Re: Coaches to Help Struggling Seniors

[MONICALUCIDO@comcast.net]

You're right. This can't be made up. APEX making millions is quite real. All us "needed" teachers won't be needed soon. Computers can't form a union to demand fair working conditions. 

Joe
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>
> 
> >
> >Ya Can't Make This Stuff Up
> >
> >http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20080712-9999-1cz12coaches.html
> >
> >'Coaches' to help struggling high school seniors
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >District seeking to cut dropout rate
> >
> >
> >
> >By Maureen Magee
> >UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
> >
> >July 12, 2008
> >
> >San Diego high school students in jeopardy of 
> >failing to meet graduation requirements might 
> >get sent to the coach's office in the fall ? for 
> >remediation, not laps and push-ups.
> >
> >The San Diego Unified School District will 
> >establish a graduation coach at each of its 16 
> >comprehensive high schools to help struggling 
> >students make it to commencement ceremonies in June.
> >
> >The program is part of a broader effort to lower the high school dropout rate.
> >
> >?We have 10,000 ninth-graders and 6,000 
> >seniors,? Superintendent Terry Grier said. ?We 
> >are losing 4,000 students. We have got to do something to help them.?
> >
> >The new coaches will work with up to 1,600 
> >seniors each year to make up failed classes and 
> >pass the high school exit exam while maintaining 
> >their current course loads needed to graduate.
> >
> >But these students will not have to retake the 
> >failed courses, per se. Rather they will revisit 
> >the classes on computers, using a new software 
> >program designed to assess their knowledge of a 
> >class and prescribe the work needed to pass it.
> >
> >For example, a student who failed sophomore 
> >English would get a diagnostic ranking for that 
> >course from the software. The student would then 
> >be assigned a certain number of hours of 
> >computer work needed to raise the grade to a passing mark.
> >
> >Later in the school year, the coaches would also 
> >work with freshmen who earned failing grades in 
> >at least three courses in their first semester 
> >of high school. The coaches would assign those 
> >students to after-hours programs and other 
> >interventions designed to keep them on track to graduate.
> >
> >The district spent $278,000 on the software 
> >system ? and the training needed to use it ? 
> >from Apex Learning Inc., a Bellevue, Wash., 
> >company that is a leader in the virtual schools movement.
> >
> >Principals and teachers from San Diego campuses 
> >tested the software before the school board 
> >voted to buy it at its meeting Tuesday. Students 
> >will begin making up courses this month in a 
> >trial run of the new system, which carries a 
> >stamp of approval from the Western Association of Colleges and Schools.
> >
> >The graduation coaching jobs will be filled from 
> >a pool of existing employees. Each high school 
> >has two extra positions that have been 
> >historically assigned duties at the discretion 
> >of the school staff. The coaching job will take up one of those positions.
> >
> >The new program is one of several virtual 
> >offerings that the district will make available 
> >to struggling students in the coming years. 
> >Additional online courses will be developed at 
> >Garfield and Twain high schools, two alternative campuses.
> >
> >
> >[]
> >Maureen Magee: (619) 293-1369; 
> ><http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/MAILTO:maureen.magee@uniontrib.co
> m>maureen.magee@uniontrib.com
>