ThisWeek News

1/21/2007

Sue Hagan

Staff Writer

Freshman Elizabeth Vera goes over class work in Metro High School’s central lobby Thursday, Jan. 11. She is seated on benches that double as storage areas for student belongings.

Students at Metro High School know there’s a lot riding on their academic efforts.

After all, the new school is at the forefront of school reform efforts to prepare students to take their place in the world as scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

The statistics, cited by Kathleen Sullivan, director of the Battelle Center for Mathematics and Science Education Policy, are telling:

• In 1970, half of the world’s scientists and engineers were American, but by 2010, that number will drop to 15 percent.

• U.S. students rank 24th of 29 developed countries in math literacy.

• Improvement in American education has been flat for at least 30 years.

“The gap in technology poses a real risk to the future of our country,” Sullivan said during a forum at the Metropolitan Club last week.

Metro High School students have heard the statistics and know that their school will be watched closely as an example of a new idea in education.

“This is a revolutionary school,” said Kevin Mann, whose home school is Westland High School. “They do not let students take the easy way out. I can’t choose to ‘take an F’ and just go on.”

“It takes the laziness away from it,” added Jack McClintock, who lives in the Hilliard Davidson attendance area. “If I don’t work hard, I’m not going to pass.”

One of the hallmarks of the school is that students are expected to master all their classes — that is, earn an “A” — and must continue to work on the course until they do. And they study double the number of math and science classes as in traditional high schools.

The school moves students quickly through each class, which is taught in two-hour blocks each day. That means, for example, they studied Algebra II during the fall quarter and have moved on to trigonometry.

But accelerated classes alone will not propel students into careers with a math or science focus.

“It’s exposure,” said principal Marcy Raymond. “What we’re really doing is demystifying these kinds of career areas.”

Students have already done studies of engineering processes and how they evolve based on factors in society. Last fall, they visited coal mines in southeast Ohio, seeing traditional mining, strip-mining and reclamation mining.

“We asked them questions about what was happening in society to (effect) a switch from deep mining to strip-mining,” Raymond said.

Students were not merely fed answers, she said. Rather, they were given clues to help them conclude that the industrial revolution increased the demand for coal and was behind the switch to a mining method that extracted coal more quickly.

Later, the students learned, engineers developed a third method in reaction to concerns in the 1970s that strip-mining was causing irreparable damage to the landscape.

“It’s important for us to teach kids how to think differently,” Raymond said. ” … To have them ask questions and analyze on their own.”

Another feature of the school is its small size (400 students when all four grades are present three years from now), which lends itself to strong relationships between staff and students.

Metro High School started out with 100 ninth-graders this year, from 14 school districts in Franklin County, and will add a grade a year.

Metro is not a charter school and its students are actually counted as being enrolled in their home districts; their achievement test scores are credited to their home districts as well.

And Metro is not educating only the cream of the educational crop. Students of varying ability attend and some have individual education plans that address learning disabilities.

“Students do get help if they’re struggling,” Raymond said.

The school is a partnership among Battelle, Ohio State University and the Educational Council and does projects with the Columbus Museum of Art, COSI, the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, the Wexner Center for the Arts and WOSU radio.

Although it is siphoning students from public school districts, the school is seen more as a partner than as competition.

Columbus Public Schools Superintendent Gene Harris said the school can help the district as a whole. For example, engineering software used at Metro High School will be shared with other area schools, including the Africentric Early College High School in Columbus. The Metro High School is currently accepting applications for the 2007-08 school year. Information sessions will be held the following dates and locations. All sessions begin at 7 p.m. and are being held in libraries throughout Franklin County. Jan. 22, 75 N. High Street, Dublin; Jan. 24, 4772 Cemetery Road, Hilliard; Jan. 29, 3980 S. Hamilton Road, Groveport; Jan. 31, 4371 E. Broad St., Whitehall; Feb. 5, 1061 W. Town St., Columbus; Feb. 6, 5590 Karl Road, Columbus; Feb. 14, 310 Granville St., Gahanna; 820 High St., Worthington; Feb. 21, 1423 N. High St., Columbus; Feb. 26, 126 S. State St., Westerville; and Feb. 28, 3359 Park St., Grove City. Call 614-247-2276.