West Bath School

West Bath School is a community school that prepares students to think globally and make a difference locally.

The West Bath School, located in West Bath, Maine, is the epitome of a small, rural community school. Tucked between two cities, the school serves as the focal point and community gathering space for the Town of West Bath, which has a year-round population of just under 1,900 residents. The school was built in 1959 as a grades 1-8 school and has a history of being well-supported by the community. The West Bath School currently serves students in Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade and has a student population of approximately 130 students and has a talented, dedicated faculty and strong school culture focused on character education and community stewardship.

West Bath School began its partnership with EL Education in 2010. The state had just recently consolidated school districts, and West Bath School went from being a small school working within a collaborative union of individual districts to one of many schools in a new, larger district. That change, combined with multiple years of administrative turnover, left the faculty and students in the school feeling the need to establish common expectations, a common language, and a common vision.

The entry point with EL Education was focused on the core practices of culture and character. With our newly created student code of character, and the developed traditions and routines, the inhabitants of the school began to work together towards making the school a positive community of learners. Once our students understood how to be a good citizen, the faculty began to develop learning expeditions that fully incorporated the Core Practice Benchmarks and promoted global citizenship.

In 2015, the Town of West Bath withdrew from the larger school district it had been a part of since 2007 in favor of creating a small, independent, municipal school district. With the years of EL practices and a common vision in place, even with another system change, the faculty and staff of West Bath School have been able to focus undivided attention on ensuring that all learners had every opportunity to meet school goals and to reach their full potential as citizens and scholars.

EL Performance Benchmarks

All EL Education schools set strategic implementation and student achievement goals that support the annual work plan. Performance benchmarks allow schools to pause throughout the year to set, monitor, and reflect on the growth of our students and staff. As a multi-year partner, West Bath School was not required to set performance benchmarks until recently, although internally benchmarks were always set to guide school goals. The document below shows West Bath's initial performance benchmarks that were set for the 2017-2018 school year and guided the school's work plan.