Havre High School learning new tricks
Zach White
Havre High School students are not the only ones learning new skills. 
Over the past year the high school has started trying new ways of teaching and addressing student needs. 
Last year, the school began a partnership with Montana State University-Northern to offer college credit to juniors and seniors enrolled in equivalent high school courses. 
Now entering the second year, the courses involved have quadrupled. Four students took advantage of the partnership last spring, this year nearly 40 have enrolled. 
And the high school is learning about which kind of students take the classes, how they use them and how the high school can better utilize the classes. 
Similar lessons have risen from the first semester of the Montana Digital Academy, an online collection of classes that launched last autumn to expand options for students across the state. 
After seeing how to use the new tool and who it is most beneficial to, Havre High School has students enrolled in more than twice the number of online courses as last semester. 
Working with both of these techniques have provided lessons not only to the students but the administrations of both Havre High School and MSU-Northern.
Dual enrollment
High school students were first offered the opportunity to simultaneously gain college and high school credit last year for one course, Composition I. 
Four students took the schools up on the offer. 
This semester there are 38 slots in four classes, including composition, college algebra, and trigonometry/calculus which are general education requirements transferable across the Montana University System and one automotive class, diagnostics and tune-up. 
“We’ve been trying to get more and more general education to help smooth that transition from secondary education to post-secondary, ” Principal Jerry Vandersloot said. 
He said that the partnership came from the work of faculty both at the high school and the university, including Kevin Shellenberger and Stephen Lockwood, respectively. 
Northern's administration has also been keen on the process. 
Provost Rosalyn Templeton said that she has been working with faculty in both schools since she started this summer to expand the program to help students. 
“It’s such a good opportunity for families with children that may already have 12 to 18 hours, which ends up saving tuition, ” Templeton said. 
Simply enrolling at Northern, three credit hours can cost between $500 and $600. 
For high school students, through dual enrollment, the same classes cost $224, Vandersloot told the school board at its January meeting. 
He added later that the Havre Public Schools Foundation has a sort of scholarship fund set aside to be split among the students that get college credit at the end of the semester, a sort of reimbursement. 
Templeton said that the partnership has led to Northern seeking similar credit programs in places such as Great Falls and Chester. 
For Vandersloot, dual enrollment has helped students move on and up. 
“One of my goals is to make that senior year more meaninful, ” Vandersloot said. “And this is a step in that direction. ”
Montana Digital Academy
Havre High School’s newest curriculum change, participation in the statewide launch of online classes through the new Montana Digital Academy, has required a bit more adjustment, for everyone involved. 
“It’s been a learning experience for us and the students, ” Vandersloot said. 
The program launched last September to offer a wide variety of online classes, connecting teachers and students from across the state. 
Havre High School first saw the MDA as a way to offer opportunities to some of the school’s at-risk or struggling students. 
Part of the way through the semester, the administration found that the online courses required certain skills beyond that of traditional classroom setting and abandoned the attempted application. 
“We’ve learned that the kids that were most likely to do well are good readers and writers, ” Vandersloot said. “To be successful in the Montana Digital Academy takes a certain amount of self-motivation. ” 
The online classes provide all of the lessons and assignments, but it is up to students to keep up, with the help of two facilitators in the school. 
Vandersloot said that the classes now have an application process, where students have to prove the class is pertinent to their post-school plans or that the school can’t offer it in person. 
For this semester, 12 students are enrolled in 14 courses, including psychology, digital photography and web design. The academy offers many diverse classes, from marine biology to Mandarin Chinese. 
According the Vandersloot, the academy works well as regional long-term shrinking populations and the ensuing faculty loss limits the district’s ability to handle students’ needs. 
“We have less and less flexibility, ” Vandersloot said. “And this allows us to provide kids with more opportunity. ” 
There may be, however, some question as to the future of these opportunities. 
The academy was initially created two years ago, funded by a two-year grant to the Montana University System. 
The first year was spent planning, coordinating and crafting the MDA. 
This second year is the first one operating. 
Now the digital academy is one of the many programs vying for continued funding through this year’s state legislative session. 
Vandersloot said that everyone is currently continuing as though the funding will be renewed, but nothing is certain. 
But he hopes it can continue, because it helps the students.
“I think it’s a good option for those kids with the self-motivation and the reading and writing skills to do it, ” Vandersloot said.

