Academics
Overview of the Academic Program
The academic program is rooted in developing the 21st century learning skills of critical thinking, creativity, community and problem solving. The program has been created with the philosophy that a strong academic program is grounded in relationship and rigor. Relationship means having teachers who have the mindset and training to develop healthy and appropriate relationships that engender trust. Rigor encompasses consistent academic standards that unapologetically move the student to mastery of Louisiana standards and personal goals.
To accomplish these student outcomes, a number of practices will work cohesively toward those ends. First, blended learning will be utilized. In practice, this means that teachers will facilitate the learning process through the use of technology, small group instruction, and one-on-one interaction with students. Second, project-based learning across multiple disciplines encourages students to solve problems through research, gather data, prove the efficacy of their solution to the problem, and articulate that solution in both written and oral communication. Finally, debate, deliberation, and dialogue across the curriculum demands student engagement and will not only support the academic program but will also prepare students to compete in debating competitions at the local, state, regional, and national levels.
Understanding that we will have a diverse community of learners, we will have three pathways to graduation:
THE DELORES TAYLOR ARTHUR SCHOOL FOR YOUNG MEN
PATHWAYS TO GRADUATION
Tops University Diploma
English - 4 units
Math - 4 units
Science - 4 units
Social Studies - 4 units
Foreign Language - 2 units
Health & PE - 2 units
Arts - 1 unit
Electives - 3 units
Jump Start Career Pathway
English - 4 units
Math - 4 units
Science - 2 units
Social Studies - 2 units
Health & PE - 2 units
Jump Start Career - 9 units
LAA1
English - 4 units
Math - 4 units
Science - 2 units
Social Studies - 2 units
Health and PE - 2 units
Electives - 2-4 units
Jump Start Career - 7-9 units
Special Student Populations
Students with Disabilities
The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men is committed to providing full access to appropriate procedures and mechanisms for students and their parents or guardians to resolve any disputes or disagreements related to the provision of FAPE or LRE by either The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men or Louisiana Department of Education. Our approach replicates high-performing urban schools serving similar populations of students with disabilities, language proficiency barriers, and special circumstances that put them at risk for academic failure. We aim to minimize the impact of a student’s disability while maximizing his access to support services and the general college-preparatory curriculum.
Students in need of special education services at The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men will receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and will be offered appropriate evaluations and assessments. To the maximum extent allowed by each student’s circumstances, IEP, and all applicable federal and state laws - including Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Louisiana Act 833 and LAA1 - The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men will educate students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment (LRE) with their non-disabled peers. Students with disabilities and their families will be involved in the development of and decisions regarding their IEPs.
English Language Learners
The Delores Taylor Arthur School does not believe that ELL students should be assigned special education services simply because of their English Language abilities. Because the end goal is to ensure our young men demonstrate proficiency in English before they leave us, we will employ a system of structured immersion to facilitate language fluency. ELL students will be expected to attend class with their English-speaking classmates and must meet the same academic demands. The school commits to providing robust support so that each student has the opportunity to succeed. In order to do this, our teachers will be trained to utilize a number of research-based strategies, including:
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Use of images to convey concepts and/or target words
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Scaffolded instruction that takes into account a diverse population’s needs
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Small heterogeneous group instruction that allows students to learn from each other and capitalizes on their relative strengths
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Small group and one-on-one support beyond academic classes
When each ELL student reaches his goal of mastery of the English language, the student will no longer be considered ELL. Mastery is defined as passing both the oral and written portions of the Language Assessment System and reaching a proficiency level of 5 on the English Language Development Assessment (ELDA). Once the ELL designation is removed, the school will continue to monitor the progress of each student. Should it be determined that the student is struggling based upon standardized testing, daily classroom performance, and other factors, the ELL status could be revisited.