Why SPAN? Why Now?
Recently much has been written about America’s high schools.
Our graduation rates and our competitive edge on the world stage…
But the two reasons a parent looks at the SPAN program are all about
providing your child with 1) a head start on college, and 2) enrichment, which
they may not receive in a conventional setting.
So why with all of the changes everyone talks about going on at high school
should you really think about letting your teenager become a full-time SPAN
student and taking such a non-traditional approach to education?
Well, let’s look at some recent articles on high school in America.
Education Reform
Is education reform needed in our high schools? The the U.S.News and World
Report of April 4, 2005 in an editorial on page 60 by David Gergen writes:
“On a list of 20 developing nations, America now ranks 16th in high school
graduation rates and 14th in college graduation rates. But wait, it gets worse.
That list of 20 doesn’t even include India and China because they’re officially
considered ‘developing’ countries. Yet everyone in American technology knows
that India and China are rapidly becoming our most serious competitors.
“Bill Gates is among a growing number of CEO's whose concern is rising. ‘When
I compare our high schools to what I see when I’m traveling abroad,’ Gate told
the governors, ‘I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow.” Gates pointed out
that in 2001 India graduated a million more students from college than the
United States did, while China has six times as many university students
majoring in engineering. Many of those students are now staying home to
work, saying no to U.S. jobs. As a result, U.S.-based companies are finding it
increasingly attractive to build not only their manufacturing plants abroad but
their R & D operations as well.”
“What’s needed now is public recognition that, as Gates says, ‘America’s high
schools are obsolete.’”
In The Indianapolis Star of February 10, 2004 was an article titled, “Report:
Diplomas dropping in value,” that stated:
“If you want a decent job at a decent wage, it’s a high-skill job,’ said Michael
Cohen, president of Achieve Inc., one of the education policy groups driving the
American Diploma Project.”
“’A high school diploma should mean something to an employer and
university,’ said Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, who is Achieve’s co-chairman.
“In Taft’s state, three in 10 students who go directly to college from high school
end up taking remedial English or math classes, he said. ‘It’s evidence that the
current high-school graduating standards are not preparing students.’”
On page 51 of the U.S.News and World Report of October 13, 2003, stated:
“If you read a lot of newspapers and magazines or happen to be acquainted
with a particularly precocious child, you might assume that most American
high schoolers spend their nights swilling coffee and propping open their
eyelids to finish crushing amounts of homework. But Matt Hogan, a senior at
Evanston Township High School in Illinois, does only 45 minutes of homework
a night and still maintains a B average in honors-level classes. ‘Some of the
classes really don’t give out homework,’ he says. ‘The teachers are too lenient.’
“Maybe, but it turns out that Hogan’s workload is just about average.
According to a study released last week, most kids in this country spend less
than an hour each day studying; almost 40 percent of high schoolers surveyed
had done no homework the night before; and most college freshmen report that
they spent just an hour a day – an all-time low – on homework during their
last year of high school.”
Why would this be? In the U.S.News and World Report of April 4, 2005 on
page 52 is an article titled, “Small classes, big headache.”
“Two and a half years after Florida voters adopted a constitutional
amendment to reduce class sizes, Palm Beach County – and every other school
district in the state – are tripping over a major stumbling block: There just
aren’t enough good teachers to go around. With classes in kindergarten through
third grade capped at 18 students, fourth through eighth held at 22, and high
school limited to 25, the state will need to hire an estimated 29,604 new
teachers by 2009 – a prospect that has many people worried. ‘I have every
reason to expect that the quality of teachers will suffer,’ says John Winn, the
state’s education commissioner.”
In the article, “Is it time to ditch senior year?” in the December 8, 2003 issue of
U.S.News and World Report from page 74, we find:
“If it’s fifth period, it must be time for Hacky Sack for high school senior Jess
Rojas. Second period the Boulder, Colo., student spends staring into space at
the library, and the rest of his day isn’t much more challenging: The 17-year-
old claims he can get A’s or B’s with little or no effort. Roja’s problem? He’s got
senioritis, a condition that has afflicted him since he was accepted into the
University of Colorado-Boulder last month. ‘I’m not taking any classes that I
need to graduate,’ says Rojas, who finished his requirements by the end of
junior year. ‘I’m ready for college now.’
