When visiting Rindge in the Fall of 1995, there was a set of three tenth-grade courses in place. Pathways, the cornerstone of the sophomore program, integrates job shadowing, research projects, and student development of mini-enterprises. U.S. History/Humanities draws on the history of technology, industry, and labor as recurring themes. The third course, Introduction to Technology, is a brand-new physics and engineering course. Tenth-grade students at Rindge generally take all three courses (as well as taking mathematics and additional courses in other parts of the high school). AAI runs throughout, with a particular focus in Pathways, as part of job shadowing, entrepreneurial, and job researching activities.
After observing the program, and feeling the sense of satisfaction that it is on the right track, it is almost hard to recall the struggles to get here. Like most organic processes, the development process at Rindge was not always straightforward. Many of the ideas generated for the tenth grade were ultimately abandoned. Many others were transformed into new and unforeseen uses. One program developed for the tenth grade proved unworkable in that context, but matured into an upper-grades school-based enterprise. By 1995, the tenth grade had evolved into a new program that no one could have predicted, but that everyone agrees fits the bill. Because each iteration built upon the one before, and because teachers in other schools might find some of the earlier programs interesting for their own schools, this chapter describes the progression, as well as the end result.