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Bellefonte school board hears course description guide updates for BASD

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BELLEFONTE -- Big changes are making their way through the course options and graduation requirements for students at Bellefonte Area High School.

Michael Fedisson, high school principal, discussed changes to the course description guide with the Bellefonte Area School Board at a recent meeting.

The 92-page guide is available for view with the changes highlighted on the school's agenda website. The guide outlines the ins and outs of the curriculum and was designed to provide information necessary to help students make informed decisions about their curriculum to match their abilities, interests, talents and aspirations.

Each addition to the course description guide is outlined in yellow on the document, and everything removed is outlined in red for easier comparison of what is new.

Feddison noted that new courses were presented for board approval in November -- Chinese 5 and AP Chinese Language and Culture -- that have been added to the World Language section of the curriculum.

The graduation credit requirements have stayed the same -- with 25 credits needed across different subjects -- but an interesting addition to the requirement list is the completion of a Career Portfolio.

"For the past several years now there has been a requirement for us to cover career and work readiness standards from the state level," said Fedisson. "We've been doing that for the past handful of years... but we've found that it has been a sort of 'check the box' type thing and we felt like we could have done more with it to make it more authentic. I feel very passionate about students when they leave high school being prepared about whatever their post secondary plan is."

The description of the Career Portfolio is written as "Students must complete a total of eight (8) artifacts in the areas above (Career Awareness and Preparation, Career Acquisition (Getting a Job), Career Retention and Advancement, Entrepreneurship) by the end of their junior year. Our goal is to expand opportunities for students to make informed decisions about course planning, community/job involvement and preparation for post-secondary planning."

Eight additional artifacts are required by the end of a student's senior year, and can include job shadowing, internships, college visits, job interviews, career planning with a school counselor and more.

"What we're looking for is to give students as many experiences as we can so that when they leave high school - whether that’s straight into the workforce, military, two year program or four year program -- that they feel confident about what they're going to do and they understand all the pros and cons of those choices," said Fedisson.

According to Fedisson, there is already time in the school schedule every month for students to achieve some of these goals, but they would like to give students more options for careers.

He told a story about how when he was in high school, he knew he either wanted to be a teacher or a fisheries biologist. When he took a college tour, he was told he needed really good math -- specifically calculus -- and science skills in order to thrive.

"Calculus in senior year's AP was difficult for me. I thought, 'I'm never going to do that because I can't do the math.' That was my whole career choice in a nutshell. I don't want that for our kids. I want our kids to be able to talk to somebody and understand day in, day out what a job is, and what the true skills are that they need. Because if I would have had that, maybe that wouldn't have been a hurtle I would have had to overcome," said Fedisson.

There are plans for speakers to come in three times a year in a variety of careers for students to speak with and learn from.

Other changes to the course guide include changes in language, such as changing terminology in the Dual Enrollment section from Lock Haven University to Commonwealth University or the "School to Work" section being entirely renamed to "Cooperative Work Experience."

The sign language courses will also not be offered next year, due to a lack of instructors available. The previous instructor does not meet current certification standards, and the current instructor is accepting a job elsewhere.

Once given approval, Fedisson notes that counselors will be busy speaking with students about their class options for next year.

Bellefonte Area school board will meet again on Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. at Pleasant Gap Elementary School.