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Publication Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 So far so good: After eight months, Summit Prep seems to be meeting the high expectations of its founders
So far so good: After eight months, Summit Prep seems to be meeting the high expectations of its founders
(April 14, 2004) By David Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer
When state legislators laid the foundation for public charter schools back in 1992, what they had in mind may be going on at Summit Preparatory High School in Redwood City, now in its first year with a freshman class of 80 and five full-time teachers.
Although it's still too early to examine test scores -- Summit is only eight months old -- the school appears to be hitting all the right notes.
Students are getting individual attention and instruction. The teaching is interdisciplinary, with teachers showing connections between different areas of study -- history and science, for example. In a weekly three-hour "Connections" class, students learn time management and study skills and imagine in detail what life would be like in their ideal college. Twice a year for four weeks, the students immerse themselves in an area of interest, such as theater arts at the Community School for Music and Art in Mountain View.
The school "makes for a thinking individual," says Nancy Bianchi of Woodside, whose daughter Christine investigated other schools before choosing Summit. "That's the most important thing we can give our kids."
'Interesting and fun'
The students say they're learning.
"Since the classes are smaller (20 or fewer students per class), you can do a lot of projects," says student Emily Martell of Redwood City. "It's interesting and fun."
"It's really cool," says student David Aaronson, who lives in Menlo Park. "Summit allows individualism, it doesn't overload us with homework. The teachers don't assign busy work. ... They slow down if it's necessary."
The school's smallness and newness have teachers feeling challenged and involved. "You get to know (the students). You get to know why they're successful and why they're not," says Spanish teacher Arturo Aldana.
"I think what I didn't anticipate was the start-up (atmosphere) of working at a new school," says social studies teacher Kelly Garcia. "It's just been an amazing experience."
Juana Martinez of Redwood City has two sons at Summit. Obed was a sophomore at Woodside High School, but left to avoid large classes and friends with whom he had little in common, she says. "He's the most happy child in the world," she says, adding that he's getting good grades now.
Walking the talk?
"Real innovation at the high school level is hard to find," says Mary Perry, the deputy director of EdSource, a nonprofit education research organization in Palo Alto.
Summit is using teaching methods considered innovative, including individualized instruction, the use of real-world problems as a context for learning, and creating relationships between separate subjects.
A link between geometry and science can be seen in the spiraling chain of DNA, for example. A history lesson on Nazi atrocities can be tied in with a reading of Anne Frank's diary in English class and a science lesson on genetics and eugenics.
Traditional high school curriculums tend to treat subjects separately -- social studies, English, science and math -- to complement how they're taught in college, Ms. Perry says. Changing this structure at the high school level, as Summit is doing, is often fought by teaching staff, she says.
It can be demanding. Teachers have to meet with colleagues frequently to coordinate lessons, says math teacher Bruce Brege, noting that at Summit, teachers talk informally all the time and meet twice a week. "You have to give up a little bit of your autonomy," he says.
"It takes a ton of work," says social studies teacher Kelly Garcia.
"You have to find staff who are really well-trained and immersed in the (various subjects)," Menlo-Atherton High School Principal Eric Hartwig said in an interview. "It takes enormous talent and education on the (part of the) teaching staff."
Summit teachers -- most of whom have advanced degrees from either Stanford or Harvard -- are taking on another challenge in the use of individualized instruction, called "differentiation" by educators and "the Holy Grail of teaching" by Mr. Hartwig.
The way a student is taught at Summit is influenced by a pre-evaluation that gauges the student's strengths, talents, interests and ways of learning, says Diane Tavenner, the school's executive director.
There's plenty of diversity to work with. The freshmen come from 23 different middle schools, she says. About 35 percent live in homes in which Spanish is the primary language. (Spanish language is a required course at Summit.)
California public schools have to deal with diversity, says English teacher J. Adam Carter. Some schools choose students' paths for them according to their ability -- a technique called tracking. Summit doesn't do this, Mr. Carter says, and it can make for demanding days. "It's really a tremendous challenge (and) it will always be a challenge," he says.
All the junior- and senior-year courses at Summit will be advanced placement, echoing an experiment at Mountain View High School, where Ms. Tavenner was an assistant principal. When the Mountain View school opened AP classes to interested students, the number of classes more than doubled while pass rates did not significantly change, she says.
Summit is not for the student who likes to hang out on the corner after school, Ms. Tavenner says. Some students connect immediately, she says, while others have problems that come and go. "It's a little bit of a roller coaster ride," she says.
The faculty got off the roller coaster for a day this year and talked with Stanford education scholar Linda Darling-Hammond, who reminded them, Ms. Tavenner says, that educating freshmen isn't easy. Sixty percent nationwide fail at least one course, Ms. Tavenner says, adding, "We're nowhere near that."
It takes time, energy, thoughtfulness and reflection to make Summit's curriculum work, Ms. Tavenner says. "It's hard, but by the spring, you see such amazing development. ... They're so great," she says of the students. "We're so pleased with them now. We really actually like them as people."
If trends at Summit remain positive, Ms. Perry of EdSource says, it will demand the attention of the education community. But she says she wonders if the school can sustain its enthusiasm. "It's always easier when they're new," she says.
Lowering expenses
In this school year, Summit will spend about $11,000 per student. In five years, the school hopes to reduce spending to what the state or school district provides as a minimum -- currently $5,800 per student -- says Steve Humphreys, the Summit board member who handles the school's finances.
