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Factors which may contribute to academic achievement in an outperforming urban high school with a career technical education curriculum

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Factors which may contribute to academic achievement in an outperforming urban high school with a career technical education curriculum

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FACTORS WHICH MAY CONTRIBUTE TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN
AN OUTPERFORMING URBAN HIGH SCHOOL
WITH A CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM

by

Anne Elizabeth Kershner

__________________________________________________________________

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2008

Copyright 2008 Anne Elizabeth Kershner

ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful for all the stakeholders of Academy High and its district. My
journey of discovery began in 2005 when N. H. first told me the tale of the origins of
this school. The journey then continued with M. M. who gave me a guided tour of
the high school campus and the learning complex. The seeds of interest were planted
but the journey was put on hold during two years of course work. Then it was time to
seek permission from the principal to make Academy High the focus of this case
study. The principal, a watchful gatekeeper of her carefully honed learning culture,
did not immediately oblige my request.
Academy High is no magic kingdom. It is just a high school, with very clean
floors, helpful staff and normal teenagers. Much of what I observed was simply
normal. But at the end of every day of data collection, when I returned to my car
about 5:30 pm, I felt that I was Alice who had just climbed back out of the hole.
I have worked in urban high schools for seventeen years. During that time, I
have never had the privilege of experiencing teamwork amongst the adults. I
cherished and tried to add to the good that I found and constructed filters to block out
the myriad dysfunctional aspects of the school around me. Adult staff did not send
their own children to the high schools where I worked, yet the students in my
classroom were invariably what kept me in the profession. My sense of futility in
the isolated bits of excellence which passed for high school is what drove me to
graduate school. The greatest accomplishment in the pursuit of this degree has been

iii
to find in Academy High a genuine model of educators working together to create a
learning environment worthy of everyone’s children. For this I am grateful.
I also appreciate the guidance of my faculty committee. Dr. Hollins suggested
avenues which I would not otherwise have known to explore, but gave greater depth
to this study. Dr. Hocevar was ever supportive and friendly. Dr. Gothold, our
experienced Captain, has brought this and countless other ships into port on time.
I appreciate my colleagues on this journey: Sharon Anderson, David Chang,
Juliette Ett, Julio Fonseca, Kathy Frazier, José Hernandez, Kelley Mayr, Talin
Pushian, and Stephania Vu.
Editor Dr. Shantanu Dutta Ahmed provided concise and thoughtful insight.
Finally, although first, I am grateful to Rob, who still has not told them.

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ……………………………………………... ii
LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………. v
ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………… vi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………… 1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………. 25
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY …………………………………….. 107
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS …………………………………………….. 125
CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ………………….. 208
REFERENCES ………………………………………………………... 222
APPENDICES ………………………………………………………… 231

v
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Conceptual Model …………………………………………….. 117
Figure 2: Cyclical Nature of the Learning Environment ……………….. 186

vi
ABSTRACT
The United States has a high school dropout rate as high as 50 percent for
some ethnic groups. This dropout rate exacerbates racial divides and socioeconomic
disparity. Youth at-risk of dropping out are often over represented in urban schools.
Today’s educators are challenged to find ways to retain and engage all students. This
need is all the more urgent because changes in the job market have resulted in far
fewer no-skill required jobs. Today’s job market demands that young people have
meaningful secondary and post secondary education.
Educators at Academy High in California are working to meet the
educational needs of their students. Student body statistics are commensurate with
characteristics of at-risk youth. The student body is 91 percent Latino, 85 percent
socioeconomically disadvantaged and 73 percent English Language Learners. In
addition, 43 percent of the parents are not high school graduates. Rather than view
these students as deficits, the educators at Academy High focus on creating a
positive learning community. They model and expect effort and they allow ample
opportunities for the exploration and initial qualification in a variety of careers. High
stakes accountability measures provide evidence that the educators at Academy High
are on the right path.

1
CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
I was in my fifteenth year; in terms of schooling I was far behind the average
youth of the nation, but I did not know that. In me was shaping a yearning for
a kind of consciousness, a mode of being that the way of life about me had
said could not be, must not be, and upon which the penalty of death had been
placed.
Richard Wright, Black Boy (1937, p. 187)

It is 7:50 Monday morning. Chris walks up to the threshold of his geometry
class and hands his teacher a flash drive containing his semester project. Five
minutes later, on the other side of campus, Terry walks into the student parking lot.
She moves towards her friends who encourage her to join them for the day at
another girl’s house. Terry hesitates; even if she ran she would probably be late to
her geometry class and she has not finished her semester project. Suddenly, the
assistant principal joins the group and cajoles the girls to get to class. When Terry
moves away, the assistant principal insists on walking Terry to her geometry class.
On the way, the two discuss a timeline for Terry to complete her project.
Two hours later, when David arrives on campus, security whisks him into the
dean’s office. The seventeen year old’s school records show that he does not have
enough credits to graduate later this school year with his class. He has been truant
thirty days this year. When the dean threatens expulsion, David rolls his eyes. He
was planning to join his friends who have already dropped out.
Variations of these scenes occur on high school campuses across the United
States. What is a school to do? School leaders try to understand what motivates

2
students such as Chris to strive for academic achievement. They seek ways to engage
students like Terry and they struggle to retain students like David (Cotton, 2001).
There is cause for alarm that the high school dropout rate in the United States
is 30 percent, and the rate rises to 50 percent for some minority students (Orfield, et
al. 2004). High school dropouts are more likely than the general population to
become adults who use public assistance, are unemployed and incarcerated
(Haberman, 1999, National Governors’ Association, 2006). The high school dropout
rate increases racial divides and socioeconomic disparity. It is in everyone’s best
interest to retain and engage all high school students (Cotton, 2001).
The guiding theme of this study is stated well by Haberman (1999):
Educators who understand that schools contribute to creating at-risk
youngsters are willing to accept responsibility and hold schools accountable
for solving the problem. Such individuals have a different explanation for
success in school, attributing it to effort rather than ability. This perspective
leads them to believe that schools and educators can be held accountable for
generating effort (p. 37).

The idea that urban schools and educators can model and generate student effort
leading to academic achievement will serve as a framework for this study. This idea
is not new. Tyack and Cuban (1995) showed that at the beginning of the twentieth
century educators recognized that large schools did not serve the education needs of
immigrant and poor students. One hundred years later researchers (Hess, 1999,
Johnson, 2002, Nieto, 1999, Oakes, 2005, Zapf, Spradlin & Plucker, 2006) still argue
for systemic change in urban education. Tyack posited: “Urban schools did not

3
create the injustices of American urban life, although they had a systematic part in
perpetuating them” (Tyack, 1974, p. 12).
Leaders in education today are focused on urban high school students,
searching for effective strategies to engage students such as Terry and David, who
are at-risk of dropping out. Educators are challenged to offer a variety of ways to
retain and engage high school students (Cotton, 2001). This research study will
discuss those factors which contribute to students’ academic achievement in an
outperforming urban high school. These factors were identified by the alumni,
students, teachers, administrators and local education leaders. For the purposes of
this study, outperforming refers to schools which exceed academic performance of
similar schools, when ranked by an academic indicator such as the Academic
Performance Index. In addition, for the purposes of this study, urban includes but is
not limited to, two or more of the following characteristics: high rates of poverty,
high density, high rates of limited English proficient adults, and high mobility across
schools (Castellano, Stringfield, & Stone, 2002, Tyack & Cuban, 1995). The concept
of urban will be developed later in this study. First, the origins of American public
education are presented below, as a means to understand the historical foundation to
American education today.
Introduction
The United States does not have a national system of education. Instead, each
local school district, governed by its board of trustees, enjoys some autonomy
(Friedman, 2007). School districts are overseen first by the county office of

4
education and then by the state department of education. The federal government’s
role in kindergarten through twelfth grade education (K-12) is commensurate with its
financial contribution, which is less than 10 percent of total education revenue
(Manna, 2004, Miller, 2008). State departments of education and local school
districts have traditionally funded and determined state and local education policies.
Wirt and Kirst (2005) argue that the United States has a two-government tradition
going back to 1826. They point out that there is one government for schools,
overseen by local and state boards of education and superintendents, and another
government for everything else.
Local control of education is an idea deeply embedded in American values.
According to Wirt and Kirst (2005), 36 times, from 1862 until 1963, Congress
debated whether to provide “unrestricted general aid” (p. 39) to K-12 education.
Thirty six times Congress rejected the idea. Those in opposition successfully claimed
that the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution made federal involvement in
education unconstitutional.
Another metric can be used to gauge the significance of and the challenge to
local control of education. In 1900, as a result of charges of corruption in local
school districts, they began consolidating. By 1917 there were still more than
195,000 school districts in the United States. Consolidations continued and by 2005
there were about 14,000 school districts (Wirt & Kirst, 2005). Miller (2008) argues:
“Many reformers across the political spectrum agree that local control has become a
disaster for our schools” (p. 94). Miller states that most school reformers today do

