Expansion of Course Offerings since 2009

2009• Principles of Engineering Introduced (PLTW)• A limited number of APEX courses were made

available to students wishing to accelerate learning

2010• Engineering Design was introduced (PLTW)• A limited number of virtual courses offered

through the Clay/Platte Consortium were made available to students in the Spring of 2011

2011• Digital Electronics (PLTW) will be introduced

in the fall of 2011-2012• PCHS will partner with Cerner Corporation, with 2

students participating in the Cerner Scholars Program

Virtual Course Expansion• 20 courses offered through the Clay/Platte

Consortium will be available to students• 244 APEX courses will be available to students

• 144 of the courses are not currently offered in a face-to-face format at PCHS

• 28 of the courses are Advanced Placement (AP)• 18 of the AP courses are not currently offered

at PCHS

Platte County R-3 School District Board of Education Goals

2010-2011

Goal 1: Review and/or modify graduation requirements and course offerings in an effort to improve flexibility, student choice and overall student development.

Goal Captain: Mrs. DiPonio

Board Members: Jeana Houlahan, Adam McGinness

Description of Action Approximate Cost of Action

Implementation Date

Completion Date

Work with high school administration to establish a plan for reviewing graduation requirements

TBD 8/2010 TBD

Establish a timeline for process Determine personnel that needs to be engaged in process initially

Review district’s previous process for revising course offerings

Review DESE’s most current recommendations for course requirements

Establish a collective commitment toward establish new course offerings

Identify benchmark school districts Research benchmark school districts and their course offerings

Goal Captain will establish a bi-monthly meeting with high school administration for reports on progress toward goal

Communicate updates to the Board of Education on a monthly basis

Make a recommendation to the board for changes

Action Step 1

Work with high school administration to establish a plan

for reviewing graduation requirements• Weekly meetings were established to develop plan,

and discuss progress of goal• These meetings included the following:

• Discussion on the history of current graduation requirements at PCHS

• Discussion on the history of course development• Pros/Cons of current graduation requirements

Action Step 2: Establish a timeline for the

process• A timeline was established to complete ensuing action

steps by final completion date of 2011-2012 school year.

Action Step 3: Determine personnel that needs to be engaged in initial process

• It was determined that the following stakeholders would be integral throughout the process• Community members• Staff• Students

Action Steps 2 – 3

Action Step 4

Review district’s previous process for revising course offerings

• Teachers would submit descriptions of possible course additions in October.

• The administrative team and department chairs would review recommendation

• If approved they would be included in the updated Program of Study.

Review DESE’s most current

recommendations for course requirements• Minimum state graduation requirements were

reviewed. It was determined that the following areas exceed state minimum requirements:• Physical education• Fine arts• Citizenship

• Sherri Copeland with RPDC was consulted as to her understanding on where other area schools were moving with regards to course offerings and content.

Action Step 5

Action Step 6

Establish a consensus toward the expansion of course offerings

•In order to garner support and valuable feedback, surveys were administered to the following groups of stakeholders:

• Community members• Parents• Staff• Business organizations interested in

workforce development

Community Respondents

• We received 312 responses to the course offering survey• 92% identified themselves as parents of

current PCR-3 students• Breaking down the 92%:

• 51% had students PK-5• 44% had students 6-8• 47% had students 9-12.

Survey Data on Course Expansion Preferences

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Technology

courses

Biomedical

(PLTW)

Engineering

(PLTW)

Science

electives

Video

technology

Service

learning

Foreign

language

FACS

CommunityStaff

Based on stakeholder survey data, the following shows the rank of

courses in order of course expansion preference.

1Additional technology courses

28.6%

2Additional engineering courses (PLTW)

27.3%

3 Expanded science courses27.1%

4 Biomedical courses (PLTW)27.0%

5Video technology & production

18.8%

6Additional foreign language

17.8%

7 Family & consumer science11.9%

Identify benchmark school districts

• Kearney• Independence• North Platte• Grandview• Park Hill• Smithville• North Kansas City

Action Step 7

• Hickman Mills• Nixa• Northwest R-1• West Platte• Ray-Pec• Afton• Farmington

Action Step 8

Research benchmark school districts and their offerings

Each of the identified benchmark districts was contacted by a

PCHS counselor in order to gather the following data:

• enrollment• teacher to student ratio• number of certified staff• traditional and/or honors

track• graduation credit

requirements• required fine arts credits• required PE credits• number of AP courses

offered• Number of online courses

• schedule type• grading system• use of embedded credits• use of

valedictorian/salutatorian• diploma categories• dual credit or AP

offerings• AP course requirement• scheduling process

Pertinent Information Concerning Graduation

Requirements

• 45% of the benchmark schools surveyed require 25, or 25.5 credits to graduate• 7 of these schools offer students the opportunity to

earn 7 credits per year• 30% of the benchmark schools require 26 or more

credits to graduate• 50% of these schools offer students the opportunity

to earn 7 credits per year• 50% of these schools offer the opportunity to earn 8

credits per year• Of the 25% of these schools that require the state

minimum of 24 credits to graduate, PCHS is the only district that is more directive than the state.

Action Step 9: Goal Captain will establish bi-

monthly meeting with high school administration for reports on progress toward goal

• Weekly meetings were conducted with goal progress set as an agenda item

Action Step 10: Communicate updates to the Board of Education on a monthly basis

Action Steps 9 – 10

Action Step 11

Make recommendation to the board for changes

• We recommend that Item 1 of Board of Education Policy IKF, Requirements for Graduation, change to reflect the following:• Decrease in physical education requirement

from 1 ½ credits to 1 credit• Decrease in fine arts requirement from 1 ½

credits to 1 credit• Increase in elective requirements from 5 ½

credits to 6 ½ credits

Rationale for lowering the graduation requirements in Physical Education and Fine Arts from 1½ credits to the minimum state require of 1.0 credits. and increasing the elective requirements to 6½

Offers the opportunity for expanded elective course offerings Accommodates more student choice/interest and flexibility Matches DESE minimum requirements Matches a majority of other area district’s requirements

Item #1 of policy IKF Requirements for Graduation

1. Complete a total of 24 credits, including credits required by the State Board of Education.

Current Requirements Proposed Changes Beginning 2011-2012

Subject Graduation Requirements Class

of 2010

Subject Graduation Requirements Class

of 2012

English 4 English 4

Mathematics 3 Mathematics 3

Science 3 Science 3

Social Studies 3 Social Studies 3

Technology 1 Technology 1

Health ½ Health ½

Physical Education 1 ½ Physical Education 1

Fine Arts 1 ½ Fine Arts 1

Citizenship ½ Citizenship ½

Personal Finance ½ Personal Finance ½

Electives 5 ½ Electives 6 ½

Totals 24 units Totals 24 units

Next Steps

August 2011• Communicate changes to graduation

requirements to all stakeholders through various means.

September 2011• A student interest survey will be created and

deployed in order to collect data for further course expansions.

October/November 2011• Specific course descriptions will be developed for

new courses to be offered for the 2012 – 2013 school year. New course offerings will be included in the 2012 – 2013 Program of Study. New course offerings will be determined by analyzing the following data:• Student interest survey results• Community and parent survey results• Staff survey results and input

December 2011/January 2012• Student enrollment for 2012 – 2013

February 2012• Enrollment numbers will be analyzed. Based on

enrollment numbers for the new course offerings, determinations will be made in collaboration with district level administration on how to proceed.

August 2012• New courses begin.

September 2012• Renew the process of collecting student course

interest data in order to remain current with student needs.