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LOS GATOS HIGH SCHOOL SELF‐STUDY REPORT

20 HIGH SCHOOL COURT LOS GATOS, CA 95030

LOS GATOS‐SARATOGA UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT OCTOBER 17‐20, 2010

WASC/CDE FOCUS ON LEARNING ACCREDITATION MANUAL

2009 EDITION, UPDATED FALL 2009

Los Gatos High School WASC Self-Study Report 2010

CONTENTS

Chapter III: Progress Report ............................................................................................................ 2 Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................2 Updates from Departments .................................................................................................................................8 Guidance Department ......................................................................................................................................... 9 English Department ........................................................................................................................................... 13 Math department .............................................................................................................................................. 15 Science Department .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Social Studies Department ................................................................................................................................ 19 Special Education Department .......................................................................................................................... 22 World Language............................................................................................................................................. 24 Library 25 Industrial Technology ........................................................................................................................................ 27 Home Economics ............................................................................................................................................... 29 Additional Changes and Progress.......................................................................................................................31

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CHAPTER III: PROGRESS REPORT

INTRODUCTION

In the past six years, Los Gatos High School has undergone significant changes. In addition to experiencing substantial administrative changes at the site level, we have a new superintendent (a former teacher in the district who is currently in his third year as superintendent), and a few staff members have been replaced or have left, mainly due to retirements or allocation constraints. In addition, LGHS adopted block scheduling in 2009‐10. Thus, in light of recommendations from the visiting committee during the previous WASC visit, we have improved certain areas as well as maintained (and even bolstered) areas of strength. At a meeting at the start of this cycle’s WASC process, our staff reviewed the 2003 action plan and critical areas of need. What follows are summative notes from that meeting, in addition to findings acquired from electronic voting conducted with LGHS staff, using electronic “clickers” in small groups of three or four.

Improvement Area #1: We will improve student learning and performance in the areas of reading and writing skills by increasing the teaching of reading and writing skills across the curriculum; incorporating more reading comprehension and critical thinking strategies into each subject area; developing standards‐based rubrics that can be used for assessing student writing across subject areas; and stepping up efforts to provide tutorial assistance to low‐performing students.

In the school year following our last accreditation, we began a series of in‐service trainings on reading in the content area. In departments, we chose reading strategies that we implemented in each department or curricular area. In addition, teachers were asked to use one of their three annual goals as a focus for reading in the content area. After this first year, the focus shifted to writing in the content area and other issues. Most teachers were able to come up with a few strategies for classroom use that they did not use prior to this staff development.

In the second year, the process was similar, but the focus shifted to writing in the content area. We developed writing rubrics in each department and discussed writing requirements at each grade level within departments. Some departments, such as physical education, struggled with meeting the goals of this school‐wide action area. Each teacher was asked during this year to adopt an annual goal with respect to writing in the content area.

STAR data reveals an increase in English/Language Arts performance in recent years. In 2007/08, 73% of our students scored as proficient or advanced on the English/Language Arts portion of the STAR test and 99% of our students were tested. In 2008/2009, 79% of our students scored as proficient or advanced on the English/Language Arts portion of the STAR test and 98% of our students were tested.

WASC 2003 CRITICAL AREA OF ACADEMIC NEED #1: IMPROVE STUDENT READING AND WRITING SKILLS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM.

WASC 2003 CRITICAL AREA OF ACADEMIC NEED #2: ENHANCE THE SCHOOL CLIMATE BY IMPROVING PARENT, STUDENT, AND TEACHER COMMUNICATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY AND BY ADDRESSING CONCERNS ABOUT STUDENT STRESS, STUDENT BEHAVIOR, CAMPUS CLEANLINESS, AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.

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Improvement Area #2: We will enhance the school climate by improving communication through the increased use of technology for posting grades, assignments, and attendance information; helping students to better manage and reduce both personal and academic stress; promoting cooperative and ethical behavior; reducing the amount of student littering and vandalism; and increasing awareness of what constitutes academic integrity (and punishing violations).

In 2005, the entire district switched from using SASI to Aeries. Aeries not only manages our Master Schedule, attendance, and discipline on the back‐end but also contains Aeries Browser Interface (ABI), which is an interactive piece for teachers, parents, and students. When it was initially implemented, 30 teachers, for one of the choices in our “Buy‐Back Days,” were trained to be trainers in ABI. They were trained to take attendance, enter grades, and access student/parent contact information via ABI. Every teacher started that year taking attendance online. As time went on and new teachers were hired, teacher trainers in each department helped support and train those new teachers in using ABI. Initially, teachers had the option of using ABI for their grading program; by 2007 all teachers were expected to use ABI for entering and managing their grades. Currently all teachers post their grades online. In addition, because ABI is completely web‐based, many teachers now enter grades at home or on weekends, without having to be at school.

Parents and students can view grades and attendance in real time via ABI as can counselors and school administrators. The district has imported data from a multitude of sources including AP test scores, STAR scores and CAHSEE results to enable us at the school site to have greater power in using data to direct our practice. We have also integrated all of this data into Naviance. Naviance is another web‐based resource that allows us to customize a student’s likelihood of getting into a particular college by graphically showing where he/she falls on a scatter plot of past students from our school. It uses data such as SAT scores and GPA to enable this student to view him/herself relative to former graduates. This tool is wonderful for parents and students to use for college planning. Another great feature of Naviance is that our College and Career Center can even email students when a college they are interested in is presenting on campus.

In addition, we implemented school‐wide and grade level listserves a few years ago but because they were easily corrupted, it became difficult to maintain the integrity of the messages which were being distributed and by whom. Two years ago, we switched over to School Messenger, a batch email software component, coupled with Aeries, that enables the school to send pertinent email messages to large groups of parents and/or students and staff. Individual teachers can email parents and/or students directly through ABI either through the gradebook feature or through the individual students’ contact information. This capability allows us much greater flexibility and wider communication. We use this technology to inform students and parents about upcoming presentations, events they might be interested in, as well as reminders for Saturday School attendance, among other information pertinent to students’ high school experience.

Improvement Area #1: We will create a coordinated staff development plan that facilitates the staff’s continuing access to and acquisition of knowledge and information related to the most current educational trends and practices, including Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) processes; that aligns the WASC Schoolwide Action Plan, Single Site Plan, and other school and district wide educational improvement activities; and

WASC 2003 CRITICAL AREA OF ACADEMIC NEED #3: CREATE A COORDINATED STAFF DEVELOPMENT PLAN.

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that promotes intra‐ and inter‐departmental collaboration and cross curricular articulation in order to ensure students are getting the best instruction possible to aid their achievement.

After our WASC visiting committee departed in the spring of 2003, we established the Professional Development Committee (PDC). The PDC began by establishing a professional development plan for the year using the WASC plan as its compass. The professional development was arranged for staff to spend some time in departments and in cross‐curricular groups. In the first two years, there was no open‐ended collaboration time but only structured time. Initially we used what had been our faculty meeting time as our new collaborative time. This slowly evolved into having a special “collaboration schedule” during the 2008/2009 school year. This shift gave teachers an alternating balance between structured professional development time and open‐ended intra or inter departmental collaboration every week. In the 2009/2010 school year, when we made the significant change to a 90‐minute block schedule with an embedded tutorial period, the collaboration time moved back to the afternoon, but remained an alternating balance between open ended and structured collaboration time. The PDC remained an active part of planning the structured collaboration time until we entered the year prior to our WASC visit. At that time, our structured collaboration time became dedicated to working on our WASC report and was structured by the WASC coordinator, leadership team, and Curriculum Council. Now that teachers have become accustomed to having unprescribed collaboration time, most wonder how they ever survived without it. Now that we are nearing completion of our self‐study intensive process, we are reforming the PDC with members of each department playing a part in planning.

