A new school in Idaho Falls, Idaho that opened up just this fall has taken an innovative approach to applying basic educational skills like reading, writing and math to hands-on technical careers like auto mechanics.
This approach-personalizing and making education directly applicable-begs the question, could this be an answer to improving student achievement? At Technical Careers High School, while it is still required to fulfill all educational requirements like at traditional schools, core requirements are taken and applied directly to the technical career paths.
"We understand our students are interested in the technical fields and trades," Principal Craig Miller said to The Post Register.
"We are trying to make it so whatever subject we teach, we relate it to their interests.
" For example, in one English class, rather than having the students write an essay discussing and dissecting classic literature, students were writing a business cost estimate.
Students then split their time between taking core educational classes and spending time in one of the various shops.
This approach to education could potentially be a great solution to the student achievement issues that have been plaguing schools, especially those in rural and urban areas.
One of the biggest complaints students have in education is wondering how they are actually going to use the information teachers present to them at school.
This approach directly applies the information to real world situations.
Recently, researchers at Southern Methodist University have published an ongoing series of studies looking at the benefits of personalizing.
The studies have found that by changing the wording to better represent the interests of the students, students were more likely to try harder and subsequently improve student achievement.
"You don't think the words, the little details of context, will make a difference when you are solving a math problem, but it really does," Candace A.
Walkington, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Southern Methodist in Dallas and the lead researcher for the reports said to Education Week.
The common theme in these two examples is that the student is being engaged in something that interests them.
This ultimately should be the goal of every school curriculum.
School is there to properly prepare a student for the future, not only for a career, but a career path they want.
If schools want to improve student achievement, two things need to happen: more attention should be paid toward a student's career interests and a curriculum should be tailored to these careers.
This means that alternative classes should be offered that give students core skills while directly applying them to potential career paths.
While this would take a little more work on the part of teachers and administrators, it ultimately would be worth it as achievement improves and students become more excited about coming to school.
"This will let me get a job right out of high school," Jacob Creech, a senior at Technical Careers High School said to The Post Register.
"Everything I've learned here I won't have to learn again and I can just go into the workforce.
"
This approach-personalizing and making education directly applicable-begs the question, could this be an answer to improving student achievement? At Technical Careers High School, while it is still required to fulfill all educational requirements like at traditional schools, core requirements are taken and applied directly to the technical career paths.
"We understand our students are interested in the technical fields and trades," Principal Craig Miller said to The Post Register.
"We are trying to make it so whatever subject we teach, we relate it to their interests.
" For example, in one English class, rather than having the students write an essay discussing and dissecting classic literature, students were writing a business cost estimate.
Students then split their time between taking core educational classes and spending time in one of the various shops.
This approach to education could potentially be a great solution to the student achievement issues that have been plaguing schools, especially those in rural and urban areas.
One of the biggest complaints students have in education is wondering how they are actually going to use the information teachers present to them at school.
This approach directly applies the information to real world situations.
Recently, researchers at Southern Methodist University have published an ongoing series of studies looking at the benefits of personalizing.
The studies have found that by changing the wording to better represent the interests of the students, students were more likely to try harder and subsequently improve student achievement.
"You don't think the words, the little details of context, will make a difference when you are solving a math problem, but it really does," Candace A.
Walkington, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Southern Methodist in Dallas and the lead researcher for the reports said to Education Week.
The common theme in these two examples is that the student is being engaged in something that interests them.
This ultimately should be the goal of every school curriculum.
School is there to properly prepare a student for the future, not only for a career, but a career path they want.
If schools want to improve student achievement, two things need to happen: more attention should be paid toward a student's career interests and a curriculum should be tailored to these careers.
This means that alternative classes should be offered that give students core skills while directly applying them to potential career paths.
While this would take a little more work on the part of teachers and administrators, it ultimately would be worth it as achievement improves and students become more excited about coming to school.
"This will let me get a job right out of high school," Jacob Creech, a senior at Technical Careers High School said to The Post Register.
"Everything I've learned here I won't have to learn again and I can just go into the workforce.
"