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Fox River Consortium highlights project-based learning, reports credit gains and rising PBL completion time
Summary
Principal Katie Przybylski and staff told the Burlington Area School District Board that the Fox River Consortium (FRC) served about 43 students this year, completed roughly 422 PBLs for 211 credits, and lengthened the average time students spend on a PBL from about 5.3 days to 22.9 days as the program was redesigned.
Katie Przybylski, principal of Fox River Consortium, told the Burlington Area School District Board that the alternative high school served about 41 students earlier in the year and 43 at the time of the presentation, and that the program’s primary model is project-based learning (PBL). "A PBL is this structured ... extended inquiry based projects," Przybylski said, describing how students demonstrate mastery and earn credit through final products and milestone sign-offs.
Przybylski said FRC staff created about 45 ready-made PBL templates and allow students to propose their own. Examples shown to the board included a "Young Professionals" PBL with a mock interview final product, a civics test study guide, a water-filter built from natural materials, and student-created science models. Heather McMurray and Zach Weddig, two FRC teachers who appeared with Przybylski, described daily supervision, milestone sign-offs, and hands-on activities staff use to scaffold student work.
The board heard that FRC recorded 422 completed PBLs this year, yielding about 211 credits. Przybylski said the program’s academic goal was to increase time spent on PBLs; when the year began the average was 5.3 days per PBL and after changes it rose to about 22.9 days per PBL. Culture goals include improving the Studer engagement survey score (from 3.05 in fall toward a spring target of 3.1) and keeping attendance high; Przybylski reported attendance around 80–82 percent for the program, which she characterized as strong for the population served.
Przybylski described FRC’s graduation process: students complete final presentations, invite family and staff, and then have their names placed on the graduate wall. The board was told that 12 students graduated in an early ceremony in February and 16 more were anticipated to graduate in May. Plans for next year include a modified schedule based on students’ credit levels, more community connections with employers and partners, higher attendance targets and expanded PBL options.
Board members asked about expanding PBLs in trade and healthcare fields; Przybylski and staff said student interest drives new PBL development and that district connections (for example the welding academy or health-care pathways) are leveraged when students want them. Teachers noted occasional transportation or resource gaps for shop- or trade-based experiences and said they pursue partnerships to place students offsite when necessary.
Przybylski closed by describing the program’s emphasis on student self-advocacy, milestone tracking, and individualized final products as a path to on-time graduation for students who had been credit-deficient in traditional settings.
