The Hampton Township School District long has been known for its excellent academic programs. Consistently ranked among the best districts in the state and nation, the District has been recognized for its stellar performance by outlets such as U.S. News and World Report and the Pittsburgh Business Times.
Within the last year, Hampton has been featured in the Harrisburg Patriot News, which placed the spotlight on Hampton High School as one of the top-three performing schools in the state in both math and science. In turn, it was that series which captured the attention of Edutopia – an arm of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. Edutopia shares evidence-based K-12 learning strategies designed to empower schools across the nation to succeed. Through its Schools That Work web series, Edutopia provides educational videos, stories and blogs that serve as a “how to” guide for implementing some of the best educational practices occurring in schools across the nation. Film crews from the organization spent a week at the High School last spring to catch Hampton students and faculty in action.
While Hampton’s Tradition of Excellence has been noted in print, it is now able to be fully experienced by viewers around the globe who are visiting Edutopia’s website, where the content it filmed last spring is now live.
“We are always looking for amazing schools that empower students to be successful both in school and in life, and Hampton High School seemed like a school that has successfully combined rigorous academics with high-quality enrichment,” said Julia Lee, Schools That Work Production Coordinator, about why Hampton was selected for the video series. “We were specifically interested in Hampton’s use of performance-based assessment and data-driven instruction, and we wanted to learn more about what makes (Hampton) such a successful school.”
The videos and other resources have been live for a week on Edutopia’s website, and already are garnering the attention of educators, students and parents across the globe.
The International Center for Leadership in Education favorited a tweet by District Technology Director Ed McKaveney announcing the “Making Connections Through Rigor, Relevance and Relationships” video. Of the four videos posted by Edutopia, Twitter followers appear to be tweeting and engaging with the “Instructional Coaching: Driving Meaningful Tech Integration” video the most.
Hampton High School instructional coach Andrew Halter, who is featured in the instructional coaching video, said the videos have “helped to validate the level of rigor our students experience every day here at the high school.”
As of Monday, June 29, the “Performance-Based Assessment: Making Math Relevant” video posted on Edutopia’s YouTube page has been viewed more than 5,000 times. The video also was retweeted by Peter Balyta, Ph.D., the president of Texas Instrument’s calculator division and later translated into Spanish by an online education company, Uveni. The East Asia Regional Council of posted the “Engaging Students in Chemistry” video. People from Singapore, New Zealand, Spain, France and Canada also are tweeting, discussing and viewing the resources.
Combined with the other videos and resources, all of the videos released have now been viewed more than 7,500 times over the last three days.
“While Hampton has been recognized for its use of technology in the past, this is just a sampling of all of the great things happening in our K-12 classrooms,” said Mr. McKaveney. “Being featured by Edutopia in this way further validates the work of the District to focus on the power of successful technology implementations and programs to enhance learning.”
Assistant Superintendent Jeff Finch – who was the High School principal during Edutopia’s filming last spring – said he is pleased to be able to share Hampton’s methods through the Schools That Work medium. “It’s not just that we get recognition,” he said. “It was empowering to our staff to have others demonstrate interest in what we do.”
All four videos are available on Edutopia’s website at www.edutopia.org/school/hampton-high-school, as well as the Hampton Township School District website, at www.ht-sd.org.
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