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Update: The Re-design for '09
Secondary Schools' Mission: To prepare each learner for successful completion of a post-secondary educational program, life-long learning, career opportunities, and meaningful contributions as a citizen of the local and global community by providing personalized, rigorous, and relevant learning experiences.
21st Century Realities:
- A high school diploma is not enough. Success as an adult now requires education beyond high school.
- The pace of change in public education has not matched the pace of change in the world.
- Americans expect more from their secondary schools. If we don't create our own program, politicians soon will create it for us.
- Much research and insight already exists on how best to approach changing secondary programs. We don't have to invent this wheel, but we can design it to fit our vision and our needs.
The work so far
- Transition Oversight Team (district office administrators and secondary principals, Tim Griffin, and soon, core team teacher representatives) creating the program framework
Today's focus
- Reviewing the work of the Transition Oversight Team (TOT) to create a starting point for Core Teams to use in developing individual school programs.
- Initial framework is based on national, state and local standards, expectations, and research.
The Re-design for '09
Schedule
A scheduling group earlier this year identified three significant values that our daily schedule should support:
> Improve student achievement
> Respond to student needs
> Establish teams, house, small learning communities, magnets
- Exploring schedules that allow at least some year-long classes
- Other considerations include expense, hours per credit, length of instructional periods, total number of credit opportunities, continuity between buildings for staffing, student contacts in a day, teacher prep time
Grades 6-8
- Moving toward a hybrid daily schedule similar to current Pioneer Ridge schedule
- 6th graders will use the same schedule as 7th and 8th graders
- Schedule will increase flexibility at all levels, allowing more time for advisory groups and relationship building
- Moving toward a trimester schedule for increased flexibility
Grades 9-12
- Moving toward a hybrid daily schedule similar to current Pioneer Ridge schedule
- Moving toward a semester schedule.
Credits and Graduation Requirements
Grades 6-8
- Credits will be earned to ensure mastery
- Supports will be in place to assist students with credit completion when problems arise
- Use of credits prepares students for high school experience
- Some classes may count for high school graduation requirements
Grades 9-12
- New requirements must reflect state law (e.g. physics or chemistry now required by state as well as Algebra II; Algebra I moves to grade 8)
- All students will need to earn a required number of credits; the number of credits is not likely to be very different from 2008
- Some credits will be specific requirements in areas like English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, etc
- Some credits will be student electives
- All state standards and preparation for admission to post-high school educational opportunities will be embedded in the High School requirements
- Biggest change likely in the expansion of the kinds of courses that would meet the requirements
- Requirements must prepare students for post-secondary programs
- Design Team directs competency in a world language that likely leads to a graduation requirement
Safe, Nurturing Environment
Teams - Grades 6-8
- Teams will be designed to work as interdisciplinary groups to address research that support interdisciplinary learning as a more effective instructional model
- Exploring the possibility of some teachers looping with students in grades 7 and 8. That means some teachers would remain with students for two years.
Teams - Grades 9-12
- Moving to interdisciplinary teams in for 9th and 10th grade including looping in some subject areas for continuity and relationship building
- Explore options to assist students in transition
Advisory - Grades 6-8
- Advisors loop every three years
- Longer advisory time to strengthen relationships
Integrated Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
Grades 6-12
- Exploring International Baccalaureate (IB) program for grades 6-12. IB has two parts: a Middle Years program for grades 6-10 and the Diploma program as an option for students in grades 11-12. IB is a lens with which to view curriculum, not a narrow program.
Grades 6-8
- Changes in world language program - Languages introduced earlier.
- 6th grade - exploratory class
- 7th and 8th grade - required one semester/trimester class
- 7th and 8th grade - student option for year-long classes to meet high school graduation requirements
- Students will have to demonstrate proficiency to move to the next level of world languages
- Additional opportunities in Spanish
- Introduce Chinese
- Now exploring the number of language choices that can be supported at the middle level and how best to do that
- Exploratory classes developed around MDE's "Foundation, Knowledge and Skills" as an organizer of content
- Project Lead the Way (a national pre-engineering program) will added to middle schools
Grades 9-12
- Advanced Placement, College in the Schools and PSEO classes will continue
- As juniors and seniors, students would choose from learning communities organized around concentrated areas of study. The choices would be designed to give students the opportunity to explore areas of interest in greater depth. Each area would address core requirements through readings, projects, activities within that interest-area. Areas of study might look like this:
- Health and Human Services (health science, biomedical science, biotechnology, education/training, law, leadership and public service, child development)
- Engineering and Technology (math, science, technology, manufacturing)
- Arts and Communication (the arts, media, media arts, information technology, literature, humanities)
- International Studies (business, finance, consumer science, language, environment, macroeconomics
- IB Diploma Program could be woven into any of these areas of study
- Seniors may be required to demonstrate knowledge through a capstone project
- World languages - Chinese introduced at middle level and continued into high school; introduce Arabic; Spanish continues; examining how to support other languages - hybrid and online options
- Continuation of the freshmen experience at both high schools
Next Steps
- Core Teams begin work in March
- Teachers indicate preference for assignment in 2009-10; preliminary assignments announced June, 2008
- Professional Development - Late starts scheduled for next year in addition to other, regular in-service late spring and summer
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