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Schools

Dominican Program Manages Varying Levels of Incoming Freshmen

Dominican High School will unveil a program next year that seeks to streamline the social and academic transition from middle school to high school.

With a wide variety of learning backgrounds in each incoming freshman class at Dominican High School, administrators have developed a new program that would weave together different subject areas with technology.

Incoming freshmen at will experience cross-curricular education under the design of the Knights Interdisciplinary Curriculum, an initiative set to begin in the 2011-2012 academic year.

The implementation of KIC will see morning blocks of English, world cultures and religion classes woven together and infused with a technology component.

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The transition to KIC has been in the works for about a year, most of which has been spent researching cross-curricular education at Edgewood High School in Madison, which is Dominican’s sister school. Both schools are sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa.

Allison Belongea, Dominican’s director of admissions, characterized KIC as “teachers working with one another to build curriculum.”

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According to Belongea, teachers would have group planning time every day to adjust strategy and coordinate schedules.

KIC will allow the education team to “cover so much more groundwork,” said Leanne Giese, Dominican’s director of advancement.

“We can make sure the technology is really focusing on the academics that they’re learning, so then it’s not all separate,” she said.

The technology component would be “woven through all the classes” and emphasize 21st century skills, Belongea said. Additionally, Dominican will be doing away with its typing class.

The program will also seek to streamline the social and academic transition from middle school to high school. Classes of about 15 will rearrange quarterly, creating a mixed social atmosphere for the freshman class.

Giese said one reason the school implemented the program was to adjust for the variance of students coming in from over 45 grade schools and middle schools each year.

“The students are at such varying levels, because of our diversity, so this allows the teachers to really work interactively with all the kids. They will be separated by quarter and working with other kids,” said Giese.

Director of Admissions Allison Belongea said KIC would “alleviate some unevenness that they come into Dominican with.”

KIC is one of two programs Dominican High School will roll out next year. The school also will join Link Crew, a mentoring program led by upperclassmen that operates throughout the United States and in Canada. Out of 45 applicants, Dominican selected 18 students for Link Crew mentoring.

Giese said both efforts were geared toward developing prepared and adaptive students.

“Dominican is trying to be progressive in making sure that we build students that are not only ready for college academically, but have the skills to adapt to their surroundings no matter where they go, to be technology-savvy, to be able to present themselves,” she said. “We talk about how academics are important, and they are, but it’s importance to have self-confidence and leadership skills to have a spot in the world.”

Giese added, “Freshman year is really the time where I think, ‘Do I fit? Is this where I belong?’ So the impetus for this program I think is to make sure that no child goes unnoticed.”

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