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New high school curriculum features longer day, fewer periods
(by Sandi Latimer, staff writer - March 09, 2010)
Beginning this fall, students at Jonathan Alder High School will have a longer school day and one less class period.
It’s all part of a redesign of the high school curriculum. Principal Phil Harris, Assistant Principal Jim Albanese and Curriculum Director Jamie Pund outlined the plan at the March 8 school board meeting.
“Students will spend a longer time in class each period,” Harris said. “No one has nine periods anymore, and you don’t change class every 40 minutes.”
The redesign lengthens the school day by a few minutes, giving students an extra 40 minutes of instruction per week, he said.
With the new schedule comes a shuffling of requirements, addition of state required courses, and elimination of two-period classes for some science courses.
Changes include switching the senior project from social studies to English 12, which frees up the social studies department to offer a fourth course for the honors diploma and add a state-mandated financial literacy class for juniors.
English 12 covers research, writing and presentation skills, which works well for the senior project, Pund said, adding that the project’s scope will be wider and framed around the question: “What can I do that will impact others?”
Instead of teaching health in eighth grade and 10th grade, the district is looking to move the course to eighth grade only and offer high school credit for it.
Pund said teachers are reviewing the content of the two health courses to see how they overlap.
“The curriculum is similar,” she said. The question is: “Are eighth-graders mature enough to handle 10th grade work?”
For new students who enroll at the high school level and need a health credit, the district will offer an online health course.
The curriculum redesign also eliminates freshman seminar. Instead, teachers will infuse skills for college and career readiness into courses across the curriculum.
Altogether, the changes allow students to have two elective courses their freshman year, three each their sophomore and junior years, and four their senior year. Additionally, students will have two semesters of physical education, one of health, and get one credit for computer instruction.
“And they can still take band and choir,” Harris said.
Throughout the planning process, school leaders have talked to students about the upcoming curriculum changes.
“Students in the eighth grade will have to make decisions,” said Superintendent Doug Carpenter. “They have been talking with their teachers, their parents, and counselors. They have been asking questions.”
One component of the redesign is already in place. Albanese said school leaders restructured classwork for this year’s freshmen in attempt to decrease the failure rate.
“All students are in intervention,” he said. “This way we can identify struggling students and help them sooner.” Teachers also can identify students who need a greater challenge.
Other District News
• Starting this fall, elementary school report cards will include a student’s reading level.
“It will show where the student should be and where the student is,” Pund said.
• The board granted Phil Harris a five-year contract extension. Harris has been with the district for 30 years, 26 as principal. He said he will retire at the end of the new contract.
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