Visit to High Tech High

Jennifer Aponick

Lynn Fuini-Hetten

Nora Perron-Jones

November 4, 2009

HTH Mission and Goals

The High Tech High Mission:

High Tech High provides students with rigorous and relevant academic and workplace skills preparing its graduates for rewarding lives in our increasingly technological society.

HTH Goals

The primary goals of High Tech High are:

To integrate technical and academic education in a school that prepares students for post-secondary education and for leadership in the high technology industry.

To increase the number of educationally disadvantaged students in math and engineering who succeed in high school and post-secondary education and who become productive members and leaders in San Diego's high technology industry.

To provide all HTH students with an extraordinary education, and to graduate students who will be thoughtful, engaged citizens prepared to take on the difficult leadership challenges of the 21st century.

Design Principles

HTH is founded on three design principles: Personalization Adult-world connection Common intellectual mission

Personalization

HTH will cultivate academic excellence by encouraging each student to personally invest in her or his education. By knowing students well, the HTH faculty and staff will encourage students to develop personal strengths and interests. Each student will have an individual staff advisor, who will visit the home of each new student (or visit with new student families on campus if so requested). Students will pursue their particular interests through projects and prepare personal digital portfolios to document their achievements.

Adult World Connection

HTH students will engage in real world projects that enable them to learn while working on problems of interest and concern to adults in the community. Students in 11th and 12th grade will spend time off-site in academically germane workplace internships, tailored to student interests, which will stress problem solving opportunities in the workplace.

Common Intellectual Mission

The curriculum will be engaging and rigorous. Assessment will be performance based. Students will create products, solve problems, and present their work to both students and adults. In addition to traditional letter grade and standardized test assessment, faculty will assess students’ learning through digital portfolios and verbal presentations of learning ("POLs"). HTH will avoid “tracking” and other forms of ability grouping.

Student Enrollment by Race

African American 10.74 %

American Indian or Alaska Native 0.74 %

Asian 5.74 %

Filipino 7.96 %

Hispanic or Latino 26.48 %

Pacific Islander 0.93 %

White (not Hispanic) 47.41 %

Student Enrollment by Category

Socioeconomically Disadvantaged 21 %

English Learners 2 %

Students with Disabilities 7 %

Critical Components

Teacher as Designer

Digital Portfolios

Student Advisory

Interview with Blake Hatch

Multimedia Productions

Change in Philosophy: “Waiting for teacher to tell me what to do, this is what I need from the teacher”

Blood Bank Project

Blood Bank Project on Edutopia

Blood Bank Project at Jett Gallery

African Bushmeat Expedition

Although illegal wildlife poaching is conducted worldwide, the impact in Africa has been devastating.

Unsustainable commercial hunting for bushmeat will inevitably lead to species extinction.

African Bushmeat Expedition

Marketing of illegal bushmeat can also have serious ramifications because pathogens present in the meat may be transmitted, through ingestion, to the human population.

The DNA barcoding technique implemented by High Tech High students will provide a useful tool for environmental impact studies by allowing scientists and environmental groups to trace illegal bushmeat back to its localized animal populations.

African Bushmeat Expedition on Edutopia

Student PerformanceCalifornia Standards Test

Drop out and Graduation Rate

Faculty Professional Development

Faulty members at High Tech High will participate in ongoing professional development. This will normally include: Regular meetings, 45 minutes per day, without students,

for collaboration and program development 3 weekly student/faculty team meetings Weekly all-staff meetings Various development workshops throughout the year Two-week long teacher preparation session in August

before the opening of school A week-long session during winter break