The Other End of the Spectrum

Mr. Gazda is Headmaster of The Gilbert School in Winsted.

In a recent column [A Case for Educational Opportunities, February 7], I shared the many ways in which The Gilbert School attempts to meet the needs of students who exhibit difficulties at school. We are proud of those efforts and hope that with program additions and expansions, we can allow for an even greater number of students to be successful. Our ultimate goal is for all our students to be as best prepared as they can be in order to take their places in our society as educated and productive citizens.

Another very important aspect of our effort is directed at those students who come to us with the ability, attitude, initiative and support that allow them to move quickly through our academic programs. For these students with their own unique set of "needs," we are charged with developing challenging and demanding programs.

The Gilbert School does just that and offers an excellent array of courses that provide opportunities for students to receive college credit. All of the courses and programs cited below are described in detail in our Program of Studies.

UConn/ AP Courses — A core of UConn courses has been a part of the Gilbert Program of Studies for a good number of years. Over the past few years, a number of Advanced Placement (AP) courses have been added in various departments. These AP and UConn courses are: UConn English, UConn Calculus, AP History, AP Physics, UConn Chemistry, AP Latin, and AP Music Theory. AP Biology and UConn/AP Spanish will also be available to students in the 2003-04 school year. In each of these upper level, advanced courses, the curriculum is well set by the organization sanctioning our offering. In most of these courses, summer assignments are a part of the graded course work.

Tech Prep (Gilbert and Northwestern CT Community College) — In this partnership program between The Gilbert School and Northwestern CT Community College, a student who commits to a four-year track of study beginning at Gilbert and which eventually will lead to an associate's degree from NCCC is able to translate courses taken at Gilbert with specific NCCC courses. Once a course is successfully completed, a student receives college credit as appears on the transcript they receive at the end of the course.

Below are the linkages that exist between Gilbert and NCCC courses: Gilbert's UConn English—receives NCCC credit as English 101; English 12 (Level I, II, III)—English 101 (non-credit); Algebra II (Level I), or Algebra II (Level II) plus one semester of Advanced Math—Math 103; Personal Keyboarding plus Intermediate Word Processing—Basic Keyboarding OA121; Information Processing (full year)—Word Processing I, OA155; Child Development—Early Childhood Education 101; Psychology—Intro to Psychology 101; Survey Design & Drafting, or Computer Assisted Design & Drafting—Engr. 110 to CAD; AP Physics—Physics 101; Adventure Education Program—Programming Using Adventure Activities & Initiatives, Rec. 180.

This program allows eligible Gilbert students (those juniors and seniors with an academic average of 80 or better) to enroll in Northwestern CT Community College courses on a tuition-free basis.

Gilbert is continually seeking ways to enrich the opportunities provided to students. A yet to be tapped resource is the Internet, with online courses being made available to students.

In each of these elective courses or programs, the student knowingly takes on added responsibility and a heightened level of work both in and out of class, as well as in some cases during times not normally set aside for academic work. A very capable student who takes on two or more of these challenging offerings does have a substantial workload to contend with on a daily, quarterly, semester and full-year (including summer) basis. Nevertheless, the faculty members responsible for these offerings are sensitive and astute enough to be able to assess a student's overall ability to handle assignments as they are given. They will and do listen to these very responsible students and adjust assignments accordingly.

I think that it is also important to note that these course offerings demand a lot from the faculty members who have stepped forward to provide these very special experiences for students. In most cases, training on their own time is required to prepare the staff member for the assignment undertaken. As an ongoing matter, the number of assignments and the detailed analysis provided by the teacher is an extremely time-consuming task. Gilbert is very fortunate to have teachers who care enough to extend themselves for the good of our school, but more importantly for the good of their students.