Career technical education (also known as CTE) is the practice of teaching career-specific skills to students in middle school, high school, and post-secondary institutions. We're pretty big on CTE in the Springfield School District, so we're celebrating CTE month with a series of different videos and stories about some of the different career-technical courses being offered within our schools.

Be sure to be following SPS social media and checking the website regularly for updates throughout the month of February.

Springfield Public Schools is switching up the sequence of science learning at the high school level!

Beginning this fall, the district will transition to the Science Domains Sequence, which means that high school students, beginning this fall, will now take physics in ninth grade, chemistry in 10th grade and biology in 11th grade.

Current students will not be affected by the new sequence.

As part of the change, ninth-grade students will no longer be enrolled in Science 9. Instead, all freshmen will be placed in physics class which will better align with math curriculum so that freshmen students will have practical application of Algebra 1 offered in the same year.

With the new sequence, students who wish to reach accelerated levels of science will have more opportunities to do so, and middle school students will no longer need to be recommended to reach high-level science curriculum.

Students who want to take additional science classes will be able to do so through over the course of their four years, as well as advanced placement science courses.

Students at Two Rivers -Dos Ríos Elementary School participated in a day of service last month in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Every student in the school played a role in the effort, which involved making sack lunches to provide for area residents in need of a meal. Some students made sandwiches, some placed apples in bags, others decorated the bags with illustrations and colors. Each student also filled out a card that was placed in each bag. The event, which takes place each year, was sponsored by The Arc Lane County. Volunteers with the organization handed out the lunches to people later that day.

Teachers and administrators at the school also helped to organize students throughout the day, and students genuinely enjoyed helping others.

Springfield Public Schools will be holding two focus group sessions this month in an effort to gather further input from the community about how it should invest in student learning with funding from the Student Investment Account.

In addition to supporting Every Student, Every Day, Springfield Public Schools wants to help students to be “life-ready” by the time they reach high school graduation. Earlier this school year the district asked for feedback from the SPS community about what areas of investments would be most valuable to directly support students.

The feedback received through online surveys and in-person events indicated two clear priorities: increasing adults throughout the system/ addressing class size concerns and supporting the health and safety of students.

In phase two of the SPS planning process, the district will work directly with smaller focus groups to refine those larger themes into actionable recommendations that will inform the district’s student investment account application. The application will be made available for public review and input later this spring.

Individuals from underrepresented and historically underserved populations are specifically invited to join the two focus groups and share their thoughts on the planning process.

• February 11, 2020, 6 – 8 p.m., Guy Lee Elementary 755 Harlow Rd, Springfield, OR 97477
• February 12, 2020, 6 – 8 p.m., Riverbend Elementary 320 N 51st St, Springfield, OR 97478