Each summer, prior to the start of school, we had had a history of offering “Buy‐Back Days” where teachers could be paid for attending professional development sessions after choosing from a list of professional development opportunities. Prior to our WASC visit, funds had been cut, and we hoped to restore them. For the interim five years, we were able to survey staff for interest and offer Buy Back Days on our campus from suggestions offered by our teachers. However, due to the current economic climate, that funding has again been cut back.

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THE SINGLE PLAN FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

The single plan was developed by the staff. It is aligned with our district’s long‐range initiatives. It started with brainstorming in Curriculum Council and thereafter was discussed by the entire staff in departments, by department chairs, by the Home and School Club, and the administrative team. Ideas were then transmitted back and forth until we felt the plan reflected what we wanted to accomplish and move towards during the 2010/2011 school year.

LOS GATOS HIGH SCHOOL SINGLE PLAN FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 2010/2011

District Long‐Range Initiative: Make learning more engaging, relevant, and effective.

Goal #1: Increase Academic Performance Index (API) score by increasing California State Test scores

• Groups Participating: Staff, Curriculum Council • Means of Evaluation:

o 6 point improvement in API score from the 874 received in 2009 o 1% (6 points) improvement in Algebra 1 (628 API) CST scores from 2009 by 2010 o 1% (7 point) improvement in Geometry (730 API) CST scores from 2009 by 2010 o 1% (8 point) improvement in ELA scores from 2009 by 2010 o 1% (8 point) improvement in Special Education (612 API)sub‐score from 2009 by 2010

• Actions to be Taken: o Realign Algebra 1 curriculum with the state standards and revise the pacing and sequence guide

followed by common assessments o Reorganize Geometry curriculum to revise prerequisites and create common assessments for

each level o Refine the common writing assessment across the grade levels administered through the English

Department focusing on common language and rubric assessment o Continued development of Freshmen Intervention Program for freshmen who are failing one or

more classes every six weeks o Create collaborative classes for foundational courses crossing the 4 core curricular areas:

Algebra 1, Geometry, World History, US History, English 9, English 10, Earth Space Science, Chemistry in the Community

• Start/Completion Date: January 2010 – June 2011 • Proposed Budget:

o $5,000 Title I Coordinator o $12,000 Freshman Intervention Program stipends and organization o $2400 for substitutes for English Writing Assessment grading day

• Funding Source: Title II; Title I; EIA

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Goal #2: Improve communication with and between students, parents, and teachers.

• Groups Participating: Curriculum Council, Technology Committee, Staff • Means of Evaluation:

o Individual teacher web pages will be designed and implemented by Back to School Night in the Fall of 2010.

o All teachers will host on his/her site at the minimum: class policies and procedures (green sheet), long term projects and assignments, contact information.

o Bi‐weekly communication to LGHS students’ families from the administration via School Messenger

o Parent survey regarding school communication. • Actions to be Taken:

o Staff will be trained in departments in the website protocols, creation, and implementation of their teacher site.

o Staff trainers will be available to staff to answer questions and guide the process of creating and maintaining active sites.

o Administrative team will collaborate every other week to discuss the bi‐weekly communication of upcoming events at LGHS.

o Administer survey regarding school communication to LGHS parents and families. • Start/Completion Date: January 2010 – January 2011 • Proposed Budget: $2500 Web service; $3000 Webmaster stipend • Funding Source: SIP

District Long‐Range Initiative: Provide a stimulating working and learning environment

Goal #3: Increase the quality of classroom instruction through staff collaboration of best practices

• Groups Participating: Professional Development Committee, Department Chairs, Staff • Means of Evaluation:

o Professional goal based on best practices research o Departmental/Subject level goal based on one 21st Century Learning outcome o Collaboration project designed by various teacher groups that plan and incorporate at least one

research based practice into the classroom o Teacher survey data regarding collaboration efforts and results regarding collaboration and best

practices • Actions to be Taken:

o Create a Professional Development Plan for teaching staff that focuses on best practices o Teachers will set professional goal to implement at least one new strategy in the classroom per

year o Departments/Subject levels will set one departmental/Subject level goal establishing a 21st

Century Learning outcome to be incorporated into a lesson o Teachers submit results and products from the collaboration projects approved at the beginning

of the school year. o Administer surveys to teachers regarding collaboration and best practices

• Start/Completion Date: August 2010 – June 2011 • Proposed Budget: $5000 staff development workshops and materials • Funding Source: Title II

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Goal #4: Create a staff mentorship program focusing on students earning low grades and experiencing emotional stress.

• Groups Participating: Staff, CASSY, Guidance Counselors • Means of Evaluation:

o Students with Ds and Fs will be tracked by the staff and volunteers will choose to mentor various students every 6 weeks. Guidance Counselors and CASSY staff may also identify students every 6 weeks to be listed.

o Student survey will be administered regarding the affective domain of their experiences at LGHS o Data will be tracked as to which students are being mentored and who is mentoring them

targeting GPA, school involvement, and qualitative well‐being. o There will be one staff meeting each semester designed specifically for mentor teachers to talk,

share, and discuss effective methods, success stories, and improvements in the program. • Actions to be Taken:

o Students earning D and Fs will be identified every 6 weeks and posted in the faculty lounge. o Staff members will voluntarily sign up to mentor one or more students on the list. o Staff members will connect with their mentee a minimum of once a month tracking the student’s

progress and advocating for and with the student with other staff when necessary o Staff agree to attend a mentor staff meeting to discuss the program and its successes and

direction once a semester o Students will be surveyed each semester to track quantitative impressions of school culture and

school connectedness. The results will be shared with the staff at the mentor meeting each semester.

• Start/Completion Date: April 2010 ‐ June 2011 • Proposed Budget: $5000 for staff requests and student needs • Funding Source: SIP

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UPDATES FROM DEPARTMENTS

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GUIDANCE DEPARTMENT

Changes in the last six years:

With a new approach to working with students, a new caseload structure, a new job description and new personnel – over the last six years LGHS has witnessed a total and systematic change of the Guidance Department. All five of the current Guidance Counselors have been hired since 2004 as each of the former members retired a year at a time. The Counselors started with the title “Academic Advisors” implying we were there to serve only academic needs. Then, the decision was made to adopt the title of “Student Advisors,” as the focus of this role shifted to serving the whole student. Now our counselors are known simply as “Guidance Counselors” and follow the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) National Model. Our essential objective is to assist students in three domain areas: academic, career and personal/social. We view this model as helping students address three important questions:

1. Who Am I? (personal/social) 2. Where Am I Going? (career and personal) 3. How Am I Going to Get There? (academic)

Resultantly, we have worked with a professional who creates graphic organizers to develop tools that help students answer those three questions, as demonstrated in the graphic below:

At a high performing academic high school, students are goal‐oriented, focused on the next stage of their life. At LGHS, we provide students with information and guidance as they meet high school graduation requirements and college entrance requirements. The Guidance Department provides classroom presentations, individual meetings, online resources, email messages, and after‐school workshops. All Counselors strive to serve the unique needs of each individual student as they progress along the path toward adulthood. For the past two years, the counseling staff has been consistent and has established a caseload by alpha‐breakdown. And, in 2009‐10, the administration staff adopted a caseload structure mirroring Guidance’s, resulting in two adults on the campus (an Assistant Principal and Counselor) maintaining contact with and supporting a student all four years.

