Replicable Practices

• he school was recently recognized in a Standard & Poor’s report for being in the top 2 percent of schools in Californiain closing the achievement gap in language arts and mathematics.

• The school schedule is built on a seven-period day: Sixth grade students receive 155 minutes of language arts daily.Seventh and eighth grade students receive 105 minutes of language arts and English language development daily.

• Every teacher is responsible for student literacy and the development of vocabulary in their subject.

• A collaborative teacher-designed rubric describes what an engaged performance-based classroom should look like.

• All math and language arts teachers receive AB 466 training followed by a year of coaching.

• Math, reading and writing interventions are available throughout the school day.

• English language arts development and mathematics placement are course-specific, not grade-level specific anddetermined by teacher input, work samples, and California Standards Test data.

• The art program and technology classes use innovative interdisciplinary activities.

• The use of portfolios to demonstrate student learning is widespread across the school.

• All students have an adult advocate.

• A strong teaming structure provides opportunities for teachers to connect with students daily.

• Students actively participate in parent-teacher conferences.

• Students are offered an array of electives (art, band, music theory, music appreciation, computers, computer graphics,publications, and Advancement Via Individual Determination [AVID]).

• Parents are partners in the school’s educational process.

• After-school activities include: Seasonal sports for both boys and girls, and a variety of clubs.

• There are multiple opportunities for all students to achieve grade-level standards.

• Every student has a team “study buddy” to call when he or she needs to clarify notes.

• There is one full-time counselor and one full-time student-assistance representative who works with students on areferral basis.

• Parents are involved in the school’s positive discipline policies which have significantly reduced suspensions.

• The school has created a culture of common vision and shared decision-making.

• Each team of teachers has a common prep time to facilitate planning, communication, and coordination.

• Teams collaborate and use assessment data to develop intervention programs.

• Coaching (both formal and informal) is a school-wide norm.

• The school schedules interventions daily both during and after school.

• The leadership team members act as instructional coaches for the other members of the staff.

• A distributed leadership team meets once per month, trains one day per month, and coaches other staff members as needed.

• Grades are updated in student planners every two weeks.