• Enrollment:  446
• Avg. Class Size:  18.90
• Total Teacher FTE:   40.40
• Teachers with 3 or more years experience: 82.9%
• Student-Teacher Ratio: 13:1
• Per Pupil Expenditure: 17,465.00

Emma Hart Willard School is committed to maintaining a school climate and culture that promotes high academic expectations, as well as positive social and behavioral outcomes for students. Our Safe School Climate Plan details the current status and goals related to our school climate. Both students and staff at Willard School work to achieve these outcomes in many ways, including:

Character Education

Our work is focused on the Pillars of Character: caring, citizenship, fairness, respect, responsibility, and fairness. A staff committee meets to plan and implement various classroom lessons throughout the school year. Teachers also implements character lessons in various ways, including morning meeting and other responsive classroom strategies.

Bucket Filling

Have you filled a bucket today? All classrooms use the bucket filling philosophy to promotes respect and empathy towards others, as well as positive self-esteem. As students move through different grade levels, activities may include: read aloud, role playing, filling a classroom bucket, certificates, and creating classroom rules. Each month one student is each class is recognized for their bucket-filling contributions to the school. These awards are a school-wide effort to promote student success in academics, behavior, and social interactions. The awards are announced during monthly grade-level assemblies and are hung up on a bulletin board outside of the main office.

Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct hangs proudly throughout our school. As it is introduced to students, teachers discuss what each expectation of conduct looks like throughout different aspects of the school day.

Willard School's curriculum encompasses various research-based learning programs. The goal of our academic programs is to provide experiences which enable children to meet academic and social challenges and develop their potential as life-long learners. These programs include:

• Columbia Reading Workshop- a model focused on helping students become avid and skilled readers and inquirers
• Columbia Writing Workshop- a model focused on helping students become authentic and skilled authors
• Words Their Way- a hands-on approach to word study that teaches students to look closely at words to discover the spelling patterns, syllable structures, and spelling-meaning connections needed for reading and writing
• Illustrative Math - a rigorous, problem-based, and fully aligned to the standards, with coherence across grade bands.
• Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)- a collaborative set of standards throughout dozens of states that are rich in content and instruction to ensure a comprehensive and coherent science education throughout all grades
• Social Studies Framework- State of Connecticut Standards, following a national framework, designed to promote inquiry in economics, geography, history, and civics

Different grade levels utilize additional research-based programs throughout the curriculum.

Emma Hart Willard School uses various forms of standardized testing throughout the school year. The goal of standardized testing is to create a picture of student growth, as well as to inform instruction in academic areas. The following standardized tests are integrated into our program:

• Smarter Balanced Assessment  (SBA) - Language Arts and Math assessments for grades 3, 4, and 5
• Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment (BAS) - Reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension assessments for grades K-5
• Next Generation Science Standards Test (NGSS) - Science assessment for grade 5

Each grade levels also utilized various district-wide literacy and math skill assessments to assess student growth and inform teacher instruction throughout the school year.

Emma Hart Willard School recognizes students, teachers, and parents throughout the school year for various achievements. Recognitions include:

• Berlin Bravos
• Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents Student Award (CAPSS)
• Connecticut Assocation of Schools Celebration of the Arts Award
• Connecticut Association of Schools Parent Volunteer Award
• Connecticut Association of Schools Student Leadership Award (CAS)
• Friends of Berlin Schools
• Non-Certified Staff Member of the Year
• Teacher of the Year