Academics

Brockton High School has designed its academic course offerings with the central goal of equipping students with intellectual competence and critical thinking skills that will serve them throughout their adult lives.

In addition to core courses that include English, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, and Wellness/Physical Education, students take elective courses that suit their interests. Elective offerings include everything from Psychology to Theatrical Set Design, from Public Speaking to Piano. Creative expression is encouraged and celebrated inside our Fine Arts Building, which is home to a choral room, band room, a television studio, multiple art studios and our 1,600-seat auditorium. Students in the vocational program will work with their guidance counselor to determine which elective offerings would fit into their schedule.

As home to one of the most culturally diverse student populations in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Brockton High School proudly boasts a Classical and Modern Language Department geared toward the three modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. Students may study Mandarin Chinese, Latin, and Spanish. Those with exceptional linguistic skills will be eligible to take Medical Interpretation courses in Portuguese, Spanish and French.

Students seeking an academic challenge will be encouraged to enroll in 23 different Advanced Placement courses for students who excel in Art, Classical and Modern Languages, Computer Science, English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science. Additionally, as an authorized Diploma Programme School, BHS offers a challenging two-year International Baccalaureate curriculum beginning in grade 11. Students who successfully complete the IB program will receive a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities.

BHS maintains robust Special Education and Bilingual Education departments with courses and services designed to meet the needs of every learner. Further information about the high school’s Academic offerings is available on our website, bpsma.org.

Departments

Art Education

Art Education

Sarah Richards
Director of Art, K-12
508-580-7653
[email protected]

The Fine Arts Program in the Brockton Public Schools provides an aesthetic, intellectual and stimulating atmosphere for creative and technical proficiency. The sequential arts program is designed to awaken the child's awareness to beauty in life and nature and to develop a deep appreciation of social and cultural backgrounds.

In art, students learn to express their own ideas and emotions through various art forms and media, encouraging personal growth and a developed sense of self-esteem. Art offers opportunities for students to grow and make connections in life. It fosters development of problem solving skills through exploration and opens doors for growth and development which otherwise may never have been discovered.

As students progress they are given the opportunity to investigate and analyze past influences in the arts and society as well as present trends.

Student artists are encouraged to respond to this knowledge by using their advancing skills to create meaningful pieces of art.

The Brockton Public Schools Fine Arts Program, K-12, adopts the vision of the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework, which states, "Learning in, about and through the arts develops each learner's capacity to make meaning from experience, respond to creativity and contribute to our society." The Fine Arts Program in the Brockton Public Schools embraces the Guiding Principles of the Arts Framework.

Bilingual/ESL Services

Department of Bilingual/ESL Services

43 Crescent Street
Brockton, MA 02301
Telephone: 508-580-7508
Fax: 508-580-7097

Administrative Staff

Kellie Jones, Director of Bilingual Education
Jennifer Hunter, Department Head K-8
Honorina Harris, Department Head 9-12
Lisa Mosley, K-12 Bilingual Coordinator

The Brockton Public School System has a diverse student population and currently services students from a variety of countries, including Albania, Angola, Brazil, Cambodia, Cape Verde, China, Haiti, India, Korea, Laos, Lithuania, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam, and several Spanish-speaking countries.

The system is committed to offering the highest quality of educational services to all students, including English language learners.

The Department of Bilingual/ESL Services administers programs for English language learners with the goal of developing English language proficiency and achieving state content-area standards, while simultaneously valuing their native languages and cultural backgrounds.

English Language Arts

English Language Arts

Reading/English Language Arts K-8
Julianne Andrade, Ed.D.,Coordinator
Elementary Literacy, K-5 and
Social Studies, K-5
[email protected]

The English Program at Brockton High School is designed to develop and extend student mastery in the integrated literacy areas of reading and literature, language and composition, and reasoning.

The goals of fostering students' awareness of, appreciation for, and proficiency with language and the varieties of its aesthetic expression are implicit in our planning.

