Schenectady aims for turnaround School district reviews steps to fix low graduation rates, save funding
By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer First published in print: Wednesday, December 16, 2009
SCHENECTADY -- Class scheduling, instruction for at-risk kids and the way freshmen are welcomed into the high school will change next school year as the district undergoes a federally required restructuring at Schenectady High School. The school's graduation rates, which dropped from 69 percent to 59 percent in 2007-08, and the dwindling number of students taking Regents exams, place No Child Left Behind federal funding in jeopardy if school officials don't deliver on a plan to address the problem. Focus groups of teachers, administrators and students have been gathering for the last few months, and a meeting to glean ideas from parents is being held in the high school's library tonight.
Superintendent Eric Ely said three large changes are being examined: creating a freshman academy inside the high school for entering ninth-graders; ditching the high school's complicated modular class schedule; and eliminating advanced Regents classes and making those students attend regular Regents courses.
Instruction of students with disabilities is also being examined because the Regents passing rates for that group often fall below 50 percent.
The high school is split into five houses that concentrate on themes, such as the performing arts or science. Currently, freshmen choose what house they want to be in when they enter high school. Ely said kids are often picking houses just based on where their friends are going, and perhaps need more help in the transition from middle school to the high school, which has a population of more than 2,700 students. There are no plans to split up the high school, as it was in the early 1990s, to create two high schools.
Ely said 20 percent of freshman are not meeting the academic requirements to move up to 10th grade. As a result, many start skipping school and eventually stay away completely.
"We've established there's a problem," Ely said. "Now the debate is whether our possible solutions can work."
A freshman academy would focus on getting students together with guidance counselors and social workers on a regular basis, Ely said.
The superintendent also said he's wanted to eliminate the high school's daily schedule for some time. Classes are now scheduled in 60-minute blocks during different times in a four-day section -- which means that core subjects like math and English are never held at the same time every day. Some students take advantage of the setup, Ely said, because they can be late every morning and it affects different teachers and different classes. A new scheduling system has not been devised yet.
Making time for advanced Regents courses, which have a small percentage of students, also puts a strain on the schedule, the superintendent said.
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