Our Community
The School-Within-a-School program at the Wheatley School provides students with an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop in an alternative school setting. SWS is open to tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade students who are interested in a democratic, highly academic demanding experience in which students play a major role in their own education. It is managed by students who take pride in learning responsibility for their own actions, respect for others, honesty, and independence. The last three periods each day are devoted to SWS. During these periods, students take their required English classes and social science electives. Honors and advanced placement credit are available within the SWS English curriculum. Students take their required social studies classes in the traditional school. They can pursue advanced placement classes in social studies earlier in the day before SWS.
The academic program in SWS differs greatly from the traditional program. Five English and three social science teachers teach a wide variety of mini-courses, each for about fourteen sessions. Other faculty members and community members can also offer classes within the program. Students choose, plan and prepare their own schedules from a wide array of offerings. Each class follows a college-like syllabus, meeting twice a week for one quarter of the school year. Students will take at least ten of these English mini-courses and eight social studies elective classes by the end of the school year.
On Wednesdays, instead of academic classes, meetings and opportunities to learn leadership skills occupy these three periods. A student-led Academics Committee is in charge of overseeing the classes within SWS, approving all courses and independent study, as well as making the schedule each quarter. For each class students take in SWS, the teacher creates the course of study and provides a syllabus in advance. Teachers grade assignments, assess progress, and give students a grade for each class, using an assessment form that also allows space for student self-assessment. The social science and English evaluation committees, made up of students and teachers, review a portfolio of each student’s work and determine final grades at the end of each semester. These portfolios include a personal statement by the student focusing on what they have learned overall, samples of their best writing and assignments, and the individual teacher assessments and grades from each class. An elected student Supreme Court resolves disagreements regarding grades and other issues in the community.
The democratic aspect of SWS focuses on the community’s activities on Wednesdays. In the General Meeting, members raise issues and suggest proposals to the constitution that are voted upon according to parliamentary procedures. Other group meetings and committee meetings promote community bonding and citizen responsibility in a variety of ways. Students in SWS learn how to be independent, manage time, and balance responsibilities while developing their own educational program. Accountable for their own learning, students also become responsible citizens within a democratic structure. Students write their own Constitution, organize their own government, and serve in a variety of offices and on many committees. In almost every way, they direct their own School-Within-a-School.