Academics
OHS Academics
sMALLER LEARNING COMMUNITIES
The Smaller Learning Communities at Osceola High School are made up of teams of teachers who work together to meet the individual needs and interests of the students with whom they work. Students in the 9th and 10th grade are placed in teams based on their selected career interest. The goal of this program is to increase the academic achievement in large high schools through the creation of smaller, more personalized learning environments. High schools enrolling more than 1,000 students can establish strategies, such as, smaller learning clusters, career academies, teacher-advisory mentoring, and other innovations designed to create more personalized instruction.
Outcomes typically produced by smaller learning communities
• Higher achievement
• Reduction of negative effects of poverty on achievement
• Increased student affiliation with their school community
• Greater safety and order
• Much less truancy and many fewer dropouts
• Similar college entrance exam scores, acceptance rates, GPAs and completion
• Higher levels of extracurricular participation in traditional small schools; role of extracurricular participation differs across SLCs
• Higher levels of parent and community involvement and greater satisfaction
• More positive teacher attitudes and satisfaction
• Comparable core curricula
• Lower costs per student graduated