Curriculum:

The freshman and sophomore two-year sequence focuses on students' skill development in the literacy areas of reading, writing, speaking, listening and thinking. The junior and senior courses are designed to build on and emphasize those literacy skills. Additionally, in the junior year, students will gain proficiency in the use of rhetorical strategies and research.

Mathematics

Mathematics

508-580-7410

The Brockton Public Schools believes that all students are mathematicians. By providing students with the opportunity to engage in rich meaningful tasks where students are required to represent their thinking, communicate their reasoning, and participate in mathematics discussions, students will develop a deeper conceptual understanding of mathematics.

BPS embraces the Standards of Mathematical Practices and these standards are evident in our classrooms. Our teachers strive to create an environment where students are encouraged to share their thinking, evaluate their own reasoning as well as the reasoning of their peers, and where different approaches and strategies to solving mathematics problems are valued. Students are expected to move beyond memorizing (algorithms, rules) and “doing” the math to understanding and explaining the math.

It is through this approach to teaching and learning mathematics that we are preparing the Brockton Public School students for success in the careers of the future.

Classical & Modern Languages

Classical and Modern Languages

Students in the Brockton Public Schools may choose to study Chinese, Latin or Spanish at the middle/K-8 schools, beginning in grades 6 or 7, as well as at Brockton High School in grades 9-11. Levels range from CP to Honors and years 1 through 5, International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP). Students with advanced foreign and/or native language skills, as well as English, may be eligible to enroll in the Medical Interpretation and Translation Program in French/Haitian Creole, Portuguese/Cape Verdean Creole or Spanish. In addition to a variety of course options available for study, there are language specific club activities offered at Brockton High School. Students should view their Student Handbooks and talk with their foreign language teacher in order to pursue these offerings. Students who meet the criteria, may be invited to join the Foreign Language Honor Societies.

The purpose of the societies is to recognize high achievement of high school students in their pursuit of acquiring a second language, and to promote a continuing interest in foreign language studies.

"To have another language is to possess a second soul."

Charlemagne

The philosophy of the Foreign Language Department of the Brockton Public Schools reflects the Guiding Principles of the revised Massachusetts World Languages Curriculum Frameworks of 1999 and Common Core State Standards Frameworks, as well as the ACTFL World-Readiness Standards for Foreign Language Learning. We believe that:

The primary goal of a modern Foreign Languages program is communicative proficiency. The primary goal of the classical foreign language program is to interact with the ancient minds through reading comprehension and translation.
Foreign Language study integrates the study of languages with the study of the cultures in which the languages are used.
Foreign Language study connects with all other disciplines.
Foreign Language study is most effective when started at an early age, but all students benefit from reading, writing, and conversing in at least one language in addition to their first language.

The program goals are to:

Promote excellence in the teaching and learning of foreign languages.
Provide learning opportunities in a variety of foreign languages, both modern and classical.
Encourage students to become lifelong learners of foreign languages and cultures.
Encourage students to adopt a global view and understanding of the world
Implement the Massachusetts Foreign Languages Curriculum Frameworks and align with the Common Core State Standards Frameworks.

By focusing on the five Foreign Languages content strands of Communication, Culture, Comparisons, Connections and Communities, students learn to communicate in a new language and use it to gain understanding of people and cultures. Students practice communication through interpersonal, interpretive and presentational modes. In addition, students learn to use the language to acquire knowledge in other disciplines, and to participate in local and international communities. The Massachusetts Foreign Languages Curriculum Frameworks define four stages of proficiency:

Stage 1, in which students use single words and common phrases and expressions
Stage 2, in which students use sentences and other recombination of words and phrases
Stage 3, in which students use sentences and paragraph-length messages
Stage 4, in which students use sentences, paragraph-length and essay-length messages

Music Education

Music Education

Rebecca Desmond,
Director of Music Education, K-12
508-580-7656
[email protected]

The Brockton Public Schools' Music Program, K-12 encompasses a sequential program of general classroom music instruction, instrumental and choral instruction and performance, and introduction to computer technology.

