High Tech High

On May 24, 2006, Dr. Sandy Balli, four students, and I had the privilege of visiting High Tech High (HTH) in San Diego. We were inspired by Oprah's feature on this school that included a visit from Bill and Melinda Gates. For three hours we visited classrooms, walked the halls (much more interesting than most high school halls!), talked to teachers and students, and in general soaked up as much as we could.

High Tech High School - Part Two of a two-part series of the Oprah Winfrey Show on "American Schools in Crisis" takes Bill and Melinda Gates to this innovative high school where there are NO traditional textbooks or lectures (at least the lectures are very short!)! Project-based learning is the instructional method that is changing how students learn. If you have time, take a look at Part One also.

LSU Visits High Tech High - Take a quick tour through these many photos (just click on next to go as fast as you want to go) to get an overview of what the school looks like. Read some of the students' reflections. Although it is filled with technology, interdisciplinary learning, etc., it is also filled with student work and especially their artwork throughout the school, as you will see in these photos. Actually, we visited four schools that are on the same campus. They call it the Village: High Tech High, High Tech Middle School, High Tech International High, and High Tech Multimedia High. Class sizes are limited to 25 students per teacher, and the schools are limited in size to about 450, although they occasionally are over enrolled. Students can only get into this school through an educational lottery system; they are the same types of students that every high school has--HTH does not take the 'cream of the crop' students but rather takes ALL students who win the lottery. This includes students with learning difficulties, special needs, etc., in the same proportions as any other public high school in San Diego. This makes it all the more remarkable that their students have about a 99% acceptance rate into colleges and universities.

Here are a few highlights that I think you should know about the school and some great resources to review as you develop your own lessons and projects:

Design Principles - HTH is built on these three design principles.

Math Curriculum - This isn't the regular high school math!

Humanities Curriculum - A brief overview.

Incorporating Technology into HTH - Wowee! This is exactly how technology should be used...as a tool for learning and not the focus of learning.

Math Resource Guide - Check out the kinds of math projects that HTH does.

Presentation of Learning Rubric - Rather than taking traditional content tests students give Presentations of Learning. You will be impressed by how they are evaluated! We observed the questioning phase of a POL and were amazed by the depth and breadth of the presenting students' knowledge plus the understanding and critical thinking of the students who questioned them. Truly amazing!

Integrated Units: A Planning Guide for Teachers - This 18-page pdf file has step-by-step guidance on how to create rich and complex integrated units.

HTH Projects - Search through these projects to get inspiration!

Resource Center - Explore lots of other resources from HTH.

High Tech High News

High Tech High: A California school offers a glimpse at what tomorrow will bring
Find out about High Tech High LA

Charter School Losing Campus
Things have not gone well for High Tech High Bayshore in Redwood City. Find out why they will have to close.

Related Resources

New Skills for a New Century: Project-based learning teaches kids the collaborative and critical thinking abilities they'll need to compete.
Bob Pearlman
Find out what students need to survive and thrive in the 21st century.

Peakview Elementary - I visited this school in the late 1990s and was amazed at the way technology was so smoothly integrated into the curriculum; they also used project-based learning. Like HTH they lived by key principles or goals, and it made a visible difference in how everything was done at their school.