5
not speak up about the disaster of local control of schools because they do not want
to oppose the very powerful school-board associations and teachers’ unions. These
latter two have a serious stake in maintaining the current organization of schools
(Miller, 2008). In spite of the influence of school-board associations and teachers’
unions, local control of education has been slowly eroding, often because of charges
of incompetence or corruption. The dissolution of that control has been in greatest
evidence since the 1960s.
The lack of centralization in American schooling has resulted in an
educational system that covers the range from districts and schools that are excellent
to those that are deplorable (Friedman, 2007). It is the latter condition which,
beginning in 1964 with President Johnson, prompted the federal government to
increase both its funding and its oversight of local and state education systems.
President Johnson’s declaration of “war on poverty” and the subsequent Elementary
and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1964 (Cross, 2004) marked the increase in
the federal government’s financial and oversight involvement with education. From
1964 onwards the federal involvement in education has grown continuously through
President Bush’s condemnation of “the bigotry of low expectations” (Manna, 2004)
and his reauthorization of the ESEA in 2002. For nearly the past half century the
federal government has tried to mediate local control of education with commonly
accepted high standards for all students.
Many urban schools do not meet students’ educational needs (Cotton, 2001,
Friedman, 2007). Tyack and Cuban (1995) point out that urban communities have

6
high rates of poverty, residential density and commensurately overcrowded schools.
Brooks-Gunn and Duncan (1997) state that high neighborhood poverty is associated
with poor-quality education. Castellano et al. (2002) identify a variety of factors,
many related to poverty, which can cause a child to become an at-risk student.
Children with any combination of the following factors may be at-risk students:
limited English proficiency, premature birth, lead poisoning, low self-esteem, high
absenteeism and high mobility across schools.
A mother’s educational level is another predictor of a child’s academic
achievement (Castellano et al. 2002). To underscore this point, one definition of a
socioeconomically disadvantaged student is: “[one] whose parents both have not
received a high school diploma” (California Department of Education, 2007).
According to Orfield et al. (2004), when many parents in a community are high
school dropouts, the community is unlikely to have stable social structures and
families. These low-status parents do not have the means to pressure the local school
system into improvement. The result is generations of undereducated low-income
students repeating their parents’ cycle of underachievement and poverty.
More than three decades of data from the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) has shown that African American and Latino students
consistently score far below Anglo and Asian students (Johnson, 2002). This
achievement gap grows wider from elementary to secondary school (Cotton, 2001).
Johnson argues for the need to educate urban school leaders to understand that low
student outputs are not inevitable: “When practices are manifested in low

7
expectations, low-level curricula, and essentially low-level instructional strategies
for low-income children, low achievement is the outcome (Johnson, 2002, p. 11).”
For example, when Jaime Escalante, as a new teacher at Garfield High, looked at the
school’s basic math textbook, he equated it with fifth grade level in his native
Bolivia (Mathews, 1988). Low student achievement in urban high schools is not
inescapable; rather, it is the result of patterns and institutionalized practices (Cotton,
2001, Haberman, 1999, Johnson, 2002, Tyack, 1974).
In addition to the achievement gap that exists between racial groups in
elementary schools, the national high school dropout rate presents equally alarming
data. Nationally, the dropout rate is about 30 percent. In California, the official
graduation rate is given as 71 to 85 percent (EdSource, 2007). As is the case across
the nation, these figures are misleading because there is no standardized means by
which to record students’ entrance into and exit from the kindergarten through
twelfth grade educational system (National Governor’s Association, 2007).
States do not have state-wide data systems to track each student, nor do they
disaggregate graduation rates by ethnicity. However, research (Cotton, 2001, Orfield,
et al. 2004, National Governors’ Association, 2006) has shown that the national high
school dropout rate among Latino, Black and Native American students is nearly 50
percent. In California, African American males have a graduation rate of just over 49
percent while Latinos have a graduation rate just over 51 percent. In contrast, White
males in California have a graduation rate over 71 percent, 20 percentage points
higher than the rate for Latinos. Within every racial group there is a gender variation

8
in graduation rates with more females graduating than males (Nieto, 1999, Orfield, et
al. 2004). This gender variation is from seven to eleven points and is not explained
by poverty.
In March, 2006, this research data was discussed at the Leadership Forum on
High School Dropouts held at the University of Southern California. Los Angeles
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the high school dropout rate of 50 percent among
African Americans and Latinos in Los Angeles a civil rights issue (Landsberg,
2006). To address this, Orfield et al. (2004) argue in favor of a carefully monitored
national system that would allow for each student to be tracked throughout his/her
school career. Lacking such a system, schools can be labeled “high performing” even
if half of the minority freshmen never graduate.
Recognizing the need to have a national system providing comparable data
on high school graduation rates, the governors of the 50 states and the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico signed the Graduation Counts Compact in 2005
(National Governors’ Association, 2006). This Compact is a pledge to gather
accurate data using a national formula as recommended by research (Orfield, et al.
2004). It includes common standards for reporting drop out data and reporting
annual progress on increasing the high school graduation rate. California pledged to
adhere to the standards of the Compact by 2010.
In April 2006, the James Irvine Foundation (Landsberg, 2006) released the
results of a poll of ninth and tenth graders in California. The results showed that six
out of ten students were not motivated in school. Of these students, 90 percent

9
indicated that they would be more motivated if classes were relevant to their future
careers (Landsberg, 2006). In 2006 and 2007, local newspapers in California
reported on the growing interest in Career Technical Education as a means for
keeping high school students engaged in school. In addition, industries were actively
providing start-up funding to help high schools and community colleges build the
necessary infrastructure to offer the courses needed.
The public interest in Career Technical Education (CTE) was preceded a few
years earlier by state lawmakers. In 2002, the California legislature passed bills
which authorized the state to create career/tech curriculum standards and
frameworks. In May, 2005, the standards were adopted by the State Board of
Education. According to the California Department of Education (2007), the
standards address learning goals for grades seven through twelve and include fifty-
eight career pathways in fifteen industries. The standards are intended to guide local
CTE curriculum development.
California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has stated that the vocational
education he had in his native Austria serves him to this day. The Governor has
publicly supported CTE. In September, 2005, he signed Senate Bill 70 which
allocated twenty million dollars for career/tech programs. This was the first increase
for CTE funding in California in fifteen years. As he signed the bill, Schwarzenegger
and the bill’s author, Jack Scott (D-Altadena) agreed that CTE is a viable means by
which to address the state’s high school dropout rate and help students become
engaged in their own education (Delsohn, 2005).

10
Vocational education first received federal funding and support with the
Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 (Castellan et al. 2002, EdSource, 2005, Wirt & Kirst,
2005). For the next seventy-five years vocational programs were used to prepare
struggling students for entry level jobs in occupations that did not require post-
secondary education. Then, during the early 1990s, vocational education went
through a paradigm shift: both the name, Career Technical Education, as well as the
expectations changed. Today, CTE is intended to prepare students for technical
careers or college-level classes, or both. The CTE curriculum is often designed to
help students develop technical and academic skills concurrently. For example,
students learn mathematics and science as they learn carpentry or engineering. In
addition, CTE often includes a Career Pathway approach, where students learn about
the spectrum of jobs, and the requisite skill-level for each, within a given industry.
With the former vocational education model, students just received training for one
entry level job, with CTE, students today learn about the variety of jobs available
within the industry of their choice (EdSource, 2005).
This recent and public attention given to the need for Career Technical
Education in secondary education must be based on research. High school students
who simultaneously increase their academic course load, and participate in CTE, are
better prepared for both college and careers than their peers who focus on either
academics or CTE (Silverburg et al. 2004). However, these college/career prepared
students comprise just thirteen percent of secondary graduates. Silverburg et al.

11
(2004) also note that rigorous studies suggest that vocational education has no effect
on drop out prevention.
Regarding the utilization of Career Pathways as school reform, Castellano et
al. (2002) state that there have been: “No large-scale, random assignment outcome
studies to date” (p.5). Castellano et al. also note that relevance is a crucial ingredient
for successful high school reform, and CTE may be one vehicle for making the
educational process relevant for at-risk youth. The evidence suggests that CTE
connected to academics is a reform model that merits attention (Castellano et al.
2002.) According to Bennett (2001), when at-risk students were not informed about
opportunities for linking school and careers, they became disengaged from school.
The need for relevance in education was also identified by high school
students who responded to the High School Survey of Student Engagement
(HSSSE). The Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP, 2005) reported
that in the spring of 2004 more than 90,000 high school students nationwide
completed the first annual HSSSE. This survey of high school students has been
administered every year since, resulting in the largest national data base on high
school student engagement, according to the CEEP. HSSSE data allows educators to
see if students are developing the learning habits and study skills necessary to
succeed in post-secondary education. It also allows educators to compare their
students’ engagement data to students across the nation. Finally, educators have the
opportunity to understand how students view their school and identify both effective

12
and ineffective strategies for retaining students and keeping them engaged in their
own learning.
In 2006, twenty-two percent of the 81,499 student respondents to the HSSSE
revealed that they have considered dropping out of high school (Yazzie-Mintz,
2007). Among these students the top three reasons for contemplating dropping out
were: 1. Did not like the school – 73%, 2. Did not like the teachers – 61%, 3. Did not
see value in assigned work -60%. The third reason given for dropping out is
relevance. The comments of these potentially disengaged students are worth noting
and could serve as a basis for a dropout prevention strategy.
Disaggregated data of the HSSSE respondents reveals important
demographic information. In 2004, eight percent of respondents were Latino (CEEP,
2005). In 2005, the percentage of Latinos surveyed fell to five percent (CEEP, 2006).
For the 2006 HSSSE, the percentage increased to seven percent (Yazzie-Mintz,
2007). This compares to Census Bureau 2000 findings that 14.4 % of the population
in the United States is Latino. In addition, for all three years that the HSSSE has
been administered, more than fifty percent of respondents pursued a General
instructional track while, on average, just three percent were enrolled in Career
Technical Education. These numbers suggest that student engagement data on Latino
students, and those enrolled in Career Tech Ed pathways would be beneficial
additions to this nationwide database on student engagement.
The 2006 HSSSE finished with an open ended question allowing for a free
response. The question asked students if there remained anything else they would

