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ERIC Number: EJ1018411
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Sep
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1529-8957
EISSN: N/A
Imagine There's No Carnegie Unit
Klevgaard, Janine
Principal Leadership, v14 n1 p30-35 Sep 2013
This article describes how the Alberta Education High School Flexibility Enhancement Pilot Project allowed 16 high schools in Alberta, Canada, to remove the restrictions of the Carnegie unit, the seat time per credit requirement that has been widely used since 1906. The two purposes of the project were to determine whether the Carnegie unit should be removed or maintained for all schools in the province and to study the change process among that group of schools over a four-year period from 2009 to 2013. Wm. E. Hay Composite High School in Stettler, AB, was one of those schools. As a result of their investigation, teachers created such programs as Teacher Advisory and Flex Time. Gradually, they became comfortable with self-directed student time and started to think differently about programming and the courses that were being taught. Restorative programs (e.g., credit recovery) and combined courses were designed. The story of the initially reluctant math department illustrates how it, like all the other departments, reinvigorated the curriculum, pedagogy, and student and teacher engagement. A number of measures were used to track the progress in each of the 16 participating schools to assist in the final recommendation to Alberta Education. In June 2013, the pilot phase of this project ended, and it is very encouraging that Alberta Education has decided to proceed with the second phase of this project: Moving Forward With High School Redesign. There are now 120 high schools in Alberta that will be operating without the restriction of the Carnegie unit. (This article was written with Norb Baharally, Myranda Shepherd, and Joe Thibeau.)
National Association of Secondary School Principals. 1904 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1537. Tel: 800-253-7746; Tel: 703-860-0200; Fax: 703-620-6534; Web site: http://www.principals.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive; Journal Articles
Education Level: Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A