The Laulima project seeks to ensure that over the next five years, every Kapa’a High School student will be engaged in a more challenging and relevant course of study that develops the knowledge, skills and disposition necessary to pursue post-secondary education and careers without the need for remediation.
Our vision is to integrate the three core design principles of personalization, equity and rigor & relevance into every classroom and program from bell to bell and wall to wall over the next five years. We will begin by establishing smaller learning communities in Grade 9 in 2011-2012 and Grade 10 in 2012-2013. The smaller learning communities will feature schools within a school with four core teachers sharing between 100-125 students to promote personalization and shared identity. For juniors and seniors, we will establish mini-magnets in areas such as Health Sciences, STEM (including Robotics), Arts & Performance Production, Global Awareness & Sustainability, Digital Media & Design, and Architecture/Construction. In the mini-magnets, students will participate in internships and take a blend of electives and core classes redesigned to align with both the common core standards and the goals of the mini-magnet.
We will also implement an Open Honors/AP policy giving all students the chance to take these more advanced classes. At the same time, we will implement the AVID program starting in 2012-2013 with our 9th graders, adding a year over the following four years to ensure all students are exposed to more challenging curriculum and advanced learning strategies that promote college readiness. All teachers will learn how to implement project-based learning and how to design lessons using both the AVID and Rigor & Relevance frameworks and strategies for instructional design. Finally, students will become comfortable with sharing their work with a wider audience through presentations of learning and exhibitions.
Since the quality of the student learning depends greatly upon the quality of the adult learning community in a school, steps will also be taken to ensure teachers are prepared and equipped for this new vision of Kapa’a High School. A teacher teaching teachers approach will be cultivated. Teachers will be exposed to the critical friends model, focused on increasing student achievement through collaborative professional learning communities (PLC’s). Teachers will learn a new way to engage in professional dialogue to improve student learning, create equity in the classroom, increase efficient, effective communication and enhance personal performance through the use of protocols and reflective practice.
At Kapa’a High School, we have outstanding teachers and a diverse, talented student population deserving of an educational experience that will prepare them to pursue post-secondary education and/or careers that are aligned with their talents and interests. We are confident that this plan will help us reach our goal of improving the educational experience for each and every student at KHS.