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One victory that has impacted Guidance’s ability to quickly provide academic‐related information to families and students, and therefore has changed our approach to classroom presentations, is the integrated use of Naviance. Naviance is a software program designed to help counselors communicate with families, correlate data, and create surveys. Prior to Naviance, a lot of classroom time was devoted to giving students specifics about colleges; now, we can “teach the students to fish” and learn about colleges, thus reallocating that classroom time for more personalized activities. The visual below provides an overview of how Guidance utilizes the system at every grade level, with specific assignments given usually twice a year. The parents and students have responded very positively to this new software tool; in fact, during the summer of 2008, over 50% of the senior class accessed the website (without prompting).

Breadth and depth of curriculum:

In following ASCA’s National Model, the Guidance Department employs a variety of methods to help all students. Each student has at least one individual meeting with his/her counselor per year. In addition, we offer grade level large group assemblies and a variety of smaller focus group sessions. The Guidance Department brainstorms with the Student Government to determine the needs of each grade level and has implemented new workshops and sessions to meet those needs. Recently added workshops include:

a) Private College Workshop for Seniors in August. This workshop occurs a few weeks before school begins and outlines what seniors must complete to apply to private colleges. Professional essay readers are hired to review students’ essays.

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b) Meet Your Counselor Evenings. This evening presentation allows incoming freshmen (and their parents) to meet their counselor and become familiar with LGHS. We developed this presentation after speaking with 8th graders about their concerns for transitioning to LGHS.

c) College Entrance Test Panel. A panel of seniors share how they prepared for the SAT/ACT and offer hints and suggestions to juniors.

d) Alumni College Fair. For the past few years, we invite recent graduates back to LG to speak to current students about their colleges. Typically, we have 70 alumni return and approximately 150 students attend the fair, generally held a few days before winter vacation begins.

Beyond working with students, the Guidance Department also recognizes the importance of outreach to parents. We speak at the Home and School Club meetings four or five times through‐out the year and offer a variety of evening information nights designed for parents.

Results of collaborative efforts

Our department collaborates formally on a weekly basis and informally on a daily basis. All of our offices are located within a few yards from each other, making impromptu meetings possible. And, since we have had complete staff turn‐over, we have had to collaborate on policy and ensuring we all know (and follow) protocol. It’s essential that the students and parents see us as a Guidance Team, with each person providing a consistent answer and level of service.

Beyond internal collaboration, the Guidance Department communicates and collaborates with all departments in the school. The Counselors regularly visit the lunch rooms of the various departments, sometimes just to say hi and sometimes to talk through a student issue. The Guidance Department Chair is an active member of the school Curriculum Council which discusses school issues and policies. The Freshman Support program was developed through that collaboration. The Freshman Support program requires any freshman with a failing grade at a marking period to attend a special support class two days a week for the next five weeks. The goal is to help students pass their courses and we have had great success, with 30 of the 70 students enrolled at the second marking period last year passing all courses at the semester.

Department strengths

While Guidance is a relatively new department in terms of its composition, we have bonded quickly and have been recognized for the following strengths:

1) Use of technology. Over the past five years, we have offered Naviance implementation workshops to over 20 area schools and at the National Association of College Admission Counselors 2008 Annual conference. We excel at our use of Naviance and other technology tools such as the student database Aeries and using clickers during classroom presentations. During the 2009‐10 school year, we used online course registration, resulting in 96% of our students requesting courses within a one‐week period. Having course requests in the database by the first week of February allowed school and district administrators to make staffing decisions while the counselors were meeting with students individually and finessing requests.

2) Providing tailored, student‐focused workshops. In collaboration with Student Government, we hold four student panels annually, featuring topics relevant to students (Transitioning to High School from Private Schools, Transitioning to High School from CT English Middle School, Preparing for the ACT/SAT, and Making Your College Choice).

3) Use of data to drive decisions. The Guidance Department is continually finding new ways to examine and share data. Examples include:

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a. Class Request Rosters: To help ensure students are appropriately placed, all teachers receive class roster print‐outs with the students’ 5th marking period grades and their course choice for next year.

b. STAR Results: As teachers review their STAR data, they are given their class rosters along with a list of STAR scores and a differential score, indicating whether the student’s mark in the class correlated with the STAR score.

c. Master Schedule Analysis: In creation of a master schedule, we have devised a spreadsheet that calculates the average number of seats used by each grade level per period. This ensures that we keep our class sizes balanced.

d. Change in GPA: Each six weeks we create a report showing the changes in each student’s GPA. We can easily tag students with the biggest drops and increases, allowing for early intervention and discussion, as well as praise and recognition for improvement.

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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Changes in the last six years Our department has been remarkably stable. Of the fifteen current English teachers, twelve were here six years ago. Despite the stability in staffing, we have made several significant changes in curriculum. We now have a school‐wide writing assessment that we give to all students in the fall. This assessment is based on the prompts and expository essay format from the CSU Early Assessment Program; thirteen of our teachers have taken the CSU seminar on writing. We have committed to using the CSU writing rubric in our classes, so that students have the same expectations throughout their four years of English. We also revised our department curriculum guide to mirror the state standards. However, we found that our “old” curriculum covered just about all the standards and only a few revisions were needed.

We have significantly opened up access to our honors sections. Six years ago one teacher taught each honors level. We now have had two teachers at each grade level who collaborate closely on curriculum, and we now set the number of sections more fluidly based on student achievement, rather than simply keeping two sections at each grade level. We currently have four honors sections in grades 9 and 10, and three sections of each of our AP classes in grades 11 and 12. Even though we have increased the number of students taking our AP classes, our AP passing rates have remained high‐‐and roughly the same from year to year.

We also now use more technology tools to better our instruction and communication. Teachers use Aeries, SchoolNotes, turnitin.com, the school web page, Facebook, email, and an online forum to foster student and parent communication. We all have projectors connected to our computers, a few teachers have document scanners, and teachers in the department have developed PowerPoint lessons on grammar, Shakespeare, etc. Students also now use PowerPoint frequently while making presentations themselves. Finally, thanks to the generosity of the New Millennium Foundation (NMF), a local foundation that supports LGHS, we will be installing a new English computer lab over the summer to replace our antiquated computers.

Senior English now allows students to choose from several focus areas including Film and Ethics. We have instituted team‐taught classes and a reading class for lower achieving students; we have a diagnostic reading assessment given to freshmen; and we have abolished our remedial writing skills program (to give students access to the mainstream), and several teachers now collaborate extensively on their curriculum. At the ninth grade level all students complete a service learning project.

Breadth and depth of classes We offer two tracks of English, honors and college preparatory, at each grade level. Typically about 25% of each grade enrolls in honors and the rest are in “college prep” English. We offer AP English Language and Composition at the junior level and AP English Literature and Composition at the senior level. We also offer English electives: El Gato (student newspaper) and Drama 1 & 2, and in recent years we have offered Philosophy and Introduction to Journalism.

Extra stuff we do Just about every teacher in the department is involved in significant activities outside of the English department, whether it be teaching classes outside the department or being in leadership roles in major campus activities.

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Classes taught by English Teachers serving in additional capacities include Dance, Leadership, Drama, El Gato, Yearbook, AP Computer Science, International Cuisine, and Freshman Support.

