EVIT principal stresses education strategy
Combining curricula
By Cathryn Creno
The Republic | azcentral.com
Wed Oct 30, 2013 10:55 AM
At his last high-school principal job, Gregory Copeland required every student to learn to play chess. Some joined the school chess team and went on to play in tournaments.
"Learning to play chess requires you to think five steps ahead," said Copeland, who spent the past two years at an alternative school for 75 struggling students in the Tohono O'odham Nation of southern Arizona.
Mandatory chess isn't in the plan at Copeland's new school, the 3,468-student East Valley Institute for Technology. He became the school's principal at the start of this school year.
For one thing, EVIT students already have their plates full. They take a full load of career and technical classes along with the core classes they need for high-school graduation.
Also, many students at EVIT are already good strategists. If not, they would not have had the foresight to enroll in classes to learn such skills as medical assisting, culinary arts, welding or auto mechanics before age 18. The majority also have plans for more education
after high school.
"Sixty percent go to college," Copeland said. "I have people in my (certified nursing assistant) program who are not in there to be certified nursing assistants. They are going to be doctors or nurses and have a way to earn more than $7 an hour as they get there.
"There is never a thought put into these kids' heads that they are notgoing to college, into technical education or into the military after graduation."
Copeland was a school-improvement specialist who oversaw 130 struggling schools for the Arizona Department of Education before he took charge of Indian Oasis High School in Sells, Ariz., two years ago.
"My expertise was turning around rural and Native American schools and districts," he said.
Copeland said he is proud of what he accomplished at Indian Oasis: a higher graduation rate, a lower pregnancy rate and a "solid C" when the state graded schools last summer. Most students at the predominantly Native American school are so poor they qualify for free and reduced-cost lunches from the federal government.
"More important was that there was a system change that made students feel in charge of their destinies," he said. "We gave them a sense of pride in what they were doing and told them their family story does not have to be the end of the story. It can be the beginning of their story."
Copeland said he was elated to have been selected EVIT's principal after the resignation of Paul Johnson at the end of 2012-13. He had wanted the job since 2007, when he toured the campus as an Education Department official.
"I left thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great to be principal of this school?' "
"Greg is incredibly passionate about our mission to give all East Valley kids access to tuition-free career and technical training," EVIT Assistant Superintendent David Shapira said.
Unlike Johnson, who considered being an electrician and served as a chief petty officer in the Navy before getting into academics, Copeland was always on a college path while growing up in Tucson.
Still, he found time to schedule CTE — career and technical education — classes in high school. He thinks all students should take them.
"There was no doubt I was going to college," said Copeland, who entered the University of Arizona after high school and went on to earn two graduate degrees. "But my parents said I also needed to learn some skills. I took automotive, woodworking, cooking and sewing classes in high school."
A next step for Copeland and other EVIT officials is finding ways for more students to complete their CTE programs and earn professional certificates in their fields of study before graduating.
Although 98 percent of EVIT students graduate from their home high schools in the Apache Junction, Chandler, Fountain Hills, Gilbert, Higley, J.O. Combs, Mesa, Queen Creek, Scottsdale and Tempe Union high-school districts, only 83 percent complete the technical programs they enroll in, school officials say.
Some of the 17 percent who don't finish their EVIT coursework find they have to drop out of their CTE classes to complete other classes that are required for graduation.
"EVIT programs are an elective for juniors and seniors," school spokeswoman CeCe Todd explained.
"What often happens is a student loads up on electives in his or her freshman or sophomore year rather than completing courses for their high-school diploma. Then, they are unable to come to EVIT as upperclassmen, or they start EVIT but don't finish because they're still trying to complete required courses at their high schools."
A chess player's strategy is some of the solution. Junior and senior high-school counselors should encourage kids to think about EVIT years before it's time to enroll there, Copeland said.
Another solution is in the hands of school districts, which have the power to accept more EVIT classes as core classes — like math and science — instead of electives.
"One EVIT class so far, human anatomy and physiology, is accepted by our districts," Todd said.
EVIT officials would like to have the math that is taught in specialty areas like precision machining or graphic design also count toward graduation, Copeland said.
Source: http://www.azcentral.com
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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