Siloam Springs High School will be offering several new learning opportunities, including internships with local business partners and classroom settings that offer a blend of online and traditional teaching.
Principal Jason Jones and assistant principal Jerry Price presented plans for the new programs to the school board on Thursday.
Jones said the internship program is designed to expose students to a job or career they may be interested in, whether they plan to start work out of high school or pursue post-secondary education. If students find the career is something they enjoy, they can move forward, or if they find out the job is not for them they will potentially save spending $80,000 on an education then finding out they don't like the field, Jones said.
Internships will be available in the six career and technical pathways, which include audio/video production, agriculture, business, engineering, family and consumer science, health sciences and industrial maintenance, with a total of 100 specific internship jobs. All of the internships must be a part of one of the school's established pathways to count toward the course, Jones said.
Students will need to provide documentation that they are working 10 to 15 hours a week during the internship program, Jones said. Some internships will be paid while others will not, depending on the business.
The program will be available to seniors who are at least age 16. They must have a career focus on file, be a member of a career and technical student organization, and must be on track to be a completer in a single career and technical pathway. They must also maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 or better, and have five or less tardies during their junior year. Last year, the school would have had 78 students who would have qualified for the program, Jones said
Students will also be required to provide their own transportation to the job site, and will need to secure written recommendations, Jones said. They will spend the first month of the internship focusing on soft skills before they will interview with internship hosts and go through the hiring process. Students will be eligible to either take off their first period or last period of the school day to accommodate their work schedules.
Blended Learning
Blended learning classes are part of the five year plan the school district developed when it became a charter school in 2014.
Part of the charter school plan was to personalize learning so students can work at a faster pace during their freshman and sophomore years and spend more time during their junior and senior years focusing on things like the Career Academy of Siloam Springs, internships or advanced placement classes, Price said. She explained that blended learning will help fulfill these goals by allowing students the flexibility to work at a faster pace, or a slower pace if they need it.
"We have kids that need more and we have kids that can handle more responsibility," she said.
Blended learning is similar to online learning because students have access to an online digital curriculum, Price said. But they also have a teacher in the classroom to monitor their progress, help with problems and create small groups of kids who may have the same challenges.
Unlike online classes, students won't be learning in isolation, Price said. However, they will offer students a chance to practice working in an online format and to become an independent learner. The classes will not be easier than traditional courses and will not offer a time to slack off.
In the blended learning model, the teacher becomes more of a facilitator than an instructor, Price said. The classes could benefit top students who are ready to work ahead rather than listening to the teacher work example after example, as well as students who have a history of being very unmotivated, she said
The school already offers several blended learning classes for students who have failed Geometry or Algebra I the first time around, Price said. Students earn the right to work independently by working two weeks ahead of the standard pace of the class. So far the class has been highly successful and has motivated and engaged several students who have gone from failing to making As, she said. Typically three to five students a semester would fail the second chance classes, but last semester only one student failed.
Current ninth-graders will learn about the program during their upcoming parent conferences. Applications for blended learning classes are due in March and students will be notified in April if they are accepted into the program, Price said. Classes are scheduled to begin in August 2018.
"I'm extremely excited about this," Price said. "I don't know if I have been as excited to be a part of building something in my whole career. It is one of the most innovative things we've done... I think its going to turn kids back on to school."
In other business, the school board conducted their annual review of superintendent Ken Ramey's performance.
School board president Brian Lamb said the board went over evaluation forms with Ramey during executive session.
"I think we can all say we are very blessed to have him in the leadership of Siloam Springs School District and he does an exceptional job... He has a heart for it and a passion and a real work ethic and cares about kids," Lamb said.
Ramey is already under an extended contract for two more years and the board decided to continue on with the existing contract, Lamb said.
The school board took the following additional actions:
• Hired Julie Reynolds, eighth-grade language arts teacher, and Rebecca Barton, high school speech-language pathologist.
• Transferred Joellen Wright from middle school coach to high school head volleyball coach.
• Approved the transfer of one student from the Gentry School District to the Siloam Spring School District.
• Approved the transfer of one student from the Siloam Springs School District to the Gentry School District.
General News on 01/18/2017