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A.L. Brown High adjusts graduation project

By Jessica Groover | Independent Tribune

Published: August 12, 2009

KANNAPOLIS — A.L. Brown High School students will be given more time to complete their graduation projects now, thanks to recent adjustments.

Principal Kevin Garay discussed some of these changes with the Kannapolis City Schools Board of Education on Monday.

Starting with this year's junior class, work on the graduation project will take place during a full calendar year instead of a three-month semester, Garay said. The previous time crunch was one of the reasons the school system adjusted the project.

"We had too many students who were struggling and had the pressure of getting the project done in three months," Garay said.

The project is a requirement for graduation and includes a research paper on a selected topic, time with a mentor, a portfolio and a presentation before a panel of judges.

Kannapolis City Schools decided to implement the graduation project during the past two school years because it was originally supposed to be state mandated, beginning this fall, said Debra Morris, assistant superintendent for the school system.

"The state has changed the date to 2011 as the earliest (districts) will have to do the project," Garay said.

As a result of this change, Garay said some districts that previously implemented it have decided to either keep the graduation project and be ready for one that might be state mandated, make adjustments or stop requiring it.

Some of the changes made for A.L. Brown students are that the proposal, letter of intent, mentor selection and research paper for the project will be completed in the spring semester of the junior year.

This will allow for some or all of the 15 hours with a mentor to be acquired in the summer, if the selection is approved, and for the other parts of the project to be completed in the fall of the senior year.

In the past, seniors have completed all components of the project in either the fall or spring semester, which Garay said puts pressure on students, especially those who work on it in the spring.

All seniors will work on completion of the project in the fall semester and have remediation — for those who do not initially pass the paper or portfolio portions — during the entire spring semester, instead of the last three weeks of it.

In the past two years, more than 400 students have completed the project, and the school system has had an 85 percent pass rate for the first round of portfolios and a 95 percent pass rate for the presentations, Garay said.

"The students (now) get more time and won't have to deal with (completing it during) the last semester," Garay said. "It also gives them more time to spend with a mentor."

Garay added that the students will begin the project in January of their junior year and present the following January, during their senior year, so all requirements will be completed in a year.

For this year's seniors who will continue with the previous schedule, the research paper requirement will be shortened to five to seven pages, while the juniors will still have the seven- to 10-page requirement.

Because all seniors will complete the project in the fall, the school system is also adding another presentation day for students.

"Presentation day for the fall normally was 160 students one semester and 80 another," Garay said. "This time, 240 will (present) in the fall, so we need two days."

The presentation time, which involves judges from the community, was one of the positive aspects of the project that Garay listed for the school board.

He also mentioned it taught students responsibility and earned some internships with their mentors.

Some of the difficulties Garay mentioned were that it was demanding on graduation project coordinators and the quality of some products was not as good as they should be.

He said the new changes should help fix these problems.

After hearing his presentation, the school board and superintendent Jo Anne Byerly were pleased with the new version of the graduation project.

Danita Rickard, chair for the school board, said she liked that the research paper will now be completed during the junior year. Byerly was also pleased.

"I think it will strengthen the project and make it better for the students," Byerly said.