Chula Vista High School / Mar Vista High School

Sweetwater Union Sweetwater Union
San Diego County San Diego County
2001 API Base Report 2001 API Base Report

Project Name
SMART Standards Mastery and Responsive Teaching

Project Partners
Chula Vista MS
Mar Vista MS
Southwestern Community College
San Diego State University
UC San Diego
Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE)
Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project
The San Diego Mathematics Project (SDMP)
The San Diego Area Writing Project (SDAWP)
The San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE)

Project Director
Katrine Czajkowski, Resource Teacher
Mar Vista High School
505 Elm Avenue
Imperial Beach, CA 91932
Phone: 619-628-3074
E-mail: katrine.czajkowski@suhsd.k12.ca.us

Summary

What are models for raising expectations for students successont he High School Exit Exam (HSEE) and how do schools go about providing all students with the support they need to fulfill these high expectations? The Standards Mastery and Responsive Teaching (SMART) Project will pursue answers to this critical question.

Two middle school/high-school clusters (CVHS & CVMS and MVHS & MVMS) will serve as targets for application of innovative pedagogical and intervention strategies within the second largest secondary district in California. Both schools have a history of work with CAPP. Poised to take advantage of a new and functional partnerships with community colleges and four-year universities, both clusters serve large numbers of marginalized students who are denied access to institutions of higher education. We are ready to make the most of CAPP's desire to support reaserch-based documentation of promising strategies for increasing success on the HSEE.

Two important beliefs drive our proposal. First, most classroom teachers lack the ability to provide students, parents and colleagues with the connection between letter grades and indicators of student mastery of critical content standards. Second, schools receiving considerable State and Federal funds lack an articulated and coherent system for ensuring that diverse students benefit from effective academic interventions. Focused, informed teacher dialogue is essential for the amelioration of both conditions. Structured time for teacher review of relevant and timely data as well as development of the collegiality that supports risk taking are outcome to be realized through the use of CAPP fund. The SMART Project will use CAPP resources to synthesize various positive but disjointed efforts and provide powerful data on ways in which two different school clusters in a common district work to achieve common outcomes.

CAHSEE Report and Evaluation:
Chula Vista High School (.pdf, 307K)