Idaho Examiner: School District 25 Recommends Change to Trimester System"Common Sense News"

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=TUUGX/1ZDF0&offerid=115126.10000595&type=4&subid=0

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=TUUGX/1ZDF0&offerid=20738.10000022&type=4&subid=0

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=TUUGX/1ZDF0&offerid=123504.10000008&type=4&subid=0

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=TUUGX/1ZDF0&offerid=129915.10000003&subid=0&type=4

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=TUUGX/1ZDF0&offerid=129320.10000112&type=4&subid=0

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=TUUGX/1ZDF0&offerid=50252.10000267&type=4&subid=0

Education

School District 25 Recommends Change to Trimester System

Posted on: October 03, 2007

By Becky Ponkow

School District 25 in a series of 3 informational meetings for parents has presented their findings and has requested feedback from parents and community members on their opinion of the recommendations.

As the Committee gathered information about our District some startling statistics came to light when children in the District were polled:

36% believe schools provide a caring, encouraging environment
30% perceive that adults in the community value youth
34 % responded that he/she knows how to plan ahead and make choices
55% responded that he/she knows how to resolve conflict non-violently

In addition, it was determined that the dropout rate in SD25 is about 17% with the highest rates culminating when students reach their 16th birthday.

The driving force behind the changes to curriculum and the recommended change to a trimester system is the State’s increased requirements for the class of 2013. Currently students in District 25 are required to earn 42 credits, 8 of which must be in English, 4 in Math, and 4 in Science. The current semester system would either require students to take electives before or after school or discontinue the elective courses entirely. Semesters currently offer 6 credits which means the maximum available credits in the regular school year currently total 12 which would only account for 48 credits for graduation.

The trimester program would decrease the number of weeks per sequence and have 5 classes. The maximum number of credits per year increases to 15 which gives a possible 60 credits for graduation. The trimester system also allows the district to continue at current staffing levels minimizing the financial impact on the district.

The recommendations also include a new philosophy in High School Curriculum. The Redesign Committee visited several school districts to determine what makes a District successful. Members visited Idaho Falls Area Districts 91 and 93; Rigby, Idaho; The Greater Seattle area; Wood River High School in Hailey, Idaho; Mountain View High School in Meridian, Idaho; and a High School in Kentucky. Their conclusions after acquiring information from these Districts guided the committee to recommend “Academies” or areas of concentration.

The initial Academy proposal is to have four areas of concentration:

Freshman Academy
Arts and Communication Academy
Business, Technology, Health and Human Services Academy
Science, Engineering, Industrial Technology Academy

Although all students would be required to attain 8 credits for English, Speech 1 credit, Math 6 credits (including Algebra 1 and Geometry), Science 6 credits, Social Studies 6 credits (including US History, Government, 1 semester Economics, 1 semester World History), 2 Humanities credits, 1 Health credit, 1 Success Credit (a new Freshman year class) and 20 Elective credits for a total of 52 credits to graduate – the Academies would focus attention on Electives that would build a foundation for college entrance, a career or both. Students are required to complete a Senior Project that really details what they learned beginning in 9th grade and continuing through 12th grade. The Senior project also requires students to “shadow” a profession they believe they have interest in twice during their High School years and present what they learned from the experience.

In addition to the Academy design, the committee recommends the implementation of an Advisory Program that would meet with Teachers, Parents, and Students twice per month. A large portion of the Advisory Program is to pinpoint problem areas immediately and address them before the Student falls behind. In addition, the Advisory Program keeps the Student on track to completion of the Senior Project which is required for graduation.

Issues the Redesign attempts to address include making sure at risk children are identified and intervention takes place to assure the best outcome for the child. Another issue is focusing education in an area that interests Students so they understand the importance of core learning objectives in professions they have an interest in. Advanced students will still have the A/P program available to them.

The few parents that attended expressed concerns over costs, too much emphasis on continuing to a College education, and an inferior quality Advisory Program. Curriculum concerns ranged from the material not being challenging enough to actually loosing more children to dropout due to the increased requirements.

District Officials continue to ask for feed back and request that interested parties comment in writing and submit the comments via mail to Chuck Wegner, 3115 Pole Line Road, Pocatello, ID 83201 or fax to Chuck Wegner at 235-3280. All feedback must be received by 5:00 pm October 19, 2007.

Please see outline of High School Redesign below:

HSRedesign.pdf