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Guiding Principles
The following principles, based on research and best practices in high-school
reform, will guide our 21st-Century High-School Learning Community initiative.
I. High Expectations
High schools will set clear, fair, and high academic and conduct standards.
An intellectual vision will be created, shared, and supported by all
stakeholders in order to raise expectations for student achievement.
There will be collective responsibility from adults and students for
student outcomes. The district will provide students with a demanding
curriculum that challenges them to learn at high levels and enables
them to enter college or the workforce fully prepared to be successful,
without the need for remediation.1
II. Personalization
The most powerful use of the public-school organizational structure
is to set the size of the school learning environment to lower student/adult
ratios at the point where every adult can be expected to know each student
personally.2 High schools will break into small thematic
units of no more than 300 students and provide continuity of care for
each student. Students will keep the same teachers for at least two
years and have a personal adult advocate throughout high school who
advises, supports, and assists them with their academic and personal
plans for success. A data-management system will provide structures
and processes that allow teachers to easily identify and quickly intervene
relative to students' individual needs, particularly the critical needs
of ninth-graders regarding literacy, class retention, and dropout issues.
A mentoring system will be offered for students desiring peer support,
and relationships will be built with parents to engage them in their
child's academic experience. College- and career-counseling programs
will provide students with a variety of options to pursue after high
school. School leaders will ensure that facilities are clean, attractive,
safe, and well equipped.
III. Coherency
Teachers must redefine their roles and relationships to create more-effective
learning environments.3 They will use a variety of instructional
strategies to accommodate individual learning styles to provide students
enriched and diverse opportunities to learn, perform, and be recognized.
They will engage students and help them make connections between what
they are learning and real-world experiences. Students will demonstrate
an understanding of core subjects through a variety of meaningful assessments,
such as project-based learning, portfolios, and exhibitions.4
High schools will establish relationships with middle schools, higher
education, and businesses to enhance student development. These relationships
will help to align secondary- and higher-education curricula and help
to ease the transition between high school and the workforce.
IV. Time and Resources
The central office must turn the traditional management pyramid upside
down and become an enabler rather than an enforcer.5 High
schools will be empowered to institute flexible allocation of available
resources including people, time, facilities, and money. A school schedule
will be created that is supportive of the teaching and learning environment.
Seat time will no longer be equated with learning; students will have
the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned and advance to
the next level. Time will be provided for students requiring tutorials
in core subjects. The school day will allow teachers to have common
planning times to collaborate with colleagues.
V. Technology
Technology will be integrated into the teaching and learning process,
including the curriculum, instruction, and assessment. High schools
will be equipped with the infrastructure needed for effective internal
and external communication. The district will provide a Web portal that
displays its curriculum and student grade and attendance reports so
that anyone, with appropriate authority, can have easy access to this
important student data at any time. The appropriate staff will develop
and implement a strategic plan for the use of technology in the school.
Continuous training will be provided for the staff so it can stay current
on dynamic technological advances.
IV. Professional Development
All staff members will be equipped, empowered, and expected to improve
instruction. The district will provide ongoing professional development
for principals, teachers, and support-staff members through online instruction
and through inservices and workshops. Each teacher will develop a repertoire
of instructional strategies to deploy as appropriate to meet the individual
and collective needs of students. Relationships with business and community
organizations will give principals, teachers, and students opportunities
to have hands-on experiences with real-world job requirements. Learning
communities will be created to allow teachers and support-staff members
to exchange information for the purpose of improving student achievement.
Every year, educators will have a personal development plan that identifies
goals and priorities to enhance their knowledge and skills for improving
student achievement. High schools will build relationships with higher
education to provide teachers and administrators with ideas and opportunities
to enhance the education and performance of students.6
VII. Leadership
Schools must be responsive to their communities, providing parents
and members of the community (and where appropriate, teachers, support-staff
members, and students) with formal, structured input into decision-making.7
High-school principals will develop and maintain a vision, direction,
and focus for student achievement that is aligned with the district's
vision. They will also be the primary leaders in staff development by
pursuing their own professional growth, including the knowledge required
to lead and manage change. Principals will provide the school staff
members with the appropriate tools needed to succeed on the job, as
well as provide them opportunities to acquire the professional skills
and knowledge needed for advancement. District administrators will exhibit
leadership by supporting school principals in their efforts to plan,
implement, and sustain long-term school improvement.
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Results of the 21st-Century High-School
Implementation Process
The implementation of the Vision for the 21st-Century High-School Learning
Community will produce the following results:
- lower ninth-grade retention rates
- lower dropout rates
- higher student attendance rates
- higher literacy rates—with students reading at or above grade
level
- higher numbers of students taking the SAT and other college-entrance
exams
- higher numbers of students attending college
- lower numbers of students requiring remediation as college freshmen
- higher numbers of graduates prepared to enter the workforce successfully
Endnotes
- Turning Point: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century, The
Report of the Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents, Carnegie
Council on Adolescent Development, Carnegie Corporation of New York,
June 1989. Also quoted in the Houston Independent School District's
Declaration of Beliefs and Visions' Mandate for Change.
- Turning Point: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century; Houston
Independent School District's Declaration of Beliefs and Visions' Mandate
for Change.
- Houston Independent School District's Declaration of Beliefs and
Visions' Mandate for Change.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution, A Report of the
National Association of Secondary School Principals in Partnership with
the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the High
School of the 21st Century, NASSP, 1996.
- Houston Independent School District's Declaration of Beliefs and
Visions' Mandate for Change.
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