February 7, 2014 at 4:09 p.m.
NCSS open house helps educate community about project-based learning
NCSS open house helps educate community about project-based learning
The purpose of the open house, according to principal Wil Losch, was to help the community understand the charter school and its mission. This open house wasn't promoted heavily but teachers encouraged students to bring their families and some friends who are not NCSS students. Losch said another open house is being planned that will be promoted more heavily to try and attract a larger crowd.
"We're hoping to just meet some new faces that we haven't seen before. We didn't promote it quite as heavily as we intended, but we wanted to do this early on in the open enrollment window, which just started Feb. 3 and goes to the end of April," Losch said.
"We're going to do another one probably late March or early April. That one we'll probably promote a little heavier, try to get even more people here. We just want to meet some new people and let them know what the school is about."
For anyone who was unable to attend the open house, Losch said there is information on the charter school's website about what the school is all about. He also said interested parties can contact him to set up individual tours and informational meetings.
"We do have a couple of links online that are a good starting place for finding out about how we may be different from a traditional school. Also, people can always give us a call or an email and set up a custom tour or maybe even come by during the day when the kids are here to see what goes on here," Losch said.
The focal point of the charter school is a teaching method called project-based learning. Different from a traditional school, project-based learning allows students to grab the reins of their education and base their learning around their individual interests. All state requirements are still met, but students are able to structure their educational plan around their specific interests.
"I like to call it individual inquiry. A student's curiosity or hobbies or passions can drive what they learn about. Then it's the job of the teachers to take a student's interests and help them connect that to the state standards," Losch said.
"Students develop their own projects or problems to solve - they come up with their own questions that relate to their interests which are topics ranging from state government to English and language arts standards or maybe science content and we try and connect their interests to the topics the state wants the kids to study."
Additionally, Losch said some home-school families have told him the project-based learning method can be similar to the curriculum they use. That gives home-schooled students another option for an education.
"I've had some home-school families tell us that a lot of what we do is similar to some home-schooling type curriculums - not all of them, of course, but some of them - where they can kind of follow their own interests and let that be the guide," Losch said.
For those outside the district interested in sending their kids to NCSS, or any school within the School District of Rhinelander, the open enrollment process starts at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's website.
"There's an application process that's done through the DPI website and it's kind of a one-stop website where you can find what you need," Losch said.
"That's where it starts because DPI ultimately has to approve it. Then, DPI sends it to the school district and the school district has a say in it as well. That holds true for all the schools in the district - NCSS, the high school, the middle school, wherever."
Open enrollment information can be found at http://sms.dpi.wi.gov/sms_psctoc.
While open enrollment can be seen as competition between districts, Losch said it's more than that. It's about making sure each and every district in the state is living up to expectations, with each district challenging the others to be better, he said.
"We're not looking to necessarily steal people from other districts. I think it's letting people know that choices are there. It's also a chance for us to, we know that our families could be looking at other districts, so we're holding this open house to make sure that all Rhinelander families know that they have a choice within Rhinelander," Losch said.
"Hopefully, that makes all of us a little better. If it keeps other districts on their toes and creative about their program, that's a good thing. It's all about what's best for the kids."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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