Elizabethton High School’s Bartleby Program, one of fewer than 20 schools nationwide participating in the XQ Super School Project, will be featured on a national television premier, EIF presents: XQ Super School Live. The community is invited to join Bartleby students and teachers for a viewing party on Monday, Sept. 11 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the T.A. Dugger Junior High School Auditorium. In this exclusive television broadcast, superstars of music, comedy, television and movies will join students, parents and educators to put high school center stage.

The program will feature the EHS Bartleby Program and other XQ Super Schools. It will air live on Friday, Sept. 8, at 8 p.m. on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX networks. Bartleby students want their friends and neighbors in Elizabethton to see how their program fits into a national movement to rethink high school. On Monday night, students will tell about their projects, and program leaders will share the program’s long-term vision and ways to get involved.

Bartleby is in its first year as a pilot program with two classes reaching 30 students. Program and school leaders want to grow the program to reach hundreds of students whose projects will work with community businesses and organizations. “Our students have some truly inspirational ideas that will begin impacting not just the juniors and seniors currently participating but our entire school, system, and community,” said EHS Principal Josh Boatman.

It was designed by EHS students after a semester of research, which they submitted in a 70-page proposal to the XQ Super School Project. They were awarded $200,000 and a Student Leadership Award, with the hope that they could create a model that other public schools could use to make learning meaningful. The plan is for students in the program to master academic standards and earn credits for core classes through project-based learning, using standards-based grading.

Other schools in the country are working towards this, and some are already doing it, like Iowa BIG. Elizabethton City Schools and EHS administrators are reaching out to these schools for insight to ensure the program is effective, sustainable and meaningful.