The program is based upon sound current research and provides students with multiple strategies for becoming critical and creative musicians, listeners, and composers.

The Brockton Public Schools adopts the vision of the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework. Music should generate intellectual and emotional excitement that helps bring people and art together. Through an effective program, music will have a lasting positive influence throughout one's life.

Guiding Principles

All students will have access to high quality music programs.
Music instruction will encourage learners to make multicultural and interdisciplinary connections.
Students will develop musical skills through interactive learning.
Teachers will provide challenges and opportunities for students at all levels of musical ability.
Material will be drawn from many genres, time periods and cultures.
Music assessment will monitor students' performance, improve instruction, enhance learning, and encourage students' self-reflection.

Wellness Education

Wellness Education

Dennis Geniuch
Director of Wellness K-12
[email protected]

COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS

AAA of Southern New England

Brockton Police Department

Brockton Fire Department

District Attorney's Office

UMass Extension Family Nutrition Program

The BPS Wellness curriculum provides students with the opportunity for optimum development of their physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual well-being.

It is our goal that through interactive classroom instruction and project-based learning, students will gain the knowledge and skills needed to make lifestyle choices that result in a healthier and happier future.

National Health Education Standards are critical to the healthy development of children and youth. The Standards were developed to:

Improve student learning across the nation by providing a foundation for curriculum development, instruction, and assessment of student performance.
Set high and challenging expectations for all students
Provide measurable knowledge and skill learning outcomes
Ensure that Health Education is emphasized from kindergarten through twelfth grade
Provide a guide for enhancing preparation and continuing education of health teachers

Standards 1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.

Standards 2: Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors.

Standards 3: Students will demonstrate the ability to access valid information and products and services to enhance health.

Standards 4: Students will demonstrate the ability to use inter-personal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.

Standards 5: Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health.

Standard 6: Students will demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health

Standard 7: Students will demonstrate the ability to practice health-enhancing behaviors and avoid or reduce health risks.

Standard 8: Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health.

Vocational & Career Education

Vocational and Career Education

Elvio Ferreira
Director of Vocational and Career Education, Grades 6-12
508-580-7665
[email protected]

Heidi Howes
Administrative Assistant
508-580-7665
[email protected]

Heather Arrighi
Vocational Guidance Counselor
508-580-4538
[email protected]

The Vocational and Career Education department offers approximately 60 elective courses to students at Brockton High School.

These courses are available to all BHS students, opening new avenues and possible career opportunities.

Courses reflect up-to-date technological advances and skills necessary for employment in today's ever-changing job market.

Guidance

Guidance

Melissa Shepard
Coordinator of Guidance, 6-12
508-580-7633
[email protected]

Green Guidance Office: 508-580-7415
Red Guidance Office: 508-580-7425
Azure Guidance Office: 508-580-7435
Yellow Guidance Office: 508-894-4405

The Guidance Department at Brockton High School offers a variety of resources and programs to ensure the success of each student during their high school career and beyond.

The Guidance Department is comprised of school psychologists, school adjustment counselors, guidance counselors and bi-lingual counselors. A consulting psychiatrist also provides services to students.

The mission of the Brockton Public Schools Guidance Services Department is to provide a comprehensive and developmental guidance and counseling program that promotes resilience and excellence in education.

The program assists students to develop into confident, independent and productive members of our wider community.

Confidentiality is extremely important in the student-counselor relationship. It is vital that the student is informed that material shared in the counseling session remains confidential. It is the counselor's professional responsibility to limit access to personal information to those who have a "need and right to know". In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the confidentiality rights of a student under the age of eighteen reside with the parent or legal guardian.