13
like to add regarding their survey responses. Yazzie-Mintz (2007) reports that one of
the most common responses indicated that students felt the surveys would not be
read and their views would not result in change. Yazzie-Mintz concludes that
listening to students and incorporating their ideas into the high school environment is
a crucial part of the process aimed at facilitating greater academic engagement
among students.
As stated at the beginning of this study, local school districts enjoy a degree
of autonomy. Some districts have utilized this freedom to create an education system
suited to their local community. In 1993, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools
opened Turner Technical Arts High School to offer at-risk youth an academically
rigorous curriculum integrated into a career major. Students can choose a career
major from the seven career academies offered (James & Jurich, 1999, Roberts,
1999). Graduating seniors simultaneously earn a high school diploma and industry-
recognized professional certification. This two-for-one-diploma remains a key
element to the school’s success (Roberts). The teachers of technical classes and
English Language Arts collaborate to enable the students to become writing experts
in their own field. Research papers are graded by both the technical teachers and the
English teachers (Roberts). The American Federation of Teachers named Turner
Tech one of the five national models of school restructuring. The United States
Department of Education named Turner Tech one of the ten New American High
Schools (James & Jurich).

14
A few years after the opening of Turner Tech in Florida, one Southern
California school district made an unusual decision to address overcrowded high
school campuses and the learning needs of low income, minority students. In the
mid 1990s a blighted commercial mall existed within the boundaries of the district
and district officials negotiated to purchase the property below market value. A
prudent business decision, it initiated the creation of a unique high school, Academy
High. This high school is designed to meet the education needs of career minded
students willing to forego sports and cheerleading in exchange for a choice of career
pathways. These students apply to the school and are chosen by lottery. Academy
High opened in 2001 and in 2007 celebrated its third graduating class. Since 2005 it
has been an Explorer School with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA).
Once admitted, Academy High students can choose from one of four career
pathways: 1. Technology and Media, 2. Electronics Systems Technology Certificate
Program, 3. Hospitality and Culinary Arts, 4. Health and Medical science.
Technology skills and project based learning are integral across all four pathways.
Students also have the possibility to do research with NASA scientists. The district
partnered with leaders in the technology industry, such as Apple, Compaq, Cisco and
AT&T (NetDayCompass, 2001). Academy High also has direct partnerships with
the local regional occupational program, adult school and community college. With
this well-articulated program, students have opportunities to work towards
professional certification and earn college credits. Local businesses support the

15
school and provide students opportunities for apprenticeships and paid internships
(NetDayCompass, 2001). The business community has shown they are willing to
invest in local education in order to maintain a skilled and educated local workforce.
At Academy High ninety-one percent of the student body is Latino and
eighty-five percent are socioeconomically disadvantaged. In 2002 the school’s
Academic Performance Index (API) scores were 517. Five years later the school’s
API score had risen two hundred points, to 717 (California Department of Education,
2007). In 2007 the school scored four deciles above similar schools in California. In
2007 and again in 2008, Academy High was recognized with a placement on the
Title 1 Academic Achieving Schools List (California Department of Education,
2008). A school is designated Title 1 when at least forty percent of the students are
socioeconomically disadvantaged. Title 1 schools are placed on the Achieving
Schools List only if they reach a median API score on both mathematics and English
language arts.
On November 29, 2007, U.S. News and World Report magazine posted the
results of their search for the top high schools in the United States. 18,790 public
high schools in 40 states were analyzed (Morse, 2007). Academy High was listed as
one of the top 505 high schools in the country (Morse). This was the school’s first
nationwide honor. U. S. News cited two motivating factors in determining and
posting the rankings: 1. the need to close the achievement “cavern” between white
students and African American and Hispanic students, 2. the need to address the high
school dropout rate (Morse).

16
U.S. News revealed that their goal was to identify high schools which served
all enrolled students equally well. The school “must be able to produce measurable
academic outcomes that show the school is successfully educating its student body
across a range of performance indicators” (Morse, 2007, p. 1). To be selected, the
school’s students had to be performing better than expected for comparable students
in the state on reading and math tests. In addition, schools were judged based on
Advanced Placement test participation and passing rates. This was what the
magazine called the “college readiness index” (Morse, p. 1). They were looking for
schools which demonstrated the best college-readiness achievement for the greatest
numbers of students.
Turner Tech also was named to U. S. News and World Report’s list of top
high schools. Turner Tech and Academy High are unique and outperforming urban
high schools with a Career Technical Education curriculum. Both of these high
schools have endeavored to engage at-risk minority students by allowing them to
pursue relevant career interests integrated into their academic courses at the
secondary level, all the while preparing for post-secondary education.
School leaders view Academy High as a way to motivate high-minority, low-
income students to learn and to remain engaged in the learning process. There are
several metrics and honors, detailed above, which substantiate identifying Academy
High as an outperforming urban high school. First, the school’s 200 point Academic
Performance Index (API) gain over five years, culminating in the 2007 score of 717.
As a result of these gains, in 2007 the school scored four deciles above similar

17
schools in California. The school was also recognized with placement on the Title 1
Academic Achieving Schools List in both 2007 and 2008. Finally, in December,
2007, Academy High received national recognition with placement on the list of the
top 505 high schools in the country, by U. S. News and World Report. Once
Academy High achieves an API of 800 it will be a high performing high school. It is
clearly on the path to achieving that milestone, but for now, it is an urban high
school outperforming similar schools. This study serves as a formative assessment to
identify the factors which may contribute to Academy High’s academic achievement.
The Statement of the Problem
National education leaders have addressed low academic performance with
the implementation of standards-based curriculum. They have also used high-stakes
tests to check for accountability. Unfortunately, this formula for high school
improvement leaves out the intrinsic motivation of the students. Research (Bennett,
2001, Castellano, et al., 2002, Northeast and Islands Regional Educational, 2001,
Yazzie-Mintz, 2007) suggests that a crucial way of engaging students is to adapt
curriculum and instruction to reflect students’ aspirations. School leaders at Turner
Tech in Florida and Academy High in California have shown an ability to adapt the
high school curriculum to reflect urban students’ need to prepare to take their place
as salary earning adults in personally relevant careers.
Bennett (2001) has pointed to the need to keep at-risk youth engaged in
school by providing them with opportunities to learn about school and career;
however, we do not know if there is a link between student engagement and student

18
achievement at outperforming, high minority urban high schools with a Career
Technical Education curriculum. In addition, researchers (Castellano et al. 2002,
Silverburg et al. 2004) point to the need for more research on CTE’s impact, if any,
on engaging secondary education students. Finally, compared to their representation
in the population nationwide, Latino students are underrepresented in the High
School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) national database on student
engagement.
This study will address the following three problems. The first problem is the
lack of research identifying factors which contribute to academic achievement in an
outperforming urban high school with a Career Technical Education curriculum. The
second problem is that we do not have enough information from students to
determine if there is a link between student engagement and student achievement in
an outperforming urban high school. A third problem is that the HSSSE national
database on student engagement under represents Latino students relative to their
presence in the general population.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine an outperforming
urban high school with a Career Technical Education curriculum to identify factors
which contribute to academic achievement. In addition, this study will determine if
there is a link between student engagement and student achievement in an
outperforming urban high school. Finally, with the High School Survey of Student
Engagement administered in a school where ninety-one percent of the student body

19
is Latino, this study will serve to increase the representation for this minority
population in the nationwide HSSSE database.
The following research questions provide the focus for this mixed-methods
case study:
1. What perceived factors contribute to academic achievement in an outperforming
urban high school with a Career Technical Education curriculum?
2. Is there a link between student engagement and student achievement in an
outperforming urban high school?
To understand student engagement the critical case sampling method was
utilized. A high school site was carefully chosen that would provide rich information
on student engagement in an outperforming urban high school. A best-practices case
study is qualitative. Qualitative studies utilize rich description and are naturalistic
and meaning centered (McEwan and McEwan, 2003). However, this qualitative
study utilized mixed-methods: both quantitative and qualitative research methods
were used. According to Patton (2002) using mixed-methods in research and
evaluation strengthens a study. Multiple data sources served to increase the validity
and confidence in the findings from this inquiry into student engagement at an
outperforming urban high school with a Career Technical Education curriculum.
Importance of this Study
The answers revealed by this study will be useful to educational leaders at
Academy High and in the district seeking to engage their minority urban high school
students. The leaders at Academy High will have data as to what works and what

20
does not work to engage and motivate the majority of students on their campus. They
will also have insight from disengaged students as to what it is they feel they are
lacking. It is vital for site practitioners to hear from students what it takes to engage
them as active participants in a high school learning community. The answers found
in this study will aid the leaders of Academy High to hone their learning
environment even more to meet students’ needs as well as to identify specific
educational practices worthy of replicating in the district. The larger community of
educational leaders will benefit from the answers revealed in this study as to what
outperforming low wealth minority teenagers at one high school identify as the
factors which serve to engage them in their own education.
Researchers (Castellano et al. 2002, Silverburg et al. 2004) have identified
the potential benefits of CTE, but have also cautioned of the need for further
research. This study will contribute to the body of research on CTE for high minority
high poverty high school students. With greater attention focused on the need to
retain at-risk youth in secondary education through graduation, a better
understanding of these students’ perception of their CTE curriculum and its
significance in their education is necessary.
Career Technical Education has benefited from increased interest and funding
in California. The answers found in this study may guide district officials and school
leaders who are implementing CTE in their own district. In addition, legislators such
as Governor Schwarzenegger and Assemblyman Jack Scott who have publicly stated

