Springdale's School Of Innovation Opens Monday

More Than 200 Springdale Students Will Attend Classes At The Jones Center

STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Some of the 230 laptops at the Jones Center in Springdale for the School of Innovation.
STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Some of the 230 laptops at the Jones Center in Springdale for the School of Innovation.

SPRINGDALE -- More than 200 eighth-graders will start School of Innovation classes at The Jones Center on Monday.

It's the Springdale School District's newest school and has a focus on college preparedness, personalized learning, science, technology, engineering and math, said Joe Rollins, principal.

Web Watch

School Of Innovation

For more information and videos about the School of Innovation, go to www.sdale.org/innov….

Fun Fact

Special Event

The School of Innovation will have a special event from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. each Wednesday called Real World Wednesdays. Students will interact with local business leaders, learn about their future career options and what they need to do to pursue certain careers.

Source: Joe Rollins

The School of Innovation will allow students to pass classes based on subject mastery, Rollins said. One of the school's goals is for students to graduate with an associate's degree from NorthWest Arkansas Community College in addition to a high school diploma.

The school received a waiver from the Arkansas Department of Education allowing students to earn credit for a class based on their competency in a subject and not how long they were present in class, Rollins said. Students who are ahead will study in the library during that class instead.

Each student at the school will be assigned a Chromebook as part of a districtwide one-to-one technology initiative, said Wendy Kelley, business teacher at the school. The initiative will allow each student in the district to use a district-owned Chromebook or tablet. The students will be allowed to take their Chromebooks home.

Students at the school will also use an online system with the laptop computers, Rollins said. Students will log into the system to access video recordings of lessons and to participate in video conferencing with classmates. The system will be helpful during snow days or when a student is home sick from school.

"They don't have to lose that school day anymore," he said. "It's accessibility."

Mackenzie Crozier, 13, said the technology aspect of the school is what attracted her. She's excited to do her schoolwork on a Chromebook.

"It's kind of an updated school," she said.

Hailey Potts, 13, said she was attracted to the school because it will allow her to take more time in some classes and less time in others. She said she's usually ahead of her peers in English but behind in math, and the school will allow her to work at her pace.

Kelley said she thinks the new way of learning will be a struggle at first for some students, but will help them become self-motivated. She also thinks it will help students learn how to pace themselves when learning a new subject.

"It's a new concept, and I'm learning about it," she said. "I think it's going to be a learning curve for both teachers and students."

This type of school is unique, said Joe DiMartino, president of the Center for Secondary School Redesign in Rhode Island. He's helping the district through mentoring and professional development.

DiMartino explained he's seen schools with some of the elements at the School of Innovation, such as the seat time waiver or using laptop computers, but he's never seen a school with all of those elements together.

Sarah Potts, Hailey's mother, said she wanted her daughter to attend the school because it would allow her to earn an associate's degree before going to college.

"We wanted to be part of something that's new to our system," she said.

The school is a project under the $26 million Race To The Top grant the district received from the U.S. Department of Education, said Marsha Jones, district Race To The Top project manager. The school will be paid through district money.

Administrators also asked the U.S. Department of Education to put $300,000 of the grant toward the school, for which they are now awaiting approval, Jones said. The federal grant money has a designated amount for each project under the grant, and the $300,000 wasn't originally designated for the school.

The School of Innovation will have eight classrooms, one science lab and the library, Rollins said. The district is paying the center $99,600 to use the space this year, said Ed Clifford, chief executive officer of the center.

Another 200 eighth-graders will be added each year to the school, which will ultimately have grades eight through 12, Rollins said. He explained administrators will have to find a different location for the 2015-16 school year, because the center can't accommodate another 200 students.

Rollins said he and the school's 10 teachers spent all summer preparing for the opening. The work included designing curricula and more than 100 hours of professional development.

Teachers on Wednesday decorated and prepared classrooms and the library, which used to be the center's computer center. Boxes of furniture sat in one corner of the library with tables and chairs gathered in the center. A large sheet of graph paper hung from an empty set of shelves with instructions for tasks ranging from parent meetings to distributing student handbooks.

Kelley worked Wednesday on her classroom where she will teach students about business. The room has windows that face into the library. She referred to it as the "fishbowl."

The center's staff also worked over the summer to prepare the area for incoming students, Clifford said.

"We've made a lot of investments to give those kids a really great experience," he said.

Rollins said there are a few learning opportunities for him as principal of a new school this year. He hopes to learn how to use student's time efficiently, what courses students want and how to relate them to skills employers want, and how to more deeply involve the community with the school.

NW News on 08/17/2014

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