The goals of our department are formulated to:

help students develop the ability to make carefully considered decisions in personal, social, career and educational matters.
support parents in developing the understanding and skills necessary to help their children with educational and career choices.
assist students and parents to widen their range of choices in career and educational alternatives.
help students, parents, teachers and administrators to deal with problems within the classroom and the wider school environment.
assist students to strengthen their self-perception so they may better recognize their need for appropriate counseling services, while in school or later in life.
provide sound clinical practices to serve the mental health needs of the school community.

Crisis situations are a frequent occurrence in any school setting. The Guidance Services and Health Departments are instrumental in dealing with these difficult situations. Procedures and strategies have been developed and implemented throughout the Brockton School Department and have been codified into a system-wide Crisis Management Policy.

Another paramount duty of guidance staff is to make sure that students are safe and that their physical and emotional needs are being met. This often entails the filing of a 51A report when child abuse or neglect is suspected. All school personnel are mandated reporters of suspected child abuse under Massachusetts General Laws, C 119, 51A-G. www.doe.mass.edu/educators/51A.html

Guidance Services Department personnel are mandated by the Brockton School Committee to deal with attendance issues. Long-term attendance concerns involving truancy are addressed through the Attendance Office of the Brockton School Department.

The Guidance Services Department is responsible for the interpretation and explanation to parents of both citywide and statewide testing programs. The psychologists within the Guidance Services department are responsible for the administration of individual tests of cognitive ability. Other assessment devices are utilized when necessary to meet the needs of bilingual students. Testing is also conducted for students for whom there are concerns about language impairments. In addition to tests of cognitive ability, school psychologists may also evaluate visual motor skills and emotional and personality factors.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has developed a website entitles "Facts for Families." This is a resource that provides information on various issues that affect children and their families.
http://www.aacap.org/page.ww?section=Facts+for+Fam...

Title I

What is Title I?

Title I is a federally funded program that provides financial assistance to districts and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards.

How can students benefit from Title I?

Students may receive additional:

Academic, instructional and support services

Small group, intensive reading instruction/intervention

What is Parents Right to Know?

Federal law requires that Brockton Public Schools notifies parents of the following:
Professional qualifications of teachers and paraprofessionals who instruct
Notification if your child’s teacher is not highly qualified
Individual report card that lets you know how your child is progressing
Access to Massachusetts school and district report cards to understand where the district and your school is succeeding and where there are areas for improvement. The report card answers important questions about our schools and district performance.

JROTC

U.S. Army JROTC "Boxer Battalion"
Brockton High School
Corps of Cadets

Senior Army Instructor
MASTER SERGEANT DANA A. CLARK, USA (Retired)
Army Instructor
508-580-7023

Introduction:
The Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) at Brockton High School motivates students to be better citizens by helping to prepare them for responsible leadership roles and success after graduation. The corps is organized as a military organization, with the students themselves filling the various leadership positions. Optional co-curricular activities such as the Drill Team, Color Guard, "Raider" (adventure / physical fitness) Team and the Command and Staff Council reinforce what the students learn in class. The faculty consists of a retired officer and noncommissioned officer certified by the U.S. Army to teach JROTC classes. Students who enroll in this program are under no obligation for military service after high school or Senior ROTC in college.

Curriculum:
The JROTC curriculum is designed to develop ethical values and good citizenship, leadership potential, effective communications skills, logical thinking, improved physical fitness, an incentive to live drug-free, positive self-motivation and self-management, an understanding of the role of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the skills to work as part of a team. For information on specific courses and prerequisites see the Brockton High School Course of Study Guide on pages 97 & 98.