Extra‐curricular leadership roles include Fractured Follies, Interact, Speech and Debate, student government, Cheer, DeHavilland and Miller Cups (speech and drama competitions), Swim Team, Dance Team, Link Crew, student plays, the Shakespeare assembly, AIDS benefit, the Service Fair, faculty book club, and Challenge Day. Four of the ten WASC group leaders come from our department, and each year the “Book Cooks” donate a catered dinner to the NMF auction.

Results of collaborative efforts Our curriculum is aligned at every grade level, and grade level teachers share quite a bit. This sharing ranges from developing all curriculum and assessments together, as some freshman teachers do, to sharing of particular assignments, assessments, and activities. We have, as mentioned, also developed a school‐wide writing assessment that we score together, assuring that our standards for student writing are similar. Freshman teachers also have their students do a significant service learning component as part of the curriculum.

Department strengths Twelve of our fifteen teachers possess a Master’s Degree, and all but our recently retired department chair are CLAD certified. Our department is becoming a veteran one, with the median number of years at LGHS up to 14, and median years teaching a few higher than that. And as stated above, virtually every English teacher is significantly involved with the school outside the English classroom. Our STAR test scores remain high, with 73% of students scoring proficient or higher. Our students score 100 points higher than the state average on both the SAT verbal and writing sections, and 85% of our tenth graders pass the CAHSEE. In 2008, 173 students passed on of the two AP English exams. Our AP pass rate was 90%, compared to a national pass rate of 60%.

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MATH DEPARTMENT

2004‐2005

• Completed final purchases from NMF $75,000 grant (Jeanne‐Marie). Set up new

computer classrooms (Kevin & Dolly) with laptops, printers, tables, chairs, and LCD projectors. Last 7 teacher desks arrived.

2005‐2006 • Established new Trigonometry/Advanced Topics class. (Adam)

2006‐2007 • Established new AP Statistics class. (Kenny Lewis) • Jeanne‐Marie, Kevin, and Kenny submitted and passed new Audit for AP classes. • Offered AP Calculus BC through UC Extension, taught by Robert Reed using

Jeanne‐Marie’s syllabus.

2007‐2008 • Reestablished AP Calculus BC course within the department. (Kevin) • Established Collaborative Algebra I course – 1st collaborative class on campus.

(Gail & Janis)

2008‐2009 • 11 of 13 teachers acquired CTEL certification (through 12 units of coursework or 3

weekends of training and standardized testing). This resulted in 100% of the department being CTEL certified.

• Installation of LCD projectors in all math classes.

2009‐2010 • All math teachers revised curricula for new block schedule. • Established Sequential Algebra collaborative course. (CC & Heath) • New textbook adopted for Algebra II course. (Debbie & Dolly) • Algebra B collaborative course offered. ( Sarkis & Heath) • Arrange for acquisition of document cameras. • Researched, applied for, and received funding for video streaming services in all

classes beginning 2010‐2011. • Two members of the department are workshop presenters for the collaborative

model. (Gail & Janis) • Researched and selected a new Algebra I textbook for use in the 2010‐2011

school year.

Class Offerings

The Math Department offers multiple opportunities for student success and achievement, providing various pathways for the UC and CSU bound students. Collaborative math courses provide a full inclusion pathway for Special Education students.

Extra Stuff

MATH CLUB provides opportunities for exposure and discussion of math enrichment topics in weekly meetings. Students prepare for and participate in math contests both on campus and off campus. Students make peer presentations on higher level math topics. Every year approximately 100 students participate in the National AMC Math Contest, and a number proceed to the next level(s) of the test. The Math Department honors these gifted students at the end‐of‐the‐year awards ceremonies.

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SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

In the past 6 years, the science department has acquired 4 new teachers. Every year, we request grants from the New Millennium Foundation and Home and School Club to enhance our technology, teaching and lab materials. Teachers in our department also give their time to the New Millenium Foundation in the from of offering for auction a Star Party, a Video Memory Book, and bowling with the science department. Our teachers spend a tremendous amount of time collaborating and keeping our curriculum aligned with the state standards and within our curricular areas. We have just added an AP Environmental Science course, a collaborative Earth Space Science course and are allowing more students to enroll in biology as freshmen.

Fundamental Curricular Knowledge

Members of the science department staff regularly attend conferences such as STEP‐ The Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Education program that trains teachers to incubate salmonid eggs in the classroom and BAESI (Bay Area Earth Science Institute) to increase fundamental curricular knowledge and enhance curriculum with new activities. In addition, unique conferences have been attended that are cutting edge in science such as the Cold Spring Harbor Labs Leadership Workshop attended by Steve Hammack in Summer 2004 and the IISME (Industry Initiatives in Science and Math Education) summer program for teachers that enabled Kim Burlinson to work in a research laboratory at Stanford University.

In addition, field trips are taken in Chemistry in the Community, AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, Agroecology, and all Physics courses. These include mock Town Council Meetings (Chem Com), Catalina Island Marine Insitutue (AP Biology and AP Environmental Science) and Great America and Exploratorium Fieldtrips (Physics) and Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Sytems at UC Santa Cruz (Agroecology).

Academic Success Skills

Two of our teachers are also involved in the Freshman Support Program, Amelia DeLaPaz and Rooz Nazari. At each grading period, the guidance department identifies freshmen and ELL students earning at least 1 F. They are then given and required to attend Freshman Support class twice weekly for 1 hour each. This is a time for them to improve study skills, get homework done, learn self‐advocacy and get help where they need it. Several of us spent time last summer developing a curriculum for teaching students better study habits. In addition, all of our staff utilize web sites, assignment sheets and/or other forms of technology to support students in long and short term planning, time management and organization. Our department prides itself on being collaborative, collegial, innovative and inventive. We encourage each other to strive for more for our students and support each other all the way. We all have a passion for what we teach and are passionate about engaging our students.

Learning and Innovation Skills

Dan Burns and Cathy Messenger have advised students by helping them choose projects for the Science Fair and supporting them as necessary as they independently work on their projects. Dan has also

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worked for several years to develop a Science Olympiad Team, which is now so large that Cathy Messenger has joined him as a co‐coach. Dan also puts together a Science Bowl team to compete each year.

The science department as a whole can be described as collaboration maniacs. Experienced teachers collaborate with new hires to ensure that the curriculum is consistent and that the teachers incorporate as many best practices as possible. In addition, Steve Hammack was a PAR mentor for new teachers at the school, where he observed and mentored beginning teachers and gave them feedback and guidance.

Life and Career Skills

Members of the science department have acted as class advisors, working to help student leaders at various times throughout the school year to improve school spirit and student connectedness.

Our staff also actively participates in Spirit Rally games, Fractured Follies (a teacher talent show), and the Teacher Band. In addition, Ken Porush, Rooz Nazari and Kim Burlinson participated in Challenge Day activities. These activities allow us to interact with, provide emotional support to and entertain students in a positive manner that is outside our curricular areas.

Many teachers have been or are club advisors, covering a range of interests. These include the Persian Club and Leos Club (Rooz Nazari), Astronomy Club (Dan Burns), Green Club (Rachel Peters), Science Club (Alex Shultz and Cathy Messenger) and others.

Rachel Peters, has coached the swim team for the past two years and dedicates innumerable hours outside the classroom working with and mentoring students on the swim team. Kathie Lynch has been in charge of the yearbook for decades. Our yearbook regularly wins top honors in competitions and is a source of pride for our school. The students in her program learn tremendous skills that benefit them across all their curricular areas.

Cathy Messenger has coordinated high school student volunteers to be Cabin Leaders at science camp for 5th and 6th grade students. Students earn community service hours and receive an evaluation as to their performance. Review of evaluations shows overwhelmingly positive response to LGHS student leaders.

