PREPARING STUDENTS FOR LIFE
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Students save more than $1.4 million in future tuition
costs thanks to ‘College in the Schools’ program
During the 2013-14 school year, 862 AnokaHennepin students earned 3,220 credits from the
University of Minnesota (U of M) through the “College
in the Schools” (CIS) program. At $463.85 a credit,
which is the same as last year, that marks a total
savings of nearly $1.5 million in tuition fees for
Anoka-Hennepin students who participated.
Through CIS, students can earn college credits
from the U of M without leaving their AnokaHennepin high schools. The credits are recognized
by colleges and universities across the nation. Taking
college courses allows high school students to experience increased academic rigor, develop skills for
college success and make a smoother transition
between high school and college.
“We’re excited that more of our students are finding
success in rigorous college-level courses and also earning college credit,” said Jeff McGonigal, associate
superintendent for high school education. “With college
tuition at an all-time high, this kind of success in high
school is very important to students and their families.”
This year’s numbers also mark a 40 percent uptick
in participation and total college savings from the
previous year for Anoka-Hennepin high school CIS students. In 2012-13, just 1,912 credits were earned by
486 participants, good for $886,881 in tuition savings.
According to the U of M, the motivated students
who want to earn college credit while in high school
are the students who can raise the academic bar for
all students and shape a positive school culture.
More than 860 Anoka-Hennepin students — like these Blaine High School students — saved nearly $1.5 million in future tuition
fees through the district’s “College in the Schools” (CIS) program.
Keeping these students on the high school campus
benefits the whole school.
CIS classes are taught by high school teachers —
22 in total in Anoka-Hennepin, with three at Anoka,
four at Champlin Park and Coon Rapids, five at Blaine
and six at Andover. The university-based professional
development the teachers receive provides an o pportunity to build relationships with U of M faculty and
other high school teachers from other schools. Those
22 teachers received a total of 500.5 total hours of
U of M sponsored professional development last year.
In addition to CIS, students can also earn credit
through Advanced Placement courses, International
Baccalaureate and a number of career courses offered
at the Secondary Technical Education Program (STEP).
Last year more than 6,000 Anoka-Hennepin students
took at least one college credit course.
For more information about CIS, students can talk
to their counselors or visit the CIS website
www.cce.umn.edu/College-in-the-Schools.
Registration is open through February for CIS classes
offered in the 2014-15 academic year. ■
Anoka Middle School for the Arts receives $23,000
Perpich grant to help fuse together math and art
At Anoka Middle School for the Arts
(AMSA), a strange thing has been found
in the math classes sixth graders are taking this year: art.
“It sounds different, but it’s wonderful,”
said Jolanda Dranchak, the school’s curriculum integrator. “Art is so hands on,
so it’s proving to be very engaging for
students, and it’s exciting to see them
so excited to learn math.”
It’s all happening thanks to a three-year,
$23,000 grant AMSA received from the
Perpich Center for Arts Education earlier
this year, Dranchak said. The goal of the
grant, she said, is to create a new curriculum plan that embeds art into three
different sixth grade pre algebra lessons.
Tam Wicks, a sixth grade math teacher
at the school’s Washington campus, is
one of the two math teachers who are
piloting the new math lessons this year
while also writing them. She said it’s
been a hit thus far.
“Students — they are loving it,” Wicks
said. “They’re engaged in their learning
and are connecting with the lessons like
never before. Kids are excited to learn
math.”
The first such lesson was fractionbased, Wicks said. Students created a
piece of art, and were then asked to calculate the color composition of the piece
they created and show it in the form of a
fraction. “It’s very cool,” Wicks said.
Two more lessons will be piloted this
year, Wicks said. Students will be creating a sculpture using two different colors
of clay in an effort to better understand
ratios. Later in the year, students will
create beaded bracelets while also developing a better understanding of writing
expressions and equations.
And they may not be done adding
lessons. “We are still creating lessons this
year to match as many units in the sixth
grade math curriculum as we can and
implementing them in the classroom,”
Wicks said. “Next year we will continue
to create new lessons as we reflect on
and revise this year’s work.”
Dranchak said the grant was totally
unexpected. She was at a workshop and
was talking with a colleague about the
idea of developing a curriculum that
fused art with math. “They mentioned
that a grant may be available for such a
Anoka Middle School for the Arts sixth grade math teachers Tam Wicks and Jen Pillsbury
work on a dry run of the art fractions unit they created. The unit, which fuses art with math,
was made possible this year thanks to a grant from the Perpich Center for Arts Education.
thing,” she said. “So we put together a team, wrote the grant and got
accepted.”
After getting the grant, Dranchak said the plan was to spend this year
writing the new curriculum and then next year piloting it. “Our teachers
were so eager to pilot this year though,” she said. “So we’re writing as
we’re piloting.”
All told, 300 sixth graders at AMSA are going through the pilot,
Dranchak said.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to work with a great team and create
lessons that incorporate the arts as a way to engage students in the math
classroom,” Wicks said. ■
Save the date:
AHEF’s Bill Gallagher Memorial 5K
April 11, 2015
Have questions or interested in volunteering to help with the 5K? Contact AHEF
Director Tess DeGeest, [email protected], or at 763-506-1105.