades to ensure that no time is lost in those critical years and that students are ready for the honors-level curriculum beginning in ninth grade.
The honors-level program in grades 9–12 is modeled after a prep school course of study that follows a curricular mantra of “minds thinking”—showing and explaining critical thinking through writing at all times. The school uses “writing across the curriculum” to continue to build and reinforce literacy skills in all subject areas. UPCS offers few electives; instead, juniors and seniors can take courses at Clark University, choosing from the entire college course catalog.
The Culture of UPCS
The culture of UPCS is one of excitement, engagement, and support. Students come to school excited to learn. They are fully engaged in class and have deep personal relationships with the faculty. The teachers at UPCS are not simply teachers-- they are mentors and advisors for their students on academic and personal issues. With their relentless passion and an unflinching belief that all students can achieve at high levels, teachers motivate students to succeed and are key to the overall achievement to the school.
Learning at UPCS is not driven by teachers alone. Students at UPCS take collective responsibility for ensuring that their fellow students succeed. Juniors and seniors mentor younger students, formally and informally. Students support their peers in class, until every student fully grasps the material at hand. Even friendships within the UPCS community revolve around academic success and support. The importance of academic achievement is pervasive at UPCS.
For staff, UPCS has created a system of embedded professional development where all faculty members continually support one another, and veteran teachers mentor their younger colleagues. Through analysis of student data, the sharing of student work, and continual dialogue among the staff during weekly common planning times, every teacher knows the strengths, weaknesses, and plan for success for each student. This open door culture nurtures a group of reflective teachers who are continually striving to improve their own practice.
Partnership with Clark University
The educational program at UPCS is deliberately planned to help students prepare for college, and the partnership with Clark University has the power to make the abstract concept of “college” real for students. The sense of being part of a college community helps students gain the motivation and confidence they need to persevere in demanding academic courses. Students and teachers are on Clark’s campus nearly every day, not only using the labs or the gym but also observing and interacting with Clark students and faculty. UPCS students take mini-seminars with college faculty in grades 7 to 10, and most enroll in college classes for credit during their junior and senior years. As they become more familiar with the campus culture, they begin to see a future for themselves in which college feels within reach. As early as the seventh grade, UPCS students walk through the campus and point out their future dorm rooms. They are “little Clarkies,” with college IDs to further support their identities as college-goers. Upon graduation, students who meet the admission criteria can attend Clark tuition free for four years, eliminating real and perceived financial barriers to college.
The partnership with Clark University also provides UPCS with valuable teaching and professional development resources through the Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education. The school serves as a clinical training site for the university’s teacher preparation program, with four to six student teachers working alongside UPCS master faculty for the full academic year. Many UPCS staff members started out as student teachers at the school.
Several UPCS teachers lead courses in the university’s education program and serve with college faculty on curriculum teams in each discipline to improve instruction through careful analysis of data, student work, and classroom practice.
Excellence on State Exams
At UPCS, even the neediest members of Worcester’s neediest neighborhood achieve academic success. Since the inception of the state’s tenth-grade graduation exams (MCAS), not a single UPCS student has failed the test. Averaging test scores from the past four years, 89% of UPCS students scored at proficient and advanced levels on the tenth-grade MCAS math exam compared to 31% of their Worcester public school peers and 54% statewide. In English, 89% scored at proficient and advanced levels compared to 39% of students in the district and 61% across the state. Over this period, UPCS has achieved the highest cumulative performance of any school serving a majority low-income population and placed in the top quartile of all schools in the state.
All Students Graduate and Go On to College
High test scores and college-going rates are not all that sets UPCS apart from other urban schools serving low-income students. Over nine years of operation, the school’s dropout and mobility rates are virtually zero. At UPCS, even the most at-risk students make it to graduation day—and beyond.
The same study that identified UPCS as the top-performing urban high school in the state singled out University Park as the only urban school that implements a demanding academic curriculum without suffering significant student attrition as a result. Other urban schools that excelled on state tests did so at a high price: many of their academically weaker students were leaving the school within two years of entry.
Yet finishing high school is only the beginning for UPCS students. In keeping with the school’s promise to neighborhood residents, every graduate has left UPCS prepared to continue his or her education in college, and 80% have gone on to four-year institutions, including Brown, Georgetown, Trinity, Tufts, and, of course, Clark.
UPCS/Clark Institute for Student Success
The University Park Campus School, Clark University, and Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based educational non-profit, have partnered to form the UPCS/Clark Institute for Student Success. Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the institute enables the school to share its success and serve as a model for other small schools across the nation. At trainings and residencies, school developers, leaders, and teachers observe classroom practice and learn how to apply the leadership and instructional strategies that have led to the school’s success.