“Rojas just may get his wish. Last month, in an effort to stem rising budget
problems, members of the powerful joint budget committee of the Colorado
legislature proposed eliminating the 12th grad and rolling the $271 million
saved into a universal prekindergarten program. ‘In my opinion, not a lot of
12th graders are learning much,’ says Colorado state Sen. Dave Owen, a
member of the budget committee. ‘Maybe we need to put more money at the
lower end of the scale rather than the higher end.’
Senior year, and what to do with it, have become the subject of an ongoing
national debate. In June, before Colorado’s proposed radical amputation,
Florida passed legislation that permits students to graduate from high school
with 18 credits instead of 24, effectively allowing students to graduate after
their junior year. At the heart of both states’ attempted solutions is a
fundamental question: What is senior year for? In many schools today, it’s a
nebulous time when college bound students with acceptance letters in hand
often lose their motivation to learn, while other students, having fulfilled
minimal high school graduation requirements, report to school for just a few
classes. ‘Nobody claims the senior year,’ says Michael W. Kirst, a professor of
education at Stanford who studies the subject. ‘The high schools don’t know
what to do with it; the colleges won’t say that should be done with it, and the
students are acting rationally by getting the signal that none of it matters.’
Indeed, Kirst believes that problems inherent in the misspent senior year won’
t be solved until policy makers take a ‘K-16’ approach toward education – one
that integrates all school levels seamlessly.”
“One look at college remediation rates might suggest that more, not less,
intensive learning in high school is what’s needed. In fall 2000, 76 percent of
postsecondary institutions offered high-school-level remedial reading, writing,
or mathematics courses, and 28 percent of freshmen enrolled in at least one of
them. Colorado says college remediation at its state colleges cost anywhere
from $15 million to $21 million a year.”
One solution was discussed in the article, “Earning two diplomas in one” in the
November 3, 2003 issue of U.S.News and World Report on page 56:
“The 16- and 17-year-olds in Steven Mazie’s writing seminar look like normal
dressed –down, backpack-toting New York City public high school kids – and,
in fact, they are. They’re also full-time college students. At graduation, their
transcripts will be filled with courses like The Social Contract and Its Critics,
Latin American literature, and multi-variable calculus, taught by Mazie and
the other 20 teachers on the faculty who hold a Ph.D. And their diplomas will
come with an associate’s degree.
“When Bard High School Early College opened two years ago, it pioneered a
kind of hybrid that is now rapidly being cloned: a school run jointly by a public
school district and a local college (in this case, Bard College in Annandale on
Hudson, N.Y.) where students can wrap up their high school course work by
junior year and tackle a curriculum of college courses that meet state
requirements for graduation, too. Nineteen ‘early college high schools’ are
opening nationwide this academic year, and 64 more are scheduled to start up
next year.”
So as you can see the SPAN Program fits right in to the high schools of the
future, although it was cutting edge in 1984 at it's inception. But the
questions still follow: Yes, they still need a high school diploma before they can
get financial aid in college and there are a variety of ways to make that
happen: (1)You can leave them in high school and they can take an additional
college class at night. Most local high school will let them take one or
sometimes two classes the last half of their Junior and Senior year but most
won't allow much beyond that, it effects their state funding something they
will tell you they don't have nearly enough of at this time. (2)You can file them
as home schooled and work through the process, we have provided in the
article"A Parent's Perspective" on these pages with that in mind. But it is very
time consuming and full of trial and error. (3) You can let Todd Academy
handle all the headaches all the way through their graduation ceremonies. You
can utilize our experience and knowledge while your job is watching your
talented teen get his wings and thrive. Your child will have the advantages of
having classmates, even though he/she doesn't see them daily and you will get
to enjoy your teenager while we handle the headaches and growing pains.
Have a great month, until next time,
Sharon
Recently much has been written about America’s high schools.
