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Advanced Academics Advances To First-Grade
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Published: July 28, 2008
SEBRING - Advanced Academics will be offered for the first time in the first-grade in the upcoming school year.
Ruth Heckman, Advanced Academics and International Baccalaureate administrator, hopes every elementary school has an Advanced Academics class from first through fifth.
In the middle schools, Advanced Academics will be available in at least one subject area at each grade level, she said.
For example, at sixth-grade there could be a regular social studies class and an Advanced Academics class that progresses faster, covering more topics with greater depth and requiring additional research by the student, Heckman said.
Student recommendations for first-grade Advanced Academics will be based on the various screening tests students take in kindergarten.
The reduction in teaching positions has not affected the number of classroom-teacher positions dedicated to Advanced Academics.
"The cutbacks have not affected that part of the program," Heckman said. "We have fewer 'gifted' resource teachers who are resources to the Advanced Academics teachers, but we are still able to maintain the resource teachers who are available throughout the schools."
Advanced Academics prepares students for dual-enrollment and advanced placement classes in high school and for the International Baccalaureate Diploma program, she said.
Woodlawn Elementary Principal Kaye Bowers said, "We are excited about the strategies that the teachers will continue to learn from the district on how to enrich students and really those strategies can be used in every classroom."
Teresa Franchio will be teaching the first-grade Advanced Academics class at Woodlawn Elementary.
Advanced Academics really helps students enrich their academics, Bowers added.
Highlands Advanced Academics Rising Together (HAART) started a few years ago at the fourth- and fifth-grade levels and has progressed to other grade levels to offer challenging studies for advanced students.
Marc Valero can be reached at 386-5826 or mvalero@highlandstoday.com
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