Professional Contributions outside school

Johns Hopkins CTY: Amelia DeLaPaz AP Chem Grader and Trainer: Ken Porush School Site Council: Philip Rosenblum, Cathy Messenger and Rooz Nazari PDC Workshop Leaders: Cathy Messenger Rachel Peters, Steve Hammack, Kathy Palma Teacher Training In Ethiopia, and curriculum development for 23andMe: (Biotechnology company) (Steve Hammack) Physics software development with Nvidia and Stanford University: Rachel Peters and Steve Hammack are currently involved in a project with the non‐profit arm of Nvidia to develop what they are calling, “Physics Visualization” software. They are helping guide them in developing software

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that allows 3‐D visualization of physics concepts that are otherwise difficult to represent (wave motion, geometric optics, etc.). Rachel is beta testing the software this fall (2010) in conjunction with a researcher from Stanford University. Nvidia is hoping to provide this software free to the world. Los Gatos Adopt‐A‐Garden program: The HS agroecology/horticulture program dovetails into a program that invites members of the community to participate in the Los Gatos High School/Community Gardens during the summer months.

Accolades

District Teacher of The Year (2007) – Steve Hammack LGHS Teacher of the Year (2009) – Alex Shultz LGHS Teacher of the Year (2010) – Dan Burns

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SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT

The Social Studies Department at Los Gatos High school prides itself in offering a wide variety of courses at multiple ability and skill levels. Students have the opportunity to reach their full potential and become engaged in a wide range of course material. The department offers advanced placement and honors classes including, Honors World History, AP European History, AP United States History, AP Government and AP Comparative Politics as well as college prep World History, United States History, Government and Economics. In addition the department offers classes taught collaboratively with the special education department in World History and United States History.

The department’s advanced placement and honors courses are open to all students. Open access has greatly improved the advanced placement program. These courses require no teacher recommendation, placement test or prior grade requirement. Due to this policy, there has been an overall increase in the number of students taking advanced placement courses. In the 2008 /2009 school year there were 3 courses offered, 10 sections and 312 students enrolled in social studies AP classes. In the 2009/2010 school year there were 3 AP courses and 11 sections offered. In addition the department has seen AP scores improve during the last six years.

The Social Studies Department offers two yearlong elective classes and three different options for the required one semester sophomore elective. The first yearlong elective is AP European History. This course provides a broad overview of European history and cultures from 1450 to the present. In addition to providing a basic narrative of events and movements this class encourages students to develop an understanding of some of the principal themes in modern European history, analyze historical evidence, and express that understanding and analysis in writing. The students will be instructed in the various methodologies for historical research while helping students build the necessary skills for critical evaluation of conflicting interpretations of historical questions. AP European History was offered in 2006 and will be offered again in 2010. The second yearlong elective is Anthropology. This course focuses on socio‐anthropology, cultural, physical/ biological, archeological and linguistic anthropology. This course is organized topically so that the student will see how each of the sub‐disciplines of anthropology contributes to an understanding of complex topics.

The sophomore required one semester elective options include, Introduction to Law, Sociology and Psychology. Psychology is designed to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings. Students learn the facts, principles and phenomena within each of the major subfields of psychology. Sociology allows students to study human relationships in society. Students will learn about socialization and the affect social institutions such as school, religion and family have on the individual. Topics such as culture, racism, discrimination, social class and inequality are covered in this course. The Introduction to Law elective will focus on international and United States legal systems. Through the study of the basic history, structure, organization, and role of the legal system, students will learn to think critically about modern‐day legal issues that challenge the local, state, national and international governments. Students will learn about the social, economic, and political roles of these levels of government in the criminal justice system, as well as the government’s responsibility to protect individuals and provide law and order for its citizens. Students will research current international legal issues and the systems/processes for enforcing international law.

The World History program at Los Gatos High School has changed greatly during the last six years. Prior to 2007, World History was a three‐semester course taken at the freshman and sophomore level. In 2007 the World History curriculum was realigned with the state standards and changed into a two‐semester course offered the freshman year. This realignment coincided with the creation of new sophomore required one semester elective. In addition to these changes, the World History teachers received a grant to write curriculum that incorporates twenty first

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century skills. This project included more collaboration between teachers and more interaction between World History students as well as the development of online tools such as discussion boards.

Other collaboration projects include a writing skills ladder to determine a comprehensive writing program for all social studies classes. Teachers have also collaborated on a US history textbook review committee. There are weekly department collaboration meetings to discuss best practices and share curriculum ideas.

The Social Studies department also offers awards for academic excellence in the social sciences. These awards include the Bank of America Scholarship and the Tully Award in U.S. and World History.

Department members serve as faculty advisors for numerous clubs and student extra curricular activities. It is the goal of the Social Studies department to foster greater leadership, citizenship and political awareness in the student body. For example Lindsay Schubert was the advisor for the Mock Trial team from 2003 to 2006. Three department members have been involved with the Close Up program taking students to Washington DC to learn about the United States Congress. Damian Pawlowski is the advisor for Junior Statesman of America, a program that encourages civic duty. Department members have served as the faculty advisor for many other student organizations such a Key Club, History Club, sophomore class advisor, junior class advisor and senior class advisor. In addition the Social Studies Department has helped build a sense of community at LGHS by participating in and advising programs such as Project Cornerstone, which helps build character assets, Students to Students, which helps foster healthy lifestyles, Freshman Skills Day, Friday Night Live and Community Against Substance Abuse (CASA) program.

History teachers at Los Gatos have a strong work ethic and commitment to the school. Many department members serve on committees or have extra duties. Tom Hughes serves as department chair. He also was in charge of the school wide tutoring program for four years and an independent study course for AP European History. Stephanie Pearson has been involved with the Freshman Support Program helping struggling ninth grade students improve their grades. Kevin Rogers serves as DTA union president. He also serves on the budget advisory committee and the scheduling and calendar committee. Marcy Cooper is currently a WASC focus group leader and serves as the DTA secretary. David Homa serves on the school site council. In addition to these many extra duties, each Junior U.S History and Senior Government and Economics teacher writes between fifty to one hundred letters of recommendations for college applications each year.

Department members have traveled with students or incorporated curriculum with a global perspective. David Homa has developed a school‐to‐school project with a secondary school in Kisumu, Kenya. The school‐to‐school project incorporates cross‐curricular activities using video conferencing between students one hour each week. In 2007 David traveled to Kenya and taught his class via satellite. He has also taken trips with students to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tanzania, Egypt, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Greece and Turkey. Kevin Rogers and David took a group of students to Havana, Cuba in 2004. Alan Rudolph has also taken student to Italy, France and England.

Continuing education and building content knowledge is another core value of the department. Three department members, Alan Rudolph, Lindsay Schubert and Mike Betz belong to the Organization of American Historians. David Homa is a member of the American Anthropological Association and has published in Anthropology News Journal. Alan Rudolph received the Stanford Wallenberg Foundation grant as well as the Fulbright Memorial Foundation scholarship to study the education system in Japan. Alan has also read applications for Teaching American History National Program and AP American Government exams for the College Board. Marcy Cooper has received AP training at the AP Institute. Kevin Rogers is involved in the Africa Teacher Project in Ethiopia conducting teacher training conferences. He also participated in the University of California at Santa Barbara teacher training and cultural exchange program in Middle Eastern and Muslim culture studies. He attended the CADA Conference for

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Leadership, AP Comparative Politics Conference and received training in the San Francisco Federal Reserve Trade Simulation. Four department members have attended teacher training at the Facing History and Ourselves Institute.

