T&L: Secondary

The Westerville City School District continues to modernize the educational experience and expand course options that are available to all of our middle and high school students. 

• District officials redesigned the middle school curriculum to reduce study hall time, give students a more dynamic learning experience, and create engaging educational environments. One aspect of the Middle School Redesign process included updating a required 6th grade literacy course to include Portrait of a Graduate competencies while better supporting students as they explore their interests, identify their strengths, and consider postsecondary possibilities that are available to them. 

• Every middle school student now completes Career Technical coursework that introduces them to career possibilities and allows them to seamlessly transition to a program that supports their aspirations in high school. All seventh grade students take Medical Detectives, as well as Engineering and Design. Eighth graders can take Engineering eXtreme and/or Computer Science for Innovators and Makers. Other newly-added middle school courses include Global Issues and World Cultures in Music. 

• High school students participating in our Health Pathways program can now explore gene therapy as a possible way to treat genetic disorders through a new genome editing lab involving the CRISPR-Cas9 system, which allows scientists to “cut and paste” within the genome by removing mutations and replacing them with the desired DNA sequences. We have enhanced the educational options now available to high school students in some of our more rigorous classes, such as Advanced Placement coursework and the International Baccalaureate Programme. As a result, more students are taking advantage of our challenging curriculum and career exploration options. Three new elective courses were also added to our high schools in the subject matters of African American Literature and Composition, Race and Ethnic Studies, and African American History. 

Students benefit when our educational leaders share best practices, learn from each other and develop data-driven goals.

Teams of secondary school principals and teachers now participate in “Leader Learning Rounds.”  Once each semester, these teams complete rounds at each of our secondary buildings to gather educational data and create action plans around one area of student focus. Initial results of this new initiative include increased student growth and the identification of additional opportunities for improvement.

Providing experiences and opportunities for students while helping them overcome obstacles to learning remains a high priority for our schools.

• The district's Office of Alternative Education and Assessment continues to meet the unique educational needs of learners who need additional support. Our nationally recognized Educational Options for Success (EOS) program continued to support over-age and under-credited students during the height of the pandemic. EOS produces approximately 10% of our high schools’ yearly graduates. As a result, the district’s graduation rates have been trending upwards and regularly exceed the state average, as well as the annual graduation rates of many other school districts that the state considers to be most comparable to ours.

• School officials expanded extracurricular activities at the high schools and restructured extracurricular fees for families, which resulted in an increase of participation in such opportunities for students. 

• Each of the district’s high schools has earned at least one Purple Star Designation from the state in recognition of their commitment to students and families connected to our nation’s military.