Jacob Hiatt Magnet School (JHMS) is an elementary school that serves students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade from all over Worcester. This makes our student population diverse in background, culture, neighborhood, and ideologies. The school is comprised of 48% Hispanic students, 33% Black students, 13% White students and 6% Asian or Multi-Ethnic students. This school is privileged to get to participate in an extended school day structure. This allows us to dedicate more instructional time for electives and student-based exploration outside of the traditional curriculum. We are all united by the values that shape our community. Everyone is responsible for their contributions and actions which help build the safe and constructive learning environment within the school. We encourage our students to become compassionate collaborators who face challenges head-on and persevere through difficulties creatively. 

Academics

   At Jacob Hiatt, the students learn through an inquiry-based approach, meaning the students’ interests and curiosities are honored and harnessed to promote their learning. JHMS strives to have students actively engage with one another in hands-on, interactive, small-group activities and lessons. This helps develop and grow students’ academic, social, behavioral, cognitive, and kinesthetic learning. Students prove this intensive approach as successful by increasing their overall engagement in whole group instruction and improving their individual assessments as well. Jacob Hiatt also uses intervention and expanded learning time which are unique to the school to further assist the students’ in their learning and growth academically. 

        Intervention is a dedicated one-hour, small group block for kindergarten to second graders. Students in these grades are group by similar reading levels to work on literacy and phonics skills. The first half of intervention is designated for word work, where students work with phonics, spelling, and writing. The second half of intervention is focused on guided reading, where students read leveled books to help improve their reading fluency and comprehension skills.This intimate group setting allows for acute instruction and specific intervention of reading skills needed to make major growth and progress.  Students get close attention and build a strong sense of confidence around like readers. Many students make large leaps in their reading abilities as a result of this consistent, intentional focus on literacy development in the primary grades. 

      Expanded learning time is the other pivotal part of Jacob Hiatt’s unique school structure. This refers to the extra time our students spend in school each day compared to their peers in Worcester. Most elementary schools in Worcester operate for six or seven hours a day. Jacob Hiatt runs for eight which allows us to increase the breadth and depth of the content our students can learn. This extra hour, referred to as “8th hour” is implemented to help improve academic achievement and test scores, and reduce learning and achievement gaps. It is utilized for elective learning and for expanding and enriching on curriculum-based content. This extra time makes JHMS, as a school, stand out with their scores and exposure to material.

S.T.A.R. Expectations

     Jacob Hiatt bases its school-wide behavior management and expectations in a system known as S.T.A.R. All teachers and students operate under these known expectations for the learning community. Teachers, staff, and administration can award “clicks” from a star-shaped hole punch to cards when S.T.A.R. expectations are exceeded and exemplified. Both individual students and classes receive S.T.A.R. cards. Once these cards are filled, students may trade them in for rewards that allow students to express themselves or connect to their community. Popular rewards consist of eating lunch with a teacher, show and tell, choosing a class read aloud book, and positive contact home. S.T.A.R. allows students to practice self-regulation. Students must keep track of their own S.T.A.R. cards and do not get to transfer clicks if they lose one. Students also use this system to regulate their own behaviors. They can physically see a representation of their positive behavior and good choices. The S.T.A.R. system relies on positive reinforcement instead of punishment of negative behaviors. It actually is beneficial to give out clicks and encourage students to want to set a positive example for a strong, focused learning community. The S.T.A.R. expectations are as follows:

S – Have Self Control: Self-control is an important skill for elementary students to learn, so that they can contribute to the learning environment without taking away from their peers’ opportunities to learn.  Self-control means being in control of one’s body and voice as well as handling and presenting emotions, thoughts, and ideas in a way that is not disruptive to a learning community shared by many. It also means controlling one’s body and navigating the space within a classroom and school safely and with awareness of others. 

T – Take Responsibility: Students at JHMS are taught to take responsibility for both their behavior and their learning.  As students progress through the grades and grow up, a sense of internal responsibility will be important for them both inside and outside of academic environments. Being responsible will help them to feel empowered to make their own choices and learn from them.  Taking responsibility in our school focuses on helping students become self-advocates in all areas of their lives.

A – Be an Active Learner: At Jacob Hiatt, we expect students to be actively engaged in their own learning. Similarly to the expectation of responsibility, we believe that learning lies mostly in the hands of our students, and that those who are being active learners will benefit most from their educational experiences.  In the classroom, active learning means staying on task, participating in class discussions, and being prepared to learn every day, from everyone. 

R – Show Respect: Our students are expected to be respectful of their peers, their teachers, their community, and their physical space.  We stress that Jacob Hiatt is a space and community that we all share, and that in order for it to be a successful space, we must be respectful to each part of it.  Respect at Jacob Hiatt does not only mean respectful interactions with other people, but also showing respect for our space by keeping it clean and ensuring that everyone has equal opportunities to spaces and resources.

Core Values of Literacy Education

Jacon Hiatt prides itself on being a school which promotes literacy. In every room, in almost every lesson, you can find students and teachers at JHMS following the following core values based around literacy education. 

TEACHERS will:

1. Establish a vibrant literary community that empowers students to see themselves as listeners, speakers, readers, writers, and thinkers while enriching their hearts and minds.
2. Foster student agency in literacy learning by empowering them to choose and select what is relevant and meaningful to them and their world.
3. Teach using a cohesive, coherent approach that leverages common understandings, common language, and high impact pedagogical practices to respond to the needs of learners.
4. Provide access to high quality literature both print and digital, including culturally diverse and global perspectives.
5. Commit to ongoing professional learning and capacity strengthening, leading to better outcomes for all.

STUDENTS will:

1. See themselves as belonging to a literary community as they build their reading and writing lives.
2. Find value, joy, and meaning, through authentic inquiry and choice to feed their intellectual curiosity.
3. Respond thoughtfully to teachers and peers when listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
4. Consider varying points-of-view and perspectives, leading to greater empathy and respect.
5. Celebrate and share their literary experiences and growth as part of a dynamic community.