Building Dreams - Academy & Hui Updates

This year our overall theme as a faculty is "Building Dreams". Our dream is to transform Kapa'a High into the premier high school in the state by implementing smaller learning communities in the form of interest based Academies to build upon the strength of the Hui smaller learning communities in Grade 9. School started the first week of August, it's already mid-quarter and already we are seeing the fruits of the 9th grade Hui and charging ahead with Academy Planning.

Hui

We can already see that last year's planning to improve the transition to high school and the entire freshman experience is paying off. Our 260 freshman have been moved down to lower campus and divided into two Hui, Onipa'a and Ikaika, each with a team of dedicated math, English, social studies and science teachers. A counselor has been dedicated to Grade 9 with a VP assigned to each Hui. Hui Teachers have common planning time to discuss student challenges, progress, joint projects and other aspects of their work. So far we have integrated common assessments, project based learning, a no zero policy and AVID strategies focusing on strengthening basic organizational and study skills. Additionally, all of the 9th graders will participate in the Leadership Challenge curriculum designed to help them explore their values, interests and strengths. This work will become part of their Personal Transition Plan designed to help them transition from high school to their post high school educational and career plans more smoothly.

Academy

Since we already see the benefits of the Hui concept in terms of our ability to respond to student needs, there is a sense of urgency to create smaller learning communities for our 10th - 12th grade students to improve rigor, interest and overall achievement. Our Academy Design Team this year includes all of our department chairs, an additional representative from each department, various support staff and administrators. All in all, we are about 20 people with a shared dream. We recently spent a second collaboration day with Mike Neubig refining our HOPES and IDEAS Academies with course sequencing for the four strands in each academy.

HOPES

Health- Health/Wellness

Organic Farming– Natural Resource /Agriculture

Public Service - JROTC

Entrepreneurship – Culinary & Hospitality

Service & Sustainability - ALL

IDEAS

Industrial Technology: Auto or Building Construction

Design: Digital Media & Graphic Design

Entrepreneurship: Virtual Enterprise

Arts: Visual & Performing Arts

Service & Sustainability - ALL

Our next steps will be to present to our entire faculty, address our burning questions with Mike Neubig on September 13th, examine different schedules that might better serve our students with these new structures, educate and engage our parent community in September and October, educate and straw poll our students, create new registration materials, reach out to university, business and government partners and train our teachers for this transition. Our plans are to launch the SLC's for our current 9th graders in Fall 2012. Our dream is that by Fall 2014, every student will be enrolled in a smaller learning community providing structures and support for a more rigorous, more personalized, more relevant and more successful high school experience.