Frequently Asked Questions

In a normal high school, core education is the engine that powers the educational vehicle while all other non-core areas are considered supplemental to the core. At LCCPA, career and 21st century education will drive everything that we do while the core areas will support the acquisition of core and 21st century skills.

 

Progression through a normal high school is seat and time based. A student shows up in September as a freshman and spends time in classes until June, at which time he or she becomes a sophomore. Progression through LCCPA will be leveled and evidenced based. Students at LCCPA are not freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. LCCPA students are Technicians, Apprentices, Practitioners, and Experts. Students do not pass through these levels based upon time, but rather on demonstrating the acquisition of skills in the three pillars. One student may take four years to reach the expert level while another may achieve expert status in less than three years.

 

Curriculum at a normal high school is typically developed by a team of educators who are experts in their content areas. The LCCPA curriculum is being developed in a collaborative effort between high school educators, industry experts, and experts from the field of higher education.

 

Education in a normal high school is typically departmentalized. Students take math, science, English, social studies, and elective courses that normally are taught separately from one another. Education at LCCPA is integrated around and through the career and 21st century pillars. This makes the educational experience at LCCPA an integrated whole as opposed to a disjointed collection of courses.

 

Students in normal high school are usually told what they need to learn. Students at LCCPA will have a choice in what they learn, how they learn, where they learn, and who they learn from. The ability and expectation to create their own education will increase as they progress through the levels of LCCPA.

 

Most regular high schools have several computer labs that teachers sign up to use on a first come, first serve basis. Every student at LCCPA will have their own Chromebook so that they are able to access technology on demand. Because of our industry connections, we will be able to teach students the technological skills that they will be required to have in the real world.

 

LCCPA is a public school and, in many ways, operates similarly to a public school. However, our charter allows us the opportunity to pursue public education in a very unique manner and to offer educational opportunities that are not available at the large majority of traditional public or private high schools.

 

You absolutely will receive a high school diploma when you complete the exciting educational opportunities at LCCPA.

 

LCCPA will provide you with several options for pursuing post-secondary educational opportunities while still in high school. In fact, we expect ALL of our students to earn a certificate from Fox Valley Technical College or college credits from UW-Fox Valley before they graduate from LCCPA.

 

Individualization and personal responsibility are cornerstone beliefs of LCCPA. We want to students to move through our curriculum at a pace that reflects their individual learning styles and needs. We also want students to take responsibility and initiative for developing their own learning plans. 

 

The common misconception is that LCCPA will only be servicing students that are going to a technical college. In fact, we will be serving all types of students at LCCPA. The structure of our core curriculum will more than prepare our students for a college education. The UW system requires a minimum of 17 college prep credits: 4 in English, 3 in math, 3 in natural sciences, 3 in social sciences, and 4 elective credits which usually include at least two foreign language credits. ALL students at LCCPA will be expected to be participating in core coursework at all times, which means our students will actually exceed college entry requirements. The most important thing to remember is that students at LCCPA will be expected to participate in the design of their own curriculum, which means they can design it to fit their personal needs. So, if you want to go to college, LCCPA will definitely help you make that happen! 

 

Absolutely! We not only encourage LCCPA students to become involved in co-curricular activities at LCHS, but we also expect that LCCPA students become co-curricular LEADERS because of their exposure to our 21st century education.

 

Absolutely not! While we will use manufacturing and health services as the engine to drive LCCPA, students will not be limited to careers in these clusters. We are using manufacturing and health services as a means to provide relevance to students’ education and to provide the opportunity to develop 21st Century skills in a meaningful context. Regardless of what career path you may end up choosing, the skills that you develop at LCCPA will be invaluable. By the way, look for LCCPA to be adding more career pathways in upcoming years. If manufacturing or health services don’t seem to fit, maybe business/marketing/finance or information technology might better meet your needs!

 

The key concept with regard to scheduling at LCCPA is flexibility. Although we will establish a base schedule to work from, every day will be a little bit different depending on what we need to accomplish and where we are in our curriculum. So, one day may seem very traditional in that you work with a science teacher for 90 minutes, and English teacher for 90 minutes, and a math teacher for 90 minutes, while another day may be spent entirely working on projects. One significant difference between LCCPA and a typical high school is that learning will not always occur in the same place at the same time. We will spend a significant amount of time visiting industry partners as well as learning at institutions of higher education like FVTC and UW Fox Valley.  This flexibility to change the who, what, where, when, why, and how of learning truly makes LCCPA an exciting option!