Independent Study
This program is designed for the student who is broadly and deeply curious about a particular subject and can benefit from the experience of developing, organizing, and pursuing the successful completion of a project which they find stimulating. It is the responsibility of the student to locate an advisor to assist in the course of study.
The purpose of the program is to challenge and stimulate the individual student who wishes to pursue a topic of personal interest in great depth. Independent study gives the student an opportunity to research and reach their own conclusions on a topic of interest with the guidance of a cooperating teacher.
General Guidelines
The Independent Study program will be limited to students who are in good standing academically. Participating students must have demonstrated better than average competency in the area in which they wish to pursue independent work.
Admission to the program is by application, initiated by the student, who will present an outline of the subject area he/she plans to investigate.
The project must receive the approval of the student's parents, an advising teacher (whom the student selects), the student's counselor, and the Director of School Counseling.
Independent study can only be for courses not offered in the program of studies.
The work is to be done outside the structure of regularly scheduled classes. Student aide projects will not be eligible for credit under this program.
Each student will be required to meet with the advising teacher at least once a week to review their progress. This meeting must be recorded in a conference log and initialed by both the teacher and student.
Students may not earn more than one Independent Study credit at Newington High School. The student and advising teacher will identify the amount of credit they feel the project merits on the project proposal. An independent study project may be completed for no academic credit if desired.
Students will be graded on a P/F basis. A grade of "P" will be given for a successfully completed project. Grades for this program are not used in computing GPA.
It is recommended that teachers work with students on a one-to-one basis; however, there may be times when it could be beneficial to have a teacher work with two or more students simultaneously.
Evaluation must be relevant and clearly understood by the student, the teacher, and the Director of School Counseling. A student may withdraw at any time without academic penalty by informing his/her participating teacher and the Director of School Counseling. Students may not drop courses to add Independent Study.