A school can do well with a large endowment, but Summit's directors want to find out if that's the only path to success. By throwing money at a school, "you don't really prove anything or contribute anything to the debate," said Andrew Thompson, a Portola Valley resident and spokesman for Summit's foundation.
The plan for a lean operation is meant to "reinforce the fact that this is not about wealthy families channeling resources away from the public school system," says Paul Koontz, who also lives in Portola Valley and is the president of Summit's board. "It's much more engaging to think about the power that diversity can bring."
Ms. Tavenner goes further. "I have no interest in doing education that isn't ethnically and economically diverse," she says. A school lacking those qualities "is not who we are and is not who we will ever be as long as I am here."
During the first several years, private contributions will be necessary. "State money won't get this school off the ground," says Mr. Koontz. "If this school succeeds, it will be because the community served picks up its long-term charter."
The school will spend about $1.1 million this year. In addition to revenues of $464,000 in state money and a $400,000 federal grant, Summit has received contributions from parents, individuals, corporations, foundations and the school's foundation. At present, the Summit foundation has $1.4 million, mostly from individuals, says Mr. Thompson.
When fully enrolled with 400 students, Summit would receive about $2.3 million at $5,800 per student, which will be enough, say Ms. Tavenner, Mr. Humphreys and Mr. Koontz. The Sequoia district spends about $7,100 per student.
Overhead may stay low at Summit because volunteers pitch in to perform routine tasks that would normally require a staff, such as in building maintenance and food preparation.
And although being a Summit volunteer for more than 30 hours reserves places in school for one's children, those students will not take up more than 10 percent of the enrollment, Ms. Tavenner says.
Charter renewal
In 2006, Summit's current charter with the Summerville Union High School District in Tuolumne County will expire and Summit will likely have to seek a new charter from the Sequoia Union High School District.
While Sequoia has had a history of rejecting charter petitions, it recently granted a one-year charter to Aurora High School in Redwood City and has a continuing relationship with East Palo Alto High, a charter school in Menlo Park. Another charter high school in the Sequoia district is located in San Carlos.
Summit and Sequoia had a rough beginning, but everyone contacted for this story anticipates a cordial relationship. Ms. Tavenner says she is expecting a visit soon from Sequoia district superintendent Patrick Gemma and M-A Principal Eric Hartwig, who is heading an effort to start a three-year high school in the district.
"If that (visit) goes as well as we would like it to go, I would expect Summit Prep to be cooperative and complementary to (Sequoia's) efforts," says Mr. Koontz. "I'm very hopeful that our early discussions will reinforce that spirit."
The year 2006 is also when the school is expected to outgrow its current location in an office building. A committee is investigating sites for a permanent home. As for the current site's central location near public transit, Ms. Tavenner says it's "fabulous." "It's a great match (for the student body) and I couldn't be more pleased with it," she says.
The extra mile
Not content with breaking the mold for core requirements, Summit's electives in physical education and arts classes also present an engaging difference.
At the end of each semester, students choose an elective and immerse themselves in it for a four-week period called an "intersession." The electives this year were visual arts and theater arts -- held at the Community School for Music and Art in Mountain View -- as well as rock and hip-hop academies in music composition, performance and production at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement in the North Fair Oaks neighborhood, and Web page design and programming at Summit.
During intersession, teachers have 38 days each year to "reflect, plan, prepare, develop curriculum and engage in professional development," Ms. Tavenner says.
Students can also use the Riekes Center for guided physical strength training. Wellness lectures delivered at school will address nutrition and keeping a mental edge, among other topics, says center founder Gary Riekes. Team sports at Summit this year included baseball, softball, soccer, track-and-field and basketball.
Each week, students spend three hours in an overview class called "Connections" and taught by Ms. Tavenner. Class interruptions that are routine in traditional school are saved for this class at Summit. Core classes are never interrupted, she says.
Over four years, the class will discuss topics such as time management, study skills, stress control, conflict resolution, decision making, financial literacy and research ethics.
"One of the things that became glaringly apparent to me (are the advantages that accrue to) people who have educated parents," says Ms. Tavenner. "The playing field is so unequal still in this respect. Academic literacy is so important."
How Summit Prep stacks up
** Now in its eighth month of operation, Summit is a charter school with five teachers and a freshman class of 80 students. If the school reaches full enrollment in the 2006-07 school year, Summit will have 20 teachers and a maximum of 400 students in four grade levels.
** About 52 percent of Summit's students come from Redwood City, 23 percent from Menlo Park, 7 percent from Portola Valley and 4 percent from Woodside. Executive director Diane Tavenner says Menlo Park will be more strongly represented in next year's freshman class, which is two students short of the 100-student maximum. The directors recently extended the maximum to 110 to accommodate changes in plans by prospective students.
** The idea for the school began three years ago, when several Portola Valley and Woodside families interested in starting a small, college-prep charter high school asked for a sponsorship from the Sequoia Union High School District. The district turned them down, but the families found a willing district in Tuolumne County, from which they obtained a five-year charter.
** Of the 84 students who enrolled in September, four have left. To succeed at Summit, says Ms. Tavenner, it helps to be well prepared, and to have strong home support and a peer group that respects an academic focus.
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