Parkers Chapel schools encourage accountability with Flex Mod
PARKERS CHAPEL — Parkers Chapel school district tackles its goal of ensuring an atmosphere of responsibility and accountability for students and teachers through Flex Schedules at the middle and high schools.
At the district’s Annual Report to the Public, middle school principal June Wells and high school principal Seth Williams informed school board members on the schedule’s importance, how it’s being implemented and the progress of the program.
High school student advisory committee members Bailey Norwood, Sadie Goss, Jaycie Burns and Gabi Pennington led the discussion.
“Flex Mod is set up similar to a college schedule to help students learn how to manage their time wisely,” Norwood said. “The students have independent learning time working into their day to complete assignments and get tutoring from teachers who share similiar ILT times with them.”
Students have access to technology during independent learning time, including their personal cell phones. Every middle and high school student has an opportunity to have independent learning time, but students must meet the requirements.
“If their grade drops below a 70, they go to a structured learning enviornment and I have a rotation of teachers who will be monitoring that,” Williams said.
Students see independent learning time as a privilege and structured learning time as a punishement even though it’s not seen by administration as such.
“At the end of the nine weeks, what’s done is done. They want to know where they are and they can save themselves. It’s like a report card week every week. There’s a safety net.” Williams said.
Administrators set the bar at a 70 percent and it can’t be lowered. Some parents have called to raise the required grade for their students, Williams said.
School board vice president Howard Skinner said, “I really like it from the fact that as soon as your grade hits 70, somebody is paying attention to you.”
Student advisory committee members gave fellow students surveys to get general comments about the schedules and see how the system can be improved. After a couple weeks, students’ responses reflected that flex schedules run smooth and independent learning time is beneficial to their learning.
Pennington said, “A lot of people complete their schoolwork during school hours instead of having to take it home. That left more time for sports and any other extracurricular activities.”
Every week, students go to homeroom to see if they have been assigned to independent learning or structured learning time.
“AGS is the accelerated growth sessions and AGS is put in place of homeroom. Teachers check their grades to see who should be in SLT,” Burns said. “It is a time to grow communication skills between the teachers and fellow students. We also valuable life skills, historical information and help grow a community service base to give back.”
In the accelerated growth sessions, students talk about community service projects and their progress. Each class is assigned its own project ranging from volunteering at the elementary school to collecting supplies for southern Louisiana flood victims.
“Each semester each class is going to do a community service project. There’s a lot of research that supports the idea that it helps them grow, mature and be valuable citizens,” Williams said. “The kids really got excited about it and they’re going to take pictures so they can have proof for college essays. Colleges aren’t just looking at their test scores. They’re looking at their civic participation.”
Parkers Chapel Elementary School principal Carrie Burson said her students enjoy spending time with the older kids who volunteer.
“I’ve got several of the athletes going to elementary PE and assisting, working with some of the students, dividing them up into smaller groups. It’s been great,” Burson said. “I noticed that they’re starting to show up more days because they’re enjoying it and the students love it.”
The system also encourages accountability for Parkers Chapel middle and high school teachers as well.
“If you haven’t entered (grades) in two weeks, you’re going to know about it from the teachers and the students,” Williams said. “Before it was the adminstrator who checked it and the parents who held teachers accountable for making sure that progress was updated. There’s a lot of people holding each other accountable and that’s good.”
Because independent learning time is structured in student schedules, there is less time for class instruction. Teachers use extension assignments to reinforce benchmarks. Students have a week to complete an assignment that should take about 30 minutes.
Parkers Chapel High School teacher Jessica Brown said, “You have to change some of the things you use class time for. It’s been an adjustment, but I think people are figuring it out. Extension activities once a week really help. Some of the things we thought we had to say, now the students are doing themselves.”
Williams said he thinks extension assignments could help prepare high school students for a college learning experience.
“Most college classes have an online portion. Face-to-face classes have extension activities for students to complete that are in modules every week,” Williams said. “This isn’t just extra homework. I’ve made it clear to the teachers that this is something that’s supposed to be meaningful to what they’re teaching that week.”
Many students use their cell phones to access their schedules throughout the day. Either they’ve taken a screenshot or picture of it.
“I can see it progressing that direction with an app and they can keep up with it live so they don’t have to take a picture. As the advisory council, ya’ll should push for that,” Skinner said.