Eleanor Roosevelt High School (Greenbelt, Maryland)

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Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Location
7601 Hanover Parkway, Greenbelt, MD
Information
Type Public Magnet High School
Established 1976
School district Prince George's County Public Schools
Principal Reginald McNeill
Faculty 170+
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 2,743
Color(s) Columbia Blue/ White[citation needed]
Mascot Raiders
Information (301) 513-5400
Website pgcps.org/~erhs/

Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS), is a public magnet high school located in Greenbelt, Maryland and is part of the Prince George's County Public Schools system in the USA. It was first and only high school named for former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt until 2000.[citation needed] ERHS opened in 1976 as a magnet school, hosting the district's first Science and Technology Center. The Science and Technology Program (STP), established in 1976, is offered at three centers in Prince George’s County: Eleanor Roosevelt High School, serving the northern area, Charles H. Flowers High School serving the central area, and Oxon Hill High School, serving the southern area. Each school is a four-year comprehensive high school, as well as a Science and Technology Center. Each STP is an active member of the National Consortium of Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology (NCSSSMST). The magnet operates as a "Program-Within-A-School" which means that it's a magnet program within a comprehensive school, and all students who attend the school, do not participate in the magnet. Roosevelt has an enrollment of 2,764 students (as of the 2008–2009 school year) in grades 9 through 12. Roosevelt reached an all-time enrollment high of approximately 3,200 students, around the turn of the century, due to its popular magnet program and Prince George's County's significant population increase.

Roosevelt is a rare two-time awarded National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence for 1991 and 1998, a 1991 and 1998 Maryland Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, a 1999 New American High School, and was a recipient of the 2002–2003 national Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement. Eleanor Roosevelt is regarded as one of the most academically challenging high schools in the nation, and was recently named #382 on America's Top 1,500 Public High Schools list for 2009, by Newsweek Magazine.[1]

Roosevelt serves the city of Greenbelt and several unincorporated sections of Prince George's County, Maryland, including some areas with Lanham addresses. Most incoming Science and Tech students are drawn from the northern third of Prince George's County.

The school mascot is the Roosevelt Raider.

Contents

[edit] Academics

Roosevelt is best known for its specialized science/technology (S/T) program, which has been in place since the school was first opened. Roosevelt is the S/T center for the northern part of Prince George's County, and admission is based on a competitive exam. Roosevelt is a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST).

ERHS has classes ranging from Japanese, child development, and television production to bio-organic chemistry, calculus, and a variety of technology courses. Roosevelt boasts eight different foreign language courses each with multiple levels of difficulty. Other programs include the QUEST/AOIT program and the Gilder-Lehrman American History Program.

ERHS instituted the Smaller Learning Communities program which includes Arts, Media and Communication, Business and Finance, Public Services, Technology Systems, and Health and Bio-Sciences. All of these programs are referred to as separate academies, but share common classes and teaching staff for the core high school class requirements.

ERHS also offers a large number of AP (advanced placement) courses which are open to all students.[2] These courses include calculus, physics, chemistry, biology, U.S. history, world history, government, English literature and language, psychology, Latin, Russian, French, Italian, Spanish, and many more. In the 2005-2006, there was an enrollment of 1,585 in AP classes.

ERHS has a block schedule called a “hybrid schedule” which includes both double and single period classes. The school schedule also allows for five lunch periods. There are a total of eight periods in the regular schedule, plus a zero period which is offered at the beginning of the school day to assist seniors, juniors, and sophomores in taking extra courses, some of which would be AP. Single class periods convene for 45 minutes; double class periods convene for 95 minutes. This flexibility encourages academic achievement, as shown in the school’s consistently high HSA and AP scores.

[edit] The Science and Technology Center

Split-arrows.svg
  It has been suggested that this article be split into a new article entitled Science and Technology Center (Maryland), accessible from a disambiguation page. (Discuss)

The Science and Technology Center is a highly challenging four-year curriculum which provides college level academic experiences in science, math, and technology. The program is offered at three centers - Eleanor Roosevelt High School in northern Prince George's County, Oxon Hill High School in southern Prince George's County, and Charles Herbert Flowers High School in central Prince George’s County. Students attend the center that serves their legal residence. Transportation is provided for all students. Admission into the Science & Tech program is contingent upon three criterion, with all criterion weighed equally. The criterion are:

  • Grades from four quarters of 7th grade and the first quarter of 8th grade (or four quarters of 8th grade and first quarter of 9th grade) in math, science, English, and social studies
  • A standardized reading comprehension test
  • A standardized numerical test

All of these are factored into a final score. Each test is normally 40 minutes in length and has approximately 40 questions. The math test covers arithmetic, basic middle school math skills, and simple algebra. The verbal test consists of reading comprehension. 225-250 students with the top scores are admitted to Roosevelt's Science and Technology Program. The next 60 students are placed on a waiting list. All interested 8th and 9th grade students who are residents of Prince George's County are eligible to apply for admission to the Science and Technology Program.

