by Stephanie Palazzolo, senior editor
This week, students began filling up the halls of Consol as they returned to their familiar schedules and patterns, with one major difference. For the upcoming 2014-2015 school year, the previous four lunches have been reduced to three, and Advocate has been replaced with Academic Success.
“What we’ve noticed in the past is some of the kids were not where they were supposed to be during Advocate,” principal Gwen Elder said. “Many of our students, yeah, they were making good choices and they were going in for tutorials, but the population of students who really needed the extra support didn’t always go to their assigned classes. Initially we thought maybe half of the population was being served with tutorials and learning labs, but it was really a lot less than half the population. We want to make sure that we put in practices that will help all of our students be successful.”
The proposed solution for this problem was the creation of Academic Success, a 25-minute long period that all students share before their 5th period class or lunch. The new plan has been in the making since January of this year, and it did not come without plenty of research and forethought.
“I [looked] at what students weren’t successful in during the fall, especially our freshmen in their first semester here at Consol who didn’t pass classes,” assistant principal Aaron Hogan, who was the mastermind behind the new schedule, said. “We just asked ourselves, ‘What can we do to offer them the support that they need to pass their classes?'”
Creating Successful Students
The new changes that come with Academic Succes focus on answering this question. Students are now offered a larger variety in resources that allow them to improve their grades and become more successful in school.
“We’re going to have EOC instructional support [and] open access labs, just multiple opportunities as far as what we can incorporate to help all students be successful,” Elder said. “You know that the top ten percent are going to get into A&M, but there are some who are on grade level or below grade level that we want to also encourage, whether it’s college, the workforce, military. We want to make sure that we have equipped them with the appropriate skills to let them be successful beyond high school.”
In addition to getting remedial help and aid in their current classes, more advanced students will be able to prepare for future standardized tests like the PSAT.
“Typically we have anywhere between 17 and 18 National Merit Semifinalists each year, but that’s out of a class of 700, and now that our classes are a lot smaller, we’re trying to figure out, what can we do to still have that quality of student?” Elder said. “Aimee Parsons came up with this idea where we selected our students who scored in the top on the PSAT as sophomores and placed them in a class to help prepare them for the PSAT as juniors. We’re just trying to think how we can increase our National Merit Scholarship numbers when our population is a lot smaller.”
The new PSAT class is a valuable resource for those who may not have time outside of school to prepare for the standardized test or who just may not have the teachers or materials to study. The school provides the students in the PSAT class with items like PSAT study guides in order to help them score better on the standardized test.
“The PSAT class provided by Consol, as well as the accompanying materials, make me feel more prepared not only for the PSAT, but also [for] standardized testing in general,” junior Pancho Mackin-Plankey said.
Another benefit of Academic Success is its placement in the school day. One difference from Advocate is that Academic Success is scheduled at the same time for all students, whether they’re a freshman or a senior, in a Math class or in an English class.
“Mrs. Latham mentioned that her FFA officers are hoping to meet during [Success Time],” Hogan said. “It’s going to keep them from having to meet before or after school. And their opportunities are going to expand because now they won’t have to make time for that leadership meeting they had before.”
Administrators are taking advantage of this time to instill in their students powerful lessons that will not only help them succeed in high school, but also in all other aspects of their lives.
“It’s about character education,” Elder said. “Not what I see you doing, but what you’re doing when I’m not watching. Are you making good choices? Are you a trustworthy person? Are you considerate? Are you kind? Those attributes are some that we want all of our students to possess, but for some of our students that might not always be taught at home. So each Monday, throughout the year, Mr. Hogan has a lesson that will represent some of those character qualities that I just mentioned in addition to multiple other things that you will see as a part of our Success Time.”
Drawbacks of Academic Success
This isn’t to say that Academic Success comes without any drawbacks at all. Several new issues have popped up with the new schedule that administrators have acknowledged.
“We ordered some new cafeteria tables because initially we were thinking about 550 per lunch hour, and we’re maybe 560, 565. And that’s a little more than what we anticipated, but I think it’s one of those things that we can work through,” Elder said. “If the Success Time will provide an avenue for our students to be successful, then we’ll live with those 560 at lunch just to make sure our students have that opportunity to be successful during Success Time.”
Students also shared some common concerns about the new schedule.
“I get how it could be useful for people who are in orchestra or yearbook or some other activity, but my Success Time is in a class with a teacher I don’t have,” junior Olivia Garrett said. “There isn’t really anyone I could talk about my classes with or ask for help if I needed it.”
However, administrators expressed general optimism about the whole experience.
“Every time you start something new, it will take a while for the process to work itself out, and Academic Success is no different,” Elder said. “The class lines up with our mission statement, that what you learn here goes beyond these four walls, that the skills you learn at school will help create productive men and women.”
