HSHMC opened in 2007 as a school dedicated to providing a diploma that counted.  We wanted our graduates to be prepared for life beyond high school. As such, we created internship opportunities and modified the school schedule to allow students to spend one day per week in a hospital setting.  In doing so, we were able to provide significant amounts of time for teachers to collaborate. In 2007, with 180 students, we operated as one group.  We meet weekly to identify units of study and assessments that would allow us to identify what students knew and what they still needed to know.  We also reviewed student performance and designed an intervention effort that did not result in students missing class time.  

Over the years, we have grown considerably and have grade level collaborative planning teams that meet weekly, for the entire day, to align their collective efforts.  These teams examine their learning intentions and lesson success criteria, seek opportunities to integrate the curriuculm across traditional discipines, and develop assessments to monitor students' understanding.

Our assessment system has developed into course competencies, developed to ensure each student has the opportunity to demonstrate subject and grade-level mastery of concepts taught. These competencies are the result of grade level and content-specific collaborative planning and identify targeted, multi-dememsional assessments for students to demonstrate their understanding.  The competencies serve as common formative assessments and include a range of projects, performances, essays, and tests.  Our competency-based grading system allows students to retake competencies, matching our pillar, "Never Too Late to Learn."  

We have also implemented our Response to Intervention (RTI) efforts and intervention, known as Academic Recovery, in the high-school.  Any student who does not demonstrate competency is reviewed by the grade-level collaborative planning team and the student is engaged in a range of learning opportunities to recover, demonstrating his or her knowledge and subsequently earning the grade. 

Each Friday, students are released ealy, and 3 hours of professional learning (PLC) time is dedicated to improving instruction and collaboration amungst team members. Professional learning topics include transfer skills, collaborative conversations, ELD strategies, mathematics pedagogy analysis and restorative practices. Evidence of professional learnings is observed in lesson observations and classroom walkthroughs. 

Content specific professional learning takes place on Tuesday's at lunch. Writing and ELD strategies are discussed across content areas, unifying language, academic vocabulary and strategies throughout the content area. Evidence of  professional development learnings is observed in lesson observations, classroom walkthroughs and student learning outcomes. 

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Each course has a set of competencies, developed by collaborative planning teams, that allow teachers to determine when specific standards have been met.  If students do not demonstrate mastery on the standards on a competency, teachers offer reteaching sessions and co-develop, by the student and teacher, a plan for additional opportunies to show mastery of learning. When students meet the lesson objectives through course competencies and daily success criterias, teacher teams meet to review progress, lessons, extention activities to challenge students, and experiences that they want to build upon in the future. 

In addition to daily informal feedback from students and review of classroom student work, teachers monitor learning progress, in weekly collaboration meetings. Each Monday, all teachers are sent a list of students who did not demonstrate mastery via a competency and a comprehensive support plan is put in place. 

When students fail to meet the expectations, measured by a competency, they are provided additional instruction and intervention.  This occurs as part of the lunch period, for an hour after school, and during the school day.  HSHMC employs two full-time staff members who provide academic recovery for students who have yet to demonstrate mastery.  These staff members are in addition to the teachers who support students' learning in the classroom setting.  The other also supports students who have to miss school for health and family reasons, ensuring their continued success in academic programs.

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

In addition, as noted above, lack of performance on a given competency triggers collaborative planning team discussions focused on the needs of individual students.  The decisions these teams make result in additional supports and services being provided for students.  This can include a wide range of actions, from additional in-class individual or small group instruction to lunchtime tutoring (lunch is longer than normal at our school) to an after school academic recovery sesssion.  We also employ 30 peer tutors, high school students who assist peers with academic support.   

3. Building teacher capacity to work as members of high performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students.

In addition to the weekly collaborative planning time provided to all teachers, we begin each year with an off-campus two-day retreat focused on a data review, instructional pedagogy and professional development; identifying areas of collective growth opportunities.  Past learning opportunitites for staff have included Visible Learning, Cognitive Coaching and Equity-driven teaching practices training. 

Each Friday, our students are released at 12:35 and teachers have 3 hourse of uniterrupted Professional Learning Community (PLC) time. Teachers work in inquiry groups of their choice to learn. This past year, groups included Visible Learning, Cognitive Coaching, Collaborative Conversations, ELD best practices, transfer goals and Restorative Practices. 

Regardless of the topic, teams of teachers focus on improving student learning and instuctional practices. 

Additional Achievement Data

CELDT Criterion (Reported by Percentage)

 

	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017
HSHMC	49	55	58
SDUSD	37	35	32
CA	45	42	41

 

 

2016 2017

HSHMC SBAC Results: English Language Arts

 

 

 

2016 2017

HSHMC SBAC Results: Mathematics

 

 

 

Number of Graduates Meeting UC/CSU Requirements Class of 2016

 

	Male		Female		Total
	Grads	UC/CSU Eligible	Grads	UC/CSU Eligible	Grads	UC/CSU Eligible
Total	65	48 (74%)	86	69 (80%)	149	117 (79%)
Hispanic or Latino	34	20 (59%)	51	42 (82%)	85	62 (79%)
African American	17	16 (94%)	13	10 (77%)	30	24 (80%)
White	11	9 (82%)	16	13 (81%)	27	22 (81%)
Asian/Pacific Islander	3	3 (100%)	4	4 (100%)	7	7 (100%)

 

 

Number of Graduates Meeting UC/CSU Requirements Class of 2017

 

	Male		Female		Total
	Grads	UC/CSU Eligible	Grads	UC/CSU Eligible	Grads	UC/CSU Eligible
Total	65	52 (83%)	96	70 (77%)	161	125 (78%)
Hispanic or Latino	35	26 (74%)	67	53 (79%)	102	79 (77%)
African American	17	13 (76%)	18	13 (72%)	35	26 (74%)
White	11	9 (81%)	5	5 (100%)	16	14 (88%)
Asian/Pacific Islander	5	5 (100%)	3	3 (100%)	8	8 (100%)

 

Percentage of Graduates Successfully Competing at Least

 9 Units of College Course Work

 

2016 - Classroom of the Future Foundation Impact Award

2016 - Solution Tree PLC Award

2015 - California Gold Ribbon, California Department of Education

2014 - US News & World Report, Best High Schools

2013 - California Distinguish School, California Department of Education

2013 - School Safety Award, School Safety Advocacy Council