[edit] The QUEST Program/AOIT

Quality Education in Science and Technology (QUEST) and the Academy of Information Technology (AOIT) program began in 1991 with a target population of 50 sixth-grade African American males. The program currently serves more than 400 students in grades 7-12. Admission to the QUEST/AOIT Program is highly competitive. More than 250 students apply for 64 seats. Ninth grade students must complete a rigorous two-week summer program to be admitted into the program. A major objective of the program is to provide under-represented groups who have not gained admission into the Science and Technology Center at Eleanor Roosevelt an opportunity to be successful in a rigorous math and science curriculum.

The QUEST/AOIT program is a highly structured four-year academic program. Of twenty-eight possible credits, a student is required to obtain a minimum of 12 credits in specific mathematics, pre-engineering, technology, science, and research courses. In grades nine and ten, the program consists of common experience courses for all students. In grades eleven and twelve, each student selects course work from one of four focus areas. Students are expected to be enrolled in a full schedule of seven classes per day during the entire four-year program. External experiences are possible and encouraged, but must be a direct extension of, or enrichment of, the QUEST/AOIT Program. Seniors complete a research project, similar to a master's thesis. Many students conduct their research at facilities in the Washington D.C. area, such as the National Institutes of Health, the University of Maryland, The Catholic University of America, and NASA. Since the first QUEST/AOIT class of 1997, one hundred percent of the students who completed the QUEST/AOIT program entered a four-year school of higher education.

The program was expanded to include females and other minorities. QUEST consists of a two-week summer program, fall and spring classroom activities, and tutoring during the school year. The major focus of the program is in two phases.

  • to foster interest in science through hands-on laboratory experiences;
  • enhance students' math skills;
  • monitor academic progress of participants throughout the year;
  • provide rigorous instruction in science and math.

The program receives more than 600 applications from elementary and middle school students each year to participate in the summer program. There are presently 225 students participating in the summer program. Of that number, more than 160 middle school students participate in the fall and spring sessions. The summer program is a major component of the QUEST program. The overall objectives of the program are to:

  • provide academic support;
  • increase critical thinking skills in English, math, science and engineering;
  • get students excited about Science and Technology through a hands-on approach;
  • assist students and parents with future educational planning;
  • discuss the perceptions of minorities outside of Roosevelt who may feel that a career in Science and Technology is unobtainable;
  • monitor academic progress;
  • increase the number of minorities who take the S/T entrance exam.

The program focuses on computer technology, as suggested by its name, Academy of Information Technology. In 1999, Eleanor Roosevelt High School was one of twelve high schools selected nationwide to pilot this type of academy. The goal of this curriculum offered in grades 9-12, is to give students a broad perspective on technology and its applications, recognizing that students will use technology in various disciplines during college and in their careers. Currently, there are more than 230 students in the Academy of Information Technology. The graduating class of 2005 had mean grade point average of 3.3 and a mean SAT score of 1140. Several of the students entered college in the fall of 2005 on full scholarships.

[edit] Administration

Principal: Reginald McNeill
Assistant Principals: Robynne Prince, Sandra Lyles, Avery Taylor, Arnita Dew, and Benjamin Pryor.

[edit] School/Class Colors

The school colors are Columbia blue and white. Each class is assigned one of four colors during their freshmen year. In order, these are purple, green, orange, and yellow. When a class graduates, their color is transferred to the incoming freshmen. For example, 2010 is green, 2011 is orange, 2012 is yellow, 2013 is purple, and so on. There is both a fall and spring spirit week which ends with the Homecoming and Spring Fling Dances. Both spirit weeks have Crazy Day on Wednesday, Theme Day on Thursday, and Class Color Day on Friday, Monday and Tuesday change each time around. There is an overarching theme for the spirit week which then fits into Theme Day. For example, in the spring of 2008 the theme was Musicals, the freshman had Hairspray, the Sophomores had Chicago, the juniors had The Wiz, and the seniors had Grease. In the fall there is a Pep Rally and in the spring there is Class Night, which is similar to Pep Rally but is a contest between the classes. Two of the key factors in determining the winner of Class Night are the girl's powder puff football games and the boy's powderpuff performances. The boy's performances consist of various forms of dancing, acting, and stepping.

[edit] Notable Students and Alumni

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "The complete list of the 1,500 top U.S. high schools". Newsweek Magazine. 2009-06-08. http://www.newsweek.com/id/201160. 
  2. ^ Academics at Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Preceded by
Walnut Ridge High School		 National Academic Championship champion
1988		 Succeeded by
Paul M. Dorman High School

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt_High_School_(Greenbelt,_Maryland)"