Nature and Context of Education at Virginia Tech is a course offered to prepare aspiring school administrators for the ever changing obstacles and events that occur in the school setting. This course was practice field based. It was designed to include hands on experiences, simulated situations, case studies, and other similar participatory activities aligned with the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards set to prepare future school administrators.
An integral component of this course curriculum includes practice field activities. A practice field activity simulates events that an administrator might face on any given day. This allows participants to respond in a safe environment and provides the student with opportunities for constructive feedback and interactive discussions. For example, one scenario students were asked to complete was responding professionally to an irate parent who has called the administrator. To make the scenario as authentic as possible, this assignment was completed via Skype.These practice activities culminated in a master schedule assignment. This practice field activity asked students to prepare a master schedule. More than just creating the schedule, the purpose of this assignment was to challenge students to collaborate, trouble shoot, and identify problems and obstacles that arise during the scheduling process.
This process from beginning to end offered the students in the course a snapshot of some of the activities school administrators may face. Students may add these skills learned to their “administrator’s toolbox.”
Introduction
Horizon High School is a fictitious, Virginia charter school. Horizon is home to 800 students in grades 9-12. Horizon takes pride in offering students a unique education with an instructional focus on the environment. Horizon’s instructional focus is not only found in the science courses, but is also incorporated into art, history, culture, technology. Our students are not only being educated in the academic realm, but also learning to be good citizens of our world.
Organizational description
Horizon High school is home to 800 students. The demographic breakdown of students is as follows:
- 376 females and 424 males
- 428 white, 272 black, 52 Hispanic, 48 Asian
- 384 students receive free and reduced lunch
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12
th
graders = 168 total. Of the 168: Female = 80; Male = 88; White =104; Black = 48; Hispanic =8; Asian = 8
-
11
th
graders = 168 total. Of the 168: Female = 104; Male = 64; White = 88; Black = 56; Hispanic = 8; Asian = 16
-
10
th
graders = 216 total. Of the 216: Female = 88; Male = 128; White = 112; Black = 76; Hispanic = 20; Asian = 8
-
9
th
graders = 248 total. Of the 248: Female = 104; Male = 144; White = 124; Black = 92; Hispanic = 16; Asian = 16
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SPED = 81. Of the 81: Female = 39 Male = 42; White = 45 Black = 22 Hispanic = 8 Asian = 6; 9
th = 25, 10
th = 22, 11
th = 17, 12
th = 17
- Students with special education needs will be serviced through a full inclusion model.
- To reflect our environmental focus, you will see many of our courses at Horizon High School have been tweaked, combined, or modified to show this focus. Our arts courses are now Arts and Culture. Not only will students work with the arts, they will also deal with the culture of countries around the world. Environment plays a big part in a nation’s culture and the Arts and Culture class addresses that. There is a center class offered to freshman called English/ Environmental literature. This class will be co-taught by one English and one science teacher. This class will use literature that focuses on the environment for their curriculum. Horizon offers a technology course, Environmental Technology, which focuses on technology that will make improvements on our current technology to make it more eco-friendly. Students at Horizon High School will also have access to both Horticulture and Agriculture courses. We feel it is important to teach our students not only about the environment, but show them how they can make changes to improve the environment.
- Horizon High School will offer a few Advanced Placement (AP) courses to juniors and seniors who chose to take that route. Courses offering AP sections are as follows: VA/ US History AP; AP English; AP Calculus; AP Statistics; AP Chemistry; AP Government. There is also a Pre. AP English class available for sophomores. For students wishing to take advanced courses, Horizon High School also offers advanced classes such as, Advanced Orchestra, and Advanced Biology.
