Sophomore Center Called Success

SPRINGDALE HIGH PROVIDES 10TH-GRADERS WITH THEIR OWN ENVIRONMENT

Paul Hernandez of Fayetteville, right, builds a sand castle Sunday with his granddaughter, Attalaya Ross, 5, in the sand volleyball court in Henry Walker Park in Fayetteville. The warm weather that came through the area over the weekend is expected to continue until midweek.
Paul Hernandez of Fayetteville, right, builds a sand castle Sunday with his granddaughter, Attalaya Ross, 5, in the sand volleyball court in Henry Walker Park in Fayetteville. The warm weather that came through the area over the weekend is expected to continue until midweek.

The first year at a new school can be intimidating and challenging.

The student must figure out how to navigate through the building, learn the expectations of new teachers and get to know a new group of peers.

Springdale High School developed a system to make the transition easier for sophomores, who are the first class of high school students under the district’s grade format.

The school converted what used to be the English building north of Emma Avenue into the Sophomore Center three years ago. An addition that connects the center to the main building is under construction and will be finished in the spring.

Inside the center, 660 students take core classes such as geometry, English, biology and American history.

“It’s a small learning community,” Assistant Principal Pete Joenks said. “Their lockers are over here. For the most part, it makes it a better environment for them.”

Joenks credits the approach with improving academic performance and attendance rates.

Last year, the failure rate in the four core classes of geometry, English, history and biology dropped to between 4 percent to 9 percent per semester.

In geometry, 5 percent of the students failed the first semester and 8 percent failed the second, Joenks said. For biology, the failure rate was 9 percent the first semester, and it improved to 4 percent the next semester.

“This is compared to double digit failure rates in previous years,” he said.

Also, the attendance rate improved from 90 percent in 2005-06, the year before the center, to 94 percent in 2008-09.

The Sophomore Center employs its own attendance officer, Ramon Zuniga, who contacts parents when students miss class.

Angeles Cruz, a 10th-grader, said she likes the sense of community within the center.

“You get to know everybody,” she said. “It makes it easier.”

Sophomores still interact with older students during elective classes, but the center provides a home base, Joenks said.

Har-Ber High School does not segregate the sophomores into their own building. However, about 120 students are on the “sophomore team” and take their four core classes from the same teachers, Har-Ber Assistant Principal Michael Shepherd.

Some high schools with grades ninth through 12th take a similar approach similar to the Sophomore Center and incorporate it for ninth grade.

Bentonville High School utilizes a freshman to senior grade format and separates freshmen into their own learning community, Principal Kimberly Garrett said.

The biggest benefit to being on campus for freshmen is they understand they have made the transition to high school, she said. Once students enter ninth grade, their work counts on high school transcripts.

“We need that year to help them understand what being in high school is,” Garrett said.

Also, the format puts all of the high school grade teachers on one campus, she said.

Rogers has also moved ninth grade onto the high school campuses.

Fayetteville had planned to move freshmen to the campus, but voters rejected a millage request to build a new school.

“Since we did not vote to have the full plan, we’re going to have to make some adjustments,” Fayetteville School Board President Susan Heil said.

Adding ninth grade would be ideal if money wasn’t an issue, Heil said.

Springdale does not plan to add ninth grade to the high schools in the foreseeable future, Superintendent Jim Rollins said.

He understands why some districts use the ninth to 12th grade format, but there are drawbacks, he said. These include the increased size of the school and maturity differences between 14-year-old freshmen and 18-year-old seniors.

“I think what we’re doing works well for us,” Rollins said.

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