American Graduate; Nex+Gen High School

I almost dropped out and this semester I came back and as I give it a shot and turned out great project -based learning that's a lot easier too like he actually gets hands -on in everything like the foundations of engineering class we actually do little studies and little labs you know just to learn and it helps you learn a lot easier than then just looking in a book trying to find a meaningful context for a teenager is certainly a challenging endeavor but I think a lot of time we do when we started talking about next gen you said your focus isn't specifically dropout prevention in that you're not after necessarily at risk kids here who are you helping our program our school really is geared to really help those mid -range students the students that maybe not have not be as interested at school may not know exactly what they want to do but really can get get excited about the kind of project and problem -based learning rather than the

traditional sitting in the classroom what do we have to learn this for so how do you ensure that you're teaching to the specifications of the state and yet coming up with some sort of appropriate project well first of all it starts with wonderful teachers who have really worked hard and take a take at the risk and really work hard to learn a whole new way of teaching and learning so this is kind of corny but you're going to get to serve music in some way tracing these constructions and then I might not be able to look at them and know what they are but you'll be able to show me from your drawings which I did we start with the standards that the state wants students to learn as they go through high school but we do it as a starting point for real world projects and problems right now we're learning about boy and see and you know how our balloons and stuff it makes a hot air balloon float we're seeing some wonderful projects and just some some great success with students then normally would you know kind of sit in the back of the class and just kind of get by with C's or maybe worse

I'm not really I've never really been good in math but I'm actually doing better than I expected so you know and then my other class is my American studies in my A's class I'm doing good in there too so better than before yeah better than what I used to get over here I don't already a lot better how long did it take for you to sort of get to the point here where you're like you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna see this through I'm gonna at least graduate it was it was when I got here this year when I started out good I decided well maybe if I just keep this up it won't be too bad it won't be too hard to continue and graduate you talked to us about a student Sean who had just kind of been floundering in a regular high school setting what is it about this that makes it work for him well he he was joking the other day to one of his teachers it almost feels like he's been in high school for six years hasn't been that long but but the exciting thing to hear from him is that he went to two or three different traditional high schools and and you know he's he's an intelligent young man just wasn't ever interested and coming here he says he feels like he's part of a community he's respected

it's really really a lot better here environment it's a lot more calmer and you know I don't feel like I have to you know just try to wash my back and everything you know he's he's allowed to be himself and we're able to give him the individual and kind of that differentiation and kind of more attention in relationship with with an adult here that is something he needed and something that many many students need it's really important part of our school community besides just the project and problem -based learning is a culture that's built around trust and respect and responsibility and he said to me this is really the first school where he really felt recognized and that he was trusted and really given the respect that was important to him and he's held up his end to the bargain by by owning up to that trust and respect and responsibility I was close to just getting my GUD I was just gonna drop out but you know my mom always told me she's like no don't get that and then then I found out that you can't go in the military without without a high

school diploma so you know well I have time I guess I was just able to fix everything I came here and thankfully they accepted me so you know doing good now you all know the students and we have relationships with the students so I think that's the primary thing it lets us challenge kids further it lets us build more than just their academic content and for those students that are having issues and then having a small group of adults who can come together and try to figure out what exactly is going on in this child's life I'm hoping that we're keeping somebody who would otherwise be lost we're finding out what's happening and helping them move in the right direction have you had any washouts people who said I can't do this I have to admit that we have you know being new and being the first of its kind not having students that they could you know ask about what's the school like or even parents so trying to get a sense of of what our niche is and what the benefits of our school are and what kind of students could really be successful we had a few sorting out but the but the neat thing

is is that we had a huge percentage of students come back I was not expecting what I came and what it is what it's like it's a lot better if your main concern is just trying to save those that are going to drop out I use the analogy that your you're playing to not lose the game so that means that as opposed to trying to make the school experience meaningful relevant trying to insert rigor or challenge into instruction you're just spending all your time trying to figure out how to keep those people from leaving you remember you're using one color so in that process you're gonna have that huge chunk of kids that you're gonna as a result just alienate because you're not really playing to them the small size with San Diego is very difficult for me to be around lots of people I've always had that problem so when I came here when I saw 150 students at well that was how it was when I was first year it was a lot better it made it a lot easier and like Sean said it's more relaxed you don't feel like you always have to watch your back for somebody

what happens if you're not engaging those students who respond to the system where do they go if they weren't here they might be either on the streets taking a GED those mid -range smart students and not really being all that they could be taking the easier way out of graduate and not graduating in the 10th and 11th grade and not going on to college does it seem within reach I mean I know sometimes it can be it's now now last year I didn't think so but this year definitely thinks so