Colony "Connections" program offers choice

MAT-SU -- While many schools in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District are struggling to offer a wide selection of courses because of funding issues faced throughout the state, Colony Middle School has created a program that allows students a wide variety of classes ranging from NASA-inspired courses to the history of jazz.

"Even with the districtwide changes, we offer more options to kids than ever before," said CMS Vice Principal Susan McCauley.

The CMS "Connections Program" has been in existence for a year and a half, and students at the school have had opportunities to learn skills ranging from quilting to personal finance. Three years ago, the staff at CMS sat down and started brainstorming how to offer more classes to their students, even in a time when twice-weekly gym class has become the norm. Based on a program the school had years ago called the Exploration Lab, staff took the good from that program -- selection -- and changed the failures of the program -- no grades, no attendance and no academic focus -- and created the Connections Program, which has become part of the regular school day at CMS.

"All classes have to show how they are integrating state standards before being approved to be taught," McCauley said. "The staff develops the classes."

Students receive grades for the classes, and attendance is mandatory. The result? A staff-developed group of classes available from 7:20 to 8:15 three quarters of the year that allow for a greater selection of classes.

"We feel like it's a healthy way to start the day," said McCauley, referring to the fact that most students are allowed to choose which class they wish to take.

The first quarter of each year is dedicated to the Colony Advisory Program, where all students take courses focusing on things like organization, goal setting and social skills. The rest of the year the choices are endless.

The magic of this program goes further, however, because it also allows intervention classes to be administered easily and without the "intervention" stigma sometimes attached to such classes. All students are assessed through state standardized tests, locally administered tests and teacher evaluations. If a student is found to be struggling, he is assigned to one of the intervention classes listed in the Connections selection sheet.

"If two of the three indicate a child needs help, we determine what's best and assign them to a class," McCauley said.

Because the intervention classes are listed right along with the other Connection courses, students are not necessarily "singled out" to be in an intervention class. The only difference on course selection day, held two weeks before the beginning of the quarter, is that students who need intervention already have their class marked when they receive their choice sheet. All students receive a choice sheet, and some students who are not assigned to an intervention class may still end up in the class with students earmarked for needing extra help.

"We are getting kids who are themselves choosing intervention classes," McCauley said. "Once we look at these students assessments, we find most of them are borderline, and are choosing to receive the help themselves."

An example is the numerous non-intervention students in the ever-popular "Math Tips and Tricks" Connections class, which makes it very difficult for students to single out those who may have been assessed as needing some extra help.

So far, McCauley said the program has been a huge success in providing both intervention and choices.

"As we see things our kids need we can create a class to meet that need," McCauley said. It appears that need could range from help in math to better understanding the history and culture of the 1980s.

Contact Jen Ransom at jen.ransom@frontiersman.com.