Influencing the wider system to develop rigorous, project-based learning

High Tech High is an integrated network of schools spanning grades K-12, housing a comprehensive teacher certification program and a new, innovative Graduate School of Education. The school’s mission is to prepare a diverse range of students for postsecondary education, citizenship and leadership in the high technology industry.

Authentic assessment of project-based learning

High Tech High’s defining pedagogy is a rigorous approach to project-based learning which requires students to work together to produce high-quality, authentic products that capture their learning. Teachers work in pairs: one Humanities/English specialist with one Math/Science specialist, to provide all the support for a group of 50 students. They work together to design interdisciplinary projects where students engage with core content in the service of creating a meaningful product, such as a book, a documentary or an operational machine. Formative assessment of understanding is ongoing throughout projects: students are expected to keep logs and journals of their progress, and teachers can check student understanding of key concepts and evaluate their reflective writing. Summative assessment of what students have learned takes place through public exhibition of student work - a key feature of the learning design. Exhibitions bring students, teachers, families, experts and the local community together to display and explore the learning that has taken place through student projects. Exhibitions support students to articulate and be assessed on both their mastery of content knowledge and the learning journey they have undertaken throughout the project.

Influencing the wider education system

Since 2007, High Tech High has also been home to its own Graduate School of Education (GSE). The GSE was the first graduate school to grow from a school network, and now offers accredited Masters in Education (M.Ed.) programs in Teacher leadership or School leadership. Courses are open to all teachers, not just those at High Tech High, and the school also offers an online academy for teachers who cannot come to the site. The GSE sees itself not just as a place for disseminating knowledge but as a ‘laboratory of teaching and learning for all its members’, with graduate students working alongside High Tech High teachers and students to try out new ideas and learn more about how everyone learns. To further its work, the school has developed its own research centre in the form of the Center for Research on Equity and Innovation. The centre engages current faculty, students and visitors in dialogues about emerging practices to improve equitable outcomes in education.

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