SCHOOL LEADERSHIP TEAM
This group meets once per week to discuss important policy issues that affect our program. A proposal to be presented to School Leadership Team can originate in any part of the community: at staff development, in student government, at a parent association meeting, etc. The School Leadership Team is composed of representatives of the various constituencies in our community- including staff, administration, parents and students.
CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT REVIEW ("CAR") TEAM
The CAR team hosts a weekly meeting, open to all UHHS faculty and staff, to guide the continuous self-reflection and evolution of the school's instructional program. Issues relating to curriculum, assessment, and other schoolwide matters can be brought to CAR by any faculty member.
DIRECTORS
The Principal meets weekly with the leadership team of the school, which is called Directors. This group discusses the implementation of proposals and initiatives. This group essentially helps to facilitate the wishes of the school community. The members include the leaders of the 3 academic teams, the leader of the support team, the school psychologist, and our Bronx Community College liaison.
SUPPORT TEAM
The student support team is organized to work with the students around their social and emotional needs. We have found that attending to student needs in these areas facilitates their learning. The support team has arranged itself so one of them responds to students in a particular seminar. In technology, e.g. we have deployed the computers so that there are a few in each classroom in order to have them readily accessible to students. Also, the block scheduling facilitates the students learning through in-depth construction of knowledge.
SEMINAR GROUPS FOR CURRICULUM PLANNING
Teachers meet weekly in seminar groups to discuss curriculum, approaches, and students. Seminar meetings provide an opportunity for teachers to compare notes abut particular lessons and students, and to coordinate the content areas. Teachers also meet in curricular groups weekly for the actual planning of curricular approaches and the working out of issues that might arise.
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
As our mission statement indicates, one of our goals is" to maximize access for all members of our community". We strive to encourage our students to always work to achieve their highest possible levels. We reinforce this principal through our portfolio assessment system, where students are encouraged to tune their work until it is "distinguished". At graduation, we recognize students who have achieved that level in all of their senior presentations.
TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Weekly professional development meetings are consistently focused on issues of curriculum, instruction and assessment, and standards. All teachers are expected to participate in professional development meeting, which are held every Wednesday after school. There is also an annual January professional development overnight retreat. Professional Development activities are consistently aligned with the work the students are doing in the classroom. The topics address both academic and social emotional issues.
Activities we use in Professional Development to facilitate our discussions are frequently models of activities that can be used with students, e.g., micro labs, the continuum exercise, project adventure activities, constructivist group discussions, technology lessons. The meetings often reflect skills denoted by our domains of learning: critical thinking, problem solving, working together, et.al. All of our professional development activities are based on the belief that we must support our essential way of reinforcing teaching and learning. Our professional development is aligned with instructional practice. We believe that our system is fully integrated for the enhancement of student achievement.
COALITION OF ESSENTIAL SCHOOLS
As a member school, UHHS is organized around the principles of the Coalition of Essential schools. The structure supports the belief in students to learn to use their minds well, to learn form each other working cooperatively, and to work with student as worker, teacher as coach. The school is small with about 420 students and 25 teachers. The students are organized into family groups, which encourages the development of strong interpersonal relationships. Two family groups join together to form a seminar - consisting of approximately 40 students and 3 teachers representing the 3 curricular areas of Math/Science/Technology, Humanities ad Service/Health.
OTHER PARTNERS
Being on a college campus, we have several liaisons.