Changing Courses

By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 26, 2007

TAMPA - It was the new school, the northern school, the rural one on a horse pasture and muddy roads. Chamberlain didn't look like Hillsborough County's established high schools, the stately buildings of Hillsborough, Plant and the original Jefferson.

Chamberlain opened 51 years ago with a "maximum efficiency" design: single-story classroom wings that stretched like fingers from the office hub and the auditorium.

Little has changed, in many ways. Chamberlain's early graduates still cheer the Chiefs and say they get chills when they sing the alma mater they helped write with band director Robert C. Price.

But beyond the trophy cases, the 50 years of class gifts and the black-and-white photographs is a new wood-paneled classroom with a curvy bar, recessed lighting and restaurant booths where Chamberlain is overhauling how it teaches teens.

It's part of a national movement to make high schools more relevant to students, and it means traditional institutions such as Chamberlain must reinvent themselves.

This makeover is most visible in Chamberlain's Outback Cafe, which opened near the end of the past school year through a partnership between the steakhouse chain and the school district. It looks like a mini-Outback, except students serve nonalcoholic beverages at the bar and the menu features the state culinary curriculum, not Bloomin' Onions and Walkabout Soup.

Students in the culinary operations program learn about food preparation, service and the restaurant business by hosting guests, faculty and banquets in the cafe. Hospitality students arrange events and serve food, gliding between the restaurant and a professional kitchen stocked with stainless steel.

An assembly line of teenagers in chef's coats recently arranged flank steak and chicken on plates in the kitchen for one banquet. Teacher Erik Youngs, a former professional chef, kept tabs on them.

"Hey," he said, clapping his hands. "We got to pick up the pace a bit so it doesn't get cold in the plating process. We got to roll, roll, roll, baby."

No More 'Chalk And Talk'

Classes in this new high school experience are active. Academic lessons make sense in the real-world context.

"We have to stay on the cutting edge," said former Principal Pam Peralta, now the school district's general director for career and technical education. "We must deliver instruction differently to stay in a global economy. The kids are different - they're in a different world."

Chamberlain Principal Jeff Boldt said the old "chalk and talk" method, where students sat and teachers lectured, isn't effective. Students don't want to learn fractions without learning when they will need them in real life. A chemistry lesson comes to life while students whisk salad dressing or adjust ingredients for dough. Culinary senior Glen Wiggins prefers putting knowledge into practice rather than reading about it.

"I'm a hands-on type of guy," Wiggins said.

School districts call it "rigor and relevance," terms popularized by educational reform leader Willard Daggett. It's about making high school more meaningful, Peralta said. Schools want students to connect to material they learn because if they stay engaged, they will stay in school.

Districts are setting up academies within high schools that encourage students to choose a focus for their four years. Some schools group students in "small learning communities" to make large high schools feel more intimate. Some are geared toward ninth-graders so they don't disappear.

Efforts in Hillsborough have sprouted in-school businesses where students run nail salons, credit unions and day care centers. Pasco County is opening four health career academies and next year hopes to introduce three more geared toward construction, finance and Internet businesses.

Rob Aguis, Pasco's director of community, career and technical education, said academies take a different approach from technical classes by merging academics and career focus. The programs also respond to local industry needs to better prepare students to find jobs.

The county is planning an Academy of Robotics and Multimedia Design at King High, Peralta said. The district is seeking national accreditation for some of its academies and will showcase the ones it has at four high schools, ranging from biotechnology to environmental design, at a conference and innovation fair in Orlando this fall. Chamberlain's culinary program is among those that will participate at the fair and seek accreditation.

"I dare you to show me a more relevant classroom setting for youngsters who have an interest in culinary operations than this classroom," Boldt said during a recent ribbon-cutting for the Outback Cafe.

Expanded Offerings

Despite its history and healthy school pride, Chamberlain once risked losing students to other schools or to the streets. Enrollment had increased and district schools have integrated since the school opened in 1956, but boundaries shrank when new high schools emerged and drew from Carrollwood, Lutz and other northern parts of the county. Enrollment this year is more than 2,200.

When Peralta, a Chamberlain alumna, became principal in 2002, top students were selecting Gaither or the intensive International Baccalaureate program at Hillsborough High. She had worked at Tampa Bay Technical High School and thought Chamberlain's students would have more options with stronger career-oriented programs.

She thought a culinary program might attract male students and keep them in school. A federal grant Chamberlain and three other schools received helped expand programs and start new ones, such as a finance academy that operates a branch of the Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union.

To retain college-bound students, Chamberlain created CAPS, the Advanced Placement Scholars program. It increased the number of AP classes at the school, which prompted the district to launch similar magnet versions this year at Leto and Lennard. Peralta took the district job in 2006.

Brian Hoover, a 2000 graduate, found a different school when he returned five years later to teach.

"The first thing I noticed in those five years is all the programs they offered had increased," he said. "When I was here, I was in the band because that's what you did."

The drum major for three years, Hoover said he enjoyed band but also might have liked a program such as AP. He had considered entering International Baccalaureate but wanted a more traditional high school experience.

A state law passed last year required all high school students to choose majors to focus their education and strengthen connections between subjects. Tampa Bay Technical High has functioned like that for years, Principal Christopher Farkas said. Students apply to programs, and the majority of graduates go to two- or four-year colleges.

It's also fine, educators said, if students don't want to pursue the fields they studied. A good academy will offer the same educational foundation as traditional diploma paths, delivered in a different fashion.

The academies blur the line between old vocational programs and the college-prep track. Students can graduate with technical certifications, possibly earning more money when they enter the workforce, or they can enroll in additional training or college.

"Some people see career and technical education as for 'those' kids," Peralta said. "Well, I'm not sure who 'those' kids are, but it's for all of us."

Junior Katrina McNeal said her back-to-back cooking classes put her in a good mood for the rest of the day as she tackles honors and AP classes and band practice. The in-school restaurant experience almost makes it easier to juggle multiple demands.

"I've learned to have perfection in my life," McNeal said, "but also to roll with the punches."

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor@tampatrib.com.