The Winslow Unified School District Governing Board was presented with information from Winslow High School Principal Dr. Justin Hartman and lead counselor Sarah Wilson on the TALON (Technology to Advance Learning Outcomes at Northland) project during their Feb. 15 meeting.
The project is paid for by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education for rural schools to offer general education college courses to high school students. The project is web-based and interactive and held in a classroom on the high school campus. “It is important because dual enrollment allows students to use that class for not only their diploma, but they also get college credit, which transfers to any college or public university in Arizona,” said Dr. Hartman.
TALON has allowed many high school students in the area to advance their education by offering them dual enrollment with Northland Pioneer College (NPC). Wilson said, “These courses are the same courses, held to the same standard, which prepares our students for the college level rigor.”
She explained that the TALON grant is a five-year grant and is currently in its second year. The cost of technology and staffing of the TALON lab at WHS is shared between NPC, the Winslow School District and the funds from the grant. “There are 10 schools in the grant, and each year, the goal is to add two more.”
Winslow currently offers advanced college algebra, pre-calculus, American government, macroeconomics, and Spanish language courses. Wilson said, “One hundred percent of our students in the math course (last year) completed it successfully with a C grade or better, 83 percent of the students in the political science course completed and 100 percent of the Spanish students did. Winslow High School is doing better in every single class as compared to the other schools in the grant.”
Winslow is also the second most enrolled school, with 15 percent of the entire number of students in the program; Snowflake High School has 18 percent.
The benefits to TALON enrolled students include readiness for college rigor, and the ability to begin their higher education with a number of credits already earned. Dr. Hartman added, “We have pulled kids into the program that are on the borderline, wondering if they can make it in college. We have seen a paradigm shift with the support of the counselors and staff and they know they can make it now.”
Further, the students are on the schedule of NPC as they are receiving instruction from NPC professors through video conferencing over the Internet. TALON lab facilitator Shauna Lopez said, “If we have breaks or early release, or late start, they still have to be here.” Wilson pointed out that Winslow has a waiting list for students who would like to take part in the program due to the limited number of seats available per class. “It is just like college, where they have a class cap and we only get a certain number of seats per class.”
She also addressed the fact that the grant does expire in two years. “The million dollar question is what will we do when the grant is over. NPC is currently in the process of appointing a new president so that will play big in to what funds NPC can contribute. I think the goal is to keep it up but it is a matter of figuring out what the cost will be because it will be shifted from this cost sharing model to we don’t know.”
The infrastructure for the project, such as computers and Internet access will stay regardless of whether or not the grant is extended, but as Superintendent Cyndie Mattox pointed out, “Technology is constantly changing.” Wilson added, “It really only has a seven year life span.” It is unclear if the TALON program will continue, but parents, students, and educators are in favor of it remaining.
