 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat is an Academy? An Academy is a school designed for special instruction. It provides a new type of voluntary educational option to all students that does not currently exist in Plano ISD on a wide scale. Additionally, it serves as the catalyst for new instructional models that can be introduced, as appropriate, elsewhere in Plano ISD. Why does Plano ISD see the need to create a choice-based Academy? During the industrial boom of the early 20th century, America needed millions of factory workers to meet a rapidly growing demand for automobiles and other modern inventions. That long-ago era produced the model still being used for our current school systems. However, this antiquated design no longer suits the needs of today's fast-paced, information technology-driven economy. Now, more than ever before, America's schools are being held to higher standards to provide rigorous learning opportunities for all children, regardless of family background and personal circumstances. Today's job market requires it. The future of our country depends on it. Recognizing that market forces, workforce needs, and student learning methods have changed, much of the educational delivery model used in the United States has not. Plano ISD has embraced finding new ways to engage students system-wide to be successful in the 21st century. A step toward this goal is the development of new, engaging instructional methods that can be used at all schools. These new methods will require new curriculum and instruction which will be used first at an Academy to innovate the learning environment. This 9-12 Academy will be a new choice-based learning environment available to all students. It will appeal to some, but not all, students and teachers since it will be very different than the traditional experience. How were the recommendations for an Academy developed? A community-wide committee of nearly 70 people was appointed by the Board of Trustees in May, 2010, to design Plano ISD's first Academy. The committee's final Findings and Directions are described in this report Additional background materials that further describe the need and urgency to create new instructional models to provide 21st century skills include: The Intellectual and Policy Foundations of the 21st Century Skills Framework Does Plano ISD have any choice-based programs today? Yes. In addition to the large number of programs and services that are available today on each home high school campus, the following programs are offered on one or more campuses but available to all students district-wide. Students interested in these unique programs choose to transfer to the campus that offers the program in order to receive the instruction. These programs include: - International Baccalaureate at Clark, Williams and Plano East - Culinary Arts at Plano East - Collision Repair and Refinishing at Plano Senior - Math Rocks elementary program at Andrews, Brinker, Christie, Haun, Mathews, McCall, Schell, Skaggs and Wyatt - Math Rocks middle school program at Rice, Wilson and Murphy In an effort to remain competitive and keep students engaged, Plano ISD continually seeks to innovate and find new ways to educate students. The School Board and district administrators acknowledge that change is hard; however, Plano ISD is known for being on the leading edge of education and takes seriously its responsibility to students and to the future of public education in Texas. What will the Academy offer that is not currently offered within the school district today? A Plano ISD 9-12 Academy will engage students in a rigorous, distinct project-based curriculum, inspiring creativity and empowering them to collaborate and compete globally. The instructional/teaching methods of Project-Based Learning will be incorporated at the Academy, and all of the course work will be focused around the themes of science, technology, engineering, graphic art and math. To learn more about project-based learning visit the the resource materials on this website. How much is the Academy going to cost, and how can Plano ISD afford it at the same time it is laying off teachers? Operating Costs A five-year projection of the estimated maintenance and operating expenditures for the Academy is outlined in a report presented to the School Board on April 19. View the report Staffing allocations will follow the students that choose to attend the Academy; therefore, the staffing costs will remain neutral. Current staff members will be given the opportunity to teach at the Academy. Incremental operating costs include the development of new curriculum, teacher professional development, campus leadership staffing and utilities. These additional costs are estimated to total $1.75 million over a five-year period. Plano ISD is seeking corporate sponsorship to cover all of the incremental operating costs for the Academy. Capital Costs The Plano ISD Board of Trustees had the opportunity to purchase a foreclosed commercial building centrally located within the school district that embodies the elements of the Academy Visioning Committee's facility recommendations. A building has been purchased using savings on bond funds (which are separate from maintenance and operating funds used to pay salaries) at the very reasonable price of $59/square foot or a total of $6.3 million. The original cost to the previous owner to construct this building was $16 million with another $2 million spent on interior finish-out, so the net cost to Plano ISD is 35 cents on the dollar. Capital funds may only be used for technology, school buses, real estate and construction. These funds cannot be used to pay salaries or any other operating cost. How was the decision made to design an Academy for Plano ISD students? Superintendent Dr. Doug Otto joined 34 other superintendents across Texas to create a new vision for public education in Texas. The Board adopted the principles of this new vision which recognizes that we should: - Engage the digital learner. - Allow students to be creators of knowledge, not just consumers of it. - Use multiple types of assessments to measure student achievement. - Transform the state's current accountability model into one that inspires rather than referees. - Transform our school organizations from bureaucracies into learning organizations. - Shift away from the district's role as an agent of compliance to a more balanced local-state partnership. This new vision for public education in Texas recognizes that school systems must transform themselves in order to prepare students to be successful in the 21st century. Such transformation does not happen overnight or system-wide. It has to start somewhere. In Plano ISD it will start at an Academy that embodies the principles of this new vision for public education. Was public input sought for this project? In 2010, the School Board appointed a community committee of nearly 70 business people, teachers, parents, staff members and students who applied to serve on the Plano ISD Academy Visioning Committee. The group met weekly during the fall of 2010 to study the concept of creating a new educational experience for 9th-12th graders in Plano. These volunteers provided public input and devoted themselves to an intense investment during which time they learned more about the various new instructional delivery models that could be used as well as content specific options that could be given. In addition, the committee hosted a community-wide input session on November 3, 2010, to present the status of its work, pose questions for community consideration and collect feedback. At the conclusion of all work, the community-based committee recommended a project-based learning model with a theme that is focused on science, technology, engineering, graphic arts and math. What is Project-Based Learning (PBL)? According to the Buck Institute for Education, Project-Based Learning (PBL) allows students to undergo an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem or challenge. Rigorous projects help students learn key academic content and practice 21st Century Skills (such as collaboration, communication and critical thinking). Watch a video Why not implement PBL at all schools? The Project-Based Learning method is currently used in the PACE (Plano Academic and Creative Education) Program. In addition, it is used in some traditional classrooms as well. Some students prefer to learn in this style all of the time, and some teachers prefer to teach in this style all of the time. We would like to offer new ways of teaching and learning to meet this need and expand the lessons to other schools. We don't have the capacity to scale such a program up at all 70 campuses at one time. New curriculum must be written and teachers must be trained. The lessons learned from delivering education in this new project-based style in the Academy will be collected and applied, as appropriate, to other traditional programs in the district. In addition, plans for additional Academies at other grade levels with new areas of focus will occur. Who will attend the Academy? The Academy will be available to all students in the school district. Enrollment slots will be made available to students on a proportional basis that is consistent with the enrollment at the six high schools. When will the Academy be open to students? In the 2013-14 school year, it opens to students in grades 9-10. This timeline allows time for the development of new curriculum and the fundraising efforts needed to support the operating costs. Why did district administrators and the Board of Trustees have to purchase a building for the Academy now? The Academy Visioning Committee's recommendation regarding a facility to house the Academy program was to identify a site that is centrally located within the school district. With that goal in mind, the district studied both existing high school facilities and searched the local real estate market for sale properties that would meet the district's criteria for an Academy. In mid-February, the Board became aware of the availability of the building at 1701 Alma Drive in Plano. As with all property transactions, the school district is allowed by state law to disclose legal and negotiation details to the Board in executive session. Plano ISD and the seller then began negotiations on the Alma property. During the negotiation period, Plano ISD Trustees, administrators, Academy Visioning Committee members and city officials toured the Alma facility. The building's infrastructure - HVAC, wiring, security and roofing - was found to be in good condition. And all persons who toured the facility agreed that the building design was ideal for an Academy. In March, and in accordance with law, Plano ISD published a public notice regarding the intent to purchase the real estate. With a small option window offered from the seller, it was imperative that trustees approve the purchase at their April 19 meeting and that the sale be finalized no later than April 20. Closing was scheduled for April 29. Plano ISD did pursue a 60-day extension to close the sale; however, the building's management company held firm to the April time line due to high interest in the property. Why can't the Academy be housed in an existing district facility? District administrators explored the option of co-locating the Academy within an existing facility as well establishing it as a stand-alone option. Ultimately, administrators recommended housing the Academy in a stand-alone facility for the following reasons. - It serves an educational purpose. The culture at a project-based learning Academy like the one proposed is very different than the traditional learning and teaching environment. That different culture can only be created in a stand-alone facility. Click here to learn more about designing schools for 21st century learning. - A centralized location is more accessible to all students. Plano ISD covers more than 100 square miles. A centralized, accessible location will have more success in attracting students from all parts of the school district. - A unique identity is best established in a stand-alone location. A separate, unique and distinct identity is needed to market the program and attract students. If the new Academy is housed within an existing facility, students considering a transfer to the Academy will identify their transfer with the shared campus rather than the new program. Students are less prone to choose to attend a school within a school since it takes on the culture and identity of the larger school. - A separate, commercial investment provides investment liquidity. Investing taxpayer funds in a stand-alone, commercially viable building is a better investment as it can be liquidated at a future point, if desired. - Minimizing the negative consequences to others will not burden the program with a negative community sentiment to overcome before it even begins. The district evaluated different facility options that included closing an existing elementary school and repurposing it as a 9-12 Academy. Rezoning elementary students and eliminating the neighborhood school in order to establish a high school Academy carried negative consequences to others that outweighed the concept of repurposing an elementary school. Plano ISD has the bond dollars available to purchase the commercial building at 1701 Alma with a minimal retrofit requirement. The Academy's additional operating and maintenance costs will be neutralized through a public/private partnership. Therefore, the Board expressed its will to purchase the Alma property for the Academy program. Why develop a program that reaches 600 students which seems like a small percentage of Plano ISD's 9-12 student population? The district currently educates approximately 16,000 students in grades 9-12 today. Plano ISD offers numerous programs in order to meet the myriad of needs and interests of its varied student population. Student participation in these various programs can range from a few students to thousands of students.
The Academy program is like any of the programs listed above whose purpose is to fill a need that positively contributes to increased student academic achievement. Unique to this new program, however, is its opportunity to provide the catalyst for improving instructional models across the entire district. In addition, it is the only program whose incremental cost will be funded by a third party corporate partner. What is the Academy master plan? The Academy Visioning Committee recommended that the district grow into multiple academies, and the Board embraced that idea. The scope of this Committee's work, however, was limited to a recommendation for the first Academy which would house grades 9-12. A needs analysis for additional Academy options will lead to other academies developing as "schools of choice" at the elementary and middle school levels. This will occur when the district has implemented the first Academy and has data to measure results. Additional academies will be based upon the student, parent, business, and community interest profile. The district will have created a program, curriculum, and teaching methods that can be modified and repeated elsewhere. The goal behind the first Academy is to meet a learning need that is not currently being fulfilled today. In addition, it will serve as the catalyst to scale the lessons from this effort up and across the district. Plano ISD's goal is to transform an entire system as a hallmark for delivering 21st Century core content and skills. How can I stay informed about the Academy and other Plano ISD news? School Board agendas, videos, minutes
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
. 
about project based learning from the Buck Institute for Education. Links to several additional 
1701 Alma Drive, Plano