The Academic Council at Prep works to solve issues involving academic policy. They hope to integrate the student body’s opinion with the staffs to solve shared problems and address concerns.

As part of the council, students get the opportunity to share and collect issues of the student body. As part of the Council, Jackie Usibelli ’17 get the opportunity to share her opinions regarding any aspect of Academics at Prep. She says there is a problem with Academic Integrity at Prep saying “it’s not about cheating but about completing solo assignments with the help of others AKA, copying homework.”

The Academic Council at Prep deals with issues like this one. Preps Academic Council is comprised of twenty-one students from all grades. It is meant to consist of a broad range of students (i.e. students involved in athletics, drama, art, clubs, etc.) so the whole student body is well represented. Students on the Council and Mrs. Tullis meet at least once a month to share the opinion of the student body on academic issues and policies. Usibelli ’17 shares that the Council has yet to discuss specific issues this year but has acknowledged broader issues at Prep.

Everyone involved in the Council is asked to express their thoughts on Academic policy and systems in place at Prep. The Council also seeks to recognize Prep scholars that honor academic policy.  Furthermore, many of the students on the Council say they would like to acknowledge students involved in AP and Honors classes as well as those on the Presidents List, Deans List, and Honor Roll. The Academic Council at Prep is in place to identify issues of student and staff concern and to honor Prep students and problem solve to make programs stronger at Prep.

Some of the most talked about problems on the Council are those of technological concern. Academic Council Head, Mrs. Kathy Tullis, is still challenged by the new One-to-One iPad program that was initiated at Prep in the fall of 2014. Technology has been very successful at Prep but it has brought many foreseen problems as well. Usibelli ’17 says there is a lot of “misuse and irresponsible use of iPads in and out of class.”

Prep is still working on finding the perfect balance between old-school pen and paper learning versus new-age technological iPad learning. The debate continues whether taking physical notes is more effective than typing them. Lots of research has been done on the matter on much larger scales outside of Prep. A Claremont College study revealed that with students’ new found dependence on technology, typing notes may be more effective in long term memory retention in a lecture setting. Over the last year at Prep, teachers have become more lenient in terms of note taking as they get used to the iPad’s along with students. This year, typing or handwriting notes is a personal choice left to the student.

As the year goes on, look for changes in Academic policy as the Council starts meeting in the next couple months.