21
the need for more CTE programs may benefit from site-specific research revealing
students’ perspectives of their school’s CTE curriculum.
In order to ensure greater retention and success for at-risk high school youth,
administrators and policymakers alike need to gain a better understanding of what
these students identify as the factors which engage them in their education. Referring
to the scenario at the beginning of this chapter, educational leaders need to hear from
students themselves how best to help them become engaged learners such as Chris.
Educators also need to find ways to guide Terry and David away from the common
distractions which lead to students’ disengagement from their own education.
Limitations, Delimitations
This research is a qualitative case study of one outperforming Southern
California high school with an integrated Career Technical Education program. This
high school of more than five hundred students serves a majority Latino low-income
community. No conclusions will be drawn about Latino students across the nation.
Rather, the educational experiences of these traditionally at-risk youth will be
revealed, with particular attention to their perceptions of their high school
environment and learning community. As such, the answers revealed by this study
cannot be extrapolated across all high schools serving a majority Latino population.
It is beyond the scope of this study to determine what influence, if any, ethnic
homogeneity has on student engagement. It is also beyond the scope of this research
to determine if students prefer any one of the fifty-eight career pathways in fifteen
industries identified by the California Department of Education.

22
The researcher chose to limit this qualitative case study to an outperforming
urban high school in Southern California with a Career Technical Education
curriculum. These key terms are defined below. The size of the high school was not a
consideration. Likewise, the four specific career pathways offered at the high school
were not a consideration in choosing the school.
Definitions
Academic Performance Index (API): Measures the academic performance and
growth of schools on several standardized academic metrics, or tests. It ranges from
200 to 1000 (CDE, 2007)
API Target: The score of 800 (out of 1000) is the goal or target API for all
California schools (CDE, 2007)
Career Technical Education (CTE): “A program of study that involves a multiyear
sequence of courses that integrates core academic knowledge with technical and
occupational knowledge to provide students with a pathway to postsecondary
education and careers” (CDE, 2007). Career Technical Education can cover the
range from hotel manager to NASA scientist, from computer technician to computer
engineer. CTE provides students with a two-fold opportunity: 1. to learn skills
necessary for a specific field in today’s job market, 2. to learn the range of pathways
and the requisite post-secondary education necessary to advance in that field.
Deciles: “Schools are ranked in ten categories of equal size, called deciles, from one
(lowest) to ten (highest)” (CDE, 2007).

23
Outperforming: A school’s Similar Schools Rank is at least two deciles above its
Statewide Rank. For example, Academy High, the school used for this case study has
a Similar Schools Rank of 8 and a Statewide Rank of 4. An outperforming school
exceeds academic performance of like or similar schools, when ranked by an
academic indicator such as the Academic Performance Index.
High School: Grades nine through twelve, is also known as secondary education.
Similar Schools Rank: “The similar schools rank compares a school to 100 other
schools of the same type and similar demographic characteristics”(CDE, 2007).
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged: “student whose parents both have not received a
high school diploma or a student who participates in the free or reduced-price lunch
program, also known as the National School Lunch Program” (CDE, 2007).
Participation in free or reduced-price lunch is based on household income.
Statewide Rank: “The statewide rank compares a school to other schools of the
same type statewide” (CDE, 2007).
Urban: Includes but is not limited to two or more of the following characteristics:
high rates of poverty, high neighborhood density, high rates of limited English
proficient adults, high mobility across schools (Tyack & Cuban, 1997, Castellano et
al. 2002).

24
The next section of this study, Chapter Two, will present the literature
review. This chapter will provide the historic background as well as answer the
question: What do we already know about student engagement in an outperforming
urban high school? Chapter Three will detail the research methodology used in this
case study. Chapter Four will present the research, the data instruments and the
findings revealed. Chapter Five will explicate meaning from the findings and offer
conclusions relevant to this study.

25
CHAPTER 2:
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
After a half century of faithful service to a growing community of
immigrants, Garfield High had worn itself down to the breaking point. A
distracted collection of American teenagers, their usual adolescent
resentments exacerbated by a thriving gang system, sparred with a
disheartened group of teachers. Together they produced something that often
resembled street theater more than education.
Jay Matthews, Escalante: The Best Teacher in America (1988, p. 80)

Introduction

At the founding of the United States, education was the exclusive right of the
wealthy. This was common throughout much of the world. The story of American
public education goes back to one radical founding father and his ideas about a
democracy’s need to have an educated voting public.
Outside of the United States, political parties often have starkly different
views regarding their national education (Tyack and Cuban, 1995). In contrast,
history shows that in the United States, once public education was established, the
leaders of the two largest political parties, the Democratic and Republican parties,
have often had similar education policies. Tyack and Cuban point out that the
education policies of these two parties are just as likely to follow public opinion as to
lead it. As is detailed later in this study, education legislation from 1964 through
2002 was the result of bipartisan effort in both the White House and Congress.
American Public Education and Reform
From its inception, American education has been subjected to waves of
reforms, much of it initiated regionally. To begin, Thomas Jefferson, a product of the

26
privileged classes and its inherent educational advantages, was nonetheless a
powerful advocate for public schools for all. At this time, public education was a
radical idea, born of the need to serve a nascent democracy. Jefferson recognized
that a democracy intrinsically needs an educated populace prepared to make
informed choices in the voting booth. He advocated for: “A system of general
instruction, which shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the
poorest, as it was the earliest, so will it be the latest of all the public concerns in
which I shall permit myself to take an interest” (University of Virginia Library,
2007).
Jeffersonian ideals of public education for all and education used as a vehicle
to help the poor and reform inequalities have never died (Friedman, 2007, Oakes,
2005). Americans have long believed in these ideals, even though the reality for
some has fallen quite short. As Tyack (1974) argues: “During the nineteenth century
no group in the United States had a greater faith in the equalizing power of schooling
or a clearer understanding of the democratic promise of public education than did
black Americans” (p. 110). This faith existed in spite of the fact that African
Americans “had to fight for rights that were supposedly guaranteed to them by the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and by democratic principles” (p. 110).
Education is not directly mentioned in the Constitution. Article I, Section 8 of
the United States Constitution gives Congress the power to […] “provide for the
common defense and general welfare of the United States.” According to Rosenberg
(1991) people who believe in a strong federal role in education argue that this phrase

27
allows for that federal role. Whereas people who believe in local control refer to the
Tenth Amendment, which gives states authority over all concerns not specifically
listed in the Constitution (Rosenberg, Wirt, 1991 & Kirst, 2005). The historic
American polemic of federal versus local or state control in education will be
referenced later in this study relative to the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, and its progeny, the No Child Left Behind Act.
In many countries the centralized education system serves as an important
element in establishing a national identity. In contrast, Americans have a long
practice of avoiding a centralized education system, preferring to allow state and
local control, via locally elected school boards (Garfield et al. 2003, Tyack, 2004).
As stated earlier, the United States has a two-government tradition: one government
for schools, overseen by local and stated boards of education, and another
government for everything else (Wirt & Kirst, 2005). Miller (2008) argues that urban
school districts often operate with autonomy. Voters seldom pay attention to school
board elections making it easier for the teachers’ union to get candidates elected who
will be indebted to and comply with union directives. The result is that ‘local
control’ is really ‘control by the teachers’ union.’ This obsession with local control is
uniquely American (Miller).
It took ninety-one years after Congress adopted the Constitution of the United
States before a Department of Education was established, in 1867. It was
immediately demoted to “agency” status where it remained for the next seventy
years. In 1939 it was reorganized into the Department of Health, Education and

28
Welfare. Finally, in 1980, after Congress added provisions which stated that the
Department of Education would not decrease the responsibility for education held by
the states and local school boards, President Carter signed the bill which created the
Department of Education (Garfield et al. 2003).
Education Reform based on Philosophical Beliefs
Although born from democracy’s need for an educated voting populace,
subsequent educational reform efforts have often been driven by philosophical
perspectives. Prominent among these are various educational progressive movements
during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In 1906 Gary, Indiana, a company town owned by U.S. Steel, was an unlikely
site for the birth of education innovation. According to Cuban (1998), School
Superintendent William Wirt introduced an educational concept which became
known as the Platoon School, and was copied around the nation for two decades. The
Platoon School was a Kindergarten through twelfth grade school, utilized by the
children during the day and by their immigrant, non-English speaking parents at
night for English instruction. The children learned throughout the building, moving
from woodworking and other industrial shops, to music and art rooms. The basic
premise was that the school would be used by the entire community and would offer
opportunities to learn both academically and practically, all the while providing arts
and recreation (Cuban, 1998).
The Platoon School concept evolved from John Dewey’s idea that education
should be grounded in practical experience. Dewey’s ideas influenced the first thirty

