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Freshman Academy Historically, many ninth graders have struggled to assimilate into high school. Corning-Painted Post students at both East and West High Schools are now making the adjustment to high school through the Freshman Academy, a program designed to help students build life skills and healthy relationships with teachers and peers to create a foundation for a positive high school experience. The program features a team approach to transitioning eighth grade students into well-adjusted high school students. In the program, teaching teams made up of English, Math, Science and Global History instructors work together to provide an environment in which freshmen can develop a confident voice and feel comfortable seeking help. The Freshman Academy was piloted in 2005-2006 to 100 ninth grade students at West High where it was brough full scale the following year. In 2006-2007 a Freshman Academy program began at East with an 89-student pilot and was made fully operational in the fall of 2007. Goals of the program are:
The program at both schools features an additional Freshman Advisory period, which meets every other day to address basic organizational and accountability skills as well as character education, and it serves as their home base as well. In addition, the Freshman Academy offers support for students with disabilities and a wide range of accommodations. The Freshman Academy program supports students in keeping with the District's learning goals of Rigor, Relevance and Relationships, and is already having the desired impact on students. The data from the pilot programs at both high schools is positive and impressive. Freshman Academy participants have a lower failure rate, higher attendance and fewer disciplinary actions than other students. Visit the East High Freshman Academy pages and West High Freshman Academy pages About the Approaches To Learning Course Since all ninth and tenth grade students participate in the International Baccalaureate(IB) Middle Years Program (MYP), an IB course called Approaches To Learning (ATL) is taught as part of the Freshman Academy. The course is worth one-half credit, is taught on a pass/fail basis and requires no homework. The purpose fo the ATL course is the help students develop essential skills they need to take responsiblity for their own learning and be successful students. In addition to helping students to understand how they learn best and to communicate what they know, ATL features a group project that provides helpful experience in preparation for the Personal Project all students complete in tenth grade. < Back to Curriculum Page |
