Warsaw Schools Looking To Expand Its Curriculum
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
At the Warsaw School Board meeting Monday night, Chief Academics Officer David Hoffert presented a “Readers Digest version” of a curriculum report on possible new, revised or deleted courses for the 2014-15 school year.
The board will discuss the course offerings further at its work session at 4 p.m. Dec. 10, and vote on the courses at its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 16. If the board approves the offerings, middle school and high school students may sign up for the courses beginning in January.
Hoffert said once the 2013-14 school year started, the school corporation began thinking about what 2014-15 would look like.
The change of course process begins with teachers, advisory boards and department heads. Ideas then move forward to principals, directors and guidance counselors. Next, the curriculum council reviews changes before they are presented to Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz and the school board. The last step is training for teachers, resource ordering and scheduling of classes for students.
For next school year, Hoffert indicated there are 33 new possible courses, 23 revisions and 11 deletions. Much of the time, he said, the revisions come from the Department of Education, though some are local. The deletions usually are because of enrollment numbers, outdated courses or the DOE no longer supporting them.
At Warsaw Community High School, Hoffert said there are 15 new courses being proposed and three revisions. There are no deletions.
WCHS already has a pre-calculus/trigonometry class, but it’s never been in a dual-credit format before. Hoffert said they want to add it for those students wanting to complete a college-level class who are not going into a field requiring regular calculus.
Warsaw traditionally has offered physics and Advanced Placement physics, but never anything beyond that point, he said. Now, WCHS hopes to add calculus-based and algebra-based Honors AP physics classes.
“Warsaw will have a first-class physics program through these suggestions,” he said.
The German I course was a suggestion from the orthopedic companies because they have a strong German clientele. A teacher would have to be found and hired for it.
Mandarin Chinese is offered at the middle school and up to level III at the high school. Next year, Hoffert said they want to add a Mandarin IV.
“The Mandarin program has continued to progress. We have a number of students interested in progressing to the next level,” Hoffert said.
While Warsaw isn’t looking to add new Spanish classes, Hoffert said they want to change the flow chart of the courses. Students in middle school now can take Spanish and French, too, so if they take every year of Spanish, they can take Spanish V by their senior year. Juniors can take an advanced Spanish III/IV course so they can take Spanish V by their senior year if they didn’t start Spanish until their freshman year.
The high school is looking at offering a French V beginning in 2014-15 and the program would offer the same course listings as Spanish.
At the Warsaw Area Career Center, Hoffert said there will be 12 new courses offered, 14 revised and eight deletions.
Career centers are where the DOE has been very busy with college and career readiness, he said.
“Leadership Development in Action” will be a class that goes along with WACC’s other FAA classes, Hoffert said.
The Honors AP Accounting course will be offered at WACC instead of online.
Two new courses will be videography and film production.
“This takes our film production to the next step,” Hoffert stated. “... It’s really creating a career pathway for students who were interested.”
Under engineering and industrial education, three new courses will be Honors Project Lead The Way Engineering Design and Development, Honor PLTW Aerospace Engineering and Flight Aviation. The latter two courses came out of a partnership with the Warsaw Municipal Airport. Students may be able to obtain their pilot’s license through the Flight Aviation course.
Hoffert said the new offerings give students a new career pathway and are really exciting for students.
At the curriculum council meeting, Hoffert said they spent a lot of time talking about “Introduction to Engineering for Girls Only.” He said the basis for it was that there is a shortage of girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.
WACC Principal Ronna Kawsky said she has more than 60 students in her school’s introduction to engineering course currently, but only five are girls. By offering an engineering course just for girls, she said more girls may want to take it because they would know they weren’t the only girls in the class.
Warsaw schools also is working with Grace College to offer an Honors Education Professions and Internship course. Grace is offering six credit hours through the course, which would put a student in place for candidacy for Grace’s education program. Students would have to meet Grace’s minimum standards to earn the dual credits.
Lakeview and Edgewood middle schools would both offer four new courses, three revised courses and delete three courses. Both schools are getting the same changes, Hoffert assured the board.
The computer-based classes would include Digital Citizenship and Advanced Digital Citizenship, and Exploring the Internet and Web Design. STEM-based education would include PLTW Gateway, robotics and biology for high school credit.
A few of the other new offerings Warsaw Schools is considering include Dance Performance I for Athletes, Sporting Officiating, Zero Hour Weight Training for Athletes, Honors Anatomy and Physiology
Board member Jay Baumgartner said all the opportunities WCS offers kids “overwhelms” him. He said they were a benefit for the students.
As for the engineering course just for girls, Baumgartner said he agreed with offering the class. However, he said, “I just want to make sure we don’t forget the boys.” He reminded Hoffert that more boys than girls drop out of school and more girls than boys go on to higher education.
Hoffert agreed, saying they want a STEM and overall curriculum that’s good for everyone.
Over the last four to five years, Hoffert said WCS teachers have gone out of the box to do some “outstanding” things. These course offerings were not available a few years ago. While some of them may not fly, he said they don’t know until they try.
