An Intersection Between Traditional High School and Adult High School

The concrete floors glisten, the red, blue, or green lockers clank together while the halls smell of a variety of pleasant and unpleasant body odors and a mixture of both breakfast and lunch permeating from the cafeteria.  The noise is the buzz of what happened over the weekend and what the plans are to attend the football game on Friday night.  The 8:20 bell rings and students slam their lockers shut and hurry to their first period classes, where they sit and listen, well mostly listen, to their teachers describe the Civil War, infinitive verbs, verb phrases, tone, pitch, and the Pythagorean Theorem.  In this brick and mortar building, education is still running as a factory-style model for education.

Contrarily, at an adult high school, one is not likely to find lockers, cafeterias, or the buzz of what is happening over the weekend; however, the expectation is being set that when the clock says 9 AM, the door shuts and you're expected to be ready to begin class.  Students enter the adult education world for a variety of reasons with a varying amount of baggage, so it's our job as adult educators to get them to think beyond the baggage and start forward thinking.  Here, students are expected to identify their barriers and work collaboratively with others to hold themselves accountable.  The instructor guides them, but the work is theirs and connections are made to the students' daily lives.

But what about the students who are still high school age, but don't fit the mold for a factory-style educational system?  Are there resources for them?  Yes!  Kirkwood HSDL is the intersection between the traditional high school world and the adult education world.  Students still work through their brick-and-mortar high school, but they also are able to take some flexible classes through our program.  These classes could be by book or online and students are able to work at their own pace to complete them, as long as they complete them in 4 months.

In order for students, who are currently enrolled in a brick-and-mortar high school to take courses with Kirkwood HSDL, they must first receive permission from the school.  These students are then allowed to take the same courses that the adult high school diploma students take and transfer the credit back to their high school.  By being the bridge between what a traditional school has to offer and the adult high school diploma program, we are hopeful that more students will graduate from their own high school.