Roundtables and Panels

As a project-based school, we believe that students learn best when they are challenged to produce meaningful work for an authentic audience.  Roundtables and panels allow students to showcase their learning for other students, teachers, and staff across all departments and grade-levels, as well as professionals from outside the school with real-world knowledge and expertise in the subject area.  Unlike the end-of-semester exams that many high school students engage in during the final weeks of the semester, at ESA we get to use this time to teach and learn from one another, to push each other\’s thinking, and to engage in the work of a true intellectual community.  

To make this valuable learning experience possible, we have a modified schedule for the last 2 weeks of January for roundtables and panels (which replaces Regents Week in schools like ours). Please take a moment to carefully review the calendar below to see exactly what will be happening each day as we approach the end of the semester And if you have any questions about the process, please review the attached Expectations Guide for more information about Roundtables (for grades 9 and 10) and Panels (for grades 11 and 12).

2024 January – Important Dates

DateEvent
Fri 1/12Last Day of Fall Semester Classes
Mon 1/15Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day – No School 
Tue 1/16 – Wed 1/179/10th Grade Roundtable Presentations11/12 Panel Prep Appointments
Thu 1/18 – Thu 1/2511/12 Panel Prep and Panel Presentations9/10 Makeup PE and Study Hall for students who are not passing classes
Tue 1/239am ELA Regents for all 11th graders and some 12th graders
Fri 1/26Mon 1/29Professional Development Days; No School 
Tue 1/30First Day of Spring Semester

After completing their roundtables, 9th and 10th grade students will not be required to attend school between Thursday 1/19 and Monday 1/30. The spring semester will begin  

As is the case in all NYC high schools, only students who are completing their graduation requirements (Regents Exams and/or PBATs/Panels) attend school during panels week: Fri 1/19 to Thu 1/25.  Tenth graders will, however, be scheduled to attend panels as observers in order to get familiar with the process and see what will be expected of them when they become upperclassmen the following year. All students will receive their individualized roundtables schedules including panels observations in advisory next week.