Pittsfield Listens: Strong Schools, Strong Community

   In December 2010, the Pittsfield School District received a one-year planning grant from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to support the transformation of our middle high school from a traditional school to a student-centered learning environment. The School District has recognized that the Pittsfield Schools, particularly the Middle High School, need to improve learning outcomes for all students, increase graduation and college attendance rates, and create a student-centered learning environment that is motivating, engaging, and responsive to the individual needs of each student. Pittsfield is the only community in New Hampshire to receive one of these highly competitive grants.
   Since the grant award, the Community Advisory Council, which includes many community members and community educators who have been appointed by our School Board, has been developing a multi-year plan for this transformation. The Council has been researching effective educational practices and visiting successful, break-the-mold schools to learn how to better serve our students and community.
   An important component of the planning process is to involve as many Pittsfield residents as possible in assessing the current state of the schools and creating concrete recommendations for improvement over the next several years. To meet this goal, the School District has contracted with the Pittsfield Youth Workshop to design a process for engaging town residents in focused conversations about the schools and community. In turn, PYW is partnering with NH Listens (part of the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire) to support com-munity-wide small group dialogues, in which you are now participating.
   Eventually, the recommendations that come out of the community conversations will be-come part of the long-term plan for change. This plan will be submitted to the Nellie Mae Education Foundation with the hope that the Foundation will fund the transformation plan over six-years to help us create a student-centered education for all Pittsfield students. The plan, in the form of a funding proposal, will be submitted at the end of October. We should learn whether we have been funded through this highly-competitive process in December.

Pittsfield School District - Community Advisory Council

NH Listens - Carsey Institute at UNH

Nellie Mae Education Foundation

Pittsfield Listens Summary Report - 2011