CHS begins online registration for 2015-16 school year
<span>CHESTER -- On one side of the computer screen, there is a list of classes. Some are required, while some are electives.</span>
<span>Students can then pick their classes for the upcoming school year from that database, which includes classes only available to their particular grade.</span>
<span>It sounds a little like college registration and Chester High School's new online pre-registration program is similar in scope.</span>
<span>"We've started this program, Skyward Student Access, and that's what's opened up a lot of communication for us," said CHS Vice Principal and Curriculum Director Terri Franklin. "One of the things we're adding is that parents can get online and pre-register their students for classes."</span>
<span>Pre-registration for the 2015-16 school year began Thursday, with a deadline of Jan. 22 for juniors, Jan. 28 for sophomores and Jan. 30 for incoming freshmen. All registrations are due no later than Jan. 30.</span>
<span>"It's bringing it more like a college selection process and thinking of the future sooner," Franklin said. "As we give kids guidance choices, they are more apt to pay attention and be more interested in it.</span>
<span>"It's meeting kids' needs more on an individual level."</span>
<span>According to School Counselor Franciene Sabens, course registration has been integrated into the overall career development process at CHS, with mandatory four-year plans tied into 16 career clusters.</span>
<span>Students can now pick their courses with a career goal in mind so they can prepare for post-secondary or career training.</span>
<span>"We've put (the students) through a four-year planning process from their freshman year on," Sabens said. "So the freshmen would have the biggest challenge because they still have to write their four-year plan.</span>
<span>"The other students have been four-year planning for a year already."</span>
<span>Sabens said once students have their four-year plan updated, if needed, it's already tied to a career goal.</span>
<span>"It's already tied to a career cluster, to a career pathway and all of those guide them through what classes to take," she said. "As soon as they know what classes to take, they just long into Skyward - which they're very familiar with because they do it every single day - and then they select their classes just like they're making their schedule."</span>
<span>Sabens said once students know the name of their classes, selection is very easy.</span>
<span>"But, because there could be issues - people not paying attention during the presentation or needing more time one-on-one to figure it out - we created the YouTube video that walks them through step-by-step," she said.</span>
<span>Sabens said students have to have eight credits "populated" in Skyward and the system will only allow eight to be selected.</span>
<span>"They can't go over and if they go under, it will be really obvious," she said. "They can only pick two credits of alternates.</span>
<span>"The alternates are built in so if you can't get info processing and you really want that, you pick an alternate to go into its place to make sure that when we sit down to make your schedule, we can give you something that you really want that aligns with your career goal."</span>
<span>For courses that are only one semester, companion courses will automatically be selected in Skyward. Child Development, for example, is a one-semester course with Parenting as its companion.</span>
<span>"The program itself surveys them and tells them 'You are in this block of careers, this is the colleges that offer that class' and takes them straight into college from high school," Franklin said. "It's career counseling on a more personal level."</span>