Rules for Succeeding In JROTC

Syllabi	Weekly Training Schedules	Grading Policies Semester One
LET I Syllabus LET II & III Syllabus LET IV Syllabus	LET I LET II & III LET IV	LET IA LET IIA LET IIIA & IIIB LET IV

Science

Dr. David Mangus
Department Head
508-580-7413

The Brockton High School Science program was designed to prepare students to approach, understand and overcome challenges in college, career and their personal lives. The STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields currently offer the greatest professional opportunities and are projected to increase further. Science underlies many political, personal and professional issues that impact our lives on a daily basis from the grocery store to the voting booth. Brockton High School students are prepared to engage with this world of ideas and will be prepared as the world changes throughout our lives. Our foundational belief is that science is for everyone.

We emphasize learning scientific concepts through the experimental and investigative process of science. Through this process, students learn problem solving and critical thinking skills that will be used throughout their lives both within and outside the sciences. Every student at BHS demonstrates this through their participation in our science fair. Students in our core program will take a class in Environmental Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Students have the opportunity to enroll in our innovative four year, interdisciplinary biotechnology pathway. Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, students will also have the opportunity to enroll in a brand new Science of Tomorrow pathway in Systems Thinking. This exciting pathway will help students evaluate and develop solutions to the world’s most complex problems. Many elective courses are provided to ensure that students can pursue their interests and be passionate about their education.

Brockton High School has made a commitment to modernizing the approaches to studying the world. Our state of the art biotechnology lab allows students to investigate the molecular basis of life with technology that is not even common in research universities. In all of our classes, students have the ability to measure in real time using digital probeware. We look forward to re-opening Brockton High School’s planetarium with a brand new digital Sci-Dome. This will be a cornerstone of building the STEM culture in Brockton for all of Brockton’s community members from 5 to 105 years old, emphasizing our foundational belief that science is for everyone.

Social Science

Stacey Medina
Department Head
508-580-7465
[email protected]

Introduction:

The Brockton High School Social Science Department has incorporated the Core Concept of the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework as its foundation: The goal of a history and social science curriculum is to enable students, by systemic study, to acquire the knowledge, skill, and judgment to continue to learn for themselves; to participate intelligently, justly, and responsibly in civic life, and in deliberation about local, national, and international issues; and to avail themselves of historical and cultural resources - historic sites, museums, parks, libraries, multimedia information sources - wherever they may live or travel. The Brockton High School Social Science Department hopes to prepare our students to live in a democratic society in an interdependent world with the knowledge and skills necessary to become rational, humane, and contributing citizens in our world.

Curriculum:

The Social Science course descriptions have been written to present as accurate a reflection as possible of the nature of the course they describe. Teachers plan work to meet both the objectives listed with the courses and the expectations of the students who are taking them. Objectives for all courses have been written to reflect the literacy goals of the school, the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, and several aspects of the Social Science curriculum at Brockton High School.

Special Education

Kaitlyn Fitzgerald, Coordinator of Special Education
E-mail

For students with disabilities seeking additional support in completing their college applications, please visit this page, which offers a wide range of resources.

A Parent's Guide to Special Education (click here)

Parent IEP Checklist:

Tiered Focused Monitoring Report

Child Find Notice (click below for translations)

ChildFindNotice2019

It is the responsibility of the Brockton Public Schools to identify any child who is a resident of Brockton, who may have a disability, regardless of the severity of the disability. It is also the responsibility of the Brockton Public Schools to evaluate students who may have a disability to determine if they are eligible for special education or related services under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) or 306 CMR 28 (Massachusetts Special Education Regulations).

The Brockton Public Schools is committed to identifying children before their third birthday to provide early intervention services for three and four-year-olds with disabilities.

If you have questions or concerns regarding your child's development and would like to have him/her screened, please contact the Special Education Office at 508-580-7525.

If you have other specific questions about your child, you can also contact the Principal at your child's school for information about the Instructional Support Team (IST) process, which the first step in the referral process is to determine eligibility. It is through this school-based process that strategies are developed, academic and/or behavioral interventions and data is collected to support your child to determine if a referral for special education evaluation is needed.

Helpful Links

Guidance Department

Advanced Placement

Vocational and Career

IB PROGRAM

Course of Study Guide