His target is those bright kids who have been left behind while the public schools concentrate on getting low-performing students up to the benchmarks of the No Child Left Behind law.If frustration with LCPS is such that the most talented students are being sent to alternative schools, what does that mean for Loudoun's school rankings and compliance with No Child Left Behind? For now, the proposed Ideal High School is merely a dream with a lease, and a $20,000/year tuition price tag. For comparison, the in-state tuition and fees at UVA were $8,690 in 2007.
...
And it will offer very bright students – not necessarily the ones with high test scores – a chance to excel in small classrooms, in an environment committed to problem-solving and project-based learning. - Loudoun Times-Mirror
The Ideal School's academic mission is interesting and evocative of the classroom at the beginning of the movie Serenity.
There will be no textbooks. Students will gather around a conference table, at the same level as their teacher, no more than 12 to a class. English, literature, history and social sciences will not be artificially carved into separate courses. Math and science, two sides of the same thought process, will be one course. Students will take foreign language, reasoning, art and music, and each will be assigned an academic adviser. Electives will kick in for 11th-graders. - Loudoun Times-MirrorThe Ideal School is an interesting and ambitious idea, and one worth watching in the coming years. Loudoun is nothing if not home to many people with both interesting ideas and the wherewithal to try them out.
1 comment:
I guess I'm one of those parents who is willing to believe in a "lease and a dream". This school is exactly what Loudoun needs!
I was surprised by the lack of ability to teach to different learning styles in our public schools. It is "one size fits all". Who can blame them when the teacher has 30+ students in a classroom and a required focus on "teaching to the test"?
As a parent, I had the difficult decision of paying for a private high school from the savings put aside for college. As an active parent, I engaged with the public school system throughout elementary and middle school. In my situation, my son was so turned off to education, I worried he wouldn't want to attend another 4 years of college, much less get accepted.
If I can provide my son the environment that will give him a lifelong love for learning, it is well worth it. AND who knows, he may just do well enough to earn a scholarship to a really good engineering school!
Post a Comment