12/01/04

 

Discussion about the curriculum at the Early College High School at Queens College

 

Each grade has 75 students (525 total). 81 with 3 classes of 27/28. Attrition is expected to be between 2 and 3%.

 

Each teacher would have a home room. Four teachers would be more desirable than 5.

We should identify a science teacher with a passion for math.

 

It would be a good idea to talk Daniela Francesco (College Now) and Janice Peritz (CUNY Honors College). It has not worked well to have the college writing course in a lower High School grade, i.e., 9th.

 

We shouldn’t just be modeling teaching styles early on. Professional development and curriculum development are crucial. We need to look both ways, i.e., writing instruction at the HS and College at the same time so that we can create a better continuum.

 

The difference between the Early College and College Now initiatives is that the latter courses are not developed taking into account the entire curriculum. The Early College courses will.

 

We should inculcate in the students the belief that they are going to college. Advisories should include thinking about college; they should have a college-going attitude. Teachers should be aware of the continuum for instruction from HS into college. 6th graders could make a visit to Queens College.

 

Maybe we can bring in the Big Buddy program concept to the Early College High School. This program is also implemented in Louis Armstrong Middle School.  A college student is paired with a youngster who is either homeless or otherwise "at risk, and together they spend every Saturday throughout the academic year participating in a wide variety of mutually chosen educational, cultural and recreational activities. Students are recruited at QC to be mentors. Work-study students could work at the HS (especially education undergraduates ?).

 

Regina Cromwell (check name?) is involved in a program that combines HS and College students working together.

 

Questions:

 

Consider having a QC instructor (adjunct) hired by the HS to teach courses.

 

There is a lot of potential for us to do a lot of things at Queens College related to art. Suggest talking to Rikki Asher about art class design?  She did the multiethnic mural in the Rosenthal Library.

 

English 110 – 126 – 155 would be combination courses.

 

There could be an independent study course about government.

 

We need to identify Identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses.

 

Literacy should be embedded throughout the curriculum.

 

1st college sequence would be in 9th grade, FL I and II (one year courses) and Intermediate I and II at the college (one semester courses).

 

The emphasis should be on multiethnic, multilinguistic, and mutlicultural diversity.

 

The concept of literacies should include technology literacy.

 

The goal is to enable students to plan/design their own career in HS and in college (HS and college are interwoven.)


What about “soft” skills/ Can these be dealt with in the advisories?

 

Special Ed students and students with disabilities (IEP’s - Individualized Education Programs) are 10% of the total population (based on citiwide averages). ELL students are 10/15% of the population.

 

Transferability of credits is an important issue. The goal is for all (or as many as possible) transfer worthy credits to be recognized by other baccalaureate granting institutions. We need to audit the credits for transferability. Even though there is an existing articulation in CUNY, all three colleges should work together on this. We should share the list of courses with one another. We need to make sure that our proposed courses cover the LASAR requirements and are transferable.