Alexandra's quick thoughts on PA visit

• Great school climate -- very relaxed, felt like a place where there was trust between students and teachers, students mostly focused & engaged, student collaboration encouraged in classes 
• Tech use: I didn't see anything super innovative. What I DID see was that 99% of the students on devices were on task, using them for what they were supposed to be used for.
• Small independent study program in the high school (13 students). They call it "advisory;" Phil referred to it as "our mini-Met." Students can propose a project or they might be funneled there by guidance if they haven't been doing well in some of their classes.  Can replace academic credit or just be an elective. The program has its own room with comfy couches and a full-time teacher with a budget (most of which, she says, is spent on taxi fare for kids to get back and forth to internships). The teacher who runs it also helps her students with academic work for other classes during their study halls, if they need it. Students do a quarterly reflective personal narrative, which they read at their exhibition. I got some paperwork from her if anyone wants to see it.