Havre High School students are not the only ones learning new skills. 

Over the past year the high school has started trying new ways of teaching and addressing student needs. 

Last year, the school began a partnership with Montana State University-Northern to offer college credit to juniors and seniors enrolled in equivalent high school courses. 

Now entering the second year, the courses involved have quadrupled. Four students took advantage of the partnership last spring, this year nearly 40 have enrolled. 

And the high school is learning about which kind of students take the classes, how they use them and how the high school can better utilize the classes. 

Similar lessons have risen from the first semester of the Montana Digital Academy, an online collection of classes that launched last autumn to expand options for students across the state. 

After seeing how to use the new tool and who it is most beneficial to, Havre High School has students enrolled in more than twice the number of online courses as last semester. 

Working with both of these techniques have provided lessons not only to the students but the administrations of both Havre High School and MSU-Northern.

Dual enrollment

High school students were first offered the opportunity to simultaneously gain college and high school credit last year for one course, Composition I. 

Four students took the schools up on the offer. 

This semester there are 38 slots in four classes, including composition, college algebra, and trigonometry/calculus which are general education requirements transferable across the Montana University System and one automotive class, diagnostics and tune-up. 

“We’ve been trying to get more and more general education to help smooth that transition from secondary education to post-secondary, ” Principal Jerry Vandersloot said. 

He said that the partnership came from the work of faculty both at the high school and the university, including Kevin Shellenberger and Stephen Lockwood, respectively. 

Northern's administration has also been keen on the process. 

Provost Rosalyn Templeton said that she has been working with faculty in both schools since she started this summer to expand the program to help students. 

“It’s such a good opportunity for families with children that may already have 12 to 18 hours, which ends up saving tuition, ” Templeton said. 

Simply enrolling at Northern, three credit hours can cost between $500 and $600. 

For high school students, through dual enrollment, the same classes cost $224, Vandersloot told the school board at its January meeting. 

He added later that the Havre Public Schools Foundation has a sort of scholarship fund set aside to be split among the students that get college credit at the end of the semester, a sort of reimbursement. 

Templeton said that the partnership has led to Northern seeking similar credit programs in places such as Great Falls and Chester. 

For Vandersloot, dual enrollment has helped students move on and up. 

“One of my goals is to make that senior year more meaninful, ” Vandersloot said. “And this is a step in that direction. ”

Montana Digital Academy

Havre High School’s newest curriculum change, participation in the statewide launch of online classes through the new Montana Digital Academy, has required a bit more adjustment, for everyone involved. 

“It’s been a learning experience for us and the students, ” Vandersloot said. 

The program launched last September to offer a wide variety of online classes, connecting teachers and students from across the state. 

Havre High School first saw the MDA as a way to offer opportunities to some of the school’s at-risk or struggling students. 

Part of the way through the semester, the administration found that the online courses required certain skills beyond that of traditional classroom setting and abandoned the attempted application. 

“We’ve learned that the kids that were most likely to do well are good readers and writers, ” Vandersloot said. “To be successful in the Montana Digital Academy takes a certain amount of self-motivation. ” 

The online classes provide all of the lessons and assignments, but it is up to students to keep up, with the help of two facilitators in the school. 

Vandersloot said that the classes now have an application process, where students have to prove the class is pertinent to their post-school plans or that the school can’t offer it in person. 

For this semester, 12 students are enrolled in 14 courses, including psychology, digital photography and web design. The academy offers many diverse classes, from marine biology to Mandarin Chinese. 

According the Vandersloot, the academy works well as regional long-term shrinking populations and the ensuing faculty loss limits the district’s ability to handle students’ needs. 

“We have less and less flexibility, ” Vandersloot said. “And this allows us to provide kids with more opportunity. ” 

There may be, however, some question as to the future of these opportunities. 

The academy was initially created two years ago, funded by a two-year grant to the Montana University System. 

The first year was spent planning, coordinating and crafting the MDA. 

This second year is the first one operating. 

Now the digital academy is one of the many programs vying for continued funding through this year’s state legislative session. 

Vandersloot said that everyone is currently continuing as though the funding will be renewed, but nothing is certain. 

But he hopes it can continue, because it helps the students.

“I think it’s a good option for those kids with the self-motivation and the reading and writing skills to do it, ” Vandersloot said.