By Suraj Baadkar
Schutz recently has adapted to AERO standards and is incorporating service-learning as a part of curriculum. These new improvements in the curriculum will benefit not only the students but also the teachers and the community as a whole.
AERO is a project supported by the U.S. State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools (A/OPR/OS) and the Overseas Schools Advisory Council to assist schools in developing and implementing standards-based curricula. Project AERO which stands for “American Education Reaches Out.” provides stability to curriculum mainly in overseas American international schools which generally have high turnover of teachers every year. Therefore, these set of standards will minimize the impact of staff turn-over at the end of the year.
“Schutz is adapting this set of standards because it believes that a standard based education system is a way of making sure that all students are on the same level regarding skills at any grade level”, said Massimo Laterza (the High School Principal). Schutz like any other international American school has a high turn over of teachers. This disrupts the learning process of the students towards the subject or a specific lesson. For example, the personal interests of a biology teacher might allow him/her to concentrate more on the human anatomy section but when she leaves the next teacher might concentrate more on the botany section, making the students weak in some areas of the subject. The concept of standardized education does not allow this to happen and keeps the students at the same level when they exit the grade. The Standards put a curriculum “floor” which is the minimum level of learning a student should know in order to pass the class. Any additional information is to the benefit of the students, therefore improving the educational system and the outcome of the curriculum in Schutz.
Service-learning is another addition to the curriculum that Schutz has been thinking of implementing. Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction to improve the community as a whole and responsibility of the student towards it. Schutz has always been very active in community service and implementing service-learning in its curriculum will further fulfill one of its missions. Service-learning has been derived from the IB schools model which offers 1 credit for 131 hrs of service in the grade levels of 11th and 12th.
Clearly, adaptation of both AERO standards and service-learning in the Schutz’s curriculum is beneficial to students in their overall development and teachers in their lesson planning. Due to this the school can expect certain basic skills of learning to be achieved every student who is part of the institution.
For more information on AERO standards please visit www.projectaero.org
And Service-learning please visit www.servicelearning.org
Schutz recently has adapted to AERO standards and is incorporating service-learning as a part of curriculum. These new improvements in the curriculum will benefit not only the students but also the teachers and the community as a whole.
AERO is a project supported by the U.S. State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools (A/OPR/OS) and the Overseas Schools Advisory Council to assist schools in developing and implementing standards-based curricula. Project AERO which stands for “American Education Reaches Out.” provides stability to curriculum mainly in overseas American international schools which generally have high turnover of teachers every year. Therefore, these set of standards will minimize the impact of staff turn-over at the end of the year.
“Schutz is adapting this set of standards because it believes that a standard based education system is a way of making sure that all students are on the same level regarding skills at any grade level”, said Massimo Laterza (the High School Principal). Schutz like any other international American school has a high turn over of teachers. This disrupts the learning process of the students towards the subject or a specific lesson. For example, the personal interests of a biology teacher might allow him/her to concentrate more on the human anatomy section but when she leaves the next teacher might concentrate more on the botany section, making the students weak in some areas of the subject. The concept of standardized education does not allow this to happen and keeps the students at the same level when they exit the grade. The Standards put a curriculum “floor” which is the minimum level of learning a student should know in order to pass the class. Any additional information is to the benefit of the students, therefore improving the educational system and the outcome of the curriculum in Schutz.
Service-learning is another addition to the curriculum that Schutz has been thinking of implementing. Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction to improve the community as a whole and responsibility of the student towards it. Schutz has always been very active in community service and implementing service-learning in its curriculum will further fulfill one of its missions. Service-learning has been derived from the IB schools model which offers 1 credit for 131 hrs of service in the grade levels of 11th and 12th.
Clearly, adaptation of both AERO standards and service-learning in the Schutz’s curriculum is beneficial to students in their overall development and teachers in their lesson planning. Due to this the school can expect certain basic skills of learning to be achieved every student who is part of the institution.
For more information on AERO standards please visit www.projectaero.org
And Service-learning please visit www.servicelearning.org
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