Computer-savvy school is motivating its students in Philadelphia

High Tech High Charter is winning results. In one school year, students’ median reading scores improved two grade levels.

By Martha Woodall
Inquirer Staff Writer

At High Tech High Charter School in Center City, students enjoy using computers to help identify minerals in earth science class. They get a kick out of tooling around with a design program to create mythological heroes in humanities class.

But what’s really gotten them excited is that their school’s unusual mix of technology, critical thinking, project-based learning, and small classes seems to be working. At the end of the first academic year in June, median student reading scores on standardized tests had risen by two grade levels and math scores were up nearly two and a half.

"This is something we’re celebrating," said Tiffany Days, 15, as she pointed to the results displayed in the foyer. "Everyone came up, and it was because we had programs to help us."

And the trend has been continuing since then.

High Tech High blends progressive school-reform principles with maxims of business management. Its novel competency-based grading and performance requirements mean that it may take some students six years to earn their diplomas.

"In this school, we have a grading system like no other grading system in Philadelphia – or America," said Jason Williams, 15, of West Philadelphia. "We have ‘mastery’ and ‘incomplete.’ Anything below 80 percent is called ‘incomplete.’… You either have to repeat or retest."

Ananias Johnson, 15, puts it another way. "Here, we are not allowed to fail," said Johnson, who transferred to High Tech High from another charter school last year. "An incomplete is not failing because you can always go back and retake an exam."

High Tech High was founded by a coalition of business, education and community leaders who wanted to create a new kind of high school that would prepare city students for higher education and the modern workforce.

"From our point of view, we are redefining the role of a high school," said Scott Gordon, the school’s chief executive officer and one of the founders. "It all flows from the mission that the job of our school is to make sure that all students have the skills they need to fulfill their dreams."

Those skills, he said, include not only being able to read, write and calculate, but also being able to think critically and use technology. In addition, the school aims to hone students’ personal skills so they can conduct themselves professionally and work well with others.

The charter was launched with 100 ninth graders in a temporary facility on North Broad Street for the 2001-02 school year. It is adding a grade each year. In September, it moved across from the Bourse to a building on South Fourth Street named after Brook J. Lenfest, chief executive officer of the Brooks Capital Group, an investment company in Bala Cynwyd. The building was purchased and renovated with help of $3 million from the Brook J. Lenfest Foundation.

Lenfest said the school’s mission meshed with the foundation’s goal of "providing through education and other means, choices for people who may or may not be aware that choices in life exist, or may think that those choices are not available to them."

He said the school’s use of technology appealed to him. "And I liked the idea of running a school like a business," said Lenfest, who sits on the charter’s board and cochairs its fund-raising efforts.

In addition to Lenfest, the school’s high-powered board includes Josh Kopelman, founder of the Internet firm Half.com, and Jeremy Nowak, president of the Reinvestment Fund, a financial institution specializing in community development.

One of 46 charter schools in Philadelphia, High Tech High now enrolls 200 ninth and 10th graders.

Charter schools are funded by taxpayers but are run independently and are exempt from some public-school regulations. Although the Philadelphia charter school has worked with the similarly named High Tech High in San Diego, Philadelphia’s charter developed its own curriculum and educational model.

That model includes teachers working in teams, a linear sequence of courses, and hands-on learning and projects. Mastery tests are given along the way. Students will be required to complete internships and college-level courses to graduate.

While technology is a draw for students, the charter is not interested in technology for its own sake.

"Our push has been not to have a high-priced technology lab but to make technology part of the way everyone learns every day in every subject," said Gordon, who added that computers are located throughout the school.

The biggest challenge High Tech High has faced has been changing students’ attitudes about school.

"Our kids came in without the independent drive to aspire academically and without critical-thinking skills," Gordon said. "They are used to filling out work sheets."

Many also are not prepared for high school. He said new students typically are two grade levels behind in English and 21/2 years behind in math.

"I got the first group of ninth graders and tried to start them all right at the beginning of the ninth-grade sequence," math teacher Sean Gallagher recalled. "A lot of them just weren’t ready for the work."

To help students catch up, the school created introductory courses and limited the class size to seven students.

Gordon said the academic rigor demanded by the school was a shock for many students who were used to just getting by. Last school year, two-thirds of the students received incompletes at the end of the first marking period despite repeated offers of tutorials and other help.

"I did not see any of our students take out a book or do homework in the common area until December," Gordon said.

He said the staff knew students’ attitudes about learning had to change for the school to succeed. Gradually, students began to respond to the culture of high expectations and to appreciate the opportunities the school offered. Gordon said they began to say " ‘You know what, I want to do well. I am interested in doing something with my life, and I understand that a high school has a role in that.’ " It is just not as cool to be a slacker here anymore."

By the end of the third marking period of the 2001-02 academic year, the passing rate had improved from 35 to 73 percent. Because the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment is given to 11th graders, next year will be the first time High Tech students take the state test.

"We don’t have the PSSA stamp of approval yet," Gordon said. "We are anxiously awaiting that."

Chris Robinson, 16, who transferred to the school from Germantown High School, says he was transformed by his experience. At first, he was not fazed when he received incompletes.

"I still had the public-school attitude," he recalled. " ‘Another report card gone bad.’ That’s how I felt about it."

But by the spring, his views had changed.

"I finally realized where I was going," he said. "This school is not playing around. I did not want to waste the chance and end up another statistic… . With that in mind, I tried to change the attitude I had. Now I want to work. I want to do the best I can."

Robinson dreams of becoming a computer graphics artist. "I see doors opening," he said. "I never saw the opportunities before when I was in public school and messing up."

Contact staff writer Martha Woodall at 215-854-2789 or [email protected].

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