Justine Abelow ’11 created her own class. She teaches herself the material. She is taking an independent study.
Abelow took Introduction to Psychology as a junior, but wanted to further her knowledge and challenge herself by taking the AP course not offered by Staples.

She is doing this by pursuing an independent study.

“I wanted to go more in depth in the subject, and my goal is to take the AP exam in May,” Abelow said.

Students are responsible for creating their own course, similar to how teachers create lesson plans.

“I had to design a curriculum based on the College Board’s curriculum,” Abelow said.

Students are given the freedom to determine the subject they want to study.

Maddy Fass ’11 is using her independent study to take advantage of going to the design and tech classes to finish her portfolio for college.

“I am working on old pieces, new pieces and preparing my work to be sent out to schools,” Fass said.

Students choose to undergo an independent study if the subject they are interested in is not offered at Staples.

“Independent studies allow students to study a particular area of interest that the curriculum doesn’t go into depth [for],” said 6-12 English Coordinator Lis Comm said.

Although students act as their own teacher during an independent study, they are required to have a mentor who they meet with once a week to check in on their progress.

However, most teachers do not have the time to mentor a student on top of the other classes they are teaching. “Teachers do it out of the goodness of their heart,” Comm said.

Even with help and advice from a mentor, students need to be on top of their work and stay on track.

“The student needs to have a plan and good organizational skills,” says guidance counselor PJ Washenko.

A common misconception about independent studies is that they are easy.

But it is actually quite the opposite. Grades are based on a pass/fail basis and there is usually no midterm or final exam. However, students are expected to set a goal and achieve it by the time their independent study is over.

Fass suggests that in order to take an independent study you have to be “extremely passionate about a certain subject area.”

Students can benefit from an independent study but “you have to be willing to put in the time and effort,” Abelow said.