Richland Collegiate High School

Infobox_School
name = Richland Collegiate High School


imagesize = 81px
motto =
established = 2006
type = Collegiate High School/Charter School
district = DCCCD
grades = 11-12
principal = Kristyn Edney
colors = Green and Purple
mascot = Thunderduck
location = Dallas, TX
country = USA
information =
website = [http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/rchs/ School Website]

Richland Collegiate High School (RCHS) of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering is a charter high school created in 2006 at Richland College in Dallas, Texas.

Students can complete their last two years of high school at Richland College, graduating from RCHS, by taking college courses and earning college credits with a focus on mathematics, science, or engineering. RCHS students can graduate from Richland College with an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree and a high school diploma, ready to transfer to a four-year university.

Educational philosophy

The educational philosophy of the Richland Collegiate High School rests upon the maxim that a successful education program addresses the whole student – a mind-body-health continuum designed to enlighten the student's mind while enriching that student's spirit through multiple learning experiences designed to recognize each student's skills and abilities, to best use those abilities, and to develop each student's intellectual foundation. At Richland College this philosophy is summarized as “Teaching, Learning, Community Building,” a slogan placed on every entrance door on the campus to remind students and faculty, staff, and community members of the ultimate reason for the college's existence. Every member of the college family is expected to exhibit all three aspects of this mission - teaching others, learning from them, and building sustainable community with classmates, co-workers, and the many local, statewide, national and international communities within which the college functions.

Richland Collegiate High School students join in this experience as full-time college students with complete access to the services the college offers all students. These services range from a comprehensive Center for Tutoring and Learning Connections to core academic programs focused on special topics that respond to students' particular interests to intramural athletics and an array of student activities.In addition, RCHS students are immersed in the special experience of transitioning from a traditional high school or home school setting to a college environment. Extra support services designed specifically to ease this transition, to help RCHS students realize great benefits, envelope the students,recognizing each student's individual needs and developing suitable educational plans with each student and parent.

The pedagogical foundation of the Richland Collegiate High School is summarized by Lucre and Thompson in Do What Works (2004) – “The way to improve the academic and economic prospects of our high school students, then, is clear: we need to make sure that each student experiences a rigorous high school curriculum.” They conclude from a study conducted for the US Department of Education, “Student's high school course load is more determinative of whether the students will complete college with a bachelor's degree than the students' test scores, class rank, or grade point average.” The RCHS offers a rigorous curriculum in which students accumulate significant college credits while they are completing high school. Whether a RCHS student decides to earn a high school diploma and an AA degree from Richland College simultaneously or that student chooses to finish high school and pursue college studies in a specialty field, then transfer to a four-year institution with two years of college credits, every RCHS student shoulders a demanding course load.

The Collegiate High School's pedagogy reflects the purpose of the DCCCD's core curriculum predicated on the judgment that a series of intellectual competencies – reading, writing, speaking, listening, critical thinking, and computer literacy – are essential to the learning process in any discipline. Regardless of students' experiences in exercising these competencies, they need further instruction and practice to meet college standards and to succeed in their major fields of academic study and their chosen careers. The goal of the core curriculum is to foster multiple perspectives while informing and delivering content.

Core curriculum perspectives

High School students work toward completing the DCCCD core curriculum to earn high school graduation credits while attaining the following perspectives:

* “Establish broad and multiple perspectives on the individual in relationship to the larger society and world in which he or she lives, and to understand the responsibilities of living in a culturally and ethnically diversified world;
* Stimulate capacity to discuss and reflect upon individual, political, economic,and social aspects of life in order to understand ways in which to be responsible member of society;
* Recognize the importance of maintaining health and wellness;
* Develop a capacity to use knowledge of how technology and science affect their lives;
* Develop personal values for ethical behavior;
* Develop the ability to make aesthetic judgments;
* Use logical reasoning in problem solving; and
* Integrate knowledge and understand the interrelationships of the scholarly disciplines.”

