In order to graduate from University Heights High School, students must demonstrate mastery in our seven domains of learning, each of which are found in all disciplines. We use a portfolio system including public presentation and evaluation. Students create their portfolios from the work they do in their seminars, and graduate only when they prove they are ready through successful roundtable presentations and sufficient course credits.

Portfolio Cover Letters

Students write cover letters to accompany each item in their portfolios. Cover letters are attached to the work so that one not only sees the product of the students' efforts, but also their self assessment of what they learned and accomplished.  In cover letters, students refer to the list of outcomes under each domain to describe what the they have learned by completing the work. Therefore the cover letter is as important as the work itself because without it we cannot know just how much was accomplished.

Exhibitions

Upon completion of a unit of study in a seminar, students present their work to others. Sometimes these presentations are informal peer groups, and other times they are formal presentations to an outside audience, in the form of roundtables. When exhibiting their work, students demonstrate. what they have done and what they know, and answer questions about the topic studied or the experiences they had.

Roundtables

Roundtables include the voices of other students, teachers, parents, and critical friends from the community. These multiple perspectives help determine standards for course credit.   Students must be prepared to answer questions about their work, and even revise it if it is determined that the portfolio is yet roundtable-ready.  Only when students have successfully presented seven graduation portfolios will they receive their diplomas.