Our graduation rates and our competitive edge on the world stage…
But the two reasons a parent looks at the SPAN program are all about
providing your child with 1) a head start on college, and 2) enrichment, which
they may not receive in a conventional setting.
So why with all of the changes everyone talks about going on at high school
should you really think about letting your teenager become a full-time SPAN
student and taking such a non-traditional approach to education?
Well, let’s look at some recent articles on high school in America.
Education Reform
Is education reform needed in our high schools? The the U.S.News and World
Report of April 4, 2005 in an editorial on page 60 by David Gergen writes:
“On a list of 20 developing nations, America now ranks 16th in high school
graduation rates and 14th in college graduation rates. But wait, it gets worse.
That list of 20 doesn’t even include India and China because they’re officially
considered ‘developing’ countries. Yet everyone in American technology knows
that India and China are rapidly becoming our most serious competitors.
“Bill Gates is among a growing number of CEO's whose concern is rising. ‘When
I compare our high schools to what I see when I’m traveling abroad,’ Gate told
the governors, ‘I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow.” Gates pointed out
that in 2001 India graduated a million more students from college than the
United States did, while China has six times as many university students
majoring in engineering. Many of those students are now staying home to
work, saying no to U.S. jobs. As a result, U.S.-based companies are finding it
increasingly attractive to build not only their manufacturing plants abroad but
their R & D operations as well.”
“What’s needed now is public recognition that, as Gates says, ‘America’s high
schools are obsolete.’”
In The Indianapolis Star of February 10, 2004 was an article titled, “Report:
Diplomas dropping in value,” that stated:
“If you want a decent job at a decent wage, it’s a high-skill job,’ said Michael
Cohen, president of Achieve Inc., one of the education policy groups driving the
American Diploma Project.”
“’A high school diploma should mean something to an employer and
university,’ said Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, who is Achieve’s co-chairman.
“In Taft’s state, three in 10 students who go directly to college from high school
end up taking remedial English or math classes, he said. ‘It’s evidence that the
current high-school graduating standards are not preparing students.’”
On page 51 of the U.S.News and World Report of October 13, 2003, stated:
“If you read a lot of newspapers and magazines or happen to be acquainted
with a particularly precocious child, you might assume that most American
high schoolers spend their nights swilling coffee and propping open their
eyelids to finish crushing amounts of homework. But Matt Hogan, a senior at
Evanston Township High School in Illinois, does only 45 minutes of homework
a night and still maintains a B average in honors-level classes. ‘Some of the
classes really don’t give out homework,’ he says. ‘The teachers are too lenient.’
“Maybe, but it turns out that Hogan’s workload is just about average.
According to a study released last week, most kids in this country spend less
than an hour each day studying; almost 40 percent of high schoolers surveyed
had done no homework the night before; and most college freshmen report that
they spent just an hour a day – an all-time low – on homework during their
last year of high school.”
Why would this be? In the U.S.News and World Report of April 4, 2005 on
page 52 is an article titled, “Small classes, big headache.”
“Two and a half years after Florida voters adopted a constitutional
amendment to reduce class sizes, Palm Beach County – and every other school
district in the state – are tripping over a major stumbling block: There just
aren’t enough good teachers to go around. With classes in kindergarten through
third grade capped at 18 students, fourth through eighth held at 22, and high
school limited to 25, the state will need to hire an estimated 29,604 new
teachers by 2009 – a prospect that has many people worried. ‘I have every
reason to expect that the quality of teachers will suffer,’ says John Winn, the
state’s education commissioner.”
In the article, “Is it time to ditch senior year?” in the December 8, 2003 issue of
U.S.News and World Report from page 74, we find:
“If it’s fifth period, it must be time for Hacky Sack for high school senior Jess
Rojas. Second period the Boulder, Colo., student spends staring into space at
the library, and the rest of his day isn’t much more challenging: The 17-year-
old claims he can get A’s or B’s with little or no effort. Roja’s problem? He’s got
senioritis, a condition that has afflicted him since he was accepted into the
University of Colorado-Boulder last month. ‘I’m not taking any classes that I
need to graduate,’ says Rojas, who finished his requirements by the end of
junior year. ‘I’m ready for college now.’
