Connected Academy
Connected Academy
|
|
|
LSAC
MegAnne’s Charter Revision Proposal
Connected Academy was created to give students like myself an alternative to massive public schools like Milton or Roswell, where it seems as if education is “one size fits all.” Connected Academy proposed a learning environment where the material students learned was relevant and where students could gain real world experience in a field of interest to them through the internship program. For many people this new perspective on education was promising, but Connected Academy encountered many issues in its inaugural year that have impeded the school’s ability to implement and achieve its original intentions. The school’s idealistic proposal did no account for the multitude of students, all with different backgrounds and intentions, who would enroll. In the first few weeks it became apparent the there were many students at Connected who were there fro all the wrong reasons; instead of attracting an exemplary group of students who were ready to embrace a new perspective on education, the school was filled with kids who were fed up with school and had no intention of changing their attitude toward education. Administrators and teachers had to spend precious class time dealing with endless discipline issues, and in addition to that, they had to try, at time futilely, to motivate students who simply did not care. The students at Connected Academy all came from different schools with different academic and behavioral standards; consequently, the student body was incredibly inconsistent. Over the past year I have been able to observe Connected Academy, it successes and its flaws, and I have concluded that it is imperative that certain changes be made at this school. The school’s innovative and influential approach to education has the potential to be immensely beneficial to many students, but Connected Academy, as it is today, must be changed if it is ever to reach this potential I believe that the school charger should be amended to allow 9th and 10th graders into the school. At the beginning of high school, students are much more receptive to change; they are still impressionable and in most cases invested in their education. I know from experience that as students reach the end of their high school careers, they are focused on graduating and in many cases have checked out. By the time students reach their senior year of school, it is just too late for many of them to change the way they perceive education. Allowing 9th and 10th graders entry would give an opportunity for the school to develop a consistency in the student body; disciplinary and academic expectations would be made clear from the start so that by a student’s junior and senior year, she would know what was expected of her. The addition of 9th and 10th graders would completely transform the school environment. Since Connected Academy is a block schedule school, students could take many of their required core classes in the first two years, allowing them the opportunity to spend their last two years taking internships or mentorship which will better prepare them for college and the job market. · Questions: Do we start with 9th grade for the first year then 10th grade for the following year?
Can students take more AP classes for college credit?
What can we provide that other schools don’t?
What are positive reasons to come to Connected Academy?
· Emory students will give feedback April 24th concerning their data on Connected Academy Meeting concluded at 8:30am. |
|
|