29
five years of the twentieth century, even though schools based on his philosophy
never prevailed. According to Tyack and Cuban (1995), the administrative
progressive movement brought systemic educational changes which are still common
today, such as counseling programs and large high schools. In general, the
adminstrative progressives were influenced by the industrial revolution and brought
bureacracy and standardization to education.
Shortly after it was studied by experts, the Platoon School suffered a quick
death. The experts found that the children did not perform well on achievement tests
(Cuban, 1998). Subsequently, the concept lost favor and was forgotten. However,
some intrinsic aspects of the Platoon School, such as having students move
throughout a building for various learning activities, mixing academic subjects, play
and physical tasks, and community access during after-school hours, remain in
today’s schools (Cuban). In addition, a century after the Platoon School, Academy
High, the high school chosen for this case study which will be discussed later, bears
resemblance to the Platoon School, its ideological predecessor.
Reform to Ameliorate Social Conditions
In this same time period of the Platoon School, the first three decades of the
twentieth century, there are other noteworthy parallels to today’s education. Then,
school districts began consolidating in response to charges of local corruption. Now,
in the first decade of the twenty-first century, “[…] America has come full circle on
this matter with the loss of confidence in local school authorities” (Wirt & Kirst,

30
2005, p.31). This loss of confidence is in greatest evidence in the federal No Child
Left Behind legislation, to be discussed below.
At the beginning of the twentieth century there were worries about global
competition, which led to the vocational education Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 (Wirt
& Kirst, 2005). Global competition is again a concern today (Friedman, 2007) at the
beginning of the twenty-first century. The following three education fears of a
century ago also find an echo in the education concerns of today: 1. schools where
children were taught in their native languages (Polish and German) rather than in
English, 2. schools needed to provide health and social services for poor students,
especially for poor immigrants, 3. both the military and business complained that
high school graduates lacked basic math and English language skills (Wirt & Kirst,
2005).
In addition to ideological influences, such as John Dewey’s, educational
reform efforts have also focused on the perceived need to reform societal ills, aiming
to reduce economic, class or racial inequities. Americans have long expected public
schools to be the key component in helping the poor improve their own lives
(Friedman, 2007, Oakes, 2005). Even here, the ideas of Thomas Jefferson presaged
American history: “If the condition of man is to be progressively ameliorated, as we
fondly hope and believe, education is to be the chief instrument in effecting it”
(University of Virginia Library, 2007).
Education used as a vehicle to reform inequities was in greatest evidence in
the mid-twentieth century Civil Rights decisions aimed at schools: school

31
desegregation and affirmative action. In 1954’s landmark Supreme Court case of
Brown v. Board of Education, Mr. Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the
court and stated: “We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of
‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently
unequal” (National Center for Public Policy Research, 2007).
At this time, nearly forty percent of American public school students were
enrolled in segregated schools and about half of the states had laws that the Supreme
Court ruled unconstitutional. Ravitch (1983) states that this was the first Court
decision to profoundly impact so many Americans. Yet the historic Brown decision
failed to include specific parameters for desegregation. In 1955 the Supreme Court
issued Brown II allowing local school boards to decide how to desegregate. The lack
of guidelines for implementation of the Brown decision led to confusion in the lower
courts and avoidance in some school districts.
It is worthwhile to look at the life of one African American woman born in
1946, eight years prior to the Brown decision. Shirley Ann Jackson went to a
segregated public kindergarten in Washington, D. C (Friedman, 2007). She soon
benefited both from desegregation and from the United States’ sudden interest in
science spurred on by competition with Russia and their launching of Sputnick in
1957 (Friedman, 2007). Dr. Jackson became the first African American woman to
earn a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She did not
stop there; she has had a stellar career in science, advising American presidents and
as the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She has received numerous

32
awards for a lifetime of achievement in science and education (Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, 2007). Her life story is an example of the good which can
come from a public school education; however, the problems in public education,
detailed below, have made Dr. Jackson the exception rather than the norm.
It was not until 1968 (Ravitch, 1983, Rosenberg, 1991) that the Supreme
Court established some basic desegregation requirements and bluntly mandated that
school boards implement effective desegregation plans. These results are
corroborated by Rosenberg who finds that in most cases, the federal government’s
support of a court case does not ensure that it will provide equal measures of support
in implementation.
Regardless of its inadequacies, the Brown decision was a much needed
victory for the Civil Rights movement. For the next two decades the Court frequently
upheld the notion that segregation was unconstitutional and until the mid-1960s it
was the only branch of federal government to do so. Congress waited nearly ten
years after the Brown decision before it began passing substantive Civil Rights
legislation (Rosenberg, 1991).
In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. According to Rosenberg
(1991) Title VI of this act finally gave the federal government the authority to
eliminate funding to segregated school districts. Then, during 1964 and 1965,
President Johnson, an ardent supporter for using education to help people out of
poverty, carefully orchestrated the construction and timing of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act, or ESEA (Wirt & Kirst, 2005). The ESEA was passed by

33
Congress in 1965 (Cross, 2004), a full fifteen years prior to the establishment of the
Department of Education in the executive branch of federal government (Garfield et
al. 2003).
Together, the ESEA and Title VI were integral components of Civil Rights
legislation, and the two which were directly focused on education. Through the
ESEA, Congress allocated federal money to school districts serving low-income
students, provided that they could demonstrate compliance with desegregation laws
(Rosenberg, 1991, Cross, 2004, Wirt & Kirst, 2005). This Act was specifically aimed
at school districts in the South. Together, Title VI and the ESEA were intended to be
punitive for school districts which were still discriminating based on race and to
financially entice districts into compliance. Rosenberg (1991) notes that statistics
show that segregation markedly decreased as a result of these two Acts.
The ESEA was notable for another reason - it brought out fervent believers in
local or state control in education. The ESEA was clearly set to increase the federal
government’s role in K-12 education from that which was first established with the
Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 (Wirt & Kirst, 2005). According to Cross (2004), many
Americans decried the ESEA for its undeniably historic involvement of the federal
government in education, which traditionally had enjoyed local control. As
mentioned earlier in this study, the longstanding American polemic of federal versus
local or state control in education was recharged. President Johnson had carefully
utilized the compelling civil rights concerns of his day to end the tradition that
prevented federal money from going to education (Cross, 2004).

34
In the Senate debate on the ESEA the late Senator Robert Kennedy expressed
concern that the bill lacked any assessment measures (Cross, 2004). Indeed the bill
had no inclusions to determine how the money would be spent or how programs
were to be evaluated. As with the Supreme Court Brown decision detailed above, the
resource allocation and evaluative measures were left to the states. According to
Cross, lawmakers in the 1960s believed that getting money to low-income people
and projects would alleviate poverty and lack of education. By early 2000 the lack of
accountability measures in the ESEA had a profound impact on its successor act,
another president, and Senator Kennedy’s brother, Edward, as will be discussed later
in this study.
Reform movements following the ESEA
Following the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(ESEA), several state courts ruled that it was inherently unequal to base school
finance on local property tax. According to Wirst and Kirst (2005) this led to state
government, rather than local government, becoming the largest source of school
revenues: “In 1930, states provided only 17.3 percent of school funding. […] By the
late 1990s, the state portion had climbed to 48 percent […]” (Wirt & Kirst, 2005,
p.45). As they began to control the revenues, states, most specifically governors,
began to exercise greater control over K-12 education. Indeed, Wirst and Kirst argue
that in spite of the federal government’s increasing role in education since the 1960s,
the most remarkable change in education has been the escalating role that governors
have claimed.

35
Over this same time, states were slowly being perceived as the solution to
education problems. For example, governors responded to 1983’s A Nation at-risk,
detailed in the following section, with education reform initiatives. In 1989 then
President Bush convened the nation’s governors to an education summit. Later, the
2002 passage of No Child Left Behind clearly delineated the states’ role in education
reform.
In the decades following the passage of the ESEA, several presidential
candidates have referred to themselves as the education president. Three key pieces
of education imperatives will be reviewed here. They include, A Nation at-risk,
released during the Reagan administration, the reauthorization of ESEA, called
Improving America’s Schools Act, enacted during the Clinton administration, and
the reauthorization of ESEA, called No Child Left Behind, during the George W.
Bush administration.
Nation at-risk
Both the 1980-1982 recession and fear of global competition from Japan
served as catalysts for national attention to and criticism of public education
(Wirst & Kirst, 2005). The most notable critique of education was titled: A Nation
at-risk. In April, 1983, a blue ribbon commission appointed by the Reagan
administration released an open letter to the American people titled, A Nation at-risk:
The Imperative for Educational Reform. According to the United States Department
of Education (2007) the commission deplored the lack of rigor in the high school
curriculum, assessments and college admissions requirements across the country.

36
For example, of recent high school graduates, only thirty one percent had completed
intermediate algebra, thirteen percent had completed French I, and only six percent
had completed calculus. The study noted that in industrialized countries students
spent an average of 220 days in school per year, and eight hours per day, whereas in
the United States, students spent an average of 180 days in school per year and six
hours a day (United States Department of Education, 2007).
The commission also delineated inadequate university teacher preparation
programs, teachers’ salaries and teachers’ lack of professional influence in their
field. Although in some subjects there was an oversupply of teachers, there was a
shortage of qualified teachers in science, mathematics, foreign language and English
(United States Department of Education, 2007).
Wirst and Kirst (2005) point out that in some states high school students were
only required to take one year of mathematics or science. In the two years, 1983-84,
thirty-four states quickly instituted more rigorous high school graduation
requirements focused on academic subjects. Throughout the 1980s states enacted
various education reforms, but despite these efforts students’ academic achievement
did not show signs of progress. General frustration with the lack of measurable
education improvement was the incentive for growing interest, among a cross-
section of educators, governors, business executives and legislators, in a
comprehensive standards-based reform movement, which would take nearly twenty
years and several administrations to come to fruition (Wirt & Kirst, 2005).

