This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Freshman Gateway Works Well for District 203

Report notes the academic and social benefits of having a single campus for newbies.

New Trier Township High School District 203’s approach of having a single introduction point for freshmen among the two campuses is working well, administrators reported to the school board last week.

Over the 10 years that the system has been in place, the report notes there have been several benefits for the district that has about 4,000 students:

  • Test scores have increased slightly.
  • The district has spent less than it would have with two separate four-year campuses.
  • Freshmen coming in from the area's public middle schools and several private schools have been able to form a cohesive class on the Northfield campus before moving on to Winnetka campus.

Tim Dohrer, principal of the Winnetka campus, and Paul Waechtler, his counterpart at the Northfield campus, presented the findings at the school board meeting on July 18.

Find out what's happening in Winnetka-Glencoewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Read more: Patch's coverage of New Trier Township High School District 203

The structure does have some drawbacks, the principals acknowledged, including commutes for teachers and the handful of students who must travel between the two campuses. Another downside is that it is more difficult for freshmen to participate in some extracurricular activities. Also, students grouped together for advisory periods must adjust to a new teacher when they move to the Winnetka campus.

Find out what's happening in Winnetka-Glencoewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But those and other challenges are more than outweighed by the benefits, Waechtler said.

“It’s been a success in so many ways,” he said. “The limitations that we knew going in are still there, but we are doing our best to mediate them.”

One of the biggest advantages is allowing all of the freshman teachers to work together to figure what works best for students just starting their time in high school.

“Ninth-graders are really different and have different needs” than older high school students,” said District 203 Superintendent Linda Yonke. “Separation is good for their development.”

Yonke said that not many school systems could separate freshmen at a single campus, although some have a freshman wing at their schools.

New Trier started shifting freshmen to a single campus because it saw enrollment growing beyond the capacity of the Winnetka campus at 385 Winnetka Ave. So the district decided to use the smaller Northfield campus, formerly New Trier West, at 7 Happ Rd. as a gateway for the incoming freshman class.

A facility use study presented at the meeting showed that both campuses are used nearly to capacity. While there is more leeway at Northfield, where several new classrooms were opened last year, athletic fields at both campuses have very little downtime. A shuttle bus is used to transport students and others to the Winnetka campus from the Northfield campus, where more parking is available.

School board member Alan Dolinko counts himself as a convert.

“I was a skeptic before I was won over,” he said. “It is almost universally praised for its success, both academic and for its social and academic impact.”

Board member Mac Harris said he was never a skeptic of District 203's approach of consolidating freshmen at one campus. With five children– four of them boys--Harris said he always thought they would benefit from more time to mature before they headed to the school on Winnetka Avenue.

“I always knew freshman year was critically important for them,” he said.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?