n to gain statewide certification of the curriculum, but we are interested in working with a champion or champions in each state to help us achieve appropriate approval(s).

are the four courses aimed at being three credits each, and are they sequential in nature; in other words, is the first course the prerequisite for the second, which in turn is the prerequisite for the third, and so on?

they are prerequisite based and are sequential. the courses are designed to be taught one hour a day, five days a week, but the setup can be changed to accommodate block class scheduling.

are the courses designed to contain any particular number of students per section?

cisco's only requirement is that there be no more than three students per computer. the optimum is 20 students, but it's possible to have 30, and some even have 35.

are the students expected to print manuals from the web, or do they purchase manuals separately?

you wouldn't want to print this curriculum from the web, since so much of it is interactive with quicktime movies and animation. the materials that are on line are presently meeting teachers' and students' needs.

what kind of controls are there on course materials?

the regional academy has no way of controlling what a student does with the materials after they leave school property.

are the materials copyrighted?

the curriculum is copyrighted. course materials and handouts are treated like any other type of curriculum would be treated.

is there any maximum on the number of sections of a cisco course we can offer?

no. you can offer it as many times as you want, and if you decide that you need a second lab, you may purchase or lease one.

can we use part of a cisco course in some existing course that we already offer, such as a concepts course of some kind?

if it's to give an overview to solicit student interest, it's possible. cisco doesn't want schools to say "we're going to take your curriculum and put it into already existing curriculum and call that the class." from an interest standpoint, it's fine to give some basic overview material, but it can't replace the need to teach the entire curriculum.

can the regional academy use the materials for training its administrative or is staff, or are the cisco courses for academic use only?

it can't be the only use of the curriculum, but having is staff that are trained using the same curriculum is ideal. staff members familiar with the curriculum could act as mentors to the students.

are there any restrictions on the use of cisco courses as a standalone "certificate" vs. being part of the requirements for a two-year degree program (which would have additional requirements, of course)?

people who want to go into the training business are welcome to apply to be a cisco training partner. cisco's training group wants to add training partners. but cisco doesn't want the academies to become competitors with local training partners by teaching accelerated courses. this curriculum has been specifically designed and task analyzed for delivery in an academic, semester environment; cisco wouldn't want someone to try to re-engineer that setup into a five-day-per-week, eight-hour-per-day workshop. the courses in the training partner environment are specifically geared toward that.

what is the name of the cisco certification that students who complete the four cisco courses and pass the certification exam earn?

cisco certified networking associate.

how do we keep our grades and tests safe from students who are working on maintaining our network?

the networking academy tests are to be kept on a separate zip cartridge and inserted in the cisco micro webserver only on test day, and then removed. also, it is assumed that any secure data within the school is kept on a computer that has security installed on it, such as user id and password protection.

do students do any wire pulling in this class?

yes, students pull wire in the lab and within the school if union and insurance issues allow it. the students should get as much experience in this area as possible.

i am a high school student and i want this curriculum offered at my school; how can i get one started?

to get an academy started in your school, talk to your school's computer teacher, is manager, principal, or vice-principal. direct them to the web site (www.cisco.com/edu) to get more information and to fill out the form to apply to become a cisco networking academy.

i am a post-high school student and want to take these classes; how can i?

call your local community colleges (computer science, career training, computer networking departments) to see if they are a cisco networking academy. if not, tell them they should be one and direct them to the web site (www.cisco.com/edu).

thurgood marshall academic high school

thurgood marshall academic high school (tmahs) was established in 1994 in the economically underdeveloped southeast corner of san francisco. focusing on a math, science, and