Another example of a high school - college program

I'm noticing a trend that's got me very excited. I wrote in a previous blog about high schools that are offering combined diploma and associates of arts degrees. The program seems to be particularly effective with struggling students.

Evanston Township High School, just north of Chicago, is going to be launching a similar program in conjunction with Oakton Community College. This is a nationally ranked college that offers a rich program in technology and the arts.

The Evanston Roundtable reports that the ETHS board has just approved an arrangement to combine its Adult and Continuing Education program with other area high school districts which have formed an Alliance with Oakton.

This trend should be watched closely. Is it the magic elixir to keep students engaged yet guided on a path toward a meaningful future?

I'll keep you posted.

School (as we know it) Is Out Forever

Across the pond in Merseyside, England, high school is being redesigned. It's not a partial redesign but a total, throw-the-old-model-out-the-window redesign, reports Richard Gardner of the Independent newspaper.

All eleven secondary schools will be closed within two years, replaced by seven "state of the art, round the clock, learning centres with the aid of Microsoft".

The model tailors the day's assignments to the exact needs and interests of a student. Home learning is also part of the model even the schools will have a greatly expanded school day, including weekends.

This is what I call ground-breaking, literally and figuratively!

How did Microsoft come to choose to become Merseyside's educational benefactor? I'm not sure but Bill and Melinda Gates already had a relationship with the nearby Liverpool School of Tropical Diseases to which they've donated millions of dollars for research on malaria.

Cheating 2.0 - Cheating Upgraded is Cheating Nonetheless.

Let's see, what was cheating back in the day? Scribbling notes on our wrists, or the understide of baseball caps, or the tops of shoes.

Now in the new millenia, the goal is the same but the cheating technology has been upgraded.

Cheating has gone high tech. Cell phones, PDA and online term papers all are co-conspirators.

But professors are fighting back. Here's some ways that professors and educational institutions are reducing the odds of cheating electronically:

• Turning off wireless access points during tests
• Insisting all electronic devices are stored during tests
• Running papers through turnitin.com to detect plagarism

Best of all was a sting run by professors at University of Maryland's College Park campus. Professors posted an incorrect version of the answers on a website that could be accessed via cell phone during the test. Those students who submitted those answers on the test were sussed out and flunked.

Global Warming - Who cares about it? Generation Z does.

Here's a heart-warming story about three Generation Z high school students who produced a video on global warming. Their vid won second place in a C-Span contest.

There's no ranting about global warming - just a shot of the Mount Greylock Regional High School Cross Country Ski team at practice. Look closely and you'll see they are wearing roller skis and are skiing on grass. No snow - no skis, in mid-January, in western Massachusetts.

A local ski shop owner notes that business is down from the lack of snow. The vid also includes an interview with a world-renowned global warming expert Elizabeth Kolbert and a clip of naysayer Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla).

You can tune in to C-Span on June 7th at 6:50 EST to see what Generation Z is doing to air their concern about global warming.

Cartoon College - Reaching Generation Z with Naruto

I bet you've met a Generation Z kid, wide-eyed kids, pencil in hand, sketching a anime character. Perhaps its their own creation perhaps it's a famous anime character like Naruto or even Pokemon (yes, its still on tv).

Is there a future for Generatioin Z kids who dream of becoming an grahpic novel artist?

Teresa Mendez of the Christian Science Monitor wrote an interesting story about a 'Cartoon College'. Actually, it's the Center for Cartoon Studies, if you please. Their first class in their associates of art degree, thirty students strong, are about to graduate.

Their primary concern now? Finding jobs, or at the very least contacts they can nuture like an idea for a new cartoon.

How big is the graphic novel arena? How about $300 million in annual sales. But as the article points out - breaking in is hard to do.

But what I liked about the students described in the article - is their passion. They were dedicated to developing a career in cartooning and graphic novels. Yet they were realistic about how difficult it is to break into this market.

These are good traits for a Generation Z kid - passion and dedication. Okay, these are good traits for anyone - of any age. Darn straight!

Completing College in High School - A Magnet for Struggling Generation Z'ers

An interesting article from the Chicago Tribune by Dahleen Glanton highlights a new approach for engaging struggling high schoolers - send them to college!

Actually, the way the program works is students who are targeted for improvement are enrolled in dual programs; their normal high school program and a college track focusing upon their career interests.

Take Mathew Basden for example. He is now avoiding gangs and other distractions to focus on his his career goal - opening a restaurant. He thinks he would have dropped out without the program.

Jequetta Williams was getting straight F's before enrolling in such a program. "I wasn't focused on school," she said. Now she is earning A's and B's.

The Chicago Public School district has developed a program in coordination with DeVry University call DeVry University Advantage Academy High School. Students in this program graduate with a high school diploma and an Associate's computer degree from DeVry. Perhaps, best of all 90% went on to four year colleges and the other 10% entered the workforce in the area they had specialized in. Talk about job ready!

Did you notice how many times the word Focus was used above?

I think this type of program is helping kids focus on their goals. When the realization of their goals is within reach, they seem able to focus on the important thing - building their future.

Classroom of the Future?

The York Dispatch reports that the Red Lion Area School District in Pennsylvania is apply for a grant to create what it calls the Classroom of the Future.

The approach doesn't seem revolutionary - laptops for every desk for social studies, math, science and English.

Yet the principal, Charlie Humberd reports that other high schools in the district with a similar program have experienced several key results that any school would want:

• Increased attendance
• Lower drop out rate
• Fewer classroom disturbances
• More student engagement in the school
  

If it turns out that this Classroom of the Future is effective contributor to the above results, then three cheers for it, revolutionary or not!