With folks from the Hewlett Foundation and a group of Deeper Learning schools and advocates, I toured the MIT of public education, High Tech High today.
Rob Riordan, President of the HTH Graduate School of Education said, “Curriculum is not development; kids are developmental.” The school is lottery-based and draws from San Diego County. Riordan said, “We’re very wedded to the cohort model with an emphasis on equity and diversity.” There are not many electives on the master schedule but “lots of choices within each course.” Students are known well by several adults and feel well supported. Below is a picture of a quick writing intensive in a pod shared by four classrooms.
Edrick Macalaguim is a teacher at High Tech Middle Chula Vista (a school we profiled this summer). He said, “Attending HTH GSE changed my life and my teaching.” He and his colleagues are deploying a full integration model with projects like EIEI Grow which examines the food cycle and incorporates science and Socratic seminars.
The graduate school helps the network afford really talented teacher coaches. Every day starts with an hour of faculty meetings. Edrick said, “It’s my favorite part of the day.”
Teachers work in grade level teams of four in glass classrooms connected to glass offices with a shared common area (pictured below).
For more, see the Deeper Learning blog series on Getting Smart.
[…] nominated film about what education could be. The star of the film is High Tech High in San Diego (featured here), a place where teachers have the freedom to shape projects that culminate in public exhibitions. […]