With a course selection that includes concurrent credit, virtual classes and career-based courses, the school mirrors its selection to college-prep type classes. And thanks to the collaboration between Principal Dr. Jay Pickering and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Karen Walters, the school has now taken the next step; offering college courses at an actual college.
College classes at Pulaski Tech will be offered next year with the same requirements as UALR.
Taking certain courses will take place of the four elective year-long classes. This means that the students who decide to take a specific college course will have to sacrifice four spots on their schedules. To qualify to take these courses, the student must be accepted by Pulaski Tech as a student.
“Power sports, culinary arts, baking and pastry and hospitality will be double blocked all year classes at Pulaski Tech,” counselor Rachel Stafford said.
Students who take two years of these classes will only need two or three more classes to achieve an associates degree in the particular field.
One major difference is the price range for the classes offered at Pulaski Tech.
The total cost for the college courses at Pulaski Tech are around $1,000 per semester, and this is with a 33 percent discount. Students will have to pay this full price if they want to take the course and qualify for the specific courses to be counted as a college credit. This price is unchangeable.
This course setup is the exact same as courses like cosmetology, auto-tech, auto-collision and med-pro at the Saline County Career Center. The difference is that students will be bussed to Pulaski Tech for the class.
The school has also broadened the course selection for concurrent credit. These courses start at $45 a semester.
“The concurrent credit courses include Biology 2, Physical Science 2, US history 2, Comp 1 and 2, Speech, Psychology/Sociology and Art/Music for teachers will all be regular one block classes (meet every other day all year) and the teacher will grade students just like all of our classes here,” Stafford said. “These classes will be offered here on campus. If a student meets criteria for receiving concurrent credit, he will get credit at the high school level and also credit from Pulaski Tech that can then be transferred to another college.”
The classes at an actual college are not the only change in terms of offered courses. There will also be online courses students can take at home, in place of taking the class on campus.
“The courses available to take at home are all the Arkansas Virtual classes and any class listed as online,” Stafford said. “They are noted that way in the CAP Book and on the course code list teachers have for helping students pick courses. A student can write any of those courses on their course selection sheet, but in order to actually take them at home and not at school, a student must apply online. The application is on the front page of the high school website.Two courses must be chosen.”
The max number of students who can take the at home online courses is 200, and the courses will either be in the morning or the afternoon.
“Students will qualify for this based on need and their application. My advice for students who are thinking about doing this is make sure you trust yourself to actually do the work,” Stafford said. “It may sound really cool to some students to not be at school part of the time, but you can still fail these courses if you don’t do the work. Online classes are not easy. Students should come by and talk to their counselor if they are thinking about doing it. We may be able to help them decide which ones would be best for them individually.”
The home courses will be offered to juniors and seniors, and will take place of both first and second block or third and fourth.
One more new course set next year is online courses taught by Bryant teachers, and the online courses can take at home.
“English 12, Advanced Topics, Environmental Science and US History have been chosen to be our pilot classes for Bryant High School teachers to teach,” Stafford said. “Up to 25 students can be enrolled in each of these. There is not an application if a student wants to take a Virtual Arkansas class in the lab here at school.”
Virtual courses, except the concurrent credit one’s, will be free.
“We hope to offer more opportunities for our students and to help students prepare for that next step,” Stafford said.
Just like other classes, the course must have at least 10 students who will sign up and be willing to pay the fee for the class to continue to be offered. If not enough students sign up the course will be dropped.