37
Improving America’s Schools Act
The release of A Nation at-risk unleashed an abundance of school reforms in
the 1980s, which continued on into the 1990s (Hess, 1999). In 1989, the newly
elected President George H. W. Bush convened the nation’s governors to an
education summit. They agreed that America needed national education standards, or
goals (Wirt & Kirst, 2005). The following year, in 1990, Bush and the National
Governor’s Association declared that by 2000 all American children would meet
these education goals. This was the beginning of the Goals 2000: Educate America
Act, but it was not passed by Congress until President Bill Clinton pushed its passage
in 1994.
Wirt and Kirst (2005) note that the Goals 2000 measure included three
education reforms which were gaining acceptance: 1. challenging academic
standards, 2. alignment of policies, including testing and accountability programs, to
state education standards, 3. making schools and districts responsible for instruction
to meet the academic standards. According to McDonnell (2005), Goals 2000 was
written by President Clinton’s administration and allocated a small amount of federal
money to encourage states to utilize standards-based instruction.
Hess (1999) observed that the Goals 2000 national reform effort prompted
the California Department of Education to publicize that 1,883 schools in California
were engaged in reform in 1995. An underlying weakness in Goals 2000 is where it
listed teachers among other groups at the local level, while state and federal officials,

38
the business community and parents were identified as key players in education
(Tyack & Cuban, 1995).
Also in 1994, Clinton successfully promoted the passage of the
reauthorization of ESEA, called Improving America’s Schools Act (IASA), which
emphasized Clinton’s call for standards-based reform and called for high standards
for all students (McDonnell, 2005). The IASA connected Title 1 and bilingual
education to the standards established in Goals 2000. The IASA also required that
schools make annual progress towards those standards. The acceptable annual
progress would be established by each state. Wirt and Kirst (2005) argue: “It is
impossible to isolate the distinctive contribution of Goals 2000 legislation to the
rapid spread of standards-based state and local policies” (p. 49). They continue that
Goals 2000 helped, but it is impossible to quantify that help.
Six years later, with George W. Bush in office and the year 2000 coming to a
close, there had been little progress towards the Goals 2000 education goals
established by the governors and H. W. Bush eleven years prior (Wirt & Kirst,
2005). In addition, federal expenditures on K-12 education had more than tripled in
the seventeen years since the release of A Nation at-risk with no measurable
improvement in students’ academic achievement (Wirt & Kirst). George W. Bush,
like President Clinton before him, was a former governor whose record on education
helped propel him into the White House. Bush was undeterred by his predecessors’
dubious record on education reform (Wirt & Kirst, 2005).

39
No Child Left Behind
From 1965 through 2000, according to Cross (2004), the federal government
spent more than 150 billion dollars on education through Title 1 of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Educators and lawmakers on both sides of the
aisle expressed dismay with the lack of measurable results from this federal
expenditure. Beginning in 1988, lawmakers began developing plans to transform the
ESEA to include assessment measures. At issue was a paradigm shift from the
1960s. Politicians no longer believed that sending money to schools serving high-
poverty neighborhoods was sufficient. Politicians at the end of the twentieth century
viewed the ESEA as a program to help children from high poverty homes defeat the
educational handicaps inherent in their environment (Cross, 2004). These handicaps
will be detailed later in this paper.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, Candidate George Bush, like many
of his predecessors, talked about enacting education reform. Bush often referred to
the “soft bigotry of low expectations” (Manna, 2004). The time was right. Americans
had come to recognize that desegregation alone had failed to equalize educational
opportunity. As President-elect, Bush began strategizing his education reform ideas
by enlisting and meeting with influential members of Congress, state officials and
prominent members of the business community. Bush announced his slogan, No
Child Left Behind (NCLB), three days after his inauguration, stating the need for
educational equity (Manna, 2004). For the next nine months the Bush team worked
deliberately at garnering bi-partisan support for NCLB, including making

40
concessions on prized aspects of the legislation and retaining ESEA reauthorization
provisions endorsed by President Clinton.
Four legislators, two Democrats and two Republicans, became known as the
Big Four: Senators Kennedy and Gregg, and Representatives Boehner and Miller.
The Big Four collaborated and used their respective political expertise to get NCLB
written and passed (Manna, 2004). Three major obstacles in writing the legislation
included: 1. how best to establish metrics for gauging student outputs, 2. how to
write legislation that would be applicable in fifty states, and 3. how to encourage
compliance when the federal government contributed less than ten percent of a
school district’s revenues. According to Manna, the final hurdle was the attacks on
the United States on September 11, 2001 and the ensuing anthrax alerts which closed
many offices in Washington D. C. that fall.
Wirt and Kirst (2005), note that underlying much of the NCLB conflict,
continuing unabated since 2001, is the American ideological dilemma between
federal versus state authority. They note that the need for accountability is a given;
the argument is centered on how best to implement accountability measures.
In spite of the obstacles, the No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President
Bush on January 8, 2002, enacted accountability for education results and increased
use of best education practices, state’s choice of assessment measures and parental
choice if faced with failing schools (U. S. Department of Education, 2007). A key
component of NCLB was for school districts to disaggregate data to show that all
sub-groups, such as students from different ethnicities and differing economic

41
groups, progress academically (Manna, 2004). NCLB’s ideological forefather, the
Supreme Court’s Brown decision outlawing ‘inherently unequal’ education, was at
last applied to measurable student outputs.
Educators generally agree that NCLB will create an aligned educational
system across states, although not a national system (Fusarelli, 2005). NCLB was a
reauthorization of ESEA, and it provided the assessment measures that its
predecessor lacked. As mentioned earlier in this study, the late Senator Robert
Kennedy had argued for the need for assessment measures during debate on the
Senate floor regarding ESEA in 1965. His brother, Senator Edward Kennedy was an
invaluable participant in the bipartisan effort to include assessment measures in
NCLB for 2002.
With these accountability measures, NCLB augmented the level of federal
involvement in American education far beyond that initiated by President Johnson,
thirty-eight years earlier. However, McDonnell (2005) argues that NCLB shows an
evolution, not a revolution, in the federal role in education, with that role placed
much closer to the classroom and everyday instruction. A logical progression in the
federal role in American education becomes apparent when examining the major
education legislation covering thirty eight years, from ESEA, to America 2000, then
the Improving America’s Schools Act and finally, NCLB (McDonnell, 2005).
Two years after implementation of NCLB, researchers at the RAND
Corporation began conducting a longitudinal study on its impact on educators
(Hamilton et al. 2007). The RAND study included representative sampling of school

42
districts in California, Georgia and Pennsylvania during the three school years from
2003 through 2006. During the course of the study, teachers, principals and district
administrators were surveyed, with some selected for interviews.
Hamilton et al. (2007) report that educators across the board found the one
hundred percent proficiency goal to be unattainable. In addition, with Adequate
Yearly Progress measured in terms of proficiency, it encourages teachers to focus on
the cusp students, those nearly at the proficient score. Teaching to the cusp students
detracts from the education of students well below or far above proficiency. There
are negative aspects to focusing solely on student proficiency on high stakes tests
which need to be acknowledged and minimized (Hamilton et al. 2007). As a way to
address this long-held concern, a U. S. Department of Education pilot program is in
place in a few states to experiment with growth-based reporting. In spite of the
concerns, researchers (Hamilton et al. 2007) found that most teachers, principals and
superintendents supported, in theory, standards-based accountability.
The High School Exit Exam
The state of New York initiated the Regents Exam in 1865. At the time it was
a high school entrance exam, intended to determine which eighth grade students
would be matriculated to secondary school (Folts, 1996). By 1996, the New York
High School Regents Exam had become a standardized assessment utilized as a high
school exit exam for students enrolled in New York state schools (Folts, 1996). More
than just the purpose of the exam has changed in the course of the nearly century and
a half of its existence (regentsprep.org, 2007).

