Claire Mahler thought she’d blown it. One student had squirmed in her seat. Others hadn’t grasped some of the more challenging concepts. Asked how she thought the sample lesson had gone, Mahler was honest: Parts had worked; others had not.
School Profiles
There are many different areas that are key to the success of high-performing schools from culture to human capital systems to use of data and academic rigor. Here you can find profiles on schools in the region that are excelling in different areas and what they’re doing that other schools can emulate.
Sci Academy: A Mission That Matters
“So there are a couple ways of looking at a seemingly insurmountable task,” said Ben Marcovitz “One is that it exhausts you and overwhelms you. The other is that it inspires and excites you.” Marcovitz, the founder of Sci Academy, an outstanding college preparatory high school in east New Orleans, is clearly of the inspire and excite persuasion.
Learning in Two Languages at Voices College-Bound Language Academy
At Voices College-Bound Language Academy in south San Jose, students are expected to master not only the California state standards, but also two languages. They’re rising to that high bar – Voices is one of a small number of schools across Silicon Valley that are beating the odds for low-income students.
Millard McCollam Elementary: “It’s the Teachers”
Millard McCollam Elementary is a neighborhood public school in East San Jose’s Alum Rock School District serving primarily low-income students. It might look like a typical school. However, its academic results are far from typical: 82 percent of its students were proficient in English and 87 percent in math in 2013-14. What’s the secret?
KIPP Collegiate: Supporting First Generation Students to College and Beyond
One of the nation’s most challenging high schools is located in a cluster of portables in East San Jose. KIPP San Jose Collegiate, where 70 percent of students come from low-income families, ranks with high schools in wealthy Silicon Valley communities on the Washington Post’s Challenge Index, which looks at the number of college-level tests taken by students.