Opportunity School - Misconception

Misconception

A common misconception is that opportunity schools are only available for "troubled youths". While this may be true in some cases, an opportunity school is not made for the sole purpose of being a holding place for "troubled youths". An opportunity school is an available option for students with various unique situations who may otherwise fail to succeed in a regular school environment. On the other hand, opportunity schools are, quite contrary to their name, often a place of little or no opportunity, with dumbed down classes, prohibitions on extracurricular activities, prohibitions on socializing even outside of class, and often a schedule with no time between classes and a rule forbidding being on campus before or after classes. They are often used as a punishment or a dumping ground for students the system does not want to deal with in any sort of reasonable or constructive way, such as zero-tolerance policy violators.

In the early 1950s, the Allentown School District, Allentown, PA, began one of the earliest gifted programs in the area. It was also called Opportunity School. Students in the program were selected through teacher recommendations and a required minimum score on a standardized IQ test. In the 1950s and 60s, the program was for students in grades 4 thru 9. In grades 4 through 9, students were given Spanish instruction in addition to the normal curriculum. In addition, 7th through 9th grade students were given typing instruction and advanced English, mathematics and science classes. Classroom activities were creative and did not follow the same curriculum as non-Opportunity School students. Students were selected from each elementary school in the school district and attended classes in a central location. There were no school buses and students had to take public transportation or get rides from parents to attend the schools where the classes were held. For example, in 1954, the Opportunity School class of fourth graders all went to Jackson Elementary school. In the following two years, the fifth and sixth grade classes were sent to Jefferson Elementary school; they were then sent to South Mountain Junior High school for 7 through 9 grades. At the end of ninth grade, the students were then integrated back into the high school which served the geographic area where the student lived.