Cedar Rapids Prairie launching school-within-a-school

CEDAR RAPIDS - What should high schools do when, on average, only about 30 percent of their students are graduating from college in four years?

At College Community, the answer is to change the game.

The school district is introducing a new school-within-a-school to 100 of its incoming 10th grade students, which uses an approach focusing more on practical, real-world knowledge.

The program, called G Squared, is designed to teach student curriculum standards via the completion of cross-curricular projects. Students will take their four core classes of English, social studies, math and science in a single four period-long block in the middle of the day, which will give them the flexibility they need to complete their projects.

Administrators from the district pitched G Squared to ninth-graders and their parents at a meeting on Thursday evening at the Prairie High School auditorium.

The new approach is not for everyone, but could go a long way toward engaging more students, said Superintendent Richard Whitehead.

"We know the current system works very well for some children, and they should stay in that system. For others, it works less so, and we hope to offer an alternative,” he said.

To demonstrate the need for the program, teacher Erik Anderson asked all the ninth-graders at the session Thursday, about 20, to stand. He then asked all of the students to sit down except for six in the front row.

“Statistically, under our current system, these would be the only students of this group to graduate college in four years,” Anderson said.

The district is hoping to achieve results such as those at High Tech High, a public high school in San Diego. High Tech High sends 99 percent of its students to college, and about 80 percent of those students graduate on time. Several College Community school board members, teachers and administrators visited High Tech High last week to observe the school, and the four G Squared teachers will return for longer residency training in June.

Beyond High Tech High, the district also was inspired by a project-based approach at Muscatine High School, which originated the program name, G-Squared.

Parents attending Thursday's meeting raised several concerns, many of which stemmed from the experimental nature of the program. Muscatine is the only other school in Iowa with a similar approach, and it is just finishing its first year.

"It's very interesting and a good concept, but I'm concerned that they might not get those core skills they need to pass college entrance exams,” said parent Bill Mehmen.

His daughter, Mackenzie Mehmen, 15, is applying for G Squared, but is concerned about time commitments given that she plays sports all three seasons.

Principal Mark Gronemeyer provided several examples of projects from High Tech High and Muscatine to show how they help reinforce learning. Some of the projects included creating environmentally friendly products, assisting the police with forensic investigations and devising a more fair election system.

While there were many areas they wanted to learn more about, most of the parents seemed cautiously optimistic, and the students enthusiastic.

“I'm worried that it's a bit experimental, but overall, I think it's a good idea,” said parent LaCane Anthony.

Her son, Connor Anthony, 14, turned in his application on the first day it was available, and has only one worry.

“I really hope we use PCs and not Macs,” he said. “I'm really excited.”