Bit Tired of School Issues

Well it's back to school time and you know what that means! ... yes! the annual fight with administration and the edu gurus about the need for the Senior Project. This year I am on a roll to get the Senior Project either changed or deleted completely ... the School District, on the other hand, is on a roll to roll it out to ALL of the high schools in the district. I'd love to hear from others and their opinions on this.


Background
The Senior Project and the accompanying Underclassmen Portfolio were created about 7 years ago. The Underclassmen Portfolio is a three-year packet (freshman, sophomore, junior) consisting of "Evidence Sheets" from each of a student's classes proving the student learned one of the California Standards for that academic area during the semester. Each of the evidence sheets are then compiled into an essay witten by the student discussing the value of the standards or comparing them to the ESLR's. All evidence sheets and both semester essays for all 3 years are held in a student's file until the end of the second semester of the student's Junior year when it is then returned to the student. Students are not required to complete the 2 semester essays or provide evidence sheets in their senior year, but are instead required to complete a Senior Project.

The Senior Project consists of three sections: A formal research paper, a project of 35 hours related to the research, and an oral board explaining the tie-in and results. The research paper is 10% of the student's Senior English class second semester grade; the Project is 20%; and the oral board is 10% (40% total) and all of these grades are posted in the last quarter of the second semester. The process begins during the second week of the school year and ends approximately 1 month before the last day of school. Deadlines are strictly adhered to and all Projects and thesis statements MUST be approved by the English teacher prior to beginning, and a Mentor is assigned to the student to monitor progress.


The Problems
It is 40% of a student's English grade. 4 years of English is required for graduation. Since the Senior Project comprises 40% of a student's English grade, if a student refuses to do a Senior Project, they have in effect failed 1/2 of their Senior English class because that student would have to score 100% on all assignments in the second semester just to get a 60%. Since this is virtually impossible, the student would receive an "F" for that semester and would be ineligible for graduation. Some students know this and simply refuse to do the Project and take a 6 week summer school English class, which does not require a Project, to receive credit and thus graduate. The school and district insist a Senior Project is not required to graduate, but in actuality it IS required since it is such a large portion of the student's English grade.

Inconsistency in approvals. The Project and thesis must be approved by an English teacher even though that Project or thesis has nothing to do with English. Some students have been approved for a particular subject, and others have been denied approval for the same subject by a different teacher or in a different year. There is no consistency and students are basically at the mercy of the teacher.

Waste of resources and expense. The Project portion requires a 4" 3-ring binder with original signed approvals and time logs, back-up documentation, a copy of the research paper, a table of contents and index, evaluation sheets, photographs, certificates of completion, and all notes and other requirement sheets. All pieces of paper must be indexed by section and placed in sheet protectors. Students are graded on the quality of the binder, the quality of "reflections" written on the time logs, and creativity, in addition to the number of hours spent, the "challenge level" of the project, and the opinions of the mentor. A typical binder consists of 100 pages or more costing approximatley $50 to $100 per student to produce. A graduating class of 500 students will produce 500 binders, 4000 index tabs, 50000 sheets of paper in 50000 sheet protectors, and utilize 1000 sheets of construction paper to decorate the outside of the binder. Approximately 50% of the students will throw the binder in the trash bin the week after graduation and 90% will have thrown theirs away within 3 years. This is a waste of resources and a huge impact on the environment (and a parent's pocketbook).

No consideration for student's obligations. The English Department has a very narrow definition of what is considered a valid Project. There are 5 general areas that a student can choose from, but none of these take into account what a student already has going on in their lives. For example, a student can plan and implement a fund raiser for the local children's hospital but if that student is doing that particular project to also receive their Boy Scout Eagle or Girl Scout Gold Award (which have far more difficult requirements and far more hours necessary) the Project does not qualify. In effect, the student has to do two Projects. Why not just allow the Boy or Girl Scout Project and count those hours? The research paper thesis on fund raising or sick children would remain the same; and the oral board would remain the same; AND the student would be pumping over double the number of hours into the Project portion. Another example, a student has a part time job in an office as a clerk. The project was a career exploration thesis on hiring from outside versus promoting from within. The student's goal was to be accepted into the management program by the end of the school year, but she was told by her teacher that her current job, even though it was entry-level, was not sufficient for the Senior Project and she would have to get a different job to prove the thesis because she was already involved with that company!

