(2017-06-03) Reinventing High School Stacy Teicher Khadaroo

Reinventing High School (Stacy Teicher Khadaroo)

Students rarely see Textbooks here at the Manchester School of Technology High School (MST-HS)

In most classes, they don’t get standard letter grades. They don’t automatically move on to the next level at the end of the school year, but instead advance once they have mastered the material. Students buttress their classroom learning with real-world experiences – such as building a house or working as a chef – to help prepare for future Careers.

Here, vocational education (VoTech) meets cutting-edge academic innovation.

Some of the boldest experimentation is going on in New Hampshire. The state has become a leader in the “competency-based” education movement – in which success is less about “seat time” in a classroom or passing traditional tests and more about students showing they can apply skills and knowledge to complex challenges. (Assessment, 2013-08-14-IsYourStudentcompetentANewEducationYardstickTakesTheMeasure)

Mr. Koziatek (“Mr. K,” to the students) keeps up with what’s new in design so they’ll be well prepared, whether they go to work as a drafter, head to community college for a CAD (computer-aided design) certificate, or opt for a six-year master’s in architecture

The high-tech and academically demanding nature of some of the career programs at MST-HS often surprises people in the community, who remember its roots as a vocational school in the 1980s.

Career-tech schools with strong academics show that “there are multiple pathways to it,” says Shaun Dougherty

During open houses, teachers tell prospective students they have to be self-motivated. “That’s part of the model: There’s a lot of freedom,” says English and humanities teacher Jillian Corey. But students also have to take ownership of their learning. “With first-year students, we spend a lot of time initiating them, breaking down old ways of thinking,” she says. Barely passing “does not exist here…. That blows their mind.”

Matthew has some incentive: Finishing Geometry is a prerequisite for starting the popular Game Design program.

Not everyone is excelling academically, though

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, when we have a successful lesson, it’s because we didn’t pull it out of a textbook,” says Ms. Robinson of the geometry and physical science class.

*Sitting on couches in the Game Design classroom, four teenage boys rank the traits of characters they are creating, such as charisma and stamina, when Jonathan Richard declares: “This class taught me English!”

His friends agree, saying they recently watched an anime film that helped them understand story arc and other concepts their English teacher has offered up in different contexts*

Challenges remain. One is explaining the new way of grading to parents – and college admissions counselors.