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| Q. |
What type of school is The Intergenerational School? |
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The Intergenerational School (TIS) is an Ohio Community School. It is an independent public school that is offered as a choice to parents/guardians. It is not a private school or a voucher school. TIS operates under a contract with the Ohio State Board of Education. |
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| Q. |
What does it mean that TIS is Intergenerational? |
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As an intergenerational school, TIS to offers educational and volunteer opportunities to family members of enrolled students and to older adults in the community. We think that bringing people of different ages together in a learning community is an important aspect of celebrating diversity. We emphasize family involvement in our school because this is so important to a child's academic progress. Other intergenerational aspects of our school are being developed over our first years of operation. |
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| Q. |
Who can attend TIS? |
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TIS is a free public school. The school does not charge tuition because it is funded by Ohio tax dollars in the same way as other public schools. Just as other public schools do, TIS has fees for such items as student supplies, field trips, or the school lunch program. There is a $25 application fee that is applied to the student supply fee if a student enrolls in TIS. The application fee is refunded if the student cannot be offered enrollment due to lack of space. |
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| Q. |
Where is TIS located? |
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TIS is located in the main building of the Fairhill Center on the 2nd Floor. |
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| Q. |
Is transportation available? |
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The public school district of residence may provide transportation to community school students by school bus or other means. In some cases payment in lieu of transportation is provided. |
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| Q. |
What type of education will my child have at TIS? |
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TIS is committed to providing an excellent education to every student. Our small school size and class size enables teachers to know each student well and to tailor the learning experiences to the needs of each individual. All classes are multi-age and non-graded. Teachers identify each child's learning strengths and build on that base to maximize achievement. A hallmark of TIS is the emphasis on real life learning. Students learn from real life experiences. They read books. They write stories, poems, letters, and essays and publish them. They study the social and scientific environments in which they live. They learn math by using hands-on materials and studying the ways math is used in real life. For the most part, students are helped to study topics that are important and interesting to them. Students, parents, and teachers work together to set learning goals and evaluate progress. This approach encourages a high level of interest and motivation! |
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| Q. |
What is the curriculum at TIS? |
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The Principal-Teacher of TIS has written a developmental curriculum that is compatible with the Ohio Model Competency-Based Curriculum. In a developmental curriculum, each child works on learning the skills that he/she is ready to learn at that time. Students progress at their own rate. The curriculum includes the traditional academic areas of reading, writing, science, social studies, and mathematics. The curriculum covers all topics included on the Ohio 4th grade proficiency tests and we expect our students to be fully prepared to be successful on those tests.There are four additional areas included in the TIS curriculum: technology, wellness & health (including physical education), the arts, and environmental studies. We feel that these areas are important to prepare students to be life-long learners and active participants in a democratic society. |
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| Q. |
Is TIS accountable for providing a quality education? |
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YES! TIS can be closed by the Ohio Department of Education if we do not achieve excellence in the education we provide to our students. first, TIS complies with all health and safety regulations to ensure a safe and pleasant learning environment for students. Second, academic progress is closely monitored by authentic assessment for all students and by standardized testing beginning in the 3rd grade. Our fourth grade students are required to take the state proficiency tests and we have set a 75% pass rate as our goal. Finally, our financial and academic status is monitored by the Department of Education on an ongoing basis. Most important is our accountability to the parents and guardians of our students. A parent or guardian is free to withdraw a child at any time and return him/her to the assigned public school. We are confident that students and parents will be pleased with the educational program offered at TIS. |
