64 SUMMER 2021 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
Success Stories
The District’s initial plan for the IC was to implement the program in phases.
The first phase was to open the IC’s doors to the approximately 50 students
who had been attending North Coast Academy. The next phase was to increase
participation in the IC by students who chose to take online courses because of
scheduling conflicts or who wanted to complete additional courses online.
“We started from scratch,” says Robinson. “And implementation takes time
to do it well.” Changes in leadership at both the High School and at the IC in
recent years impacted consistency and the IC’s implementation plans.
Then in 2019 the District hired Juli, who had significant experience working
in non-traditional, project-based learning environments. A year later the District
hired Simon, who had extensive experience overseeing innovative alternative
high schools and is a self-described “kid who liked learning but didn’t like
school.” The IC thus had the leadership and support to realize its original mission
for any student who walked through its doors.
Simon wasted no time in engaging students and implementing efficiencies
with online education providers that would directly improve student learning.
“When I met with the IC staff at the beginning of 2020, we talked about our
guiding principles – what we were trying to be. We wanted to know who our
kids were, what we wanted for them, and how we could support them in getting
there,” Simon says. “This wasn’t going to be just a space where kids hop on a
computer and get their credits.”
Simon began by connecting with students and taking the time to understand
how they learned as individuals. One of those students was Danielle Tall, a junior
who was taking an online class and wasn’t learning from the videos offered by the
instructor. She realized on her own that she learned better by reviewing the guided
notes and referencing the video transcripts later. “I wasn’t watching the videos. I
was teaching myself and getting A’s in the class,” she says.
As COVID-19 cases began to rise and social justice protests broke out
across the country, Danielle, who has struggled with anxiety and depression,
became anxious, and she wrote an email asking for extra class time to
complete her work. Simon was on the email thread and reached out to her.
Beginnings
District Chief Academic Officer Marla
Robinson remembers the day in 2013
when she and then-Superintendent
Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. visited North
Coast Academy, an online learning
center and alternative school located
in Richmond Heights. At the time,
Shaker Heights High School students
who weren’t succeeding at the main
campus were bused daily to North
Coast, along with students from other
nearby school districts. Robinson and
Hutchings met up with a group of
Shaker students during their visit to
ask them about their experiences.
“These students felt dejected
and pushed aside,” Robinson
recalls. “They talked about feeling
disconnected from the main campus.
These were students who were already
struggling with school and we were
making it even harder for them to go
to school.”
Robinson and Hutchings sat
in silence the entire drive back to
Shaker. “It was so spirit shattering
to see what we were doing to those
kids,” she says. “We realized that it
wasn’t that these kids decided they
weren’t going to be successful –
school was deciding that for them.”
So Hutchings and Robinson
approached the Shaker Schools
Foundation to create a plan for
an alternative program created
specifically for Shaker Heights
High School students and located
within the City. Within 24 hours, the
Foundation raised $200,000 in verbal
commitments to start the program.
Nathaniel Reese greets students at the Wednesday session of Team Fortitude at
the Shaker Heights Schools Innovative Center for Personalized Learning. Students
meet with adult mentors to talk about issues they face at home and at school.
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