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News & Information
City High Charter School To Celebrate First Graduating Class
April 10, 2006
On June 24, 2006, City Charter High School will graduate its first senior class during a ceremony at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh. These 100 seniors are each a testimony to the success of school choice and City Charter High School's model of education. Many students will move on to higher education, some will attend trade schools and some will go directly into the workforce. Regardless of their individual plans, the students' four-year journey through this innovative charter school has prepared them to hit the ground running.
A School is Born
Four years ago, a pair of veteran Pittsburgh Public School educators had a dream and took a dare. Richard Wertheimer and Mario Zinga believed that high schools needed to be redesigned from the ground up with an eye towards the 21st century economy. They met with local foundations, business leaders and other educators and discussed appropriate goals for a quality high school experience. After months of brainstorming, they concluded that they should start their own school.
Through a grant from the Heinz Endowments, the pair took one year to study the best practices of schools of choice throughout the country. They met with a number of community leaders to learn what they felt the public high schools should focus on. They also met with business leaders, educators and college administrators to gather feedback about what skills most newly graduated high school students lacked. Those skills included time management, project management, research skills, presentation skills, communications skills, the ability to work in groups and the ability to synthesize information.
Upon the completion of their study, armed with innovative ideas they believed would provide better educational experiences for students with lifelong results, Wertheimer and Zinga founded City Charter High School.
Doing it Differently
Opening its doors in the 2002-2003 school year, City High implemented numerous innovations that differed from traditional schools. Those innovations included providing students with the same teachers throughout their high school tenure, lengthening the school day to pattern typical workday hours, increasing the school year to 188 days, dividing the school year into trimesters separated by 3-5 week breaks, scheduling classes in 2 hour 10 minute blocks and providing laptops for all students and staff.
Academic classes at City Charter High School are rooted in an integrated curriculum. For example, English and Social Studies are taught as one block called "Cultural Literacy." This method uses historical themes to deepen students' understanding of topics while helping to create better readers, writers and communicators. Work is project-oriented and student centered. Classes minimize the use of textbooks, but instead encourage students to use primary sources and relevant literature. Project-based learning promotes process skills that are crucial to excelling in the post-high school world.
Internship Program Paves the way to Future Success
City Charter High School has a powerful workforce development program that focuses students on job readiness during their four years at the school. The program includes a workforce readiness grade during every trimester and 9-11th grade Career Readiness courses that investigates careers, works on interview skills and resume writing and an involves an application to college or job simulation. The program also has an internship component that begins in 10th grade with mentoring and job shadowing. This leads to an 11th grade internship (130 hours) at a local corporation, business or non-profit. The internship offer many benefits. Students learn about how to manage themselves in actual work environments. They also gain feedback as to whether their "chosen profession" is really the right direction. Companies who offer internships also provide interns and their teachers with feedback about students' strengths and weaknesses. A successfully completed internship is a requirement for graduation at City Charter High School.
Research and the Graduation Project
City High students must participate in an intensive 4 year research program. The process begins in the ninth grade when students take a 13 week research course and learn significant research skills taught by a certified research librarian. In the tenth grade students improve their research skills through data collection in mathematics and the sciences. This leads to 11th grade planning for the student's culminating research project, which is a requirement for graduation. Students complete their graduation project in 12th grade and conduct presentations before a panel of experts.
Moving forward
Whatever their chosen destination might be, City Charter High School students are prepared to succeed in life after high school. Standardized test scores, attendance, behaviors and ability to manage work situations all improve over a student's tenure at City High. The successes of this first graduating class are an indication the school's model works and are effective.
And City High's model has earned the school statewide attention. City Charter High School was selected to make the coveted "Exemplary Charter School Program" presentation at the Annual Conference of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools during National Charter School Week in Harrisburg on May 1, 2006.
"City Charter High School is a classic example of why school choice works and a great encouragement to charter school officials across the commonwealth," said Tim Daniels, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools.
Editors note: Interview opportunities with students of the 2006 graduating class, teachers, and administrators are available. To schedule an interview, contact Ken Kilpatrick at the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools at 215-804-0808.
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