Stanford Online High School: Difference between revisions
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Every summer, OHS students have the opportunity to come live in supervised Stanford housing and take classes with their instructors. Some of the courses offered include wet science labs, writing courses and leadership seminars. The Summer Institutes provide a taste of college life, in the beautiful surroundings of the Stanford campus. |
Every summer, OHS students have the opportunity to come live in supervised Stanford housing and take classes with their instructors. Some of the courses offered include wet science labs, writing courses and leadership seminars. The Summer Institutes provide a taste of college life, in the beautiful surroundings of the Stanford campus. |
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=Summer Staff= |
==Summer Staff== |
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The OHS Summer Session hires undergraduates, recent graduates, and graduate students to work during each summer as counselors and teaching assistants. Residential Counselors (RCs) are selected for their ability to work with young people in a residential setting, and for their academic qualifications. This arrangement allows for the social and academic portions of the program to be tightly integrated.<ref>http://epgy.stanford.edu/summer/employment.html EPGY RA Information</ref> |
The OHS Summer Session hires undergraduates, recent graduates, and graduate students to work during each summer as counselors and teaching assistants. Residential Counselors (RCs) are selected for their ability to work with young people in a residential setting, and for their academic qualifications. This arrangement allows for the social and academic portions of the program to be tightly integrated.<ref>http://epgy.stanford.edu/summer/employment.html EPGY RA Information</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 19:14, 22 October 2009
 | This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. (October 2009) |
The EPGY Online High School (OHS) at Stanford University is a program for gifted students which offers online education for students grades 7-12. While it is commonly assumed EPGY and Stanford EPGY OHS are one entity because of the affiliation and names, they are separate programs. Though despite requiring two different applications, the schools share a few similarities. Stanford's OHS is also a gifted education program that utilizes distance learning and hosts summer institutes on the university campus.
History
In April 2006, EPGY received a substantial and generous gift from the Malone Family Foundation of Englewood, Colorado.[1][2] The donation went to forming an online high school independent of EPGY's regular distance learning courses. It is formally titled "The Education Program for Gifted Youth Online High School at Stanford University," but is typically referred to as the OHS or Stanford's High School. The OHS officially commenced in September 7, 2006, with an extended set of courses in the humanities and social sciences. The Online High School accepted thirty students for their inaugural year and projects an enrollment of up to three hundred in the years to come. In 2006 the Online High School received official accreditation from the Western Association of Schools. The OHS was approved as an online provider by the University of California in 2008.[3]
In May 2009 it was announced that the Online High School would be expanding its academic program to include a middle-school component consisting of Grades 7 through 9, beginning in Fall 2009.
World's First
Although both gifted education and online learning have existed (independently) for quite some time, EPGY OHS is the first to synthesize these two into a diploma-granting, independent high school with both secondary and post-secondary level classes. According to the OHS website, it is a unique idea in the sense that it attracts many kids and offers more classes outside of the normal EPGY courses, with a central theme of argumentation and discussion in the writing and humanities courses and enhanced mathematical content in the natural and social science courses. OHS offers core classes, another unique and distinguishing feature. OHS also notes on its website that although it offers many AP courses, these courses will be more conducive to the gifted milieu, and will primarily serve as preparation for more advanced college courses. To this end, OHS courses (AP and others) are enhanced in depth of material and in content to emphasize the critical thinking theme of the high school. OHS also uses a more college-like schedule, with both seminar and directed study courses and more time devoted to studying outside of the classroom environment. OHS also recognizes and accepts that students will want to continue taking courses at their local high schools, as is indicated on their website, and thus allows for a "joint enrollment" program for such students.
Academics
"OHS's academics are extremely rigorous, not because its teachers assign heaps of busy work, but because the assignments require analytical thinking, comprehensive reading, and deep questioning." says Olivia Pobiel - Class of 2011 on the OHS website.[4] The course offerings at Stanford OHS include many Honors and Advanced Placement subjects. Students also have the ability to move beyond these and take university level courses in many disciplines such as Math and English.[2]
Stanford's online high school offers two types of classes. One is a seminar-style course where students and teachers use audio and video feeds to discuss and study classroom materials together.[5] These classes typically include pre-recorded lectures in addition to supplement the group interaction.[6] In another more self-directed type of class, students will learn from a CD-ROM and contact instructors online with questions.[7]
Purpose and Goals
The OHS is designed to meet the needs of gifted students in both curriculum and learning environments empowering students to realize their potentials and develop their abilities in ways that might not be possible in traditional schools.
The goals of the EPGY OHS are as follows:
• To prepare gifted students for success both in life and in their future intellectual pursuits.
• To provide gifted students everywhere with an opportunity to receive an education comparable to that
offered by the best schools in the world.
• To allow gifted students to pursue advanced academic studies.
• To provide gifted students the opportunity to pursue advanced academic opportunities without worrying
about how they fit into their local high school’s diploma requirements.[8]
Admissions
There is a rigorous application for admission to the EPGY-OHS that reads like a college application. Applicants are evaluated by an Admissions Committee that considers academic records, samples of student work, including application essays, standardized exam scores, letters of recommendation and if feasible, a student interview. Additionally, students should be prepared to provide information regarding examples of online successes and involvement in summer programs, academic competitions, extra-curricular activities, community service hours, and essay-responses to biographical inquiries. Foundation and explanation in support of an applicant's gifted qualifications are also required. The applicant is also given an opportunity to present any additional applicable information to the admissions office.
Summer Sessions
Every summer, OHS students have the opportunity to come live in supervised Stanford housing and take classes with their instructors. Some of the courses offered include wet science labs, writing courses and leadership seminars. The Summer Institutes provide a taste of college life, in the beautiful surroundings of the Stanford campus.
Summer Staff
The OHS Summer Session hires undergraduates, recent graduates, and graduate students to work during each summer as counselors and teaching assistants. Residential Counselors (RCs) are selected for their ability to work with young people in a residential setting, and for their academic qualifications. This arrangement allows for the social and academic portions of the program to be tightly integrated.[9]
References
- ^ http://news.stanford.edu/news/2006/april19/ohs-041906.html Stanford Report
- ^ a b http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4592601/Press-Release-The-EPGY-Online-High-School-at-Stanford Stanford Press Release
- ^ http://www.best-online-schools.org/standford-university-online-high-school.html BOS Article
- ^ http://epgy.stanford.edu/ohs/studentprofiles/inspiringteachers.html EPGY OHS Student Viewpoints
- ^ http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/745571-stanford-epgy-ohs-calling-ryanone-tokenadult.html OHS parent
- ^ http://www.greatschools.net/students/academic-skills/alternative-education-routes.gs?content=501&page=2 Greatschools article
- ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/14/STANFORD.TMP San Francisco Chronicle article on OHS
- ^ http://epgy.stanford.edu/ohs/EPGY_OHS_Overview.pdf PDF file from http://www.epgy.org/ohs OHS website
- ^ http://epgy.stanford.edu/summer/employment.html EPGY RA Information