| Technology High School, Rohnert Park, California |
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Information AboutTechnology High School, Rohnert Park, California |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL, ROHNERT PARK, CALIFORNIA | |
| educational institutions established in 1999 | |
| high schools in california | |
| buildings and structures in sonoma county, california | |
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Other data There are 1.3 students per computer, compared to the California state-wide average of 5 students per computer. Many students go to on to a higher educational institution while less than 20% go directly into the Workforce . FACULTY There is an average of 27 students per teacher. Full credentials are possessed by 83% of teachers, while the remaining teachers have emergency credentials or waivers. {Link without Title} Faculty Retention has been an issue over the School's history. Retention rates were below 50% the first several years of operation but current retention rates hover around 75%. Due to the small-school environment that Technology High School maintains there are at most 3 teachers in one department. This encourages teachers to work together on Cross-curricular Projects . Staff meetings happen at least once a week where the entire staff of the school gathers together to discuss any outstanding school wide issues. Another purpose of these meetings is to attempt to ensure Consistency through the entire school. http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/ca/other/12248#teachers CURRICULUM Technology High School's curriculum is designed to be project-based as well as cross-curricular. Teachers work closely together to create projects that span more than one curricular area. Teachers also try to time the curriculum so that students can take advantage of what they learn in one class in another. The curriculum is also designed and graded based on the Schoolwide Learning Outcomes. STUDENT TESTIMONIES "I go to Technology High and I am a Junior. My first year was not what I thought it would be, I expected to have a large number of students in my classes, and not many right-away friends. This was not my experience at all, I entered Tech High with one close friend, and ended the first week with more than I could count. When I first heard of Tech High's curriculum, it knew it was problem based learning, and that they didn't use text books. That made me excited, but when I completed my first year, I realized, this problem-based learning was not the way they taught at all. In most classes the way they taught was in "units" each unit was a different sub-subject, there were lectures and "tests" were tasks to fill using a visual representation and/ or paper, most units were taught this way, and too my surprise, it turned out to be effective. I'm hooked now, I don't think I could go back to a traditional public high school and succeed in the way I have. Tech High has a very diverse faculty of students (as you have seen) and this includes the nerds, scholars, young-ones, scene kids, and traditional teens. On your first year here, you make friends, lose friends, hate people, and find out where your place in the hallway is. By your second year, you know where you are in life, but by the end of your second year, I'm not going to lie, most people I know would like to kill some of their fellow students. In a class of about thirty, and when you change classes, but still with the same people, you begin to go crazy. The teachers are great, they should never leave, they are top-notch educators, but the students could use a break from each other. In a school this small, everyone knows each other, and knows everyone's business." - Andrew Clakeley, Grade 11 "My sister went to Tech High, and I'm a student there now. Over the course of the past two or three years, things have drastically changed. We've gone through numerous math teachers, curriculum changes, growth spurts, and even struggling against the school district officials who tried to shut us down or relocate us. Now, I'm a Junior at Tech High. I love it. It's a relatively small school with approximately 240 students, 60 per grade, but it's nice. Almost everybody knows each other. News spreads quickly. It's that low population that makes Tech High rise above the rest, though, because it gives Students and Teachers the chance to achieve greater things than typical High Schools, like Rancho Cotati. Teachers can (and have) taught at the college level, teaching things like the impact of environmental decisions on the success of a country (as written about in a book called "Collapse"). One of the Tech High Alumni came by the school and said that her college taught that lesson in 9 weeks, whereas Tech High Sophomores did it in 3, and did it better. Anywho, I love Tech High. I began Freshman year with very little friends, after having been living out of town for a year and a half, and now, by the end of Sophomore Year, I've got about 42 friends that I see and talk to on a near-daily basis, and most of them are fellow Tech High students. Overall, it's been great so far. To quote Quest Meyer: "I'd rather not go to high school at all than to not go to Tech High". I completely agree, too. Tech High's changed my life, both academically and socially." - Michael Baker, Grade 11 "I had wanted to go to Tech High since I heard about it in the sixth grade. My older brother didn't go there, but some of his friends did, and the way they talked about the teachers and the curriculum and the experience of being in a small class with people you could easily relate to made me want to go there. I thought, 'Maybe it isn't as good as they say, but at least it's better than a regular high school.' After all the horror stories I was told growing up of high school being the worst years of life, I was just looking to be as happy as I could during those years. After having completed two years at Tech High, I can certainly say that it is like no other place. With less than a third of the student population being female (though the percentage goes up every year) being a girl in Tech High is certainly different than anything else. As a girl in a mostly male school, I've learned to appreciate the company of other girls, but also how to maturely relate to guys. You also learn to appreciate other people, because there's hardly 240 students in the school, an average of 60 per class, whereas in other high schools, there can be upwards of one or two thousand kids in the school, and friendships are recycled as people grow to dislike each other. But in a small environment like Tech High, you learn to appreciate the small amount of people around you, so friendships are generally stronger, and we have higher morals than other high school students. As for the teachers, they all know how to treat students to make them know that while school is important, it's also not hard. They all have a way of putting things in a different light, to make sure we all get the concepts that we're meant to learn. They also know how to make the curriculum fun to learn. My tenth grade English and Science/Engineering courses were the most fun experience of my career as a student. We learn quicker than in other students, and we remember the things we learn. We learn through lectures and projects, for every class (except math, which is a traditional program). It's a good way to wrap your mind around things. All in all, I think that there's nowhere I would rather be than Tech High. It's summer now, and I miss school. As a student who takes interest in science, math, and technology, as well as someone who prefers a smaller group of great friends than a larger group of friends I hardly know, I can definitely say that Tech High is the place for me. -Tess McDermott, Grade 11" REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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