Best Practices 

at 
High Tech High North County

Autumn Caban              Amanda Morley

Chelsea Nygaard            Amanda Wolfe
School Size
About 450 students
Each class has 20-25 students in it
“Teaching Teams” = 50-60 students
Example: Juniors have a Humanities/Math/Biology team
of teachers.
3 classes of 20 students each
Students stay with same group for core classes (3 of 5
periods per day)
Students stay with same grade until 5th period
Perspectives on School Size
Students:
Benefits - really get to know each other and grow with each other as a
grade
Frustrations - can’t choose classes; feels too separated by grade;
small school = fast rumors
Administrators:
Benefits - easy to get to know all students and their families really well
Challenges - too easy to become everything for every child (too many
hats per person)
Teachers:
Benefits - Teams enable students to build stronger relationships.
Challenges - Cohesiveness within each team presents itself as
segregation amongst grades sometimes.
Inclusion Specialist/Academic Coaches:
Benefits:
For inclusion specialists: fewer students with special needs per
specialist
For students: time with the same group of peers makes students
more comfortable and allows them to be more successful
Climate
“Love them first, and they’ll trust you. . . If all we teach them
in the first 3 months is that they’re loved, then we’re content.”
Nikki, the Director
Climate strives to empower students to be critical thinkers
and thoughtful individuals.
Very supportive of student initiatives.
Fully inclusive.
Includes having open conversations about acceptance
and tolerance.
Perspectives on Climate
Students:
School is very strict about behavior: “if something happens, they will track you down.” Can “go too far with
prosecuting.”
Example: 1-time offence = expulsion.
“It’s safe.”
“You get to know every face.”
“The energy is better [than at another school].”
Administrators:
Strong support from teachers and executive officers of High Tech system.
Constant informal feedback.
Sometimes too much.
Teachers:
Don’t set up a lot of rules which allows teachers the ability to individualize for students, but can make it confusing
for some students when trying to decipher what is allowed and what isn’t.
Zero-tolerance policy provide students an opportunity to withdrawal before expulsion hearing so that they can
reapply the next year after showing improved behavior.
Inclusion Specialists/Academic Coaches:
The strongest aspect of the climate is a strong sense of community, inclusion of everyone.
Difficulties: Academic coaches’ roles are somewhat undefined, so that there can be a separation between
academic coaches and their supporting teachers.
Leadership

Very democratic environment. Teachers

and students have a strong voice in the
school.
Leadership among staff is very organic.
Very “grassroots-y.”
Perspectives on Leadership
Students:
Feel like they can initiate projects, clubs, fund-raising, etc. - and be
supported.
Administration:
School is essentially teacher-driven; their concerns and needs are a
primary consideration for every decision.
Teachers:
Lots of support but teachers must seek it out
The school is teacher-driven and their input on how things are run is
always requested and utilized; involved with making changes and
policies.
Administrative duties which require teachers to meet 5 days a week
every morning and sometimes in the afternoon.
Inclusion Specialists/Academic Coaches:
The system is very democratic. Inclusion Specialists basically speak
on behalf of academic coaches, and the inclusion specialists have as
much voice as any other staff member in decision making.
Teaching

Predominantly student-centered approach

Teachers are viewed more as facilitator's than “sages”
Perspectives on Teaching
Students
“Teachers care about how you are doing.”
Teachers care and are lenient about how you do your work
Administration
It’s important to make sure the teachers are given opportunities
to share their thoughts, opinions, and feelings.
“My job is to facilitate, not dictate.” Nikki, the Director
Teachers
Being able to write and create own projects makes it similar to
being a college professor. This is the greatest aspect and
biggest challenge of being a teacher at HTHNC.
Inclusion Specialists/Academic Coaches
Inclusion Specialists and Academic Coaches need to work
hand in hand with teachers in order to make teaching inclusive.
Their specific means of accomplishing this is up to the specific
team.
Curriculum

Curriculum is project-based learning. There are no set

textbooks in use, though they serve as reference.
The school places high emphasis on practical world
connections, and uses core curriculum to support those
connections.
Standards serve as guidelines rather than requirements.
Standardized tests help guide curriculum - the
“important” standards are used as basic support for
additional content.
Perspectives on Curriculum
Students:
Enjoy the projects, like building something,like the freedom, like the multiple
pieces to projects (visual and essay reflection)
Some students interviewed worried about testing well for the SAT’s
Administrators:
“Our first question is, ‘What content is important?’ Then we worry about linking it
to the standards.”
The 3 weeks before CSTs = major cram session.
Teachers:
Standards are used to help build and guide projects to a small extent.
Presently working on creating a guideline for math classes because of trends
seen in success on CST exams.
CST scores are used by some teachers for reflection about the success of their
projects teaching student’s content.
Some teachers utilize the MDTP as a pre and post assessment in order to
assess their effectiveness.
Inclusion Specialists/Academic Coaches:
Curriculum is based around standards, but is handled very different fashions
amongst teachers. Inclusion Specialists feel that this diversity is beneficial for
students with special needs, and strive hard to best support teachers in however
they choose to handle the curriculum.
Community Experiences
“One of the design principles of the school is the adult world connection
which is bringing kids into the adult world and vice versa.”
Nikki, the Director
Collaborations with community members and organizations are
encouraged
i.e. Exhibition of art work at the apple store
Guest lectures from local colleges
Internships - Juniors take three weeks out of the school year to work as
interns
Intersession - 1 week to 10 days during the spring where students go on
an exploratory adventure out into their communities or around the world
Travel to Vietnam - work at an orphanage
Snowboarding - action photography, physics
Real to Real - around the community
Perspectives on Community Experiences

