Lunch situation
Get happy
OPINIONS, 8
PULSE, 16-17
Should seniors be able to eat lunch off campus? Check out the staff editorial on page 9.
See page 16-17 for a truckload of happiness, and delve into the smiles of LT community members.
LT student sections
New tests
SPORTS, 11-12
NEWS, 19
See page 5 to read the new SAT, ACT and PARCC testing update.
Check out pages 11-12 for more info on LT’s student sections.
AP scores accepted in Illinois L.A. policy New Rauner signs bill, creates new AP standard changes New policy allows students to turn in assignments late in the Language Arts Dept. Garrett Ariana @garrettariana3 While LT students slept, hung out with friends or played frisbee on their sunny summer mornings, staff and faculty in the Language Arts division were crafting a new policy for the school year. This policy allows students not only to revise summative assignment (tests, projects and papers), but to coordinate extensions for due dates. The belief that grades cannot accurately depict a student’s skill level through a summative assignment that is missing or marked down for lateness was the inspiration behind this new approach. The biggest outcome from this policy change is the completion of all summative assignments as well as to give students the opportunity to put their best work forward. “Grades should be a reflection of skill attainment, not necessarily behavior,” Chair of Language Arts Karen Raino said. “Turning something in late has nothing to do with your ability to write a good paper.” If there is a summative assignment that has not been turned in, a student will earn an incomplete for the marking period. If an assignment is incomplete, a student’s responsibility becomes communicating with teachers, preferably before the due date. From there, the student and teacher can discuss an extension if it is needed. No quarter or semester grade can be earned without every summative assignment being completed. For students loaded with extracurricular clubs, sports, jobs and more, this policy provides alleviation. “Students have a sense of relief that this isn’t the end,” Director of Curriculum and Instruction Scott Eggerding said. “Kids don’t have to stay up until 2 a.m., finish this paper, turn it in tomorrow, get whatever grade I get and then that’s it.” As far as revisions go, they must be discussed with teachers well prior to the resubmission and are to display a student’s learning and growth. The amount of revisions, nor the date when the assignment is turned in, are not allowed to diminish the grade of the assignment. This policy takes one more step further in coordination between divisions. The discussed unity as far as textbooks, grading scales, curriculum and accpetance of late work is how teachers are working to make courses the same throughout the division, according to Eggerding. While most teachers are on board for this new approach, some see potential revisions that could be made to the new policy, especially with the lack of responsibility that students may take advantage of. “With the current setup, it seems like students have until a week before finals to turn assignments in,” English teacher Tom Stukel said. “At that point it’s not teaching them responsibility, it’s teaching procrastination, which isn’t realistic. When students go to college and don’t have their paper in on time, it’s done.” There is the belief that we as a school will begin the conversation about late work and grading but talks have not begun yet, Raino said. “This year, I think that the conversation is going to continue,” Raino said. “There are a lot of researchers that support this and were looking forward to moving this direction.”
North Campus
by Céilí Doyle @cadoyle_18
B
eginning in the 2016-2017 school year, a new Illinois law will take effect allowing all students attending instate public universities to receive credit for an AP score of three or better, according to the Chicago Tribune. Governor Bruce Rauner signed the new piece of legislation into law on Aug. 13 and the LT community is invested in how this new law will factor into making college decisions. The reasoning behind Rauner’s decision to pass the new law is based on the fear that many prospective college students had not been considering Illinois public universities due to their policies of only accepting fours or fives on AP exams. “Illinois passed this law because legislators were afraid potential [in-state] students were leaving Illinois to go somewhere else that would accept threes or better on AP tests,” LT Director of Curriculum and Instruction Scott Eggerding said. “They were also concerned students from outside of Illinois weren’t considering Illinois schools because if they stayed local they could gain credits with a three.” In recent years the number of students taking AP tests at LT has skyrocketed. With the addition of AP Physics I and the elimination of English IV accel that forced an increase in AP English IV Language and Composition, the number of AP tests administered to students from 2014 to 2015 increased from 742 to 990. Additionally, 88 percent of LT students who took an AP test last May scored a three or higher, according to Eggerding. Lianne Musser, LT College and Career Center coordinator, is apprehensive about how much the new piece of legislation will change the amount of credit public
universities in Illinois will offer students. “I don’t think a school like U of I is going to be giving away any coursework to be honest, especially if it’s in a required area,” Musser said. “If you’re an engineer and you’re required to get a C or better in Calc 1 and Calc 2, I think receiving a three in Calc 1 AP isn’t cutting it for them. I think they’ll say we’ll give you an elective credit, you still have to take our Calc 1 class; however, I do not know yet what they will decide.” Despite the uncertainty surrounding the specifics, hundreds of LT students who earned a three on their tests will be feeling the effects of this new law if they attend public Illinois universities. “It definitely helps if I’m thinking about an in-state school because I’m more likely to go to a school in Illinois if I’m going to get more credit from the AP test,” Jack Cushing ‘16 said. From a financial standpoint, if all LT graduates went to Illinois public universities under the new law, these students would be awarded up to three hours of credit for 1,617 courses. These credit hours could amount to saving anywhere from $2,350,309 to $2,898,618, in college tuition by LT students alone. “I think the new law will end up being beneficial for all the students here at LT, especially for kids that can only afford to go to cheaper schools,” Adam Cardone ‘16 said. “If they can get more money off of their classes, every dollar helps.” While the consequences of changing the accepted score statewide remain to be seen, most administrators and students are hopeful that this new standard will be positive for the LT community. “I think the law is great,” Eggerding said. “I think it’ll be a really good opportunity for our students and some may actually consider staying more local for college because of it.”
