Reflections Magazine Issue #74 - Spring 2011 | Page 24

Alumni Feature
continued from page 23 . . .

Using a blended personalized learning model
of online and face-to-face techniques, Taylor
said WAY’s learning community is built on the
interests of students age 15-19 who have been
successful in traditional schools. WAY students
earn credits with a project-based learning focus.
WAY currently has more than 700 students enrolled statewide.
“We are taking a totally different approach to
learning,” said Taylor, a former elementary school
teacher and principal before becoming the executive director of the non-profit organization last
July. “When we created the system and created
the process, it was all about the students. There
were two factors: learning and putting the student at the center.”
Taylor said when he was a principal at Westwood
Community Schools in Dearborn Heights,
Mich., the high school dropout rate was about
40 percent. It wasn’t much different statewide.
“It’s just a staggering number,” said Taylor, who
is nationally recognized for his leadership in
servicing at-risk teens, and currently is a member
of the Michigan-based Consensus for Change
think tank comprised of legislative, educational
and business leaders. “I was frustrated as an administrator that it wasn’t working and people
were leaving the district. … Without that (high
school) diploma, it’s just a huge economic drain
on everybody. … And one out of every five of
those (dropouts) is a straight-A student. They
were just tired of the system.”
While still a principal at Westwood, he began
Westwood Cyber High School to help the district stop student attrition. Westwood, a district
of approximately 1,900 students, increased its
enrollment 33 percent in its first year. In fact, the
program had a waiting list of 200 students. In
2009, Taylor and Beth Baker co-founded WAY,
modeling the pilot program after the established
Notschool.net program in the United Kingdom.
WAY currently is working more than 50 school
districts and has six locations in Michigan.
Under the WAY model, students are able to
learn 24 hours, 7 days a week. Each district collaborating with WAY provides the student with
an iMac workstation, digital camera and Internet
connection. Students are required to sign in
daily to the online community, and must attend
a learni