Students will see more college-level and career-ready courses thanks in part to a $1.8 million grant recently awarded to Queensbury Union Free School District. The School District Performance Improvement Grant is part of a New York State Education Department initiative to help schools build upon past successes in increasing student performance. The district will use the grant – a $600,000\/year award that lasts until June 2015 – to support college-level, early-college and career-ready programs.<\/p>\n
“Today’s students must meet much higher education standards than previous generations,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Douglas W. Huntley. “We’re very grateful for this grant because it will help us implement several new strategies to get all of our students college- and career-ready.”
\nThe Education Department awarded the three-year grant based in part on district leaders’ plan to implement the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and the IB Career Certificate Program at the high school. Both programs are challenging, rigorous and a good preparation for college, but the IBCC program focuses on career-related education. The programs are slated to launch in Queensbury in the fall of 2014.<\/p>\n
The grant will also support an increase in the number of College in the High School courses. Queensbury currently offers six CHS courses, in conjunction with local community colleges, as well as 12 Advanced Placement courses. The high school plans to offer many of its CHS, AP and IB courses in 21st-century learning environments. Such classrooms are equipped with technology that allows students to work collaboratively, to be self-directed and to learn subjects in a variety of interactive ways. The alternative learning environment and expansion of courses should help increase interest in higher-level courses among students with disabilities and those who face economic challenges.<\/p>\n
“We believe the vast majority of students are quite capable of taking courses that contain college-level material. Our goal is to give students more alternatives so they can all find success at the highest academic levels,” said Theresa Middleton, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, who authored the grant application.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Students will see more college-level and career-ready courses thanks in part to a $1.8 million grant recently awarded to Queensbury Union Free School District. The School District Performance Improvement Grant is part of a New York State Education Department initiative…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n