3 different High School Student Handbooks was analyzed for this blog post in order for me to attempt to identify how something in a student handbook could work and really make it stand out from the others and perhaps what didn’t work or simply not as well. The 3 high schools I’ve chosen were Kaoshung American School (KAS), the one I’m currently attending, Bronx High School of Science, and Tesla Stem High School.
KAS:
Some things I noticed was how everything about this handbook looks fantastic. It has a sleek cover and nice logos as well as lots of alternating fonts that match and fits for each context perfectly. It’s also worth noting that right after the mission statement, I found the introduction from the actual staff at KAS welcoming and comforting as it’s like a nice introduction into the insides of our school to people perhaps unfamiliar with it, which neither of the other handbooks included. There’s also a helpful graph included in there about the number of credits needed for each class for graduation.
Bronx High School of Science Handbook:
Some things worth noting here that while there is an entire page dedicated to student responsibility and rules on page 5, there isn’t a page dedicated specifically to a mission statement or introduction. This handbook, while having pretty small fonts overall and could’ve put more effort into the design (as most of it is just a bolded + underlined subtitle matched up with normal or italics text, such as in page 7, where it’s the all the same font but occasionally switched up with bold or italics for more important titles), still is extremely detailed about every aspect, even including the calendar for the entire school year in there, showing organization and well planning. Similar to KAS, the handbook also includes a section for credits needed for each class for graduation but not in graph form, making it not as easy to read in comparison to KAS or Tesla Stem.
Tesla Stem High School Handbook:
In the handbook for the Tesla Stem HS, I noticed that this handbook may perhaps be the most well organized one of all as it often includes good organization, labeling, bolding for important details and et cetera. Also similar to the previous two schools mentioned, Tesla Stem HS includes a graph for credits needed for each class for graduation but is actually done in a much more detailed manner, filled with descriptions about dress code rules and other things.
Conclusion:
Overall, I noticed that even though Bronx and Tesla Stem high schools are statistically better schools than KAS, it does seem like Kas has put a lot more effort in the handbook by making it feel sleeker and more organized. Bronx’s handbook are all written in a much smaller font and seems more simple and basic while Tesla Stem, while much more colorful, looks slightly amateurish on the design aspect. However, the showmanship of a school doesn’t necessarily make a school worse but maybe even that they just don’t care about the design of the handbook aspect as much.
What really makes a handbook effective, in my opinion, is a combination of good and well-rounded writing organized in a smooth and easy to access design. I personally found the Tesla Stem handbook written the best out of the three (such as in Page 9 of the handbook where for absence and missed assignments, they were able to specifically and effectively categorized events into 3 categories and focus on each while giving examples of how it could/would be dealt with) while Bronx’s organization and easy to access logs make it easy to read (they have effectively organized every single subtopic and subject into the table of contents as well as having multiple topics on one page; while the small font may not be ideal in a physical copy, in a digital one where you can easily zoom in go in extreme detail about every subject is not that may page is very efficient). KAS’s, however, has the best design as a sleek yet minimalist logo can be seen on the cover page with different yet fitting fonts for each page (for example, in Page 9 the entire page was well organized into one big subtitle that focuses and tells the topic of the page with other information and even bullet points used to organize and fit different types of font all into one page).
There are also some certain aspects that could’ve been included in all of the student handbooks, such as Bronx High School could have included a section on their mission statement and what they hope to accomplish in the school, or maybe organize the graduation credits requirement through a graph to make it easier to read. Tesla Stem high school could’ve developed a more attractive color instead of simply a graph with different colors in each box.
Links to Handbooks:
KAS Handbook – http://www.kas.tw/?wpfb_dl=533
Bronx High School of Science Handbook – http://www.bxscience.edu/pdf/StudentPlanner.pdf
Tesla Stem High School Handbook – https://tesla.lwsd.org/uploaded/Tesla_STEM_HS_school/Documents/Tesla_STEM_2017-18_handbook_FINAL_with_cover.pdf