Grosse Pointe High Schools 2.0

1
Grosse Pointe High Schools 2.0

• Restyling Grosse Pointes High Schools for Rigor
  and Global Relevance
  
• Presented Dec. 17, 2007 to GP Board of Ed.

2
The Vision

• Grosse Pointe High Schools 2.0
• At a time when bricks and mortar matter less
  than digital communication, connectivity and
  rapidly evolving technology, Grosse Pointe can
  provide the best possible educational experience
  for todays students by creating a new 21st
  century school concept that raises floors without
  establishing ceilings, and prepares students for
  a world without traditional walls.

3
Framing Statement

• We cant solve problems by using the same kind
  of thinking we used when we created them.
  
• -Albert Einstein

4
Context

• Achievement Gaps North and South H.S.
• Global flattening
• Millenials
• IB

5
Achievement Gap Urgency

• AYP at North
• AYP at South
• Special Education Population
• MME / State Content Standards
• African-American students at grade level 2006
  math 16 16!

6
The Gap in G.P.

• Asynchronous changes in state testing and
  curricular implementation have negatively
  impacted students in lower level tracks.
  
• Effects of tracking, grade level implications in
  math.
  
• Teachers are being segregated, and our youngest,
  most inexperienced teachers are often teaching
  our least capable and most demanding students.
  
• Because there are multiple options, students in
  the middle often choose not to fully challenge
  themselves, and opt for courses below their
  ability levels.
• Students who enter with less are leaving with
  even less.

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Achievement Gap Initiatives

• F.A.T.
• Freshman Only First Day
• Freshman Assist
• Math Support
• MME Prep
• Writing Initiatives
• Best Practices Newsletter
• ACT Practice Test
• .will never be enough for students who are not
  in the right courses

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The Research on the Gap

• Model Schools make state standards the minimum
• Model Schools set the bar high by eliminating
  below grade level tracks
  
• Model Schools ensure that all students are
  prepared with a college prep curriculum

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Special Education Students and the Gap

• Inclusion
• Collaboratives
• Alternate Assessments
• Years of research raising the bar works!
• New York Regents Exam, Burris study

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African American and Latino 17 Year-Olds Read at
Same Levels As White 13 Year-Olds
Source National Center for Education Statistics,
NAEP 2004 Long Term Trends
11
Low Scoring 8th Grade Students Gain More From
College Prep Courses in High School
Grade 8-grade 12 test score gains based on 8th
grade achievement of students In the lowest quart
ile of achievement on 8th grade assessment.
Source USDOE, NCES, Vocational Education in the
United States Toward the Year 2000, in Issue
Brief Students Who Prepare for College and
Vocation
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Challenging Curriculum Results in Lower Failure
Rates, Even for Lowest Achievers
Ninth-grade English performance, by high/low
level course, and eighth-grade reading
achievement quartiles
Source Southern Regional Education Board,
Middle Grades to High School Mending a Weak
Link by Sondra Cooney and Gene Bottoms, 2002.
13

CAHSEE Passage Rates California Class of 2006as
of July 2006
Source Wise, L., et al., Independent Evaluation
of the CAHSEE, 2006 HumRRO
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The Millenials

• We are not adapting nearly as quickly to our
  students as they adapt to the world
  
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vKv52oVIcUKkfeature
  related
  

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Education is the only business still debating
the usefulness of technology. Schools remain
unchanged for the most part, despite numerous
reforms and increased investments in computers
and networks.
-- Former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige
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Shift Happens...

• 70 million blogs and counting 60 times more
  than three years ago
  
• China 17 million blogs
• You Tube 100 million videos per day
• Top Ten in demand jobs for 2010 did not exist in
  2004
  
• Were preparing students for jobs that dont yet
  exist

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Online Teens

• 71 of online teens say they relied mostly on
  Internet sources for the last big project they
  did for school.
  
• 94 of online teens report using the Internet for
  school-related research.
  
• Average teen outside of school on an average day
  6.5 hours with media
  
• 33 on the internet
• 26 on television
• 21 on the telephone
• 15 listening to the radio
• Todays teens spend more time per day online than
  they do watching television....
  

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The Digital Age...

• ½ of all teens and 57 of teens on the internet
  are Content Creators
  
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Web Pages
• Original Artwork
• Photography
• Stories
• Video

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12th Graders Perceptions About School
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Conclusions Millenials and the Gap

• We must eliminate any track below state content
  standards.
  
• This need demands new models of education
  facilitated by educational technology.
  
• Some of the most promising new educational
  approaches are being developed outside the
  traditional educational system, through
  e-learning and virtual schools.
• This is an exciting, creative and transforming
  era for students, teachers, administrators,
  policymakers and parents.
  
• The next 10 years could see a spectacular rise in
  achievement and may well usher in a new golden
  age for American education. Grosse Pointe should
  be lighting the way.

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Foundation Beliefs

• Model High Schools Have Fewer Tracks, Not More
• Model High Schools Incorporate Project Based
  Learning
  
• In Many Ways, IB Is a Better Program than AP
• IB and AP Are Fundamentally Different!
• Teachers Make the Difference

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Foundation Beliefs (cont.)

• Model High Schools Incorporate Project Based
  Learning
  
• Model High Schools Provide Support
• Model Schools Begin Bridging the Gap before High
  School Begins
  
• The Core Curriculum Must Be Connected External
  Review

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Features of the Plan G.P. H.S. 2.0

• 2 curricular paths IB,AP or Honors Project (HP)
• External review in each
• Integrated elements
• Digital portfolios and digital presentations are
  elements in each
  
• Digital Connectivity
• Culminating project in each

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Features of the Plan (cont.)

• Service component in each
• Raise the bottom and middle without lowering the
  top
  
• Support classes or double-blocking
• Re-visit school day to look at alternating block
• Foreign language requirement in each
• Mandatory summer Step Up
• Vertical alignment with teacher rotation

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Grosse Pointe High Schools 2.0

• The pessimist sees difficulty in every
  opportunity the optimist sees opportunity in
  every difficulty.
  
• -Winston Churchill