Hilltop Baptist School is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A traditional K-12th grade school, we also have a large division called Talent Development. In this division, we offer an alternative learning environment to meet individual learning needs of students that cannot be adequately addressed in the traditional classroom. Talent Development is a multi-level classroom for 3rd-12th grade students, who attend an alternative class during the regularly scheduled time for that subject. For the last eight years, we have primarily used Switched-On Schoolhouse® (SOS) for the alternate classes, occasionally using LIFEPACs for students working below third grade level. Both of these curriculums are from Alpha Omega Publications® (AOP). After much research, we discovered that AOP was the only company that provided curriculum which gave us the ability to offer a quality Christian education to students who needed a tailored educational plan to meet their specific needs.

Before the days of Switched-On Schoolhouse, we used LIFEPACs as the core of this program. When we made the move to SOS eight years ago, the teachers were astounded at the increase in student productivity. The computer seemed to engage the students much more effectively and freed the teachers to work more with individual students, rather than spending time grading and monitoring progress. The next year we were able to increase the annual goals of the Talent Development students by as much as twenty percent. Of course, with the new version of SOS the students are thrilled to have the Internet links and games as incentives to work ahead of daily goals to earn more free time to enjoy the games.

Three years ago, because of a small eighth grade (eight students), we had those students take eighth grade Language Arts in the Talent Development classroom using SOS, with one of the Talent Development teachers designated to just those eighth graders. Because the students did great with the transition, we realized that more could be done to enrich the learning of those in the traditional classroom with SOS. Therefore, two years ago, we took a giant step and moved SOS into the traditional classroom setting for biology. Switching to SOS was challenging to those biology students at first because the program uses teaching methods that are quite different from a classic textbook. However, the class was intrigued with the technology aspect and worked hard on their lessons.

After the first nine weeks, most of the biology students had adjusted to the different learning style and progressed nicely. Having the students in the lockstep of the same lesson plan was a great benefit. Since SOS only allows students to work in one lesson at a time, the teacher had the ability to teach each lesson without worrying about students looking ahead and answering the review questions. Also, because of the time allotted in the lesson plans, we have been able to schedule hands-on science labs and group discussion. Additionally, special project term papers and science fair projects have become a big part of our SOS biology class. The flexibility to change due dates has been a big benefit as well.

We just successfully completed the second year of biology in SOS. This year ninth and tenth graders took it together. Next year, we will implement SOS in another upper level course. Our goal is to give students the ability to learn from curriculum enhanced by technology. Because of many successes with different implementations of Switched-On Schoolhouse, we are eager to venture into other ways SOS might improve our overall school program. We'll be happy to share our results with you at any time. Simply contact us at 719-597-1880.

By Polly Adams