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| In America's Choice high schools the principal builds a team of highly capable faculty who share leadership responsibilities and oversee the implementation of the America's Choice design. |
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| The Leadership Team |
| The team includes these positions: |
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Principal |
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Design Coach to help the principal coordinate the implementation of the design throughout the school |
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Literacy Coach to implement the America's Choice English language arts curriculum in all English classes |
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Math Coach to implement the America's Choice approach to teaching mathematics in all math classes |
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Heads of subject-area departments to help implement the design in their departments |
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Parent Community Outreach Coordinator to help parents understand how to better support higher student achievement |
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Head Teachers, in large schools, are responsible for the small learning communities; they also help with the implementation of school-wide design elements. |
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| Small Learning Communities |
| America's Choice schools create learning communities where students are known and cared about by adults, where they sense they and their work are valued. |
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| Several elements of the organization of the lower division in America's Choice high schools help create such a community: |
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They are clean and safe. |
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They are small. We divide the lower division of large schools into small, autonomous schools of 400 students, with about 200 students per grade level. Each of these schools is served by a team of teachers that cover the core subjects of English, social studies, science, and mathematics. If that cannot be done, we establish in large schools administrative units called houses, each with no more than 400 students. Each house functions in much the same way as the autonomous school just described. |
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Teachers or teams of teachers in America's Choice high schools stay with the same group of students for two or more years. |
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| The organization of the upper division program is very similar to that of the lower division, but the teaching team is selected to provide the expertise required by the various upper division program options rather than the lower division core curriculum |
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| Guidance and Counseling |
| Teachers serve as advisors to no more than 25 students. They help students think about their future and make informed choices in moving from the lower division to the upper division. Teachers in Early College programs discuss the programs with lower-division students. Advisors create opportunities for students in the lower division to attend Early College classes, including technical courses taught at local two-year colleges. Students also have advisors when they get to Early College. |
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| Mentorship |
| To further strengthen ties between students and adults, every upper-division student in the America's Choice career academy option is given a mentor, an adult from outside the school community who counsels the student during his or her upper-division years |
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| Continue to Professional Learning Communities… |
