Ridgefield High highlights writing conferrals, quarterly essays and new freshmen portfolios

Patty Baudelier, department chair at Ridgefield High School, told the committee the high-school program centers on conferences and scaffolded assessments that build college-ready writing.

Baudelier described a "writing conferral" model—one-to-one meetings that provide targeted instruction outside whole-class lessons—and frequent in-class essays each quarter assessed with the same rubric so students internalize expectations. "This is the 1st year, so we're excited for that," she said of the freshmen writing portfolios, which will move with students into the high-school program and feed into college-essay instruction.

She said high-school work includes extended arguments, research papers and narrative projects; teachers use common rubrics and quarter-by-quarter in-class essays to monitor growth. Baudelier credited the alignment across elementary and middle levels for smoother transitions and said early results show gains on AP and SAT measures (anecdotal in the meeting).