Students:
Break from school, a time to bond with “peeps” from school, a chance
to learn something out in the community
Administrators:
“Power Lunches” allow students to sign up for a lunch with a member
of the professional community.
It’s great that professionals will often come in to help students with
their projects.
Teachers:
“Internships cause transformations”
Senior projects, internships, and service learning help students to see
beyond the school.
Inclusion Specialists/Academic Coaches:
The Inclusion Specialists’ main goal in community experiences is to
make sure that students, especially those with special needs, feel
prepared and safe so that they can achieve meaningful growth through
these experiences.
Scheduling
No Bells, buzzers, or ringers - virtual adult hood
Students are called into class by the teachers
8:30 - 3:30
5 periods a day, every day
3 periods of core classes
1 period of exploratory
1 period of “choice” physical activity (Mdub and t-
squared)
Yoga, volley ball, strength training, etc.
Fridays start with Advisory and no “choice” period
Perspectives on Scheduling
Students:
Some feel frustrated about the restrictive schedule.
Enjoy the break at the end of the day.
Administration:
The “un-bell schedule” is largely based on the ideas of Sir Ken
Robinson, (RSA):
“Bells are used in factories, for routines. . . we want our humans
here to be thoughtful and responsible. . . they should be able to
follow a clock!”
Teachers:
Lack of variety can be a problem since students are with a teacher for
two hour blocks. It’s important to keep changing activity and adding
variety to schedule.
Inclusion Specialists/Academic Coaches:
While there are some challenges in not having bells or great variety in
structure, students, especially those with special needs, like structure
and the schedules work very well for them. The schedule itself also
helps support a sense of community.
Technology and Materials

We don’t spend on textbooks, so we’re able to invest in today’s

primary tool - computers. . . Now, it’s as important as having a
pen.”
Nikki, Director
There is a 2:1 ratio of students to laptops at the school.
Every student takes multimedia classes, and are expected to
know how to use internet functions.
The school is wireless, and all classrooms are equipped with
projectors and other electronic equipment.
Perspectives on Technology and
Materials
Students:
helps with in class work and research for projects
Administrators:
Staying up-to-date is the biggest challenge, particularly with their
limited budget.
Teachers are given lots of autonomy deciding how to spend their
allotted funds for the class.
Teachers:
Benefit: Access to technology makes it easier to facilitate research.
Challenge: Monitoring the appropriateness of computer use.
Inclusion Specialist/Academic Coaches:
Having great technology on hand does not really change how the
inclusion specialists teach students. Instead it often just changes what
they need to know so they can help students use programs and
technologies that the students are already familiar with.
Assessment

Authentic assessments with Rubrics are the norm

Projects
Presentations of Learning at the end of the semester
Transitional Presentations of Learning at the end of
the school year
Integration of short answer exams is incorporated to
assess content knowledge and understanding
Perspectives on Assessment

Perspectives on Assessment:
Students:
Really get nervous about the Presentations of Learning but
develop essential skills in public speaking
Teachers:
Needs to be more rigid in order to maintain the academic
integrity of the projects
Inclusion Specialists/Academic Coaches:
There are very few students who actually need assessments
modified, and this is usually done simply by having students do
less of an activity. Inclusion specialists and academic coaches
advise teachers on how to adapt or modify assessments.
Professional Development

All staff meet every morning before school.

Staff meetings
Content meetings
Teacher team meetings
Promote Professional Development events throughout
year.
Perspectives on Professional Development
Administrators:
“Most needed talents are already in the building.”
Grad school students will frequently come in as speakers.
Teachers:
Some teachers do action research more than others, but is
essential in order for projects to be effective.
Action research occurs naturally within required “mentorship
videos” that are done by all teachers on a regular basis.
Inclusion Specialists/Academic Coaches:
Inclusion Specialists are involved in all staff days and
professional development and are supported in going to
professional development.
Academic Coaches, however, do not gain much professional
development. The school is trying to restructure this
component of the academic coaches’ position.
Relationships

They really are everything at High Tech High

The school is serious about building good relationships
with the community, as well as fostering good
relationships between every type of connection in the
school
Perspectives on Relationships
Students:
"You can tell that the teachers care about you and want you to do
well."
Feel that they get to know the teachers and the teachers know them.
Administrators:
Communication channels with parents are largely based on monthly
open meetings and frequent phone calls and emails from the directors.
Teachers:
Teacher-Teacher relationships are strong because of how the school is
set-up
Student-Teacher relationship has to work otherwise the teacher will no
longer have a job (no tenure)
Parent-Teacher relationships tend to be strong with many teachers
sending out weekly emails to keep them informed.
Inclusion Specialists/Academic Coaches:
The jobs of Inclusion Specialists and Academic Coaches are very
much about relationships. They work very hard to have strong
relationships between themselves and the students, parents, teachers
and administrators. These relationships tend to be very good and
generally strong, and thus support students’ success.
Reflections on High Tech High -NC

Strengths: Weaknesses: 

     * Student engagement in  * Un-tested so far - 1st

       learning  graduating class this year
(other HTH have some data)
    * Inclusive and safe
      atmosphere  * Content seems to suffer for
the sake of the project at
    * Natural differentiation times 
      through project work
  * Some students are left
    * Strong unchallenged by the various
Teacher/Student   projects.
      Community