Sep 20, 2007 7:04 pm US/Eastern
Local School Raises Bar For All Its Students
by Lisa Hughes
HYANNIS, Mass. (WBZ) ―
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Sturgis Charter School students are thriving in the school's International Baccalaureate program, offered to all students.
CBS
A public high school in Hyannis has raised the bar for its thriving students with some of the toughest courses and highest standards around.
Sturgis Charter School is the only school of its kind in the country.
"I love the school, it's so much fun," said student Chelsea Downing.
"There's something very satisfying about knowing that you're doing these very hard courses," said student Daniel Faulkenberry.
The classrooms don't look very different from usual ones, but Sturgis offers something called the International Baccalaureate program, or IB. Open to all students, the IB program is an extremely rigorous curriculum that some people say goes beyond advanced placement courses. Students are doing college level work with college level tests.
What really sets Sturgis apart is that any student in the area can go there. Every other IB program in the United States has strict entrance requirements. But at Sturgis, it's a simple lottery, so not just A-plus students attend.
"People are quite surprised that average and below average students and students with special needs are able to access this program and actually be successful," said Sturgis Executive Director Eric Hieser.
One of the main goals is to prepare every student for college. The work is hard with an emphasis on communication, organization, depth and perspective.
"They make you analyze things and dig deeper, and not what is written there but why it was written this way, and what meaning does it have," said student Tachelle Allen.
"Our students are involved in sports, and have busy lives and even have jobs," Hieser said. "But they still find time for that two to three hours of homework."
The school also puts an emphasis on offering a global perspective, so students think beyond their borders in more ways than one.
"Even if you don't succeed all the time, knowing that you're trying to do what very few people try to do is very fulfilling," Faulkenberry said.
"I've progressed over the years to become a better student," Downing said.
Many colleges give students credit for IB courses, and some kids even start college as a sophomore. Last year, 100 percent of the Sturgis graduating class went on to some form of higher education.
There are over 700 IB programs in the U.S. but there are no concrete plans for other schools right now. Hieser said a lot of other communities are interested in the trying it.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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