Note: The information in this profile represents SY2013-14 unless otherwise indicated.
School Overview
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School Description
The school district of Horry County Schools in South Carolina is turning around Whittemore Park Middle School, a low-performing, high-poverty public school. The highly student-centered iCAN model that has been implemented in the school is designed around a blended core academic curriculum and a carefully constructed system of supports. The competency-based model both accelerates academic gains and develops students’ lifelong skills and dispositions in a holistic approach to college and career readiness.
Blended Learning Program
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Program Model
Program model: Lab Rotation
Model description
iCAN is an acronym for the model’s central elements: individualized, college and career readiness, aspirations of students, and network of support. The model personalizes learning through four support structures: iCAN Learning Teams, iCAN Academy groups, iCAN Exploratory Courses, and iCAN Extended Learning. Students will rotate between labs, spending about 75% of their learning time online.
Program Description
In iCAN Learning Teams, groups of one hundred students will spend significant time working with digital content, facilitated by four core academic teachers, who provide individual and small group instruction and support. Student groups will be flexible and fluid based on weekly assessments of competency and structured around individual student need and learning preferences. Students will move among the four Learning Team classrooms based on their personalized learning plans, constructed around each student’s aspirations, learning preferences, and demonstrated proficiency. The Common Core State Standards guide selection of content, strategies, learning activities, and assessments in digital, face-to-face, situated, and experiential contexts. Within their teams, students advance based on demonstration of learning through vertically aligned assessments that measure across grade bands.
The iCAN Academy is a comprehensive program focusing on academic and social support, metacognitive development, and lifelong learning skills. Students will stay with their small Academy groups—which will meet daily for 50 minutes—throughout their middle school years. College and community partners will help by providing mentoring and experiential activities.
iCAN Exploratory Courses are enriching learning opportunities designed around students’ interests and range from robotics to choral music.Students will learn anytime, anywhere through iCAN Extended Learning. Tech tools will allow students to interact with digital content, teachers, and peers beyond the traditional school day and outside the school building. Face-to-face tutorials are provided before and after school.
Additional links:
http://nextgenlearning.org/grantee/horry-county-schools
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NG1220.pdf
Contact Information
Name: Judy Beard
Title: Principal
Email: [email protected]
Website: wpm.horrycountyschools.net