Paradigm High School is a charter high school in South Jordan, Utah, United States.
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History
Paradigm was organized as a charter school under the Utah State Department of Education. It received its charter on July 13, 2005, and opened in September 2006.
Academic Performance
For the 2015/2016 school year Paradigm was given one of the lowest scores in Utah for academic performance based primarily on its SAGE test scores. The Utah State Board Of Education gave Paradigm High School an F grade (based on a 38% proficiency on the SAGE test) for its performance in the 2015-2016 school year. Based on this ranking, Paradigm High School is outranked by every public high school in the state of Utah. In fact, Paradigm High School is outranked by all schools of any kind in the entire state of Utah except for one other charter school, however, this is based almost solely on SAGE testing. Coincidentally, at a 54% drop-out rate, Paradigm also has one of the highest opt out rates for SAGE testing in the state.
As an alternative to SAGE, Paradigm uses the ACT for internal performance tracking. The school has administered the ACT to all High School grades twice per year for 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 school years. For those years, the student ACT opt out rate has been below 5% and average ACT scores have been equal to or slightly better than state averages.
Ethnic diversity
As of the 2015-2016 school year, Paradigm High is one of the least diverse schools in Utah. Only one high school out of all 20 public high schools in Salt Lake County (Riverton High) has less ethnic diversity. Riverton High is in the same neighborhood as Paradigm. Paradigm High had 516 white students out of 587 total students enrolled, which means it is 88% white, compared to 91% white in South Jordan, the city it is located in
Courses
Paradigm offers a variety of courses in addition to standard courses, such as Novel Writing, AP Environmental Science, and taekwondo. Among its wide variety of English courses are one on the writings of C.S. Lewis, and classes about Western and Eastern World, French, Gothic, and British (including Shakespeare) literature. It also offers Latin, ASL, German, Spanish and French.
Leadership
Unique to Paradigm High School is a class called Leadership, which is offered in three levels: Foundations, Transitions, and Scholar. Its focus varies at each level:
- Foundations is a course rooted in the fundamentals of a Paradigm education: study habits, goal-setting, personal accountability, self-reflection, and the basics of group discussion and shared inquiry, as well as an introduction to great books, people, and ideas. It is for students just starting on their path towards self-education.
- Transitions is a course that is, indeed, a transition; geared toward students who have started along the scholar path, the goal of this course is to provide practical experience in the Paradigm model, while helping the students to develop a sense of their own individual mission.
- Scholar is the most advanced Leadership course: a rigorous study of great literature and ideas, as well as their practical application. This is preparatory for the students' continuing education and experiences beyond Paradigm.
This course is now integrated into the Seminar Course, which is a classics-based blend of English, Leadership, History that meets in a double block class.
Athletics
As a small, liberal arts high school, Paradigm is not a member of UHSAA and therefore does not participate in the high school athletics program. Students can choose to participate in their local District high school athletics programs while attending Paradigm in order to get the best of both worlds.
Paradigm does support a strong intramural sports program, with the basketball teams receiving second place (girls') and first place (boys'), and the girls' volleyball team winning second place.
Paradigm offers Standard PE classes as well as Dance and TaeKwonDo.
Extracurricular activities
Paradigm has many extracurricular activities and competitive teams. The Paradigm Chess Team (PCT) took third in the 1A-3A division in the Utah High School Chess Championships two years in a row,.
Paradigm also supports an excellent Academic Decathlon team. In March 2011, they beat reigning state champions Park City High in Super Quiz, one of 10 categories, and the most competitive, by 5 points out of a possible 6,000.
New in 2011-2012 was a mock trial team. Their first competition was February 24, 2012 against Mountain View High School. More recently, in 2016, the Mock Trial team advanced past the first round of competition and competed again a few weeks later.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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