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Miami Schools
By
Patricia Hawke
Ah, beautiful Miami! Sun, sand, and palm trees. It’s
also the town of opportunities for most students in
Kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade who attend
Miami Schools. Magnet programs are abundant, and
surrounding communities like Coral Gables and Aventura
team with innovative and exciting schools. Of course,
Miami Schools also have their fair share of problems, as
well. Budget concerns and dropout rates continue to
burden the district.
One of Miami Schools’ success stories is Coral
Gables. The town has a highly respected magnet program,
which resides at Coral Gables High School. It received a
Magnet School of Distinction Award at the 24th Annual
Magnet Schools of America Conference in Omaha, Nebraska.
Also on the horizon for Miami Schools is a new
International Studies Magnet High School, which will
open near Coral Gables High School. It will offer
intensive study in foreign languages and culture. Seven
hundred of Miami Schools’ students will spend half of
each day learning the history and cultures of Europe
entirely in a foreign language. It will be the first and
only high school of its kind in the country! The
curriculum will be based on the successful international
education programs already in place at Miami Schools
like Carver Elementary, Sunset Elementary, and Ponce de
Leon Middle School, all of which teach French, German,
and Spanish. Not only are students immersed in a foreign
language, they are instructed in a foreign culture; just
as other students in France, Germany, or Spain would be.
English isn’t spoken at all during the foreign language
part of the day. It’s as if schools from those countries
have been scooped up and set back down into the Miami
Schools’ district of Miami-Dade. The goal of the program
is to produce students who are proficient in a foreign
language.
Another success story for Miami Schools, at least so
far, is the new ACES charter school, located in Aventura.
The school’s student body population began at 425. The
city also has constructed a 300-seat middle school
expansion of ACES. The charter school is managed under
contract by Charter Schools USA. ACES boasts gifted
teachers at each grade level, personalized assessment
and objectives, a character building curriculum, four
computers installed in every classroom, a full-time ESOL
teacher, a science lab, and specialty classes not only
in music, art, P.E., and media, but in computers,
Spanish, and science.
It’s not all roses for Miami Schools, however. 40
percent of students don’t graduate from high school. An
influx of younger families over the past ten years
requires more classrooms to serve the new large-scale
residential projects that are popping up. Rising housing
prices in the Miami Schools area force many young
families to move into older condos. This triggers a
demographic shift and effects what each school system
receives from property taxes.
Also, the statewide classroom reduction amendment,
passed by voters in 2002 has become a challenge for
Miami Schools' administrators, as they must rely more
and more on portable classrooms. Miami Schools face many
challenges, yet are still able to create and maintain
some exciting and innovation school choices.
Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12,
providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and
private K-12 schools.
For more information please visit
Miami Schools
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