I’m writing today to share with you an example of how the New San Juan High School made room for both college and career courses using an eight period alternating block schedule. In many schools it has been difficult to make room on the schedule for career-focused courses that would benefit students by making school more relevant to their interests. Extreme examples include schools that are under Program Improvement mandates to offer double blocks of English and Math. Here is a copy of the eight period block schedule used by the New San Juan High School.
Below is a profile of how the school is transforming to meet the needs of the community and students it serves, and attached is a letter from Tony Oddo, former Principal of New San Juan High School in the San Juan Unified School District.
New San Juan High School
The San Juan Unified School District (District) integrated college and career focused instruction to turn-around a school that was unpopular and had declining enrollment. The District’s open enrollment policy allowed students to select which school they attended, and the facility where the New San Juan High School is located was threatened with closure. In response to community concern that the school should not be closed, the District took steps to provide a school that students want to attend. Teachers and administration worked collaboratively to research options and to design a school with programs that would be popular to students and include a rigorous academic and career focus.
Students at New San Juan High School do not choose between college and career because instruction from both domains is integrated into a unified program. Implementing an 8 period alternating block schedule was required to make room for academic and career instruction. The career focus has brought relevance to instruction and reinforced math and English academic standards through the school-wide project based learning model. Students use measurement in all of the career pathways and English through development of presentation skills related to careers through “real world” applications.
It may be premature to evaluate the success of the school’s programs because the school is only in its second year of implementation. However, the school is popular with enrollment increasing and the API is up by 58 points. Students who attend the school are choosing pathway programs located at the school and not from other traditional ROP based programs. This allows the students to have a full educational experience without leaving the site, except for student internships with local businesses.
Teachers at New San Juan High School are changing the way they teach students. Academic and career standards are backward planned and incorporated into project based instructional unit with particular focus on assessment of student knowledge and skills. Additional funding is needed to support the professional development of teachers so they can be certified to industry standards and therefore be able to provide instruction that aligns with the latest industry standards and practices. Because the school’s instructional programs are rigorous and aligned to academic and career standards, students may receive credit towards industry certification or college credit through articulation agreements established with local community colleges.
The District allocates Title I funds to the school and these funds are used to reduce class size for the core academic programs. As a result, students have more individual attention from teachers in the core academic programs than they would have without the availability of Title 1 funds.
The New San Juan High School maintains relationships with national industry associations and local business through advisory boards for each pathway. The student’s instructional program is augmented by internships at local businesses related to their career paths and through participation in other activities outside the classroom. For example, students intern at local bakeries and auto shops, and may participate in programs like the ACE mentor program.
A significant concern is whether the funds available to the school will be sufficient over time to sustain the program. The costs of providing materials and staff professional development in an enhance Career Technical Education goes far beyond “core instruction costs.” For example, material costs in the construction and culinary programs are an essential instructional component. Title I funds cannot be used to support these costs because this fund source is restricted to instruction in “core” subjects. This is unfortunate; because career focused instruction brings relevance to the core subjects by integrating math applications in real world applications into the curriculum.
Special thanks to Tony for sharing!