Word: rios
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Rio Rancho, N.M. POINTING THE WAY TOWARD A PRACTICAL FUTURE...
...seem like idle banter, but Rio Rancho High School's Pathfinder course, modeled after similar ones in Florida and Illinois, is all business. Chalked on the blackboard are criteria for a debate on careers, including salary, benefits and required training. Later in the semester the teens will log on to Internet chat groups to discuss different occupations, and they will shadow adults during their workday. Before they go on to 10th grade, students must present portfolios on a possible career, explore their own strengths in detailed resumes and outline a study program for three years and beyond. "This...
...Relevant" may be one of the biggest cliches in education. But it was the watchword in working-class Rio Rancho (pop. 50,000) when, nearly three years ago, faced with a dropout rate of 28%, the town set out to build a model high school. A committee of 300 citizens, ranging from students to business leaders, split into groups to delve into curriculum, architecture, teaching methods, scheduling, technology, dress and behavior codes. They plumbed research from educational institutes and visited 30 innovative campuses from California to Maine. The common theme: students are bored in "shopping-mall high schools," where they...
...money and technology alone do not guarantee academic excellence. Inspired by Breaking Ranks, the 1996 high-school-reform manifesto published by the Carnegie Institute and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Rio Rancho school demands a tougher core curriculum, requiring four years each of math, science, social sciences and English, with 29 credits needed for graduation--seven more than the state norm. Before this year Rio Rancho's students attended other area high schools, says principal Katy Harvey, "and it was horrifying to look at transcripts full of credits like ceramics and basketball theory. They...
...Rio Rancho teachers--all of whom had to write three essays on school reform as part of their job applications--will try almost anything to avoid that glazed-over look. On a recent afternoon John Henderson dictates to his writing class, "An alien landed at Rio Rancho and saw..." Each student is to continue the story for a sentence or two. "And when I say, 'Stop!,'" Henderson explains, "pass your paper to the next person." The hilarious results are intended to convey something about character development and narrative, if only by their absence...