43
The Regents Exam now covers several subjects, including algebra, geometry,
earth science, physics and chemistry, United States history and government, English
and six World Languages. Most components of the exam include an essay as well as
multiple choice questions. According to Folts (1996) the New York High School
Regents exams were, and still are, distinctive in the United States. “The increasing
power and prestige of the state's public education system was achieved not by
increasing state aid, but by raising and enforcing educational standards, most notably
through the famed Regents examinations” (Folts, 1996). Before the end of the
twentieth century, states across the nation were seeking ways to improve their public
education system and high school exit exams were seen as one measure for
sustainable improvement.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s several states enacted high school minimum
competency tests; in some states these competency tests evolved into high school
exit exams. As one example, in 1983 Tennessee implemented its first high school
exit exam. Moore (2004) points out that during the course of two decades that initial
exam has evolved in terms of level of standards as well as format. In 2001,
Tennessee had a graduation rate of about sixty percent, one of the lowest rates in the
nation (Moore). Tennessee’s education leaders were trying to identify the causes and
potential remedies for this very low graduation rate, which had not changed much
during two decades of high school exit exams. In 2005 Tennessee’s exit exam
changed names and format. The Gateway is a high school exit exam administered as

44
an end-of-course exam. These exams are taken upon the completion of Algebra I,
Biology I and English II (Moore, 2004).
By 2000, several states, including California, were developing and
implementing high school exit exams. Indeed, in 1999, then California State
Legislator Jack O’Connell wrote the law, Senate Bill 2X, which led to the exit exam
(O’Connell, 2006). He subsequently became California’s State Superintendent of
Public Instruction and has fervently supported the development and implementation
of the exit exam.
Across the nation, high school exit exams were developed in response to an
outcry from universities as well as the business community and the general public
that a high school diploma had become meaningless and that students were not
motivated to learn. The movement towards standards-based instruction provided
another factor to encourage implementation of exit exams (Ed Source, 2007). In
2002, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) began a comprehensive multi-year
study to examine the development and implementation in states initiating exit exams.
The impact exit exams may have on the high school dropout rate will be developed
later in this study. Here we will look at exit exams and the CEP’s most recent
findings (Kober et al. 2006).
California’s high school graduating Class of 2006 was the first for which
successful completion of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) was a
requirement for graduation. California Education Code Sections 60850-60859 (2007)
authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and implement a high

45
school exit exam in mathematics and English language arts formulated on the state
content standards in these two disciplines.
The CAHSEE tests English Language Arts skills through tenth grade and
mathematical skills through seventh grade and includes Algebra 1. CAHSEE must be
approved and adopted by the State Board of Education, and it must be scored as a
criterion-referenced exam. According to the California Department of Education
(2007), the CAHSEE must be administered to students beginning in the spring of
their sophomore year in high school. If a student does not pass one or both parts of
the exam, he has to retake the part of the exam failed until he earns a passing score.
Eleventh graders can take the exam no more than twice that year and twelfth graders
can retake the exam no more than three times that year.
On May 12, 2006, just weeks before commencement exercises across the
state were scheduled to begin, a California Superior Court judge overturned the exit
exam as a condition for graduation. Then, on May 23, 2006, the State Supreme Court
reinstated the CAHSEE, consequently, students who had not passed the CAHSEE
did not receive their high school diplomas in June, 2006. The experience in
California is corroborated by the CEP findings. In several states law suits have been
filed to prevent the exit exam from being used as a requirement for graduation
(Kober et al. 2006), but state courts have generally upheld the exit exam
requirement. The CEP study (Kober et al. 2006) shows that the controversy
regarding the legality of a high school exit exam dissipates after the first year.

46
On June 8, 2006, O’Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction,
reported that 41,758 students, less than ten percent of the high school seniors in the
Class of 2006 statewide, had not yet passed the CAHSEE. An informal survey of
school districts showed that most of the students who had not passed the CAHSEE
had also failed to complete other graduation requirements (O’Connell, 2006).
Kober et al. (2006) found that states with high enrollments of English
Language Learners and students of color are more likely to encounter legal
challenges to the implementation of an exit exam. It is often the case that the pass
rates for these students are lower and concerns arise as to whether or not the
education these students receive is ‘inherently unequal.’ However, it does not appear
that the exit exam will disappear. By 2012, seventy-one percent of America’s public
high school students, across twenty-five states, will be required to pass an exit exam
in order to receive a high school diploma. Many of these twenty-five states use exit
exams to meet some of the NCLB mandates.
According to researchers (Kober et al. 2006), in the 2005-06 school year,
California spent twenty million dollars on remediation to help students pass the
CAHSEE. This dollar amount nearly tripled to fifty-seven million dollars for the
2006-07 school year. Here, the CEP study offers the possibility of financial relief for
California. A few years after initial implementation of an exit exam, many states
actually reduced remediation spending. There are two possible reasons for these
reductions: 1. public interest fades or, 2. classroom instruction has had time to align
with standards and exams (Kober et al. 2006).

47
California CAHSEE data in 2007 supports these findings from Kober et al.
(2006). The graduating Class of 2007 was the second class for which successful
completion of the CAHSEE was a requirement for graduation. On August 23, 2007
O’Connell released the latest CAHSEE data: “the estimated percentage of students
meeting the CAHSEE requirement as of May for the Class of 2007 was 93.3 percent,
a 2.1 percent increase over the Class of 2006 at the same point in time” (California
Department of Education, 2007). In addition, the greatest gains in passing rates were
among African Americans: a 4.7 percent passing rate increase; Hispanics: a 3.1
percent passing rate increase; the socioeconomically disadvantaged: a 2.6 percent
passing rate increase (CDE, 2007). In conclusion, data from the second year of full
implementation of the CAHSEE shows that all subgroup passing rates were
increasing.
Most states with exit exams have moved away from a basic skills test to more
comprehensive, standards-based tests. Also, states generally provide students with
written feedback on their scores and information on when the student can retake a
part of the exam, if necessary. The CEP study (Kober et al. 2006), corroborated by
data from the second year of implementation of the CAHSEE, shows that with an
effective state policy and sufficient curricular supports, the exit exam has a modest
positive effect on students’ motivation and achievement.
The Concept of ‘Urban’
Until the 1940s, an urban child had a better chance at a quality education than
a rural child. In addition to the schooling advantages an urban white child had over

48
rural children either black or white, there were class distinctions in the schooling
available to the urban white child. Only about fifty percent of poor, urban white
children would even attend high school, while ninety percent of affluent urban white
children attended high school. “The median years of schooling for urban whites aged
twenty five years and over in 1940 were 9.6 but only 8.0 for those in farming
communities; among blacks the comparable figures were 6.8 (urban) and 4.1 (rural)”
(Tyack & Cuban, 1995, p. 23).
Education for blacks in the poorest rural areas was starkly inferior to that of
any other identifiable group of children at the time. Although black children in urban
areas averaged 2.7 years of schooling more than their rural counterparts, that bar was
already low. Richard Wright, who grew up in largely urban settings in the south was
quoted at the beginning of Chapter 1: “I was in my fifteenth year; in terms of
schooling I was far behind the average youth of the nation, but I did not know that”
(Wright, 1937, p.187). More than twenty-five percent of public school children were
black, but they were allocated only twelve percent of education dollars (Tyack &
Cuban, 1995). It was during the 1950s that the fate of urban youth, especially urban
youth of color, was recognized as a cause for concern. Urban became something to
fix, rather than a place to flee rural poverty.
More than a half century later, in California, there is still a clear racial
difference in performance on standardized tests among K-12 students. Carroll et al.
(2005) report on data from a 2003 administration of the CAT/6 Mathematics test:
“Roughly 70 percent of non-Hispanic white students and Asian students scored at or

49
above the 50
th
percentile […] whereas fewer than 40 percent of black and Hispanic
students scored at or above that level” (p.121). This schism is apparent across all
grades from second grade through eleventh grade. In all racial groups math
performance and years of schooling are indirectly proportional.
According to Cotton (2001), poverty and its related factors which impact
children have the most detrimental impact on today’s urban youth, and urban
children of color are often America’s poorest citizens. As detailed earlier in this
paper, the need to improve the education of students of color has been the impetus
for much education reform since the passage of the ESEA. The following will
examine causes for the vacuum which led to ‘urban’, the challenges a child in the
urban environment may encounter, and the power of social capital. Finally,
researchers’ views on reforming urban schools will be profiled.
When ‘urban’ became something to fix
A series of factors, among them the post World War II baby-boom and
hostile reactions to desegregation (Stephan, 1980, Friedman, 2007) encouraged the
development of the suburbs, leading eventually to urban decay and the call for
reform of urban schools. Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1984),
defines ‘white flight,’ a noun circa 1975, as: “the departure of white families usu.
from urban neighborhoods undergoing racial integration or from cities implementing
school desegregation”(Webster’s, 1984, p.1345). Tyack (1974) explains that the
federal government effectively provided two forms of subsidies for white flight to
the suburbs. One subsidy came in the form of freeway construction, which connected

50
the suburbs to city jobs. The other subsidy came in the form of Federal Housing
Administration home loans.
Where white flight occurred it destroyed the intent of the Supreme Court’s
Brown decision and created de facto segregation in the urban communities left-
behind (Friedman, 2007). Stephan (1980) notes that de jure segregation (initially
established by law) was comparatively easier to end than de facto segregation. In
addition, white flight created an imbalance in urban areas. “In part as a result of
urban migration patterns, central cities in the 1960s contained a disproportionate
number of the old, the poor, and the unemployed” (Tyack, 1974, p. 278). Those with
the means to leave were often invaluable community resources and their flight
created a decades-long leadership vacuum.
Upper-income parents can afford to buy a home based on their perceptions of
the local school district, a choice not available to low-income parents, as detailed in
the next section. Holme (2002) interviewed forty-two “mostly White” parents who
had chosen to use their wealth to purchase a home in an upper-income suburban
neighborhood because of the schools it offered. Schools in these wealthy
neighborhoods have ready access to resources and parental volunteerism which is
unavailable to schools in lower-income neighborhoods. Holmes found that these
parents did not choose the schools based on course content and test scores, but chose
the schools because they served children of fellow high-status parents. Conversely,
these parents avoided schools which were not favored in their social network.
Indeed, through these favored schools, both students and parents strengthened their

