Teachers, Community Set High Expectations for Alabama High School

Joshua Rutsky

“An attempt is worth a thousand should haves.” It’s an attitude Joshua Rutsky lives by and frequently instills in his students at Hoover High School (HHS) in Hoover, Alabama. Rutsky is an English and creative writing teacher at HHS, the third largest high school in the state, with 2,300 students.

The slogan is common throughout HHS, where you’ll find teachers who routinely go above and beyond for their students, community members who show their support through funding and resources, and parents who get involved in their children’s education. Combine all that with innovative and rigorous academic programs, and you have a school that is sharply focused on its mission to ensure students “reach their potential for success in the future.”

Shane Martin teaches a U.S. history class at Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama. Known for its innovative and rigorous academic programs, Hoover prides itself on preparing students for college and career success.

“The academies allow students to get a close-up look at a specific career path and prepare them to be successful in that field beyond high school,” said Cindy Bond, college/career specialist at HHS.

Cindy Bond

HHS prides itself on preparing students for college and careers through a variety of unique and advanced offerings. In fact, educators here are so intent on college and career pursuits that they’ve created four-year, college preparatory “academies.” The academies—specialized tracks that combine a career focus with college entrance requirements—include law, engineering, finance, and information technology. There are plans to add a fifth academy in health professions. Students begin the elective academies in their freshman year and continue in the same academies throughout high school.

Enrollment is selective for the law and engineering academies. Interested students who have a B average can apply in the spring of eighth grade. They submit an application, write a short essay, and participate in an interview. Enrollment is open for the finance and information technology academies. These students must submit an application, but they don’t go through the interview process or write an essay.

Marjo Gann

The academies offer a specialized set of electives designed to complement the school’s precollege curriculum and to prepare students for collegiate work in the selected fields. They also provide exceptional opportunities, such as internships, field trips to the U.S. Supreme Court, and moot court competition for law academy students. Engineering students participate in the Alabama BEST Robotics Competition, for which they design and build radio-controlled robots.

“The intention of the academies is to promote conceptual thinking so students can use reason to solve problems, not just memorize a set of facts,” said Marjo Gann, who teaches government and history.

According to a recent New York Times article, high school academies are gaining in popularity across the country. Educators say they help keep students interested in school until graduation and also give them an edge in the competitive college admission process.

Dedicated Teachers

In addition to the academies, HHS also challenges students through the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program. HHS is one of seven schools in Alabama and one of 770 in the country to offer an IB diploma. The program is designed as a comprehensive two-year curriculum that allows its graduates to fulfill requirements of various national education systems. The diploma model is not based on the pattern of a single country but incorporates the best elements of many. In addition to studying a strong liberal arts curriculum, IB students also perform community service and develop an original research project.

Tenth-grade counselor Marley Stephens (left) meets with a student during conferences at Hoover High School.

Starting in fall 2008, HHS students will be able to earn college credit through The University of Alabama at Birmingham. UAB faculty will come to the high school to teach the courses, which will initially include accounting, business law, economics, statistics, and finance. Students’ PLAN^® and ACT^® scores will be used to place them in the program.

At the forefront of these programs are teachers who expect great things from their students. They expect them to do well in high school and to go to college—an ambitious goal considering most HHS graduates would be first-generation college students.

“We teach students where they are, all the while pushing them to go beyond where they think they can go. We set very high standards,” said Gann.

“I attribute our success to dedicated teachers. They work hard to help our students reach their academic potential and goals,” added Bond.

Teachers attend curriculum meetings to ensure the school is moving toward ACT’s College Readiness Standards™ and that each course is taught within the context of those standards, said Martin Nalls, freshman campus principal. A “Building Leadership Team” recently met with an ACT consultant to review the standards. In addition, curriculum is closely tied to the school’s college and career focus. Bond helps students with college and career planning and placement, a service that is considered unusual for Alabama, she said.

Smart Test Takers

Martin Nalls

The curriculum-based ACT ties in well with the culture of the school. “Students here want to work hard to be prepared for college entrance exams,” said Nalls. HHS offers students free access to the ACT Online Prep™ program both at school and at home. Alabama has long been an ACT testing state.

In addition to their teaching duties, many HHS educators also serve as advisors. Forty teachers from all grade levels and subjects volunteer to be faculty advisors for groups of 15 freshmen. They help them make a smooth transition to high school by mastering simple tasks, such as organizing their own calendars and maintaining their own lunch accounts. As the year continues, advisors and students review grades, career interests, and goals. In March, as the ninth-grade students register for tenth grade, the faculty advisors hold personal conferences with parents and students to review the four-year plan and discuss course choices, using the results of EXPLORE^® and PLAN. Bond and her staff also work with students on matching academic achievement with career interests.

Hoover High School is one of the largest secondary facilities in Alabama. With a professional staff of nearly 200 (over half of whom hold master's degrees and higher), HHS is one of the highest-rated schools academically in the state; the class of 2007 had an average score of 23 on the ACT.

Teachers often come in before the school day starts and stay long after it’s ended to meet with students. They take time—often without pay—to help students prepare for college entrance exams.

“I encourage my students to be ‘smart test takers’ by teaching them about conceptual thinking and test-taking strategies. If you can learn the rules of school, you can play the game . . . be a smart player,” said Gann, who has donated her time to teaching test prep courses.

Teachers find outstanding support within the community of Hoover, a Birmingham suburb of about 70,000. “Most families sacrifice mightily to live within the district. They are dead-set on their children succeeding beyond what they’ve achieved,” said Rutsky.

The teachers’ expectation that their students will go to college has trickled down from the Hoover community, which shares this expectation, said Gann. “Though a lot of people in the community never went to college themselves, they expect their children will,” she said.

Brad Coltrane

Some in the community set the stage for advanced education. Within the city of Hoover are different professionals with college degrees who have become “models of success” for Hoover’s young people, said Brad Coltrane, English teacher and coordinator of Hoover’s International Baccalaureate Program.

Rutsky, Coltrane, and Gann say they enjoy working at HHS and in the community of Hoover because of the high value placed on education.

“I think the most important thing we—teachers and staff—do for our students is just be here for them,” said Rutsky. “We give them encouragement and the support they need to defy expectations.”

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