"Every Student is an Honor Student"  

Beautiful Community

Embedded Honors Credentialing is part of Kent City Community Schools 2009-2010    K-12 High Impact Initiatives.  Embedded Honors provide avenues for teachers to give opportunities to gifted and talented students through differentiated instruction rather than creating whole classrooms designated to only serving honor students.  This initiative will service the individual needs of each student by providing those who are excelling with challenging additions to the curriculum while at the same time opening up more time for teachers to focus on and address those who are having trouble grasping certain concepts.

At the elementary level, students can complete one year-long project or two semester projects to show advanced competency in the grade level power standards. At the end of the year, students who have successfully accomplished this will be credentialed as honor students.  At the middle school level, honors credentialing is being targeted as an exit outcome.  The middle school offers global electives that focus on career based core content material.  If a student successfully completes each of four core content, career relevant, middle school elective course projects during their middle school career, they will be credentialed as honors graduates of Kent City Middle School.  In addition, each core content required course at both the middle school and high school has an established year-long or semester-long project, which upon successful completion, will allow a student to be credentialed as an honor student for that specific subject.

“I'm excited about the opportunity to utilize embedded honors within my classroom.  When you are only one teacher, it is hard to meet the needs of all the different students that come to your room.  However, by planning ahead through an embedded honors curriculum, you are able to expand the range of students who are stimulated through material provided in your class,” states middle school social studies teacher, Marie Davis. 

“Even in the elementary we are working on honors courses….We are also planning various projects in subject areas with open ended type projects that allow kids to go above and beyond.” Billie Freeland, 4^th Grade Teacher.

The project based learning that is required in order for students to earn honors credentials are directly linked to 21^st century skills.  Students are responsible for choosing from project options, using critical thinking, creativity, and innovation to fulfill project requirements, and successfully finishing the project in a self-directed time frame. 

“Knowledge work” is replacing low-end, low-wage jobs.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Michigan’s manufacturing sector has had a decline in employment for over 10 years.  Demands are moving from routine work in agriculture, industry, and manufacturing to creative work in the service sectors, research and development, and design.  The most important skills sited by 21^st century employers include: work ethic, collaboration and oral communication.  Many of Kent City’s embedded honors projects incorporate one or more of these highly demanded skills.

Kent City High School Principal, David LaPrairie states, "Honors credentialing paves the way for students of varied ability levels to be further challenged beyond those content standards found in the Michigan Merit Curriculum. Students are guided through a more rigorous approach to classroom activities through methods of research and individual projects."

An example of course honors requirements comes from Joslyn Hemingway’s “Science in a Global World,” an elective course for 8^th grade students that enhances the required Science credit.  Students will choose from a long list of topic options including but not limited to:

“How does recycling work and how can I make a difference?”

“What are greenhouse gases, where do they come from and how do they cause climate change?”

“How bad is that energy drink?”

and “Are the genetically altered foods I eat affecting my health?”

Throughout the semester, students will research this topic, find three careers that relate to their topic, and present their results in an oral presentation set up or with a video presentation.  Presentations will be displayed at a school-wide Global Electives Open House at the end of the semester. 

To be credentialed as an honor student, Joslyn has set up standards that must be met as exceeding expectations.  An honors student must also take part in some type of volunteer work that involves their research topic, they must present their finding in front of a large group such as the entire 8^th grade or the school board, and they must include a follow-up experiment that goes along with their research.

Because honors credentialing is offered in various subjects throughout every grade level in the district, any student is able to earn honors credit at any time throughout their educational career.  Students aren’t labeled and placed in specific categories at the beginning elementary school that follow them until they graduate, but rather are given the chance to exceed expectations over and over again.

“So many times students are put in a group that defines their expectations for them as opposed to opening doors for growth.  A young student may perform in such a way in the first or second week of school, be placed in a group, and all of a sudden they are known as a “turtle” and their friends are “eagles”; even the youngest student becomes indoctrinated in low self-expectations.  We want every student; on any given day or in any given subject area; to have a chance to be an honors student.  Every student can be an “Eagle”, remarks Dr. William Smith, Superintendent of Kent City Community Schools.

By providing Honors Credentialing through differentiated instruction, Kent City Community Schools are giving teachers more opportunity to reach those students in need while at the same time, helping students that are gifted and talented to excel in specific areas.  These career relevant honors projects are opening doors for students to help make them more employable in tomorrow’s knowledge-based work economy.  To learn more about how Kent City Community Schools can expand your student’s educational opportunities, visit www.kentcityschools.org!