Dexter High School continues pursuit of International Baccalaureate program; may switch to semesters
Dexter High School is continuing its pursuit of an International Baccalaureate program for fall 2011 and in oder to accommodate it, administrators may consider changing from the current trimester schedule to semesters.
High School Principal William "Kit" Moran told the school board Monday night that students must apply for the program by Dec. 15 and will be asked to make course requests soon after they return from winter break.
The program has not yet been approved by the Dexter school board. Nor has the Dexter school district been approved for the I.B. program. Currently, 38 Dexter students have applied for the I.B. Diploma Programme, which is for high school juniors and seniors.
The program offers students a standardized curriculum and is aimed at helping students succeed in the interconnected, globalized world. The program is offered in schools around the world.
In order to accommodate students in band and orchestra who want to be in the I.B. program, Moran said that he has received a recommendation to change the high school's schedule next year from trimesters to semesters and the daily schedules from six to seven periods a day. Band and orchestra would then be offered next year during first period, in order to give I.B. students who participate in either of those classes enough time to also complete all the I.B. courses.
School board member Bonnie Everdeen expressed concern about limiting students of varying abilities to a single class offering of band or orchestra.
"It sounds like a restriction to me," said Everdeen. "I just want to make sure that all the things that we're doing right (the school district) continue."
Five parents addressed the school board regarding the I.B. program — three spoke out against it and two supported it.
Jennifer Maisch likened the I.B. program to, "purchasing a curriculum in a box." She said, "I can't find any hard evidence that I.B. is superior to A.P. (advanced placement courses). It would be a further drain on the district's already thin resources."
Christopher Gordon disagreed. "The I.B. program brings a college preparedness program that's a feather in the cap of this district and would draw people in," he said.
School board member Julie Schumaker suggested making a three- to five-year commitment to the I.B. program.
Dick Lundy, also a school board member, said, "If we're not willing to take some risks, we might as well can it right now."
The I.B. program would cost the Dexter school district $10,000 for membership for the 2011-2012 school year, and the school district would have to hire an additional two to three teachers for the program. A dozen Dexter teachers have already been trained to teach in the I.B. program.
In October, the Dexter school board voted not to participate in the proposed countywide Washtenaw Intermediate School District's I.B. program.
The International Baccalaureate program is o
Comments
J. Maisch
Sun, Nov 21, 2010 : 6:14 p.m.
The high school principal said that the move to semesters is not related to the addition of IB. Yet, in the Fall of 2009, Dexter published an annual report containing the following statement, "Dexter High School completed its first year of a revised trimester system in which students were afforded greater opportunities for elective courses to round out the rigorous Michigan Merit Curriculum recently adopted by the State of Michigan. The revised school day provided opportunities for staff to update curriculum to assure relevance, continue their work on alignment and common assessments, and spend longer periods making connections to their students." A statement presumably written, or at least vetted, by the principal. Now, only a year later, we are being told that trimesters were a failure and we need to return to semesters - and not even the 6-period configuration that we had in 2007-2008 but a 7-period configuration that is new in our experience. It seems ironic that IB requires a 7-period day. Forgive my skepticism, but my perception is that we were either being misled a year ago or that we are being misled now. The move to semesters also means that instruction time for AP and music will be cut significantly. Currently, students spend 70 minutes per day in band or orchestra and 70 minutes per day in an AP class. At present, a student enrolled in 3 AP classes receives 17.5 hours of AP instruction each week of the school year. With this proposed change, the same student will get only 11.75 hours of AP per week. Currently, a band or orchestra student spends 5.8 hours in music class. With this change, a student will spend 3.9 hours in music. Unless there is some intervention, AP and music will suffer.
Chris Gordon
Fri, Nov 19, 2010 : 2:24 p.m.
During the IB information meeting at Dexter High School (DHS) on Thursday evening, November 18, the administration made it clear that the reason for the proposed change from trimesters to semesters is NOT in order to accommodate the IB Diploma Program as described in the story. Two specific problems out of many were cited by the administration as rationale for the change from trimesters to semesters, which has been widely discussed by DHS faculty and in numerous parent forums at the high school and middle school outside of the IB information sessions. The first problem mentioned is that some students cannot be scheduled for both trimesters of a single course consecutively, and the resulting break in instruction is a particular problem for math and language students. An additional problem is the 12 week trimester length is often just enough time for teachers to develop strong relationships with their students and begin to adjust to different learning styles, and then the trimester ends. Switching to a semester schedule with seven-period days will accommodate students in band and orchestra who want to participate in the IB Diploma Program as envisioned for DHS, but this is not the reason for the change.
gpg
Wed, Nov 17, 2010 : 9:08 a.m.
Brilliant.. once again Dexter schools is showing how completely short sighted and reactionary it is. Three years ago we were told that switching to trimesters from semesters would give students that we in band more chances to take electives, especially when if they also took a language. Trimesters were used in many school districts that the district studied (I would love to know how much that cost) and that this would be a good plan for the school. Yes, Kit we were in that auditorium when you made these statements and talked to you directly about this. Reality - that year started with many students not having schedules and a scheduling nightmare for others, many students then in their junior year having to adjust to a radical change in class times and duration (I know this affected my son's grades and he struggled some during the first trimester adjusting) and, honestly I have yet to see any more freedom to take electives. Three years later, lets do the whole thing over again. Again, brilliant. My daughter has tried to take several art classes during her freshman and sophomore years to no avail - either they are not available that trimester or conflict with other classes. She is not in band but was taking a foreign language. Where were all the choices for her? Now, you want to revert BACK to semesters - this will destroy the one year she would have had more choices - not to mention ONCE AGAIN causing a couple hundred students, in the most important two years of high school to readjust BACK to semesters - remember these are the students that have only known trimesters in their high school career. Please tell me that the Dexter school district is not really considering affecting the lives of hundreds of their students so that maybe 40 some IB students that MIGHT be in band will have more choices? Honestly - sorry but no. Once again I am extremely disappointed in the Dexter school district administration for the short sighted and negligent management of the high school - once again I wish I had put my children elsewhere.