Proposed Senior Project Option For Haverford HS Met With Criticism

A proposed change to senior project was met with opposition from some members of the Haverford Township Board of School Directors on Thursday night.

Haverford High School Principal Jeffrey Nesbitt said as one of the proposed course selection changes for the 2012-2013 school year, the school would like to give students a new option for fulfilling their senior project requirement: exploring their post-secondary options through an electronic portfolio which students would work on from 9th through 12th grade.

Using the computer program Naviance, students can “explore who they are,” Nesbitt said. The program allows students to create an electronic portfolio which includes taking “interest inventories” to choose and research careers, look at colleges and apply to them, Nesbitt said.

The proposed change to the senior project was met with criticism from some school board members.

School Board member Philip Hopkins said, “The purpose of the senior project to my mind, is not this.” 

School board members James Goldschmidt and Larry Feinberg also said they did not view the “self-exploration” portfolio as a senior project.

Goldschmidt said the portfolio was lacking two components of the senior project, writing and a public presentation.

But Nesbitt disagreed, calling the portfolio “a very valuable senior project.”

Nesbittt said of today’s high school students, “They’ve got presentation skills.  They’ve got writing skills. They do not have a clearly defined path …”

Nesbitt said some students only consider a few colleges before choosing one or define their futures based on family member’s careers because that is all to which they have been exposed. He said the portfolio process “broadens students’ perspective.”

School board member Joseph Martin said the “this senior project and self-exploration are two different critters.”

School Board President Denis Gray said, “My trouble with this is we’re taking two good ideas and pushing them together.”

Gray and school board member Maxine Murdoch suggested that the school district consider replacing the senior project with the self-exploration portfolio.  When Assistant Superintendent Nicholas Rotoli reminded them that it is a state requirement that all seniors complete a final project, Gray said they could still call it a senior project but make the changes.

In the end, the school board asked Nesbitt to find five to seven students to work on portfolios during the current school year and report back to the board before the end of the school year with the results, so that the board can review the feedback and make a decision.

Other Haverford High School course changes for the 2012-2013 which have been proposed but not yet acted on by the school board are:

• updating the names and descriptions of Fine Arts Department courses in an effort to boost student enrollment
• adding two new Advanced Placement courses, AP World History and AP U.S. History
• adding two electives, Advanced Marketing and Computer Aided Drafting and Design (CAD)” 3D Computer Animation.