In speaking to students at Dalton High and Dalton Junior High School recently, The Dalton Academy Principal Matthew Mederios learned that a week of four in-person learning days and one virtual learning day would do more to lure students to The Dalton Academy than any other single move, he said during Monday's Dalton Board of Education work session. "Their ears perked up" at the idea.
The students he surveyed also had a clear preference for which day of the week they'd want virtual, as about 50 percent at the junior high and Dalton High named Wednesday as the best virtual day, he said.
"They were honest, and they like the split."
A later starting time for The Dalton Academy, however — which had also been under consideration — would likely repel many more students than it would attract, he said. A later starting time, like 8:45 a.m. — both high schools and the junior high currently have a first bell of 7:20 a.m. — was opposed by three-quarters of students Mederios surveyed at both Dalton High and the junior high, as they clearly "like getting out earlier" in the afternoon.
Overall, the top factor in choosing a high school for grades 10-12 was "where their friends go," he said. However, the various pathways distinct to each high school were also a major consideration, "especially for eighth-graders at the junior high."
At The Dalton Academy, each student selects one of eight pathways — entrepreneurship and leadership, healthcare science and sports medicine, audio/visual technology and film, law enforcement/forensic science, sports and entertainment marketing and management, teaching as a profession, early childhood education and a translation program.
"Sports come up over and over, too," when Mederios speaks to students about the attractions of Dalton High versus The Dalton Academy, he said. While The Dalton Academy offers several sports, it doesn't offer as many athletic opportunities as Dalton High, and "even students not in sports prefer Dalton High because they like" going to games/sporting events as fans.
"As far as classes, more fine arts opportunities (at The Dalton Academy) is important to them, as well as world languages," Mederios said. They also want offerings like driver's education.
The Dalton Academy will begin a transition toward a 3DE model of instruction with the 2022-23 school year, and "we want to get off the ground strong," he said. "If we do, that excitement will carry over, which will help us with recruitment efforts."
This model of education from Junior Achievement "breaks barriers to redesign education, (as) it's about making education relevant and interdisciplinary," according to Nelmaris Alvarez, director of development and corporate relations for Junior Achievement of Georgia. Based on core methodology from the Harvard Business School, 3DE "takes what they're learning in classes and applies it to various sectors of the business world to make it stick."
Students maintain a "regular schedule," but their courses are linked to case challenges and case studies, she said. The first two years are case studies, with case challenges beginning in the 11th grade.
Senior year is devoted to work-based learning, such as internships, Mederios said. All the while, students learn to collaborate in groups, and they deliver multiple presentations.
Everything students learn in 3DE strengthens at least one of six "core competencies," Alvarez said. Those core competences — creativity and innovation, cultural agility, critical thinking, effective collaboration, self-direction and engaging communication — are critical to success post-high school, and "everything they're learning is continuously tied together."
©2022 The Daily Citizen (Dalton, Ga.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
