Baldwin High setting pace for college and career readiness

When it comes to college and career readiness, Baldwin High School tries to get as close to the real world as possible.

The classrooms in law and government resemble a courtroom, where on Tuesday a teacher took the stand as a witness. Students studying medicine and health practiced CPR on adult and infant manikins. And students learning about new media ran their own television control room.

It's part of a philosophy that New York high school students should be offered a more modernized path to graduation with a way to earn a diploma that incorporates real-world learning, along with academic achievement, Baldwin school district educators said.

Baldwin Superintendent Shari Camhi, who led a forum on college and career readiness at the school Tuesday, said today's learning should "be more creative and provide more relevant programming for kids and get out of the 1970s, which is where we still are."

She showed local and regional education officials the high school's six Academic Academies that prepare students for careers in fields as varied as medicine, law and new media. The academies immerse students in a specific area of learning, which includes working with professionals in the field — and not just following professionals, she said, adding her students have been in actual surgeries.

In addition, a handful of Baldwin High students are enrolled in classes at Suffolk Community College and are bused to the Brentwood campus four days a week. Several classrooms throughout the high school have been redesigned with furniture on wheels and collaborative work spaces where students look like they are employees of the latest startup.

Of the school's roughly 1,600 students in grades nine through 12, 554 are enrolled in the academies. District students also can get a start before high school, as there are pre-academy classes available for eighth-graders.

Freshman Lakiesha Juin, 14, is enrolled in the district's Education Academy.

"It gives you a better understanding and a background and it prepares you," she said.

Camhi has proposed to the State Education Department another path for graduation that focuses more on college and career readiness — not an overreliance on Board of Regents examinations.

"I am asking State Ed to consider how we can modernize what it means to get a New York state diploma," Camhi said. "What I am trying to show is that in our high school as it is now, we are doing all of that and how much more meaningful a high school diploma could be if we could rebalance."
Lorna Lewis, superintendent of the Plainview-Old Bethpage school district and president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, which represents more than 800 top education leaders statewide, toured Baldwin's academies and classrooms Tuesday.

While some of these concepts are "already in other schools, the whole idea of thinking differently about a diploma and having a more expansive view of a diploma is really the important work that you are seeing right now," she said.

Other districts also have incorporated career education into their own curriculum. Six years ago, the William Floyd School District opened its own in-house career and technical education program with initial offerings such as automotive technology, business, carpentry, cosmetology, culinary arts, engineering and medical assisting. The district also offers business tie-in courses, which educate students on the skills necessary to own and operate a small business. Students also can earn a technical endorsement on their diplomas, as well as receive industry-specific certifications and college credit for their work.

"We offer students multiple pathways to graduation and provide them with the training and skills necessary to be successful at the next level — whether that be in college or in the workforce,” said Kathleen Keane, assistant superintendent for secondary instruction and administration.

By Joie Tyrrell

joie.tyrrell@newsday.com@JoieTyrrell

Joie Tyrrell is a Long Island native and covers education for Newsday, where she has worked since 1998.