While developing these perspectives, RCHS students achieve the practical outcomes of earning their high school diplomas and completing the core curriculum, assuring them of complete transfer as a junior to any public higher education institution in Texas .

RCHS students

RCHS students are notorious for their creativity and outspokenness. Encouraged to voice their opinions in how the school is run, they enjoy a freedom that teeters on the edges of college and high school. While still required to stay in school for at least 4 hours a day and attend 180 days (much longer than the college school year) what they do outside this time is much their own. Occasionally there is the student/teacher spat over PDAs, laptops, volume control, and the like, but the consensus is still overwhelmingly positive. Those who can handle the full class load much prefer RCHS to regular public school (as do their parents!).

Educational innovations

The Richland Collegiate High School incorporates educational innovations that, considered as a whole, distinguish it from any other charter high school in Texas and the United States.

Earning college credits while completing high school

The specific courses each RCHS student takes during their two years to earn a high school diploma while accumulating college credits ultimately depends on that student's academic skills and career goals. However, students are not allowed to select courses without academic advice. Students must first follow the path that leads to high school diploma. A student must enroll each semester through an academic advisor who reviews the student's academic record and two-year graduation plan to identify the courses the student should take the next semester and for the remainder of time in the RCHS.

In addition to earning a high school diploma, RCHS students are encouraged to complete the DCCCD core curriculum. This curriculum adheres to state requirements that every higher education institution offer a core curriculum of 42-48 credit hours that meets the goals outlined above. When a student successfully finishes an institution's core curriculum, that recognition is transferable to any other Texas public higher education institution. This means that a student who completes the core curriculum at Richland College can transfer to any other Texas university without being required to take any of that institution's core courses.

Learning communities

Building Communities: A Vision for a New Century (American Association of Community Colleges, 1988), the final report of the Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, called for the creation of “learning communities” across community colleges to realize vision built upon creating community through acknowledgment of common goals and cooperation to achieve them – a role for which community colleges are uniquely suited. Within the instructional arena of community colleges, learning communities linking two or more courses and faculty members organized around a theme have become more widely spread as a strategy to create this vision. These learning communities organize students and faculty members into coherent groups pursuing common educational purpose offering a setting for students to be socialized to the expectations of college and to develop academic and social support networks. As Valeria Ann Bystrom comments in New Paradigms for College Teaching (1997), “Interdisciplinary studies lets the knowledge out of the boxes,so that students set to building connections, buttresses, and windows.”

A learning community brings together up to 40-50 students enrolled in two or more classes, meeting for 6-8 hours or more each week. Learning is based upon collaboration, discussion, and team projects connecting the courses through a common theme. Richland College has offered learning communities for more than 15 years in various modalities and settings for students with differing academic skills and preparation.

Collegiate High School students participate in learning communities during most semesters. Since students must stay on campus at least 4 hours each day, the learning communities usually meet for 3 hours two or three days each week. The actual topics and courses included in each learning community depend on students' needs and which faculty members are available to teach the courses, but they normally combine two or more core courses. Typical combinations include any combination of English, speech, history, cultural studies, government, math and computer science. All faculty members teaching in a learning community are highly qualified to teach at least one of the courses offered. These faculty members collaborate throughout class periods to assure continuity among the subjects taught. The learning communities are also the base for students' service learning activities and senior exhibitions.

Faculty members teaching learning communities participate in professional development activities before they start teaching to learn more about collaborative learning strategies, working with younger college students, and building community in the classroom. Those faculty members who are most successful in the learning communities form a nucleus to attract additional faculty members for future learning communities. These leaders could lead future professional development workshops and mentor new teachers.

ervice learning

“Service Learning” is defined as a program in which students learn and develop through thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet real community needs. Service learning has become a component of many high school and community college curricula; more than 50% of community colleges offer some form of service learning for students. Richland College has served as a mentor for the American Association of Community College's “Broadening Horizons Through Service Learning” project funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service,working with more than 20 community colleges across the country over the past five years to design and implement effective service learning programs.

