ward 7 coe addendum - cluster themes

7/30/2019 Ward 7 COE Addendum - Cluster Themes

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PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL THEME SCHOOL

CLUSTERS IN WARD 7 AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO SCHOOL CLOSURES

STEM

We propose a STEM Cluster Model to accommodate the transition of students from KenilworthElementary through Ron Brown Middle School and eventually to Woodson Senior High School

along a continuum of advancing applicable skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

The Pre School STEM model would stress science, math and reading readiness skills for pre-k 3

and 4 year olds that would utilize the significant outdoor classroom resources available at

Kenilworth Park and at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.

The Elementary STEM model from kindergarten through the 5th

grade level would stress math

and science integration as the foundational skills which would be taught through a team

specialist approach with Oral and Written Communication (Language Arts) and Social Studies as

the other core subjects.

The Middle School STEM model will build upon the foundational strengths acquired on the

elementary level by introducing intermediate level engineering and advanced technology courses

as core subjects. Since the use and application of technological tools will have been introduced

as early as the pre-k level, students at the middle school level can be expected to focus on

projects that encourage inventive thinking, ingenuity and real life applications.

The High School STEM model will develop and utilize working partnerships with:

1. Academic leaders from local and national colleges and universities to foster and developa premiere STEM pre baccalaureate program that prepares students to major in these

subjects on the post- secondary level and receiving some college level courses during the

11th

and 12th

grade.

2. Academic and the local community colleges to prepare students for associate degrees inthe STEM fields by providing them with opportunities to begin earning college credits as

early as the 11th

grade.

3. Business leaders to prepare high school students for entry level technical, vocational,management training and service careers in industry immediately upon graduation.

4. Federal, state and local government to provide scholarship and other funding for post-secondary education.

SPORTS

We propose an OLYMPIAN Cluster Model that accommodates the transition of students from

Davis Elementary through Kelly Miller and eventually to Spingarn along a continuum of


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advancing skills in sports competition and related sports fields to include medical and

occupational therapy, law and management in the sports industry. The objective will be to

address neighborhood beefs through the encouragement and support of healthy intramural

competition and Olympic level character building. Programs in health and physical fitness will

address and teach the importance of a healthy and drug free life style as a prerequisite for sports

competition.

ARTS

We propose an Arts Cluster Model that will accommodate the transition of students from

Smothers through Sousa eventually to a high school to be identified along a continuum of

developing skills in visual, performing and technical arts. The building that currently houses

Malcolm X Elementary would be a good fit for a Performing Arts Schools because of the open

space configuration.

Both the Arts and Sports Cluster will follow a similar academic focus as the one described in the

STEM model with modifications to suit the specialty. However, a level of consistency and

standardization will continue to exist in the core subjects of math, science, social studies and

language arts that will allow students to transfer from one specialty cluster to another if their

interests or academic goals should change at any point in the k-12 progression.

Suggestions and Recommendations

1. Reading should be taught as a skill rather than a subject and should be reinforced throughthe teaching of the core subjects of science, social studies and foreign languages. In

addition if reading instruction is replaced with speech and writing instruction, students

will learn how to read, write and speak more effectively.

2. Elementary school teachers should loop with their students in two year cycles allowingthem to transit with their students from kindergarten to 1

stgrade; 2

ndto 3

rdgrades and 4

th

to 5th

grades. The DC CAS should be given at the end of each of these two year cycles.

This will allow classroom teachers to devote more instructional time to the actual

teaching of the subject matter rather than preparing for a standardized test that is going to

be administered in the eighth month of the school year.3. The current testing model begins test prep as early as October and continues through

April during which the students and teachers are stressed and tested beyond the limit and

May and June become down time. A two year testing cycle will give teachers a longer

period to get to know and address their students strengths and weaknesses; and the

school year can be used more effectively with the first year of the loop being devoted

predominantly to instruction and testing being done only for the purpose of monitoring


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progress. When a teacher knows that he/she will have those same students next year there

will be a much greater investment in teaching until the final day of the school year to

strengthen and advance their students skill set. In that second year the teacher will not

have to lose instructional time getting to know their students and can get to work on the

first day because routines and practices will have already been established. This model

will also provide a much greater level of testing accountability and data analysis for both

the student and the teacher in addition to saving millions of dollars that would be spent on

yearly testing.

4. Every high school should have a nursery and child development center to accommodatethe needs of teenage parents and their children.

ward 7 coe addendum - cluster themes

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