Five new staff members have been added to the social studies department: Marcy Cooper in 2005, Christie Dujmovic in 2006, Stephanie Pearson in 2007 and Damian Pawlowski 2009. Class size has remained relatively stable at an average of 28 students per section. The department has lost two sections since the 2007‐2008 school year.

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SPECIAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

LGHS has experienced significant changes the past six years, including many changes in staff and administration as well as the adoption of block scheduling in the 2009‐10 school year. Likewise, over the past six years, the Special Education department at LGHS has evolved to become more flexible and creative within the changing landscape of LGHS and the landscape of Special Education programming and pedagogy in general.

Members of the Special Education department (teachers, aides, and counseling support staff) frequently exchange ideas with each other and with staff members outside of the department about how to best serve students at LGHS. New and improved course offerings and curricula reflect this ongoing exchange of ideas. Courses at LGHS have been specifically developed and tailored to maximize Special Education student performance and to include Special Education students in more mainstream and mainstream‐like settings. Special Education teachers provide proactive assistance to other departments and collaborate with teachers in core subject areas. Special Education teachers have given presentations to departments and at department chair meetings to share ideas for how to include Special Education students appropriately in the mainstream.

Special Education teachers have found that the design of the tutorial period within our new block schedule (which is in the morning instead of the afternoon and is for 40 minutes in duration instead of 20 minutes) is utilized by more students (including Special Education students) to a greater degree. Teachers say that with tutorial they can tend to their students’ needs more “surgically”‐‐ in other words, they can support students’ needs with more targeted, specific focus, yielding positive results in performance and in their connectedness to the school.

Additionally, LGHS teachers utilize and integrate technology to a much greater degree than six years ago. With particular regard to Special Education students and their families, the effective and improved use of technology provides substantial benefit, both in terms of enhancing instructional practices and learning options for students as well as providing staff and families with more specific information about IEPs and student progress.

Some specific examples of positive changes in the Special Education program at LGHS are as follows:

• The establishment of an ED program (serving students designated as “emotionally disturbed”) five years ago has been a positive addition at LGHS. Our ED program has likewise steadily improved in its design and implementation over time. Currently, the program has a heavy “therapeutic support” focus with the allocation of a full‐time ED teacher and support staff from Beacon School who work on‐site with the students daily (a behavioral coach, a therapist, and a program manager). The program is now designed as a complete “wrap‐around” program with a collaborative team approach to enhance the development of the “whole student.”

• We are in the fourth year of having a centralized “testing teacher” in the department who ensures consistency in the academic testing and reports used for IEPs. Her reports summarize academic strengths and weaknesses; these reports in turn help to drive the student’s placement in the Special Education program.

• There are now two computer labs for the department (and six years ago there were none). One of these is the Learning Lab.

• We are in the second year of having a Learning Lab dedicated for Special Education students who need extended time to complete tests from mainstream classes and/or who may need complete course work that is more individualized. In our Learning Lab, we been using PLATO software, which allows students to complete whole, self‐paced, semester courses while concentrating on skill gaps and allowing for pre‐tests to help target learning needs while in some cases exempting students from skills already required so that they may complete course requirements in a timely fashion.

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• Read 180 is an intensive, developmental reading program that we have had in place now for the past three years. It is aimed at increasing reading comprehension for Special Education students who are “far below” or “below” basic reading proficiency levels.

• The number of Special Education students who pass the High School Exit Exam is very high. • Four years ago the Special Education department started writing IEPs through a web‐based IEP program.

We have thus increased compliance with the law and also increased in our collaborative efforts in composing IEPs as several staff members (including district level oversight) often give input in drafting IEPs now that they can be written electronically.

• Additionally through a collaborative effort involving two Special Education teachers and a Special Education aide, all of the accommodations for every student who has an IEP have been inputted into the Aeries database for all staff members to see. This IEP information in Aeries is listed under “Special Programs” and is highlighted in red. When changes are made to IEPs, this information is updated in the database. One of the benefits here is that mainstream teachers now have broader access to specific IEP information for the students they teach.

• There have been significant staffing changes since the last WASC. Everyone in the Special Education department is now credentialed and CTEL‐certified. In the past six years, there have been some retirements in the department, new staff members hired, an overall increase in the number of staff members in the department, and several new Special Education teacher assignments, including some collaborative teaching assignments in core subject areas with mainstream teachers to foster inclusion (and higher performance) of Special Education students.

• Collaborative classes were a new addition to LGHS two years ago. In the 2009‐10 school year we now have six collaborative classes: Algebra 1, Sequential Algebra (two sections), World History, English 9, and Fundamental Environmental Science. In the 2010‐11 school year we are planning to add the following collaborative classes: Earth Space Science, English 10, Geometry, and U.S. History. Collaborative classes have resulted in higher student achievement, including STAR scores, since they allow more SPED students greater access to mainstream curriculum and instruction. Hence, this year we have offered more collaborative classes than in each of the past two years.

• There is an increased focus on skill‐based subjects within Special Education course offerings. There is now at least one class for every core subject offered within the Special Education department including: Fundamental English 9 (Read 180), Fundamental English 10 (Read 180), Fundamental English 11/12 ‐ Language Arts for SPED students who have yet to pass CAHSEE, Basic English 11/12 ‐ Language Arts for SPED students who have passed CAHSEE, Enhanced Reading 9/10 ‐ Language Arts for students who are stronger than those in Read 180 but not strong enough to be mainstreamed, Collaborative English 9 ‐ general education English with SPED support

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WORLD LANGUAGE

Four new teachers joined the World Language department in Spanish, French and Japanese. We discontinued offering Italian as a language. We added a Spanish Language and Culture course last year as an alternative to the regular (traditional) Spanish 3 class. We were concerned about attrition in Spanish after the 2nd year and heard from students via the survey that we administered that many students initially took Spanish because of an interest in the culture, but were turned off by all of the grammar focus of the program. Our goal was to keep students in the language longer, even if only for another year, so we designed the Spanish LC course. Students can still qualify to move up to Spanish 4H from Spanish LC. Japanese 3 honors was added and Japanese 4 honors was replaced by AP Japanese. The New Millennium Foundation purchased an iMac lab in 2008 for the World Language department. Teachers regularly use it for language games, presentations, listening and speaking practice. In 2004 when the building was finally completed, teachers had a kitchen facility that enabled them to prepare foods that accompany the courses they are teaching. Our German program is currently being phased out.

The breadth and type of classes offered in the World Language department are as follows:

Spanish 1, 2, 3, 3LC, 4H, 5AP, French 1, 2, 3, 4H, 5AP, German 1, 2, 3, 4H, 5AP, Japanese 1, 2, 3H, 4AP

Our teachers have taken on a wide array of differently culturally based activities and clubs such as Spanish National Honor Society, Japanese National Honor Society, French Club, German Club. We also sponsor a World Language Scholars Award Reception where students who have excelled or made tremendous progress within our department can be recognized.

We began having an annual International Day celebration on the front lawn of the high school. This is a multi‐cultural event where students will be exposed to new foods, new music and performances from the various culturally groups represented by our classes and by our students. We also have joint events in French between the two high schools in our district to give our students more opportunities to speak in French. We have also offered a “Desserts and International Games” night for the NMF annual auction.