Service Learning at Richland College is offered as an opportunity for students in all learning communities and about 40 other classes across the college. Nearly 500 students volunteered for more than 10,000 hours of service in 2006-2007 ranging from building homes with Habitat for Humanity to tutoring and mentoring students at elementary and middle schools near Richland to helping disabled campers at Camp Summit. In addition to the volunteer work,students write journals chronicling their experiences and thoughts,then meet in sessions with their teachers and other students to share reflections.

Collegiate High School students must complete and document at least 30hours of service learning each year. This service can be performed in any venue approved by the Service Learning Coordinator, who works with the faculty members teaching the learning communities to develop service learning activities. These activities can be focused for an individual or small group of students who have a particular career interest, such as in health or teaching. Opportunities related to the theme of each learning community are available for other students. RCHS students maintain reflective journals discussing their service activities. The Service Learning Coordinator and learning community teachers lead reflection seminars with students to help them integrate their service experiences into their educational journey.

enior exhibition

RCHS seniors complete a “Senior Exhibition” to earn a“Distinguished Achievement” diploma. This year-long project demonstrates a student's proficiency in the academic components of the Collegiate High School education and in applying the intellectual skills necessary for success in college. The exhibition is distinguished by the student's academic independence in generating a topic, involving the college and RCHS community, and making a public presentation that meets the assessment standards.

The exhibition must reflect one or more of these academic disciplines -English, mathematics, science, social studies, fine arts, and technology. A student may write a research paper or develop a product with a supporting paper. To complete either option, the student must develop a question or hypothesis worthy of in-depth research, interpret the research to draw reasonable conclusions, and support these conclusions with varied and well-documented evidence. The research paper must manifest scholarly research and demonstrate proficiency in research writing.

Students wishing to develop a product must demonstrate their research through an outcome such as a collection of art pieces, original computer software, a play based on a historical event, a video documentary, an original music score, a work of historical fiction, or a comprehensive laboratory report of a scientific experiment. The accompanying paper would address the historical tradition of the discipline or craft demonstrated in the product and detail how that tradition influenced the student's original work. The exhibition will culminate with a public presentation open to students, faculty, and the community at which the student will present findings and respond to questions.

The learning communities support seniors as they develop their exhibitions. In addition, the seniors engage in activities throughout the year to fulfill this requirement through group activities such as short-term study projects and integrated learning workshops and by working individually with college faculty members and academic advisors. Richland College faculty members work with each student, acting as mentors and guides. The student also identifies one or more content experts outside the RCHS and college faculty and staff members to work with the student and participate in evaluating the final product and presentation. The public Senior Exhibitions are held before high school graduation as the culmination of the senior's experience at the Collegiate High School.

Laptop computers

Every Collegiate High School student receives a laptop computer for use during his or her time as a student. These laptop computers have wireless capabilities and are loaded with appropriate software to assist students in completing assignments, conducting research, and participating in on-line activities such as blister's for classes and the eConnect system. The entire Richland College campus is wireless to encourage students to use their laptops to communicate and conduct research. Providing every RCHS with a laptop computer assures that no student will miss the opportunities others may have solely due to their financial circumstances.

Each student is responsible for his or her laptop computer, including its contents. The RCHS purchases insurance for every computer, but the primary accountability rests on the student. While this may appear to be risky,the experience has been quite positive with few broken or lost computers in the first two years. As is true in almost all settings and cases,students live up to – or down to – expectations. The expectation of RCHS students is responsibility and high performance as a college student.

The educational innovations discussed above result in a high school/collegiate experience for students not available at any other educational institution in Texas .Graduates earn their high school diplomas while accumulating 60 or more college credits that transfer to any university in Texas and elsewhere. They will have myriad experiences to prepare them for ongoing academic success and satisfying careers –collaboration and teamwork, leadership, public service, research,synthesis and application of knowledge, and hard work to achieve a goal.

External links

* [http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/ Richland College Website]
* [http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/rchs/ Richland Collegiate High School Website]
* [http://www.rchs-pta.org/ RCHS PTA Website]