Academics

One of Hampton Township School District’s primary goals continues to be to challenge all students to achieve at high levels.  Additional goals that fall under this major goal area include: 

• To help struggling students to meet proficiency standards
• To ensure appropriate levels of challenge for the “middle” child
• To monitor enrichment and acceleration opportunities
• To develop, implement and monitor co-teaching at the elementary and secondary levels
• To improve guidance services with particular emphasis on the development and implementation of the College/Career Center

The RtII (Response to Instruction and Intervention) model, implemented at the elementary level, includes extensive professional development for the teachers as a means of providing intensive, research-based interventions for struggling students.  A major component of the RtII initiative was the procurement of the AIMSweb program, which enables teachers to systematically track student performance based upon a series of assessments in reading and math, which are administered over the course of the school year.  An additional benefit of the AIMSweb program is that it also helps to identify those students who are exceeding expectations and who may be in need of differentiated instruction.  In this regard, the AIMSweb program will help to identify areas of strength and the potential need for enrichment for the “middle” child.

Several years ago, at the elementary level, only two students had been accelerated at least one full year in mathematics.  In 2009, more than 90 elementary students were successfully accelerated one or more years in mathematics.  Honors level courses at the Middle School were initiated during the 2008-09 school year and the District successfully encouraged more high school students to enroll in Honors and/or AP courses (research reveals better success in college for students who enroll in AP courses and take the AP exams).  Additionally, the need for, and the importance of, differentiated instruction continues to be emphasized.

For the past several years, HTSD has developed and implemented a co-teaching model at all the schools. The co-teaching model pairs a regular education teacher and a special education teacher in the same classroom at the same time in order to expose all students to a rigorous curriculum while simultaneously providing the requisite support to enable all students to be successful.  To help with this initiative, the District has obtained the services of several university professors with expertise in assisting districts in the development and implementation of best practices in the area of co-teaching.