Even though it doesn't look like the school board will make the Graduation Project a districtwide requirement anytime soon, some students are pushing forward on their own.
As noted in today's article, 482 rising seniors have returned a form to their school saying they intend to complete the project before graduating in 2010. If senioritis doesn't get in the way, they'll get to wear a cord on their gown and receive a notation on their transcript near year.
There are also four students who are graduating a year early who will have a cord on their gowns this month.
Still, most students aren't going to do a project on their own. That's why the school board had been leaning until Tuesday toward making it a local requirement.
Staff presented four options for implementing a local version.
Option one would have meant converting the existing 11th-grade English research paper from one about literary criticism into one based on student interest. Students would have had to present their research to the teacher and their classmates.
Option two would have had the research presented to a panel of faculty members.
Option three would have added the development of a product, presentation of research to a panel of faculty and community members and keeping a portfolio that was not formally assessed.
Option four would have matched what the state Board of Education proposed for the Graduation Project. In addition to option three, the portfolio would have been formally assessed.
One big variation from the state proposal would be that staff had suggested making the mentoring requirement optional but encouraged for students.
School board member Lori Millberg suggested requiring option one and then leaving it up to future boards whether to go on to the other options if funding permitted.
But other board members, notably Kevin Hill and Eleanor Goettee, questioned how much students would actually get out of only doing option one.
“I hope we do it right or we don’t do it," Hill said.
Hill also said that using option one would put everything on the English teacher, adding more to the workload and taking up as much as a week of class time on the presentations.
Board members also weren't certain if they should make the research paper a graduation requirement or just something that would be graded as part of 11th-grade English.
Board members readily agreed that the funding didn't exist to use options three or four, which would be closer to what they wanted. This led to them agreeing to recommend not making the Grad Project a requirement for at least the Class of 2011.
Board members said they wanted to let the students graduating in 2011 know as soon as possible if they were expected to work on the project.
Click here for the handout presented by staff on Tuesday.
Comments
Thanks for sharing nice
Sat, 08/29/2009 - 10:56 — mrdonkThanks for sharing nice stuff. Actually I thought of writing same stuff in my personal hub But not as good as you have written. Any how thanks for sharing such a valuable stuff. I have bookmarked yoru site.
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The biggest problem:
Wed, 06/10/2009 - 21:01 — ApexterThe biggest problem with all of these options is the fact that the graduation project ends up hijacking the Junior English class.
If you're taking a standard English class, this may not be that big a deal, but it is a horrible problem for the kids trying to take AP English. These students (at least the ones at non-magnet schools) are already facing a major handicap in that the block schedule forces them to take the AP test either months after they've completed their English class or else when they're only about 3/4 of the way through the course.
Don't handicap the AG kids even more by adding a meaningless project onto their already full plate.
In today's press release,
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 14:53 — common1In today's press release, the WSCA says that of the five candidates
"only John Tedesco's approach to moving our schools forward is in tune
with WSCA objectives and the unique needs of District 2." The group
says they have agreement on issues such as reassignment and year-round
schools.
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Block Scheduling
Thu, 06/11/2009 - 19:22 — Bob_SconceThe college board did a study of student performance comparing students on traditional calendars to those on block schedules. The results are at http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/pdf/block_schedules_10409.pdf
An excerpt: "students, on average, obtain
higher AP grades when instruction is given over
an entire year rather than in a semesterized block
schedule format."
There are other problems with block scheduling. It's difficult on transferees into a block schedule system and it hurts instruction in subjects were one semester builds on the last, such as in math and foreign language. And, there's also the "the brain can only hold what the butt can endure" phenomenon -- I have a tough time believing that much learning happens in the last 1/2 hour of any block scheduled class.
This is yet another example where ivory-tower education theories have been foisted on the school district by Dr. Del Burns, Ph.Ed. Unfortunately, block scheduling is yet another practice that doesn't pan out.
Wake Schools Community
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 14:55 — common1Wake Schools Community Alliance (WSCA) is pleased to endorse Mr. John
Tedesco for Wake County School Board District 2. Mr. Tedesco has
already filed for the October 6th election. Earlier, John also
received the endorsement of Arnie Osborn, who has withdrawn from the
School Board election and will be supporting John for the District 2
seat.
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N and O opinions experiencing "technical difficulties" again.
Wed, 06/10/2009 - 10:31 — momof2goodboysFunny how this happens so often when the great majority of what is posted is what the N and O wants, or at least very one-sided. I have tried to post my opinion to the article about the BoE's decision to not require a GP until it can be funded properly 2 times now, 7 hours apart, and it keeps telling me that they are experiencing "technical difficulties". I am trying to say that I think that is the right decision obviously. Maybe in 3 or 4 years when the $ is there and the whole thing has been revamped, but not now!
I'd contain the conspiracy
Wed, 06/10/2009 - 11:46 — KeungHui (author)I'd contain the conspiracy theories. We've had some technical issues with the blogs and the main web site for several weeks now. There are times we can't access it even though we're within the firewall. I've been told that it's a technical issue that corporate has been notified about the problem.
Sorry, but it sures seems
Thu, 06/11/2009 - 18:32 — momof2goodboysSorry, but it sures seems that way lately! Thank you for lettin us know though that there is really a problem. They really need to get it taken care of!
but I like a good conspiracy theory
Wed, 06/10/2009 - 12:08 — g88ky07and nowhere else in America can one be played out better than here in Wake County, NC!
As far as the website/blog having difficulties, you're telling me! This site/blog is THE most bugged one I've ever seen! More times than not you can't log on, post or anything else. Too much info crammed onto your servers and the tech guys, let's just say, they're not very good!
I still say that nothing
Wed, 06/10/2009 - 10:07 — momof2goodboysI still say that nothing should be done until we have the $ to do it right! Yes, 482 juniors turned in the form. That's out of how many thousands of kids? Adding anything to what we already expect out of our teachers right now is WRONG! Do we really just want to push them over the edge? Just let them teach without adding another 'project'. Most 11th and 12th grade english classes do a research paper of some kind. Let the teachers decide for themselves! The board made the right decision to put it off until it can be done right. Preferably started from scratch. Maybe then they can come up with something not so daunting to the majority of students.
11th grade research paper
Wed, 06/10/2009 - 08:39 — Bob_SconceResearch Paper about Literary Criticism ... ? Really?
What an awful thing to do to a 17-year-old. I enjoyed Huckleberry Finn in middle school (on my own), then read it again in 11th grade as part of an American Literature class, where we spent far too much time reading research papers and analyzing "the text." As a result, it took me 15 years after graduating from high school before I was able to pick up anything by Mark Twain. (And then, it was only because Jimmy Buffett recommended "Following the Equator.")
Even without a graduation requirement, this should be changed. If you want to teach research skills and writing, at least let them do it on something they care about.