The major results of our ongoing collaborative efforts have resulted in curriculum alignment for all of Spanish 1, 2, 3 classes including a common final exam in these classes. The Japanese teachers have a Japanese New Year festival. We have hosted an articulation meeting with the Spanish program teachers in the feeder middle schools and hold articulation meetings with the Fisher Middle school French teachers. We also offer Cross‐curricular activities with the International Cuisine classes.

Our department’s strengths are the diverse cultural backgrounds of our teachers, many of our teachers have multiple certifications, teachers who are willing to lead student travel tours. Teachers go to a variety of professional development activities during our’ “free” time. We regularly strive to integrate the culture of the languages we teach. We regularly use the computer lab to enhance student learning. Our department has a great amount of fun and collegiality together. For example, we all participate in Fractured Follies, Cross fit together, go walking and have sandwich Fridays. We also encourage regular community involvement in our classrooms (music, cooking, cultural activities) .

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LIBRARY

The library has experienced changes and significant achievements the past six years:

• Hired a new library media teacher (LMT), Tina Nelson, and cut a long‐standing, half‐time library clerk position in 2006‐07; Ms. Roshon, the former librarian of 18 years, retired and Ms. Nelson was hired to replace her in that role. Ms. Nelson was told by Mr. Ramezane, the principal at that time, that since student numbers at LGHS were expected to stay the same and not go up that the half‐time library clerk position would not be needed but the LGHS student population has gone up by approximately 400 students since that time and LGHS’s student numbers are projected to keep increasing at a steady rate.

• Doubled the parent volunteers and teaching assistants (TAs) in the library since 2006‐07;

• Teach and work with at least 90 percent of the faculty and students, as well as working in both the library and the classroom; this was a huge shift away from the hands‐off (very little interaction with the students or instilling disciplinary measures), AP/Honors (only) approach, and never teach outside of the library attitude of the former librarian;

• Implemented the check‐out of textbooks in both the LGHS school and LG public library which was received favorably in 2006‐07 by both students and their parents; and

• Tripled the amount of students using the library during tutorial in 2009‐10 due to the new block schedule with integrated tutorial at LGHS.

In the LGHS library we not only help students with their research and provide “Reader’s Advisory” but we also co‐teach and work with teachers and their classes on a daily basis. This collaboration ranges across the board from AP classes to Special Education and everyone in between. The “only” department that the LMT, Ms. Nelson, is still trying to collaborate/work with is Industrial Arts and to that end she still has not given up…

• Collaborate with teachers in various departments on specialized units of study to come up with “one‐of‐a‐kind” lesson plans and materials for students to use in both the library and at home;

• Create specialized bibliographies (print & non‐print sources) for various subject areas;

• Collaborate regularly with the Fisher and Los Gatos public librarians (young adult) on a regular basis to make sure our library media services and programs encompass the needs of all our students and faculty;

• Offer the use of textbooks in the LGHS library;

• Provide specialized tutorials (e.g., MUSE, “How to Write a Legal Brief”, etc.) for various teachers and their students; and

• Track down various materials we may not carry (i.e., books, audiotapes, etc.) for both faculty and students and then put “Holds” on them at the local public libraries;

A few examples of collaborative efforts between the LMT and teachers during 2009‐10:

The LMT collaborates with the English, Social Studies and Science Department faculty on a fairly regular basis but here are a few “unusual” examples of collaborative efforts:

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1. Create an AP English tutorial for “MUSE” (information portal) in the library computer lab so students could do more in‐depth research for an author study;

2. Design a poetry bibliography, lesson plan and display for art students (i.e., Sculpture 1) doing research in the library for a poem/mask sculpture to gain more depth/perception into their project. The students then came back to the library with their poems and masks and shared out with their classmates why they chose their poems, after reading them, and then displayed both in the library;

3. Develop a nutrition bibliography, lesson plan, and display for Ms. Walker’s P.E. students in order to increase their awareness living a healthy life through what they eat and how much they exercise by keeping a daily journal and doing various calculations in relation to these 2 areas (the students did their research in both the main library and computer lab);

4. Design a German bibliography and lesson plan, involving the research of famous German people, for the students in German 4;

5. Create bibliographies and lesson plans for the students in various elective classes (i.e., Sociology, Psychology, Intro to Law, International Cuisine); and

6. Design a biographies and autobiography display on mathematicians for Ms. Rachlin’s calculus students doing research in the library.

Strengths

1. Collaborating with faculty on a regular basis in regards to assignments in the library (see past library statistics, librarian’s and principal’s binder, in regards to programming, as well as the green sign‐up sheet in the library workroom);

2. Reaching out to students and providing the services and materials they need to complete their studies successfully (see past library statistics in regards to circulation of textbooks and library materials, as well as bibliographies, displays, and LGHS Library’s Face book page);

3. Collaborating with Fisher librarian (one of LGHS’s feeder middle schools) and the Los Gatos public YA/children’s librarians in order to meet the needs of the incoming and current LGHS students (regular e‐mails and meetings with both the LMT and library media assistant);

4. Applying for various grants (e.g., NMF, etc.) for the library and receiving them to provide library materials (print and non‐print), online services (i.e., information portals, online newspaper, etc.), and hardware (i.e., computers, printers, LCD projector, etc.); and

5. Reaching out to the community by working with The San Jose Mercury News and “Interact” (i.e., “The Gift of Reading”), “Interact” & “Rotary Club” (i.e., “Backpack Drive for Thomas P. Ryan Elementary School”), & “Assisteens” (i.e., “The Socks for Souls Drive for The Bill Wilson Center”, etc.), as well as the Los Gatos Public Library (please see above).

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INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY

The Industrial Technology Department at Los Gatos High School offers a comprehensive program encompassing both “hands on” vocational courses as well as technological ones. This is one of the few programs of this type left in this county and for that matter this state. All courses fall into the Applied Arts category, which is a requirement for graduation. Course offerings range from vocationally oriented Metals Manufacturing and Wood Technology, to the more technologically based Computer Aided Drafting and Design (CADD), Intro to Engineering Technology, and Construction Technology/Architectural Design (when offered). These courses are now under the new state umbrella of Career Technical Education (CTE).

The Department offers nine sections of courses with two full time instructors. Several of the nine courses are also satellite courses of the Metro/Ed, Central County Occupational Center in San Jose, California. These satellite courses are offered to both students at the High School and those from other schools and the community. All courses are open to all 9th‐12th grade students with the exception of Construction Technology/ Architectural Design, which are open to sophomores through seniors.

The Industrial Technology courses reach across the curriculum and incorporate math skills, reading and comprehension, writing, pubic speaking, physics and science, as well as critical thinking, logic, and problem solving. Examples of these are:

• Math skills‐ calculating metal and wood costs for projects in Metals Manufacturing and Wood Technology. Calculating angles, diameters and radii, square footage, arcs and various measurements using geometry and trigonometry as well as the Polar and Cartesian coordinate systems in Computer Aided Drafting and Design, Computer Aided Manufacturing, Construction Technology/ Architectural Design. Reading and Comprehension‐ All courses use either a textbook, photo copied sections out of various text books, assignments using outside reading from magazines or books, reading from various sites on the internet. Printed safety information and student generated lecture/demonstration notes are used extensively for the major safety test and throughout the year for lab assignments.

• Writing‐ All courses have writing components with CADD and Construction Technology/ Architectural Design requiring a paper critiquing their architectural house plans. Wood Technology requires detailed procedure sheets, which chronologically document the stages needed to build their projects. Metals manufacturing requires a notebook, which the students keep, notes from lectures and demonstrations and textbook assignments. CAM students develop a portfolio providing written documentation for programming codes required to machine their projects, along with a process plan document containing all information including sketches, drawings and manufacturing procedures.