“Rojas just may get his wish. Last month, in an effort to stem rising budget
problems, members of the powerful joint budget committee of the Colorado
legislature proposed eliminating the 12th grad and rolling the $271 million
saved into a universal prekindergarten program. ‘In my opinion, not a lot of
12th graders are learning much,’ says Colorado state Sen. Dave Owen, a
member of the budget committee. ‘Maybe we need to put more money at the
lower end of the scale rather than the higher end.’
Senior year, and what to do with it, have become the subject of an ongoing
national debate. In June, before Colorado’s proposed radical amputation,
Florida passed legislation that permits students to graduate from high school
with 18 credits instead of 24, effectively allowing students to graduate after
their junior year. At the heart of both states’ attempted solutions is a
fundamental question: What is senior year for? In many schools today, it’s a
nebulous time when college bound students with acceptance letters in hand
often lose their motivation to learn, while other students, having fulfilled
minimal high school graduation requirements, report to school for just a few
classes. ‘Nobody claims the senior year,’ says Michael W. Kirst, a professor of
education at Stanford who studies the subject. ‘The high schools don’t know
what to do with it; the colleges won’t say that should be done with it, and the
students are acting rationally by getting the signal that none of it matters.’
Indeed, Kirst believes that problems inherent in the misspent senior year won’
t be solved until policy makers take a ‘K-16’ approach toward education – one
that integrates all school levels seamlessly.”
“One look at college remediation rates might suggest that more, not less,
intensive learning in high school is what’s needed. In fall 2000, 76 percent of
postsecondary institutions offered high-school-level remedial reading, writing,
or mathematics courses, and 28 percent of freshmen enrolled in at least one of
them. Colorado says college remediation at its state colleges cost anywhere
from $15 million to $21 million a year.”
One solution was discussed in the article, “Earning two diplomas in one” in the
November 3, 2003 issue of U.S.News and World Report on page 56:
“The 16- and 17-year-olds in Steven Mazie’s writing seminar look like normal
dressed –down, backpack-toting New York City public high school kids – and,
in fact, they are. They’re also full-time college students. At graduation, their
transcripts will be filled with courses like The Social Contract and Its Critics,
Latin American literature, and multi-variable calculus, taught by Mazie and
the other 20 teachers on the faculty who hold a Ph.D. And their diplomas will
come with an associate’s degree.
“When Bard High School Early College opened two years ago, it pioneered a
kind of hybrid that is now rapidly being cloned: a school run jointly by a public
school district and a local college (in this case, Bard College in Annandale on
Hudson, N.Y.) where students can wrap up their high school course work by
junior year and tackle a curriculum of college courses that meet state
requirements for graduation, too. Nineteen ‘early college high schools’ are
opening nationwide this academic year, and 64 more are scheduled to start up
next year.”
So as you can see the SPAN Program fits right in to the high schools of the
future, although it was cutting edge in 1984 at it's inception. But the
questions still follow: Yes, they still need a high school diploma before they can
get financial aid in college and there are a variety of ways to make that
happen: (1)You can leave them in high school and they can take an additional
college class at night. Most local high school will let them take one or
sometimes two classes the last half of their Junior and Senior year but most
won't allow much beyond that, it effects their state funding something they
will tell you they don't have nearly enough of at this time. (2)You can file them
as home schooled and work through the process, we have provided in the
article"A Parent's Perspective" on these pages with that in mind. But it is very
time consuming and full of trial and error. (3) You can let Todd Academy
handle all the headaches all the way through their graduation ceremonies. You
can utilize our experience and knowledge while your job is watching your
talented teen get his wings and thrive. Your child will have the advantages of
having classmates, even though he/she doesn't see them daily and you will get
to enjoy your teenager while we handle the headaches and growing pains.
Have a great month, until next time,
Sharon
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Notes From The Director
| An early college high school for the virtually unlimited student. |