School Committee Members View CHS Presentation

During Tuesday night's School Committee meeting, Coventry High School Principal Mike Hobin delivered a presentation to Committee members explaining the school's goals, progress and future plans.

"We strive to have one main goal for our students and that is to provide them with a great quality education so that they're ready for whatever is ahead of them after graduation," said Hobin. "Whether that be college, the workforce or the military, we want our students to be prepared."

He shared a PowerPoint presentation that highlighted the goals, each connected to the District Strategic Plan, that the administration is working towards. The list of goals includes the school's progress with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), plans for continued focus on Formative Assessment, Common Tasks including improvement in course grades and increased success rate for graduation portfolios, Informational Text and Numeracy, Teacher Evaluations using the RI Dept. of Education (RIDE) map and the new Educator Performance and Support System (EPSS). 

Hobin also spoke of the school's plans to continue hosting Parent Forums like the Sept. 27 Prescription Drug Abuse forum to provide more education to parents. He shared his experience with using Coventry High School's new Twitter account (@CoventryOakers) and how he has been using it to communicate the daily schedule, sports results, assembly information and more to CHS students and their parents. An improved Public Relations plan, spearheaded by Vice Principal Brooke Macomber, has also been implemented to share the school's news and progress with the community.

Coventry High School Assistant Principal for Student Services, Lynne Burke introduced seven students who are participating in the school's pilot Virtual High School (VHS) program, which allows them to enroll in online classes that they would not ordinarily be able to take at CHS. The program currently has 21 students who are enrolled in a mixture of full year and semester-long courses such as AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, Pre-veterinary Medicine, Video Game Design, Engineering Principles and seven more, including different five languages.

The VHS program allows students to use scheduled class periods as well as time outside of school to read lessons, complete homework, participate in on-line class discussions and take tests. The courses are administered by instructors across the country and the world and lets the Coventry students interact with classmates who also live elsewhere.

Natasha Chace, a senior who is studying Russian and Language and Culture on-line explained that although it is sometimes a challenge to submit work on time without having an in-person teacher reminding her, she really enjoys her VHS class because she can interact with classmates from other countries. 

"I have really learned about myself as a student by taking the VHS class," said Ailen Fernandez, who is enrolled in the program's AP Psychology course. "It teaches me how to be more independent and that will really help me next year in college."

Despite some difficulty early on with navigating the website, learning to properly manage their time and becoming accustomed to a slightly heavier workload, the students all agreed that the VHS program has provided them with opportunities they may have never gotten elsewhere.

"I am truly privileged this year to get to work with these kids," said Burke. "They're doing such a great job."

See the files attached to this article to view the complete Coventry High School PowerPoint presentation from Tuesday night.