High School Learning Model
Springs Studio is a blended learning campus that merges the best of online learning and the best of traditional practices. Students in grades 9-12 are on campus for coursework Monday and Tuesday. We offer interventions on Thursday's for students with increased academic needs. We use Edgenuity as our foundational online curriculum and combine that with project-based direct instruction models on campus. Student's progress and growth are monitored through our online tools. Additionally, all students will have access to college and career exploration courses and options for concurrent enrollment to receive a free college education while in high school. Our flexible model allows students to own their learning and choose pace and place for most of their learning. We believe that a big brick and mortar school does not fit all learning styles or students.
2020-2021 School Year
Our leadership team has been diligently preparing for the 2020-2021 school year with our new expanded building. We have reached some conclusions that needed to be shared to ensure families have time to adjust their schedules for next year. The most significant change that will only impact the high school level is we must modify our daily schedule to 7:30 AM to 2:40 PM. Here is the rationale for this change:
- We are offering a significant number of Concurrent Enrollment courses on our campus, which impacts nearly 30% of our students. Concurrent Enrollment classes have a solidified district-wide schedule.
- We must align the SSAE HS schedule with the PPEC schedule and Concurrent Enrollment class schedule if we want to maximize our staff.
- It will allow us to offer honors and advanced courses on campus such as Physics and Calculus as well as significantly more electives, including Computer Science Pathways (coding) and Engineering pathways.
- Better use of staff will reduce class sizes (which were already smaller than traditional brick and mortar schools).
- An additional benefit to this schedule is it will allow those students who participate in athletics to remain in class until the end of the day.
We are not increasing the amount of time at school, merely adjusting the schedule earlier. Students would have the opportunity to take many more courses that align with their pathway plans in this aligned schedule. What will this do for students and their connection to their school; nothing except provide more options. We are not combining schools so students will remain in separate schools with different climates, cultures, and missions; however, some teachers may float back and forth between both schools. Thanks in advance for your support and engagement.