Jonathan Alder officials are proposing a new way to tackle student education intervention.
At a board of education meeting Monday night, district officials heard a proposal from Jonathan Alder High School (JAHS) principal Mike Aurin and staff member Rachael Zimmerman to implement the High Schools that Work (HSTW) improvement program.
“It’s a framework that will provide the structure and support for us to make sure we’re supporting our teachers and also meeting our goals,” Aurin said. “The goal is to improve classroom instruction to improve growth and achievement.”
HSTW is a national improvement initiative for high schools that can take on personalized forms for schools. Aurin said federal grants are available for this program, with $10,000 being earned this year with the program enacted.
“We’re already doing this work anyways,” Aurin said. “To be quite honest, it doesn’t make any sense not to do it. Over the last two years, we would have received $20,000 to help with professional development to support our teachers and classroom instruction.”
With implementation at JAHS and Tolles, Aurin said it would provide intervention to “increase student achievement on all external assessments,” such as ACT and AP tests, and “try to continue to close the gap for learners in math and reading.”
“It’s about us reformulating our process,” he said.
Aurin’s proposal also included creating a delayed schedule for the school year. This would include two Wednesdays a month being designated as late arrival dates.
“We’re trying to maximize something during the school day,” he said, commenting on how this tries to work around a student’s after school obligations or transportation problems.
Nine of those days will be dedicated to teachers collaborating to come up with ways to give extra help to their students and the other nine days would include extra time for students to attend education intervention sessions.
On intervention days, students who need it will receive personalized help at 7:15 a.m., while other students who don’t need it can start their school day at 8 a.m.
“We’re providing something during the school day,” Aurin said. “The high school typically has had a difficult time providing time, whether it be intervention or collaboration, to students and staff because of the way the building schedule works.”
Aurin and Zimmerman talked about how the program will “create a culture of high expectations” that motivates students to instinctively seek help if they need it.
Board member Shannon Foust asked how will a culture be created where students will actively seek help in school. Aurin said giving the opportunities for students in the school day will help improve the culture of seeking assistance.
“We’re trying to create a culture where failure is not an option,” Aurin said. “We want to make sure to give them to opportunity to say, ‘we want you to learn, we’re going to help you and we’re going to do whatever we can to help you.’”
Foust also asked if students will recognize that this is important to them. Aurin said the program will help students see they can take advantage of these educational opportunities.
Board member Steve Votaw asked how much of a difference this would make. Aurin said this lets the school “provide the culture and opportunity” to work on those goals. Votaw also asked how this will be different from how districts like Granville implement it, and Aurin said it will be incorporated into the school schedule in smaller pieces.
“We don’t want to eat the whole sandwich in one fell swoop,” Aurin said.
Also covered at the meeting, the board:
-Announced the 2018 Jonathan Alder quality profile is now available to view on its website.
-Designated board member Christine Blacka as the delegate to the Ohio School Board Association and Capital Conference.
-Approved of a security vestibule contract with Capitol Aluminum and Glass Corporation for $72,000. Superintendent Gary Chapman said the company had a smaller bid than Good Home Maintenance Inc., which offered $104,000.
The board will meet again Sept. 10.