There are currently five academies at the high school that students can choose to enroll in. Those academies are business and law, digital media and communications, health and human services, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, applied arts and mathematics), and visual and performing arts.
RELATED: Springfield High Marching Band performs at Peach Bowl parade
As of now, the academy a student chooses dictates many of the classes he or she takes that school year. Students can also take classes in other academies, and can change the academy they’re enrolled in at the start of each school year.
The academies are to offer students career based learning, the Springfield City School District website states.
However, the school district now believes that they are not working.
“The part that makes me sad is for every two students that had a good experience at Springfield High there are (a large number) that did not,” Superintendent Bob Hill said at a school board meeting Thursday. “That’s what we are hearing from the kids. For a certain set of our population, it is a great experience but for the majority it is not. And that is indicative or our graduation rate, our performance on our Ohio learning standards and that is going to be indicative when our current sophomores (try to graduate).”
The Springfield school district has had trouble reaching indicators on state testing for many years. Officials have said one reason behind the failures is rising state standards the state has put on students. However, Secondary Education Director Marvin Jones said due to the coming graduation requirements that make students score at least 18 points on tests before getting a diploma, a change is urgent.
READ MORE: Springfield schools trigger 4th false alarm in 2 months
“In Physical Science, 97.2 percent of our students scored basic or limited, meaning they did not pass the test,” Jones said. “In Geometry, 79.9 percent of our students scored in the range of basic or limited. In English 2, 75 percent of our students scored in the range of basic or limited. In Algebra 1, almost 88 percent of our students did not pass the assessment.
“If the numbers hold steady there will be a great deal of despair and frustration in this community,” he said. “If these numbers don’t spur the need for change, and create a sense of urgency I don’t know what will.”
One reason Jones said he believes the academy is causing low test scores is because the lack of a personal connection with students that advising counselors have. The high school’s STEAM academy has over 580 students but only one counselor. the Health and Human Service academy has just under 550 students and also has just one counselor.
Jones said around 70 percent of staff at the high school supports eliminating academies, according to a school survey.
A new model would break the administration of the high school into subject groups instead of academies. The subject groups would be broken down into math and science; English and social studies; student affairs and counselors. All of these administrators will be reporting to the lead principal at the school and the lead principal will report to the Director of Secondary Academics.
DETAILS: Legend returns for ‘important center of Springfield’
The change would allow counselors to be with students from the time they are freshmen until they graduate, Jones said. That would mean the counselors would get to know the students, follow their academic scores and know first-hand what they need to work on to make sure they graduate.
Right now, as students move across academies, they lose their counselor.
“Too many of our kids fall through the cracks because of the inequities that are created across the academies,” Hill said of the difference of student population in each academy.
While there are over 500 students in the STEAM and health and human services, there are only a couple hundred in other academies.
“The students in STEAM are not being served,” Hill said.
Some community members voiced some opposition to the plans. Ross McGregor, a former state representative, said he is not sure about the changes.
“When we as a community decided to merge the two schools, a conversation I was involved with at the time, one of the concerns that was often discussed was just creating a mega school,” he said. “To my recollection and one of the things that made me feel better to merge the schools and to move away from the traditional south and north campus was these academies. So you would have smaller schools in a larger physical presence.”
He said it is important for the district to make sure they are involving the public in these decisions.
The district said it plans to host an open forum where Jones will give the presentation to the public and field questions about the proposed changes. That date has not been set.
Continuing coverage
The Springfield News-Sun covers all local education and digs deep to make sure the community knows what is going on in their school districts.
Number of students in each academy at Springfield High School
STEAM: 582
Health and Human Services: 545
Visiual and Performing Arts: 332
Business and Law: 224
Digital Meida and Communications: 177
About the Author