• Public Speaking‐ The CADD and Construction Technology/ Architectural Design courses require students to give oral presentations centering around an engineering unit where students design and build a paper model, and an architectural unit where students design a draw a set of building plans for a residence. The 3rd year Manufacturing class (Mass Production) must present oral reports throughout the year regarding the status and progress of the production assignment. A detailed flow chart is developed and presented at the end of the year

• Physics and Science‐ Construction Technology/Architectural Design students work with principles of solar gain in relation to siting their houses. Wood Technology students learn wood density and strength and use critical thinking and logic skills to determine the best wood species to use for various parts of their

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projects. Metals Manufacturing students learn molecular changes which occur when metals are heated and cooled and must critically determine which metals will work best on projects and which may need to be heat treated to arrive at the proper molecular consistency, surface feet‐per‐minute, cutting speeds, torque, pounds‐per‐square‐inch, and revolutions‐per‐minute are discussed and used throughout the year.

• Critical Thinking, Logic, Problem Solving and Team Work‐ All classes use each of these throughout the year. CADD students continually must apply critical thinking, logic and problem solving when working on their drawing projects. Objects must fit together, dimensions must work, and revisions must be made. Metals manufacturing and Wood Technology all use the above in thinking through design features on projects. Advanced students work in groups to execute mass production projects. Students also work in groups at the end of each class period when the shops must be cleaned. Construction Technology/ Architectural Design students must continually revise their house plans through critical analysis, logic, and problem solving to get the flow of the interior consistent with the architectural intent of the exterior. All Metals Manufacturing students employ various forms of critical thinking activities; from setting pressures on an oxy‐acetylene torch, choosing the proper current setting in arc welding, and machining parts of a steam engine to within the acceptable tolerance dimensions.

The CADD classes were fortunate enough to be able to purchase a CO‐2 laser to manufacturer what the students designed using AutoCAD. This type of technology is only being used in a few of California schools. My CADD and Construction Technology classes’ benefited from a grant from the New Millennium foundation which furnished the money for a new PC lab, with a laser printer and LCD projector for my students. This department is continuing the vocational skills outreach to the community, offering weekly adult education classes in woodworking and metals. The woodworking class has been taught by me for 19 years straight. I have a 2+2 articulation with West Valley and De Anza community colleges in architecture and CAD. The industrial technology building also underwent a complete systems renovation two years ago, which updated a sixty year old facility.

Both instructors had some input when meeting with the Architect when discussing the needs and wants for the 2008 renovation. Partial building renovation (using Redevelopment Funds), including: Updated electrical/ wiring, All new heating and air conditioning, New lighting ,New floor in classroom, New entry doors , New ADA approved bathrooms, New dropped ceiling in the CAD lab, Added a new class “Engineering Technology”

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HOME ECONOMICS For the past two years there have been major changes in the Home Economics Department. The course that has changed significantly is the International Cuisine and Hospitality course. The department has adopted a new book, Food for Today and the instructors have developed new curriculum that includes collaboration with other departments, the community, parents and culinary schools. In addition to the increase of academic work, the course is taught as a culinary lab where professionally dressed students observe demonstrations and get hands‐on experience almost daily.

A new textbook was also adopted for the Clothing and Fashion Design Course, Clothing, Fashion, Fabric and Construction. A change that has been occurring over the past few years is the increase of returning students for level two and three.

The Home Economics Department collaboration includes the World Language Department mini‐units that involved exchanges of students, parent and student cooking demonstrations, and professional chefs from Le Cordon Blue teaching with our students.

Outside the classroom, both courses are involved in the CASA Fashion Show. Students in Clothing and Fashion Design are required to work a minimum of 5 hours on the fashion show doing a variety of task such as deciding on the fashion show theme, making posters, designing a line of clothing, selling tickets, assist adult leaders, develop slide shows, advertise, select music, assist with hair and make‐up, set‐up and clean‐up of event. The International Cuisine and Hospitality student work at the fashion show café. The students prepare and sell refreshments before and after the fashion show.

Community involvement/collaboration includes the International Cuisine and Hospitality students teaching young children to cook, (a local Brownie troop and nursery school class).

The department has planned a few fieldtrips that has enriched the curriculum. The International Cuisine and Hospitality class has gone to William Sonoma to attend a presentation on kitchen equipment and local restaurants. The Clothing and Fashion Design class, in collaboration with the Drama Department, attended the production of Wicked. Last year the Clothing and Fashion Design class and the French class attended an exhibit of Yves St Laurent Collection at the De Young Museum. Yearly the Clothing and Fashion Design class has a one‐day fieldtrip to Los Angeles. This year the fieldtrip was expanded to a two‐day fieldtrip to the Los Angeles Fashion District. Students visited a fashion college, the California Apparel Mart and FIDM Debut Fashion Show.

The Fashion Club and the Baking & Scrapbooking Club are active clubs that meet monthly. The students have made hat for cancer patients and practice cake decorating techniques.

The department’s strength is the connection of the real‐world and the classroom to provide learning opportunities that build life skills that will benefit students beyond academic arenas and beyond this period of life. The department encourages collaboration within and out of the school to enhance curriculum. The department also builds camaraderie among departments through organized events involving food, such as the teacher breakfast. Another strength of the department is a learning environment that builds confidence among students who do not ordinarily succeed in traditional, academic, classroom settings by providing a myriad of opportunities for them to succeed in areas of home economics. Additionally, we work closely with guidance counselors and Special Ed to further those particular students' success.

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ADDITIONAL CHANGES AND PROGRESS

• Bond Measure Completed: The completion of all of our bond construction means that all of our buildings, classrooms and offices have been completely renovated and modernized. It also means that many of the disruptions and distractions that come with massive construction have been eliminated and we have been able to return to our main focus.

• Block Schedule with Imbedded Tutorial: At the start of the 2009/2010 school year we switched to 90 minute block periods with an imbedded tutorial. We hoped that this would achieve several things, namely, reducing student stress, increasing student focus and depth of learning and, with the imbedded tutorial, get more of our students who need support to attend tutorial with their teachers. Based on positive student and parent surveys, stable or, in some cases, increasing STAR scores and anecdotal evidence (fewer kids out of the classrooms and almost none of campus during tutorial), we seem to be on our way to achieving our goals. One of our critical areas of academic need at our last WASC visit was to address the tutorial period which was 20 minutes long and at the end of the day and try to improve upon its utilization by students.

• Class within a class/collaborative classes: Beginning in algebra 1, we began taking special education teachers out of teaching study skills classes and placing them in the classroom to teach collaboratively with a general education teacher. The class was comprised of approximately half special education/504 students and the other half general education students assigned at random. The results of the first experiment showed that all the students, regardless of special needs, did better than their counterparts in single teacher classrooms. The classes were expanded to include English, social studies and now science. The results across the board have shown an increase in the students corresponding STAR scores. We hope to continue expanding the program.

• House structure: In the summer of 2009, Mr. Autrey stepped into his role as principal and two new assistant principals joined his team. At that time, the main office was restructured so that parents and students could go to one office and receive whatever support they needed. Each assistant principal and his or her administrative assistant work with one or two of the academic advisors and support students for one segment of the alphabet. There is tremendous consistency of policy implementation for those students and only one person dealing with their attendance, discipline and course planning support. For the teachers, the school functions in much the same way but the parents vastly prefer the system or haven’t noticed a difference.

los gatos high school€¦ · in the past six years, los gatos high school has undergone...

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