Mental Meltdown. Several factors related to the Senior Project lead to a total psychological crisis, not only with the student but with that student's family. First is the fact that the entire Project is posted in the last quarter of the last year. There is no time for correction if a student is failing. Second is the pressure of an oral board. Students are not taught the skills to give a 10 minute speech (they "review" the 5 points of oration about two weeks prior). Many students have become physically ill either before or after the speech and more than one has found it necessary to seek professional psychological help due to being forced to "confront the fear" of speaking in public. Third is the overall pressure of dealing with the deadlines of not only the Project but all others to graduate and possibly enroll in college. In one week my daughter had 4 major papers of 10 pages or more, 2 AP Exams, 5 Senior Final Exams, and had to turn in the Project binder. She did not sleep for days. Some people said "Well that's a good example of college for her." What a crock! This is high school and it isn't their concern to "prepare" her for something that may or may not happen. It is, however, their concern to ensure she is learning the material but not necessarily all within a 7 day period of time.

Suggestions
1. The first and best solution in my mind is dropping the required hours portion of the Project. However, if the District wishes to expand the Senior Project to all high schools in the District, then there needs to be a "Clearing House" of sorts to determine what is considered a "valid' project instead of relying on the potentially warped opinion of one teacher. There needs to be CONSISTENCY. In the event a student has an idea that is not on the "approved list" they can petition the District Curriculum Office for a determination as to what would need to be done to include that particular Project.

2. In addition, the choices of what a student can do need to be broader based to take into account what students are already accomplishing in their lives. I had to do some type of "project" when I was in high school and this could be accomplished at any time in the course of 3 years (10th, 11th and 12th grade) and could include:
- Lettering on a school team (whether that be Sports, Band, Cheer or ANY competition where participants are scored or judged)
- A paying job
- Holding an elected ASB office position or acting as a team captain or enrollment in ASB Leadership class for at least 2 semesters
- Volunteering for school service positions (I was the school's ticket seller for all sporting and non-sporting events for 2 years as an example)
- Acting as the school's student representative on a board (Site Council, Access to the Future, etc.)
- Receiving a nationally recognized achievement award (such as the President's Physical Fitness Award, the President's Volunteer Award, the Boy Scout Eagle, the Girl Scout Gold Award, etc.) that entails a minimum number of hours of service
- Participating in a school event or group, or plan and implement a fund raiser for a school booster group, such as the Fall or Spring play, Blood Drive, ROP, etc.
- Scholastic Achievement recognized via AP Testing, a Proficient or high score on the California exams, concurrent enrollment at a local college
- Active participation in a recognized community service youth group (such as YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, etc.)
By including all of these, almost 90% of the students at my school fulfilled their requirements without Guidance Counsellor intervention. Those who did not were assisted by the Career Guidance department. What was chosen and completed was logged on our official Transcript and that was reviewed by a Counsellor with each student as they registered for the next year to make sure it had been completed prior to the last semester so there were no surprises. The Project did not count toward any one class's grade.

3. The oral board presentation should be deleted completely, or if kept, the score should be no more than the value of any other test (100 points or about 2% of the total semester grade). Seniors are enrolled in English, not a Public Speaking course, therefore they should not be graded on public speaking unless they have received instruction on how to do so. If the oral board is included then Speech instruction needs to be made a part of Senior English curriculum AND the student should not be graded on their public speaking ability (which they are now) but rather on the effectiveness of the oral presentation in explaining what was done and any potential changes or awards received. At present, 40% is based on "projection", "public presence" and various other aspects that have nothing to do with the Project itself.

4. The Project should NOT be 20% of a student's English grade or count toward that class's credits. At minimum, the hours and grade should be logged in a 0 or 7th period Work Experience Course so the student gets credit for those hours. A Project Binder would not need to be turned in, but rather a Personal Portfolio including certificates, resume, and letters of commendation or recommendation proving the Project's completion could be "graded" with a pass/fail just as a similar Personal Portfolio is graded in Work Experience now.

I know this is a "piddly" issue in comparison to world problems, but I truly feel the Project and Portfolio are unnecessary to achieve educational goals in California. If anything, the Project accomplishes the opposite ... it reduces the number of graduates and does nothing toward "teaching" students the state mandated curriculum. I would LOVE to hear from ex-students and their parents on their experiences with this, and from anyone else having a opinion.