Cazenovia — Cazenovia High School administrators this year have changed how students’ and teachers’ schedules are made in a way that opens up opportunities for students to receive academic help during the school day and, for some, a chance to do more recreational activities.
The new Academic Support Time model has, to put it simply, identified and created more time for teachers and students to work together.
“This gives every student access in their subject area every single day of the week,” said CHS Principal Eric Knuth. “Hundreds of kids a week are getting help [because of the schedule change].”
“This is probably the most exciting thing to happen since I’ve been here,” said CHS Guidance Counselor Susan Tresco, whom Knuth credits with doing the majority of the work to create the AST model. “This helps all kids, not just some, and the scope is measurable and you can see the results.”
The AST model was the outgrowth of Knuth’s determination to “make every second count” when students are in school. He said he walked into a study hall one day last year where there were supposed to be 30 kids, but there were only three. He tasked Tresco with investigating where the students were — late arrival, early release, other classes, school activities, etc. — as well as their academic statistics and the locations of their respective teachers at that time. The idea was to pair students with available time to their teachers with available time to bring them together to increase learning opportunities, Knuth said.
“When we started doing that, we did not discover problems [with the current system] but we created opportunities,” Knuth said.
Among the various scheduling “constraints” administrators dealt with to create the AST model was how to eliminate non-instructional responsibilities from teachers’ schedules in order to allow them more time with kids, Knuth said. And the teachers are not just participating in the change, they are embracing it, he said.
continued — “One thing I’m most proud of working here is how dedicated our teachers are,” Knuth said. “I’ve never worked anywhere where there’s never anyone in the faculty room; they’re always with kids. Without teachers like ours who care, what we have done would not matter.”
Superintendent Matt Reilly praised the “professionalism and caring” of the high school faculty in being engaged in this new scheduling model.
“This is about helping kids and getting the most value out of the time we have with them,” Reilly said. “I could not b happier with the direction we’re headed in the high school. Kudos.”
Under the new AST scheduling, implemented this past October, students and teachers now have more available time to work together on academics. All students receive a schedule of where their teachers are and at what times during the day so when the students’ have available time they know where to go to receive additional help on their schoolwork. Students can not only meet with their teachers in the high school common area, or the math or science office, some also use their free time to use the weight room or participate in extra physical education classes.
In the three months that the new AST model has been in effect, 1,640 minutes of additional contact time with their teachers (41 school periods at 40 minutes per period) has been created in each four-day schedule cycle, according to Knuth. Simultaneously, the Quarter 1 academic performance data for each grade level has shown “measurable” improvements, he said.
For the spring 2016 period of the academic year, the AST model anticipates an increase in the amount of contact time between students and teachers — 46 school periods instead of 41 and 1,840 minutes of additional time instead of 1,640, Tresco said. Every high school student will receive a teacher extra help schedule in the spring as well to plan their time, she said.
Knuth presented the details and current results of the AST model to the district board of education during its Dec. 21 meeting. His PowerPoint presentation is expected to be posted on the district website (cazenoviacsd.com) in the near future. More details on the program will also be printed in the district’s “Blue and Gold” newsletter.