purpose and impact of Far West Edge's senior project at Bear Creek High School, The

Social Studies Review, Spring 2002 by Wehrs, Anthony

The senior year of high school is defined by parties, pranks, and goofing off, right? Well, thanks to the Oregon-based educational company Far West EDGE, the stereotypically carefree senior year in many high schools throughout the nation is now defined by a massive research project. In 1985 in Medford, Oregon, educator Carlene Osher created a new graduation requirement for South High School's seniors. A research project designed to evaluate the seniors' cumulative academic skills and thus their qualification for a high school diploma, Osher's endeavor became known simply as the Senior Project. After initial local acclaim Osher decided to create the educational company Far West EDGE to distribute the Senior Project to interested high schools throughout the nation. Far West EDGE's Senior Project is used today by many high schools throughout America including Bear Creek High School in Stockton, California, which implemented the project five years ago (Farrar, interview). What does Far West EDGE seek to accomplish in regard to students with the Senior Project and are these goals met at the Bear Creek High School? Personal interviews with Bear Creek Senior Project teachers and former Bear Creek seniors who passed the Senior Project give the impression that Far West EDGE's primary goals of increasing seniors' level of academic engagement, ability to work independently on a long-term project, and ability to write a research paper are met at Bear Creek High School.

To understand how Far West EDGE can meet the above-stated goals with the Senior Project, one must understand what, exactly, the Senior Project entails. The Senior Project is large in scope. The project includes a six to ten page research paper on a topic of the student's choice. Also students must complete a physical project which relates in some way to the student's research topic and which is supervised and guided by a mentor who is an expert in the field of study that the project involves. Also required for Far West EDGE's Senior Project is a portfolio, which includes the research paper and various documentation and verification of the student's physical project. Lastly, students must give an oral presentation discussing their research paper and physical project to a panel of judges comprised of community members, experts on the topic being presented, and school staff members (Osher, 1).

One of the most recurrent, most emphasized, and thus one of primary goals for the Senior Project mentioned in Far West EDGE's Senior Project literature is the goal of making the senior year of high school more academically engaging. When describing their vision for a Senior Project high school Far West EDGE states, "Being a senior is not enough; one has to demonstrate skills in research, information acquisition and literacy, communication, writing, doing, synthesizing and so on" (The Senior Year Re-engineered, 2). Simply put, Far West EDGE, with the Senior Project aims for seniors attending senior project high schools to have a final year of high-school that does not simply allow students to go through the motions completing an involved research report, but that is actually academically challenging.

Senior Project teachers at Bear Creek High School believe Far West EDGE's Senior Project goal of making the senior year rigorous is accomplished at Bear Creek. Bear Creek Senior Project coordinator and Senior Project teacher Jennifer Canestrino states, "The Senior Project definitely keeps students involved during their senior year, forcing them to finalize skills they've accumulated over their high school career" (Canestrino, interview). Also in concurrence is Senior Project English teacher at Bear Creek, Lynda Farrar, who asserts, "The project makes the senior year more difficult for all students especially my English transition students who are forced to produce work that meets College Prep standards" (Farrar, interview). Ms. Cariestrino's and Mrs. Farrar's views are not isolated but widely shared among Bear Creek teachers involved with the Senior Project. A survey conducted from September 14-19, 2001 revealed that eight out of eight current and former Senior Project English teachers at Bear Creek believe the Senior Project makes the senior year more academically engaging (Are Far West EDGE' s Goals Accomplished?). These results indicate that Far West EDGE's goal of making the senior year more academically engaging is accomplished at Bear Creek High School.

Former Bear Creek High students who take varying levels of courses who have completed the Senior Project have sentiments very similar to teachers with regard to the Senior Project's effect on the difficulty of the senior year. Saron Ry was an English transition student at Bear Creek who passed the Senior Project and graduated in 2001. Ry states about the Senior Project, "The project made my senior year very hard. The paper was especially hard. Almost no one in my class had done a research paper like that until the Senior Project" (Ry, interview). Ry' s opinions indicate that students in lower level high school classes are challenged by the Senior Project; however, even the most academically accomplished students, who have taken challenging classes, and who have written fullfledged research projects in the past feel challenged by the Senior Project. Phong Buu was the Bear Creek covaledictorian of the class of 2001 and took many rigorous AP courses during his Bear Creek career. Buu states, "It [the project] definitely made my senior year harder. There's no way to fake your way through the thing, you actually have to try" (Buu, interview). Affirmative views from students of such a broad spectrum of academic achievement at Bear Creek such as Buu and Ry give the impression that Far West EDGE's goal of improving the difficulty of the senior year is accomplished at Bear Creek High School.