Canvas expands learning for students LMS improves teachers, students learning experience by MelRose Buckler @amrbucks608
This year LT has introduced Canvas to enhance the classroom experience for students and staff. “The reality is that [this generation] consumes learning in different ways than its predecessors,” Director of Technology Ed Tennant said. “It’s cool, but it’s different and we’re working our way towards that. [Canvas] gives us that opportunity.” Canvas is qualified as a learning management system (LMS)—a platform that creates a communication channel along with multimedia elements that can be shared by students and teachers online. Canvas offers features that LT did not have from the other services, such as Infinite Campus, Office 365, Edline or turnitin.com. “We were finding that as teachers were working with students, there were things they wanted to do with the students from an academic standpoint that some of the historic tools we were using didn’t provide solutions for,” Tennant said. The technology department started looking for an LMS last year to solve this problem. Canvas was the best option out of the 340 LMS products on the market because it was geared toward a large high school like LT. For example, Canvas doesn’t require every teacher to input all of his or her students; instead, it links with the data
on student schedules from Infinite Campus. This past January, a few teachers experimented with Canvas to see how they liked using it. After proving its success, the Department of Technology gained the Board of Education’s approval. Starting in July, all teachers were offered the opportunity to attend training sessions to learn how to use Canvas. LT expected around 100 teachers to attend, but about 140 teachers were present at training, which was a huge success, Tennant said. Although not all teachers have integrated Canvas into the classroom yet, Tennant hopes that by the end of the year every student will have some experience with Canvas. “From the perspective that [we have only been training since July], Canvas has been a pretty stunning success,” Tennant said. “Teachers really seem to be embracing it.” Geometry teacher Jeremy Vrtis helped other teachers learn how to use Canvas at the training sessions in July and is utilizing it in many different ways during his classes. “Canvas provides an interactive way for students to gain resources,” Vrtis said. “They can get immediate feedback on what topics they need to explore and which topics they have mastered. I also like the
We are saddened to hear of the recent passing of LT sophomore
Neyla Soriano on Sept. 14. Due to press time, we are unable to
comment further, but please visit our website and look to our second issue for further coverage.
100 S. Brainard Ave. LaGrange, Ill. 60525 South Campus
variety of tools Canvas provides—links to websites, videos, worksheets, and assessment tools can all be in one spot.” Tennant hopes that Canvas will allow teachers to share, develop and communicate with students in a more meaningful way. On Canvas, teachers have the ability to share worksheets, comment on student’s submitted work, announce deadlines and important due dates. Canvas also has an app available for iOS and Android devices, which allows students to receive instant feedback from their teachers. “I like that there is an app for it because I can receive immediate updates when teachers comment my work, compared to going online,” Pearl Truax ‘15 said. Canvas’ goal is not to completely replace Infinite Campus, Office 365 or teacher webpages, but to allow for a more interactive and immediate learning tool, Tennant said. “Canvas is really exciting because it’s in its infancy and it’s growing right now,” he said. “It’s very intuitive for teachers, because teachers who have had relatively little training have done some pretty fantastic things already.”
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