- Advisory
This year’s new Advisory format has been a total bust. Instead of twenty minutes after fifth period every day for students to work on homework, meet up with clubs, and regroup for their last two classes of the day, each teacher now holds Advisory in their own classes once a week. While this change was made for a number of reasons, including preventing students from roaming the halls, it is not as successful as it seems on the surface. Because Advisory is a different time of day for every period, it’s impossible to hold club meetings. Clubs like Bike Club no longer have a way to meet, and so they have slowly disappeared. Additionally, not all teachers do Advisory on a regular basis. Elective teachers are not required to hold Advisory, and even teachers of core classes don’t always save time for it in their schedule. Because Advisory is a required event by the Iowa City Community School District administration, West High and Liberty both have the old Advisory format. The new Advisory format is taking away from students’ Advisory time–how can City High compete with other schools if students don’t even have as much time to work as they do?
- Upperclassmen Parking Priority
Before the Hoover parking lot opened up last year, the Upper Lot was reserved for upperclassmen, and underclassmen could only park in the lower lots. However, because of the expanded space, City High administrators decided to open up the Upper Lot for all students under the guise of finally having enough parking for everybody. But here’s the thing: even though there are plenty of parking spots for all students now, the Hoover Lot is much farther away than the Lower Lot. It doesn’t make any sense why upperclassmen should have to give up the closest parking lot to City High to fifteen-year-olds who can barely legally drive!
“The freshmen and sophomores’ time will come for premier parking at the school that leads,” Principal Bacon said in a Little Hawk article in 2021. Opening the Hoover Lot shouldn’t have changed this. The best parking at City High is still the Upper Lot, and the underclassmen can stand to wait two years before getting “premier parking.”
- School Sponsored ACT/SAT
By offering students a stress-free, convenient option to take the SAT and/or the ACT during regular school hours, people can do away with the need for weekend testing and transportation to far-off locations. This method makes the SAT and ACT more accessible to all students by lowering the aforementioned logistical obstacles. Furthermore, a more relaxed and concentrated testing experience can result from taking the test in a familiar setting, such as one’s own school, which helps reduce test anxiety. The results of the test preparation that Testbook offers can also be improved by administering the SAT during school hours. Instead of taking the test on the weekend or after a long week, students are more likely to be rested and mentally prepared when it is part of their regular school day. This timing is more likely to result in better performance and increased participation. School-sponsored SAT and ACT testing supports educational equity, boosts participation, and strengthens pathways to college. By removing scheduling and financial obstacles, it provides all students with a fair opportunity to demonstrate their academic potential.
- Semester System
City High’s trimester system should be replaced by the semester system because it’s more aligned with the academic structures majority of colleges and univ have agreed upon. Given that a vast majority of higher ed institutions use this semester model- two 15-week terms, it makes sense for high schools to follow suit. This shift would help students acclimate to college faster, lessening the jolt of time management, pacing issues, and academic accountability.The semester system provides students with more time to dig deeper into the material. Long terms help students to better engage with complex material, do more substantial projects, and reflect on their work. The trimester pace can be rushed, so work can be harder to master. One gift of semesters is that there is more free time. With fewer academic terms, students will also be more likely to have the time for extracurriculars, which could promote mental health and productivity.It may appear as more classes or less exposure to material, but the tradeoff is depth and balance. It makes perfect sense that for schools willing to innovate in order to best prepare students are using the semester system.
