Curriculum Advisory Committee
The five year SACS action plan identified several academic goals surrounding increased attention to problem solving, critical inquiry and research, intellectual curiosity, and social responsibility. TJ will focus on the following two SACS action plan goals in the upcoming school year:
- Enhance TJHSST curriculum so that students develop research skills at all grade levels through vertical integration.
- Review division course offerings in terms of vertical integration.
I hope the Curriculum Advisory Committee works alongside teachers and administrators to review, contribute to, and enact the school's work plan in these academic goal areas.
— Dr. Evan Glazer, Principal, TJHSST
CAC 2009 – 2010 School Year
No particular experience is needed to serve on this committee, but we may be looking for people with specific experience to help in some areas.
Some things the CAC might do this school year include:
- Help TJ staff with the One Question initiative for students to focus on an interdisciplinary problem in science and society.
- Help TJ staff with organizing a day long research symposium where students share their research and learn about research opportunities.
- Help TJ staff by facilitating benchmarking on curriculum matters with a couple of engineering and/or science departments of colleges held in high esteem.
- Draft a proposal for an end of school year Mini-semester session (session likely would start in early June of a school year).
On December 14 (Monday) from 5:30 pm to 7 pm there will be a CAC meeting in the College Career Center room at TJ. This is part of a continuing dialogue to discuss the potential of having a Mini-semester at TJ at the end of the school year (item 4 listed above). Parents are welcome to attend and interested teachers and students are also welcome to participate.
If TJ were to have a Mini-Semester, our school year would end at the same time, but regular TJ courses would finish just before the Mini-semester starts. At this December meeting, we could discuss opportunities a Mini-semester brings versus possible issues.
Some examples of what students might consider doing during a Mini-semester include:
- Research
- Participate in foreign language trip overseas
- Participate in other field trips developing critical inquiry or exploration skills
- Take a course for non-credit or perhaps for credit (if there are courses for credit the Mini-semester would need to be about 12 school days)
- Participate in Engineers Without Borders
The Mini-semester would need to be cost neutral, especially considering the difficult budget environment.