Starting early to reach high goals.High school administrators may sometimes wonder what planet their teenagers are from. So after the Philadelphia's School Reform Commission approved a Small Schools Transition Project, intended to offer small-school, college prep environments, magnet schools magnet school n. A public school offering a specialized curriculum, often with high academic standards, to a student body representing a cross section of the community. , and increased Advanced Placement courses, they knew they had to push their reform down the line. "We have undergone a very major transformation of our high schools, but the reality is kids don't just appear in high school," says Gregory Thornton, chief academic officer for the district of Philadelphia. "If we're going to have strong high school transformation that work has to happen before ninth grade." Philly is addressing the issue of preparedness pre·par·ed·ness n. The state of being prepared, especially military readiness for combat. Noun 1. preparedness - the state of having been made ready or prepared for use or action (especially military action); "putting them with a three-part plan (see sidebar (1) A Windows Vista desktop panel that holds mini applications (gadgets) such as a calendar, calculator, stock ticker and Vonage phone dialer. It is the Windows counterpart to the Dashboard in the Mac. See Windows Vista and gadget. ). These initiatives, funded through the reallocation Noun 1. reallocation - a share that has been allocated again allocation, allotment - a share set aside for a specific purpose 2. reallocation of $9 million in existing funds, aren't focused on gifted students. "This is a very dramatic crusade to mitigate mit·i·gate v. To moderate in force or intensity. mit  i·ga tion n. the achievement gap by allowing our
kids to participate in high-level learning opportunities," Thornton
says.
Experts who focus on high achieving programs applaud the plan. "To me anything that can challenge kids in the areas of creative thinking, critical thinking, analytical thinking--the more higher-level standards as opposed to drilling on basic skills--is valuable," says Joseph Renzulli Joseph Renzulli' (July 7 1936) is an American psychologist. He is mostly noted today for his triad of gifted education constructs. Life Work Renzulli's Triad Other work See also Further reading and external links , director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented at the University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut is the State of Connecticut's land-grant university. It was founded in 1881 and serves more than 27,000 students on its six campuses, including more than 9,000 graduate students in multiple programs. UConn's main campus is in Storrs, Connecticut. . Michael Block, who established two successful AP-focused charter schools in Arizona, BASIS Tucson and BASIS Scottsdale, says, "If you accept the traditional middle school model, very few students can take a rigorous high school model." RELATED ARTICLE: Philly's 3-part plan. 1. Offer eight hours of after-school instruction every week, focused on academics and enrichment enrichment Food industry The addition of vitamins or minerals to a food–eg, wheat, which may have been lost during processing. See White flour; Cf Whole grains. , for up to 35,000 elementary and middle school students this summer and next year. 2. Transform 50 existing elementary and middle schools into "High Achievement Academies" based on the research-based and non-traditional models of Montessori, International Baccalaureate. SpringBoard, Emerging Scholars or University Lab, which partner with universities. These initiatives will be voluntary; teacher preparation will be funded by the city. 3. Establish three new special-admission elementary theme schools in 2006-7 serving kids from the surrounding neighborhood and across the city. |
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