Starting this year, after school, West high is now offering night school to help students get the credits they need to graduate. Night school is a pilot program that west is starting with the hope that it can help students at west and that West will be able to continue the program after this year.
Stephanie Smith, the principal at West, hopes that this program will help the students who struggle in a more traditional education system succeed and graduate.
Smith said, “We have those students that maybe don’t do as well in a comprehensive high school, but they didn’t get accepted over to Chester Lewis or education Imagine to be able to help them be successful. So it has several different layers to it, just to be able to help students be more successful in an educational setting and get credits and graduate”.
The night school program is a unique opportunity for students here at West, and Smith hopes the different style of learning will benefit them.
Smith said, “They basically get to work at their own pace. It is an online program through Edgenuity. So during the day, they’re at home working online on lessons, and then in the evening, they come to get one on one help in that content area and to take tests or to get help with their packets. And so they have teachers available to them one on one in the evenings, so it helps them move through things faster. It helps them get caught up on credits a little quicker, because they’re not having to take a whole semester to be able to complete one half of a credit”.
Smith hopes that students who are struggling and behind in credits utilize the night school program to catch up and be able to graduate.
Smith said, “It’s meant for those that are struggling with school. So my hope is that they will take advantage of the opportunity and we’re able to get more students on track and caught up so they can graduate, have that diploma, and go out in the world and have so many more opportunities to be successful. We just want kids to be successful, and hopefully this gives them another avenue for those that don’t fit the mold of a comprehensive high school and are lacking credits and would not maybe be able to graduate otherwise”.
With this being the first year that West is doing this, Smith and the school are still trying to figure out how to best run the program.
Smith said, “So we’re already tweaking things as we go, and I think as we go through the year, we’ll figure out what student needs are and how we can best address those, and things may change over time. But like I said, this is just a pilot we’re learning as we go, and we’re going to see how beneficial it is to students”.
If able to do this program again next year, Smith has some ideas on how to improve it.
Smith said, “I would like to offer things that aren’t just online. Maybe have one on one instruction and classes in the evening, but I don’t know what that would look like yet. So like I said, we need to get through this year, see how beneficial the online program and the packets are, and then we might refine from there, just depending on student needs”.
Overall Smith is excited for the night school program and what it may do for students here at West.
Smith said, “I’m just excited to see if this is going to benefit students like we think it is, and be able to keep our students here with us, and hopefully be able to get them caught up to where they can graduate, because that’s the ultimate goal. They have a diploma and can go out and better their lives. That’s the whole goal, is to get them ready for that next step, no matter what that is”.
