Good? Bad?

Opinions?

i do. i helped get them up and running their first year 3 years ago and know a lot of the staff and admin. Great people.

Good:
I think it's a good way of approaching school for some. The kids that come in there are nerds for the most part and they absolutely embrace that as culture. There is a big mix of athletes/band/gamers/etc.


They use project based learning where the majority of their grading is based on a project instead of individual homework. Teamwork is a big emphasis and I like how they do that. You don't pull your weight, you get cut and fail.

I think it really gives some kids who would fall through the cracks @ BHS or THS a chance to shine. I've seen some incredibly cool things done there by some of the kids you would least expect it from.

Bad:
Sometimes it's a bit willy nilly. That may come from my time working as their network guy and I felt the kids had a lot more freedom than what was merited with some of the technology stuff.

It's a lot harder to do athletics and band, but they do allow you to compete at @ BHS if you're there. You do lose some of the social aspects, but they do have a pretty tight knit group over there amongst themselves


Overall:
I don't know if I'd direct my kids to attend there at this point but I sure wouldn't stop them if they wanted to and encourage them if they make that choice.

[This message has been edited by c-jags (edited 9/20/2013 9:24a).]

Will they have a separate graduation ceremony?

What about class rank? Are they ranked with BHS, or only among New Tech students?

quote:

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Sometimes it's a bit willy nilly.

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Honestly, that's my curiosity --- is it just the latest fad in educational "style"

Magnet schools, open classrooms, quirky curriculum or grading, go at your own pace, relax the rules, etc.....

We've seen it all before...










[This message has been edited by Captain Pablo (edited 9/20/2013 10:01a).]

Oh and thanks for the response....

Yes they will have a separate graduation ceremony. I am not sure about the class rankings.

When I say willy-nilly, I don't mean it in a "they run amuck throughout the school." there's order for sure.

They gave the kids MacBook Pros. Which is great. Good resource and I've seen them do some amazing creative things. But in the middle of that they want them to have free reign of facebook, youtube and a lot of the internet. I've seen kids fail far too often at that age with that responsibility (not @ New Tech per se) and i wish they would pull back the reigns a little bit.

I do not disagree with the project based learning idea. Kids still fail and succeed based on their effort. Real life usually involves teams and I don't think that they run it in some sort of new age BS way. It's run well.

OK. Good info...

I'm too far removed from high school, and still a long way away from having kids of my own, but these new "tech schools" sound like a stupid way for a school district to get rid of the kids that can't hang in regular school.

Fishing.....glad tou quantified yourself before that statement. ...smh

rbf,

Rough night at the Pendleton pump?








[This message has been edited by Captain Pablo (edited 9/21/2013 10:05a).]

I would rather see nerdy kids in this tech setting than being home schooled by HS grad parents! I personally know three families who had kids who knew everything about computers at a very early age and that basically was all they were interested in. Bad grades in typical classrooms so parents took them out, bought a home school package and voila they were qualified to teach them.

Two kids went tech route and did well, one opted to educate herself at home and asked for accredited programs for Christmas and birthday gifts. We were able to help her re-enroll in public system through very small school that essentially bought her the advanced programs that they didn't actually offer. She graduated top of class but because she wasn't really a school student she didn't speak at commencement and was glad about that one!

Hi Mom

I know you don't give a hoot about my opinion, gotta give you cred for this

"I would rather see nerdy kids in this tech setting than being home schooled by HS grad parents!"

I know a young lady from Lorena who is bright as a star. When I asked if she was LHS grad, she said home schooled. Very intelligent,... yet not

quote:

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I'm too far removed from high school, and still a long way away from having kids of my own, but these new "tech schools" sound like a stupid way for a school district to get rid of the kids that can't hang in regular school.

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Very ignorant (I don't mean stupid) comment. Kids apply to new tech by choice and only accept the first 125. Plenty of sharp kids in there. If anything it will do a good job of keeping BHS smaller

The grade/sex/ethnicity demographics mirror BHS.

petey, yes your exact scenario! another one, a child in private faith based school...EVERYTHING done in said school is faith based.

Math using only Biblical references for measurements. History is only of Old World/Biblical times...there is mention of Christianity spreading through the New World and apparently that happened to be a continent called the United States. The US was formed for religious freedom to ensure against persecution but all that European stuff and the Holocaust was glazed over. They did concentrate on current Middle East problems as new times tribes still looking for settlements!

C-jags has much more intimate knowledge of New Tech than myself, but I did tour the school and really appreciated the ideas, culture and learning that I saw.

The kids all seemed to enjoy the school and wanted to be there. I'm a big fan of project based learning. PBL is a different way of teaching compared to the traditional class you'll see in most schools. Project based learning mimics the real world. A great emphasis is placed on teamwork and presentation skills.

I can tell you that the students who lead our tour would have probably just gone through the motions at BHS, but they thrived at New Tech.

My two cents.

New tech is phenomenal for some students. I think if something like that had been around I would have learned much more than I did in a traditional high school. They actually apply the concepts as opposed to memorizing and testing. Also teaches self organization (something I lacked upon entry to college ) not for everyone, but a great option.