Board member Curt Hermann commented that it was important WCS navigates where it thinks its community should go and not lose sight of that as there is a movement nationally to have common standards.[[In-content Ad]]
At the Warsaw School Board meeting Monday night, Chief Academics Officer David Hoffert presented a “Readers Digest version” of a curriculum report on possible new, revised or deleted courses for the 2014-15 school year.
The board will discuss the course offerings further at its work session at 4 p.m. Dec. 10, and vote on the courses at its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 16. If the board approves the offerings, middle school and high school students may sign up for the courses beginning in January.
Hoffert said once the 2013-14 school year started, the school corporation began thinking about what 2014-15 would look like.
The change of course process begins with teachers, advisory boards and department heads. Ideas then move forward to principals, directors and guidance counselors. Next, the curriculum council reviews changes before they are presented to Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz and the school board. The last step is training for teachers, resource ordering and scheduling of classes for students.
For next school year, Hoffert indicated there are 33 new possible courses, 23 revisions and 11 deletions. Much of the time, he said, the revisions come from the Department of Education, though some are local. The deletions usually are because of enrollment numbers, outdated courses or the DOE no longer supporting them.
At Warsaw Community High School, Hoffert said there are 15 new courses being proposed and three revisions. There are no deletions.
WCHS already has a pre-calculus/trigonometry class, but it’s never been in a dual-credit format before. Hoffert said they want to add it for those students wanting to complete a college-level class who are not going into a field requiring regular calculus.
Warsaw traditionally has offered physics and Advanced Placement physics, but never anything beyond that point, he said. Now, WCHS hopes to add calculus-based and algebra-based Honors AP physics classes.
“Warsaw will have a first-class physics program through these suggestions,” he said.
The German I course was a suggestion from the orthopedic companies because they have a strong German clientele. A teacher would have to be found and hired for it.
Mandarin Chinese is offered at the middle school and up to level III at the high school. Next year, Hoffert said they want to add a Mandarin IV.
“The Mandarin program has continued to progress. We have a number of students interested in progressing to the next level,” Hoffert said.
While Warsaw isn’t looking to add new Spanish classes, Hoffert said they want to change the flow chart of the courses. Students in middle school now can take Spanish and French, too, so if they take every year of Spanish, they can take Spanish V by their senior year. Juniors can take an advanced Spanish III/IV course so they can take Spanish V by their senior year if they didn’t start Spanish until their freshman year.
The high school is looking at offering a French V beginning in 2014-15 and the program would offer the same course listings as Spanish.
At the Warsaw Area Career Center, Hoffert said there will be 12 new courses offered, 14 revised and eight deletions.
Career centers are where the DOE has been very busy with college and career readiness, he said.
“Leadership Development in Action” will be a class that goes along with WACC’s other FAA classes, Hoffert said.
The Honors AP Accounting course will be offered at WACC instead of online.
Two new courses will be videography and film production.
“This takes our film production to the next step,” Hoffert stated. “... It’s really creating a career pathway for students who were interested.”
Under engineering and industrial education, three new courses will be Honors Project Lead The Way Engineering Design and Development, Honor PLTW Aerospace Engineering and Flight Aviation. The latter two courses came out of a partnership with the Warsaw Municipal Airport. Students may be able to obtain their pilot’s license through the Flight Aviation course.
Hoffert said the new offerings give students a new career pathway and are really exciting for students.
At the curriculum council meeting, Hoffert said they spent a lot of time talking about “Introduction to Engineering for Girls Only.” He said the basis for it was that there is a shortage of girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.
WACC Principal Ronna Kawsky said she has more than 60 students in her school’s introduction to engineering course currently, but only five are girls. By offering an engineering course just for girls, she said more girls may want to take it because they would know they weren’t the only girls in the class.
Warsaw schools also is working with Grace College to offer an Honors Education Professions and Internship course. Grace is offering six credit hours through the course, which would put a student in place for candidacy for Grace’s education program. Students would have to meet Grace’s minimum standards to earn the dual credits.
Lakeview and Edgewood middle schools would both offer four new courses, three revised courses and delete three courses. Both schools are getting the same changes, Hoffert assured the board.
The computer-based classes would include Digital Citizenship and Advanced Digital Citizenship, and Exploring the Internet and Web Design. STEM-based education would include PLTW Gateway, robotics and biology for high school credit.
A few of the other new offerings Warsaw Schools is considering include Dance Performance I for Athletes, Sporting Officiating, Zero Hour Weight Training for Athletes, Honors Anatomy and Physiology
Board member Jay Baumgartner said all the opportunities WCS offers kids “overwhelms” him. He said they were a benefit for the students.
As for the engineering course just for girls, Baumgartner said he agreed with offering the class. However, he said, “I just want to make sure we don’t forget the boys.” He reminded Hoffert that more boys than girls drop out of school and more girls than boys go on to higher education.
Hoffert agreed, saying they want a STEM and overall curriculum that’s good for everyone.
Over the last four to five years, Hoffert said WCS teachers have gone out of the box to do some “outstanding” things. These course offerings were not available a few years ago. While some of them may not fly, he said they don’t know until they try.
Board member Curt Hermann commented that it was important WCS navigates where it thinks its community should go and not lose sight of that as there is a movement nationally to have common standards.[[In-content Ad]]
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