September 5, 2010
September 5, 2010
The Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High (HTH) is the original High Tech High school. Founded in the fall of 2000, the school is located at HTH Village in San Diego and serves approximately 490 students in grades 9-12. Today, there are eight schools in the High Tech High network, spanning grades K-12. All the schools operate as independent charter schools.
High Tech High's mission is to develop and support innovative public schools where all students develop the academic, workplace, and citizenship skills for postsecondary success.
High Tech High was originally conceived by a group of about 40 civic and high tech industry leaders in San Diego, assembled by the Economic Development Corporation and the Business Roundtable, who met regularly in 1996-98 to discuss the challenge of finding qualified individuals for the high-tech work force. In particular, members were concerned about the "digital divide" that resulted in low numbers of women and ethnic minority groups entering the fields of math, science, and engineering. Gary Jacobs, Director of Education Programs at Qualcomm, and Kay Davis, Director of the Business Roundtable, were key participants in these discussions.
In late 1998 the group voted to start a charter school and engaged Larry Rosenstock, then President of Price Charities in San Diego (founded by Sol Price, founder of the Price Club), as the founding principal. The founding group was clear about its intent: to create a school where students would be passionate about learning and would acquire the basic skills of work and citizenship.
The first school, Gary & Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High, opened in September of 2000.
Back to TopDesign Element on Display. See 5.b. "Collaborative, mission-focused leadership"
High Tech High has identified three design principles:
Responding directly to the needs of students, all three principles connect to the broad mission of preparation for the adult world.
Design Element on Display. See 1.b. "Personalization strategies"
Each student at HTH has a staff advisor, who monitors the student's personal and academic development and serves as the point of contact for the family. Students pursue personal interests through projects. They compile and present their best work in personal digital portfolios.
Through the design principles "adult world connection" juniors complete a semester-long academic internship in a local business or agency. Seniors develop substantial projects that enable them to learn while working on problems of interest and concern in the community. Through the Academic Internship Program, HTH students have completed more than 1,000 internships in over 300 community businesses and agencies, including the SPAWAR Systems Center, Qualcomm, FOX 6 News, San Diego Magazine, General Atomics, The San Diego Oceans Foundation, The San Diego Children's Museum and the VA Hospital. Earlier, in 9th and 10th grade as well as middle school, students may "shadow" an adult through a workday, perform community service in a group project, or engage in "power lunches" with outside adults on issues of interest.
Design Element on Display. See 2.c. "All content knowledge is delivered with relevance and context"
High Tech High makes no distinction between "college prep" and "technical" education; the program qualifies all students for college and success in the world of work. Enrollment is non-selective, and there is no tracking at HTH. Under this design principle, all students are challenged and kept on the same academic level. Therefore, no AP courses are offered and students essentially all take the same courses. HTH strongly encourages preparation for four-year colleges and universities, with two-year colleges seen as not the optimum choice. According to the school, all HTH graduates have been accepted to go to college, and 80 percent have enrolled in four-year universities.
Design Element on Display. See 2.c. "All content is delivered with relevance and Context"
HTH is an inquiry-based liberal arts school where the lines between "technical" and "academic" are deliberately blurred. The school focuses equally on math, science, humanities (a blending of English language arts, social studies, and history) and the arts.
Curriculum at HTH schools is framed around answering questions and solving problems, often referred to as inquiry-based and problem-based learning. Integration at HTH means that students address issues as they are found in the real world-studying questions and themes that cut across academic disciplines. There is a strong emphasis on working in teams to solve problems and discover answers to questions.
Design Element on Display. See 2.d. “teacher collaboration on curriculum
Students, in groups of about 40, are paired primarily with two teachers, one that teaches math/science, and the other teacher that instructs in the humanities. These teachers have great flexibility in structuring the day, except that students periodically take other courses, such as art and physical education that are taught by other teachers. Coordination between teachers is a key element to the success of this model.
The HTH model operates separate small schools for each of the various interest-based themes (less career specific than what might be referred to as a "career paths") offered. This is a different approach than the model of multiple career academies within one school. Additionally, there is no crossover between schools. Students choose the school that best suits their needs and learning goals.
From its inception, High Tech High schools have been organized as charter schools. Originally they were chartered through the local school district. However, schools opened since 2007 are governed by the first Statewide Benefit Charter granted in January 2006 by the California State Board of Education. Per the terms of the Charter, High Tech High is obligated to open a new school every two years. Currently, HTH receives virtually no services from the district other than access to the student information database.
As an independent charter school, HTH operates independently from the local school district and is afforded much flexibility with curriculum, leadership and programming. For example, the HTH daily schedule has built-in flexibility and teachers have the autonomy to alter it as needed. If a humanities teacher needs an extra class period for a particular lesson, he will simply coordinate the change with his co-teacher.
The HTH teaching staff is comprised of professional teachers as well as people coming directly out of business and industry who are given a provisional teaching credential. Prospective teachers go through a rigorous hiring process, including interviews by administrators and students. All teachers work on a one-year contract and their salary is negotiated on an individual basis.
Design Element on Display. See 5.d. “Focus on the knowledge and skills needed for teaching success
High Tech High is the first public charter school in California to operate an on-site teacher credentialing program. This program is a collaboration with the University of San Diego, and allows HTH to hire, train and certify faculty with deep content knowledge and relevant industry experience, especially in science and engineering. This customized teacher preparation is particularly important for a school like HTH that utilizes somewhat unique organizational and instructional strategies.
Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High is located in a retrofitted warehouse building that once housed a naval training center but is now owned by the school. According to Simi Rush, Special Programs Manager for the HTH Charter Management Organization (CMO), the building renovations were completed less expensively compared to district schools. She explained that due to the HTH's charter status, the renovations were required to comply with industrial building code rather than the more demanding educational building code. In addition, since the building is located in a low income community, it was eligible for special construction tax credits. Additional funding came from local organizations that sponsored the outfitting of classrooms.
HTH facilities have received numerous design awards: a "2001 Educational Design Excellence Award" from the American School & University Architectural Portfolio, prestigious Honor Awards in the 2002, 2003 and 2005 Design Share Competitions respectively, and the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal 2005 award for "Redevelopment Public Project of the Year.
Back to TopPart of HTH's mission as set forth by the Gates Foundation in their initial grant is that the school share and provide support to other schools that choose to follow its model. According to Simi Rush, the role of HTH as a resource has evolved over time. Originally, HTH staff provided hands-on assistance to new schools from inception to building to opening. Because of the many complex variations in local and state requirements, HTH staff members now serve primarily in an advisory role, sharing experiences and helping new schools with quality assurance and professional development. In addition, HTH now focuses primarily on the southern California region.
Back to TopHere, in summary, are some of High Tech High's achievements to date:
The admissions process is open to all students, regardless of previous academic attainment, as long as they are willing to adopt the HTH approach.
The school is chartered to try to serve at least 40 percent economically disadvantaged students, but cannot directly ascertain family income in its admissions process. So administrators must use less precise measures, like zip code of residence, to administer admissions criteria to meet this goal. Administrators also focus their recruiting efforts on the under-subscribed zip codes.
Back to TopSee videos about High Tech High on the Edutopia Website. Here
High Tech High - Digital Commons Area
Larry Rosenstock
Chief Executive Officer
Email
Phone: 619-243-5000
This case study was prepared by the Meeder Consulting Group, LLC, a firm providing research, analysis and strategic advisement on promising education practices. Hans Meeder, President of the firm, was formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Education. For more information, visit the website: www.meederconsulting.com.
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