Senior class projects strive for relevance

REAL LIFE ISSUES-From left, Allie Giovanelli, Abby Palace, Zac Byer and Aaron Alpert take part in an innovative program at Agoura High School. The 66 seniors in Deborah Frank's English IV classes participated in senior projects that tackled real life school issues including the transition into high school and the question of why so many students are bringing home bad grades. Younger mentors, better bribes and ditching the DARE program are some Agoura High School seniors' solutions to real-life puzzles.

The 66 students in Deborah Frank's English IV classes got a taste of work experience through a senior project tied into the school's new philosophy of infusing "rigor and relevance" into coursework.

The "New Directions" philosophy has been two years in the making, and teachers are now shifting the focus from book learning to problem solving.

Frank put theory into practice with senior projects that not only encouraged critical thinking skills but actually shed light on some vexing problems facing the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

Problems, problems

While some students tackled the problem of why so many of their peers are taking home D and F grades, another team analyzed ways to improve performance on the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) exam. A third group studied how to ease the transition between middle school and high school, and the fourth group dealt with graduation requirements.

Allie Giovanelli was one of eight students in Frank's Advanced Placement English IV class to confront the problems that some face in making the transition from middle school to high school.

"We wondered why the adjustment was so easy for us and difficult for some kids," Giovanelli said.

That question led to research, field studies, panel discussions with community leaders and an implementation plan complete with a timeline and cost estimates.

Although the students believed that a student-to-student mentoring program for eighth graders would help, the school already had a mentoring program. The study team concluded that it was ineffective because the mentors were too old.

"We felt that the administration does really attempt to mentor students, but felt that (middle school) students would be more responsive to people who had gone through the transition two years ago rather than someone who went through it 20 years ago," Giovanelli said.

Ice cream bars don't work

Zac Byer worked on increasing student motivation and achievement on STAR tests. He said students are "bribed" to increase their scores on the annual standardized test.

And the bribe-a certificate for an ice cream bar-hasn't been that tempting for many students, according to Byer.

Byer and other students studying the testing dilemma met with the school's established STAR committee and found that it was the first time that any of the members had ever spoken with students.

"Adults made assumptions of what students wanted, or how (they can) do better on tests," Byer said.

In addition to improved communication with students and parents on standards, Byer hopes that the school will pilot an assessment program that is aligned with standards. The program provides sample STAR questions, tracking and analysis. Teachers will be able to assess how each student performs in specific areas on the test.

No more 'breakfast club'

Abby Palace was among the group studying why so many students receive D's and F's.

The students concluded that underachieving students were not attending the early morning support period.

Mostly A students were attending, Palace said. "People who needed it most were not going."

The student solution was to move the support period to either before or after lunch.

Drug abuse was also identified as a contributor to low grades.

"It's astounding how many kids in our high school do drugs," Palace said. To combat the problem her group recommended that the district hire additional counselors.

She also called for an end to the widely hailed anti-drug DARE program that elementary school children complete. The students found that it was not only ineffective, but actually raised the likelihood of drug abuse in high school.

"The stats backed it up," Palace said. The students presented their findings to a panel of parents, school board members and students. Palace expects the topic to be further explored at a future school board meeting.

Frank was happy with the new direction of her English classes.

"Even though we teach the research process in ninth through 12th grade, my students had a difficult time applying those research skills to real life," Frank said. "I realized how desperately we needed this kind of work."

At first students thought that the project would be an easy A, Frank said. "They were completely clueless, and they were the brightest kids at school."

Frank said she helped the students with interviewing strategies and taught them to establish networks. They even learned the importance of writing thank-you letters to people who helped them on their projects.

Writing assignments, Frank said, were geared toward workplace documents and observation reports. Students had to collect research and analyze their data.

"That was hard... that's when they realized that their research was faulty and they had to re-interview people," Frank said.

"The more frustrated they were, the more excited I was," she said.

Even in the midst of senioritis, Frank's students were engaged and learning in ways that they didn't even see as work, she said.

The project "made them think that their work was really important, not just busywork," Frank said.