51
social network and contacts with the well-connected (Holme, 2002). These high-
status children and parents have social capital available through the schools in
contrast to the lack of social capital of low-income children and parents, as will be
developed later in this section.
Challenges of a child in the urban environment
Before urban youth even begin kindergarten, they are often subjected to
several hostile and interrelated environmental factors, often a direct result of poverty.
Any combination of the following factors can cause a child to become an at-risk
student: inadequate prenatal and health care, premature birth, single parent
household, locally concentrated air pollution, lead poisoning, toxic waste, street
crime and limited English proficiency (Castellano et al. 2002, Brooks-Gunn &
Duncan, 1997). Any combination of these factors can negatively impact an urban
child’s education. A child whose family income is below the poverty level for
several years is more likely to suffer adverse physical and mental effects than a child
in poverty for a limited time.
Brooks-Gunn and Duncan (1997) reported on data from the National Health
Interview Survey – Child Health Supplement of 1988, the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Surveys II and III, 1976-1991 and other national longitudinal
data stores. Brooks-Gunn and Duncan (1997) found that low birth weight infants
are at higher risk of serious physical, emotional and cognitive problems continuing
into adolescence. Low birth weight is associated with poverty, although it remains
difficult to remove other closely connected factors, such as the mother’s education

52
and marital status. Indeed, mothers with family income below the poverty level are
more likely to be single and have a low level of education. Low-income mothers
have a higher incidence of depression, another factor associated with behavior and
mental health problems in low-income children (Popkin et al. 2004).
Among other environmental hazards, children in poverty are more likely to
regularly be exposed to lead-based paint in old buildings. Even at low-levels of
exposure to lead, the health risks begin prior to birth. Children in the one-to-five year
old age group who live in substandard buildings are exposed to lead-based paint
from eating chipped paint and breathing lead-dust in the home. According to Brooks-
Gunn and Duncan (1997) blood lead levels in children are highest among one-to-five
year old African American inner city children where blood lead levels are three times
the mean for this age-group.
In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the
results of cross-sectional and longitudinal data focused on the effects of blood lead
levels in children. As with other studies on poverty-related factors impacting
children, this CDC report acknowledges the difficulty of removing other closely-
related causes. The report confirms that the majority of these studies show an inverse
relation of blood lead level to measurable cognitive ability.
In comparison to the general population, low-income parents have a higher
incidence of depression and are less likely to be able to provide for the child’s
emotional, social and cognitive development. In addition, Brooks-Gunn and Duncan
(1977) report that low-income parents often have no choice but to live in

53
neighborhoods with high rates of crime and unemployed adults. These
neighborhoods seldom offer poverty-mitigating facilities for children, such as quality
health care, parks and high-quality pre-school and after-school learning
opportunities.
Recognizing the negative influence of very low-income neighborhoods on the
residents of public housing projects, Congress approved the Hope VI Program in
1992. Hope VI is administered by the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (2007). There are several goals of this program, now in its fifteenth
year: 1. decrease concentrations of very low-income residents through relocation, 2.
establish and encourage mixed-income communities, 3. provide incentives to
encourage residents to become self-sufficient and empowered, 4. enable inter-agency
partnerships to provide support services to residents. In 2001 and again in 2003,
surveys of heads of households and relocation staff were conducted across several
states which benefited from the Hope VI Program (Popkin et al., 2004).
The families surveyed reported that about two-thirds of the children had
behavior problems in school, with the rate higher for boys than for girls, a finding
which is consistent with other studies (Barbarin, 1999). These children had more
health problems than average poor children nationwide, and the incidence of asthma
was nearly twice the national average. Parents who were depressed were more likely
to report behavior problems in their children (Popkin et al. 2004). Parental
depression is often associated with behavior problems and poor mental health of
low-income children.

54
Parents in the Hope VI study who were high school graduates or who had
earned a GED were less likely to report behavior problems in their child and more
likely to be involved in their child’s education. According to Popkin et al. (2004) the
survey results show that well-adjusted parents who are involved in their child’s
education provide a buffer for the child growing up in the multiple hazards of very
low-income neighborhoods.
Whereas studies on socio-economic factors affecting children’s cognitive and
mental health development usually compare low-income children to their higher-
income peers in the United States, Barbarin (1999) reports on a study which
compared low-income African American and South African six year olds. This
report offers some interesting corollaries for similar American studies on the effect
of poverty on children. There is a positive identification with the same risk factors of
poverty and gender, but these factors had less of an impact on the South African
children. Low-income children in both countries had an increased incidence of
hyperactivity and poor social skills, with boys, once again, at greater risk than girls
for these developmental effects. This international comparison reveals similarities to
findings reported by Popkin et al. (2004) and Brooks-Gunn and Duncan (1997), as
explained above.
Carroll et al. (2005) explain there are two key indicators of child poverty in
the United States: children living below the poverty line and children living in high
poverty neighborhoods. Nationwide these two indicators showed a decrease in child
poverty from 1990 to 2000. During this decade, however, the same indicators show

55
that child poverty in California increased: “the percentage of children living below
the poverty line (19.5 percent in 2000) and the percentage of children living in high-
poverty neighborhoods (29.6 percent in 2000)”(p. 17). As of 2000 in these two
categories, children living below the poverty line and children living in high-poverty
neighborhoods, the California percentage is higher than the national average.
(Carroll et al. 2005).
Although the average demographics in California are often commensurate
with national averages, specific subgroups of children present cause for alarm. These
subgroups include: recent immigrants, children from single-parent households,
Hispanics and children in metropolitan Los Angeles (Carroll et al. 2005, p. 24). In
addition, California has “12.8 percent of the nation’s school-age children, but only
11.8 percent of the nation’s adult population of potential taxpayers” (p. 25).
Peer pressure and self-esteem are two additional and significant socio-
economic factors affecting urban children’s cognitive and scholastic development.
Dembo (2004) identifies an “ability versus effort dilemma.” If an urban student
works hard on an assignment and then fails, that student will lose self-esteem. “If
students don’t try hard and fail, they can always say that they might have done well
if they tried. […] A combination of high effort and failure in a competitive
environment implies a lack of ability, and students attempt to avoid coming to such a
conclusion about themselves” (Dembo, 2004, p. 28). Dembo’s findings support the
theme of this study, quoted earlier: at-risk youth can attain academically if they are
guided in effort.

56
Haberman (1999) also identified the need for educators of urban youth to
recognize and confront the connected problems of peer pressure and self-esteem.
When urban youth succeed, they are likely to attribute success to luck, rather than to
effort. It is not ‘cool’ to try hard. “If one tries hard and fails, it shows that one is
stupid. If one tries hard and succeeds, it shows that one is not as smart as the
individual who expends no effort and succeeds. The best an individual can do is to
be perfect with no effort or preparation at all” (Haberman, 1999, p. 10). Classrooms
for urban youth must emphasize continuous effort, rather than right answers and
grades (Haberman). It is incumbent upon urban schools and educators to create an
environment where students’ effort is a part of a sustained educational process
leading to academic achievement. Chapter Four will provide evidence that the urban
high school used in this case study does provide the necessary environment,
endorsed by these researchers (Dembo, Haberman), for urban students to succeed.
Social Capital
The term social capital, as currently used, is derived from sociology and is
used in the educational setting to identify barriers to low-income, minority youth
(Dika & Singh, 2002, Stanton-Salazar, 1997). It refers to the variety of forms of
social and professional support available to a child, what an adult might call
networking. For example, as mentioned in section 1, above, a middle or upper-class
child’s parents might have friends who are professionals, institutional agents, who
might, via casual conversations throughout the child’s upbringing, make references
or suggestions which become pivotal to decisions made for or by the child for her/his

57
education and future. In addition, the child’s peers might relate information learned
about effectively negotiating the school system which may be one of the
fundamental factors in that child’s successful school career. According to Stanton-
Salazar (1997), the extended family, school, church and community organizations
and peers are all potential sources for communicating this information. Social capital
provides knowledge, connections, intervention, role modeling, moral support and
advice.
Without this social capital the child and his/her parents are less likely to make
informed decisions relative to the child’s education, future and well-being. Low
status children have few opportunities to have an adult role model who can offer the
necessary connections and help for the child to comprehend and navigate the middle-
class world. The adult role model is needed for the child to decode a culture which is
very different from his/her parents’ culture (Dika & Singh, 2002, Stanton-Salazar,
1997). Although blue-collar minority children might successfully navigate different
cultures within their own communities, they often need help at decoding school and
mainstream cultures. Dika and Singh (2002) show that social capital is positively
linked to educational attainment and achievement, although more theoretical or
empirical support is needed to explain this relationship.
The swirl of reform around urban classrooms
Beginning with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(ESEA) in 1964, education reform has focused on the need to improve the education
for students of color. In this regard, there is much work yet to do. Decades of reform

58
effort without measurable and sustainable results has led some to question if it is
possible to have equitable schooling without first having greater equality in society.
Oakes (2005) posits that “schools and society exist in symbiosis to preserve the
norms that limit change” (p. 204).
Since the 1980s, urban school reform has been grounded on the idea that
dramatic innovations are needed (Hess, 1999). This belief has led policy-makers
and educators to embrace one innovation after another. Any one of these innovations
or reform efforts has the potential to increase student outputs, but the very reliance
on innovation as the key to improvement has distracted educators from making the
long-term commitment to thoroughly implementing one single new strategy. Hess
(1999) points out that the emphasis on innovation has also distracted policy-makers
and educators from focusing on the systemic structures of urban schools which
inhibit improvement in student outcomes. As detailed below, effective schools avoid
joining in the swirl of education innovation, opting instead for judiciously choosing a
specific innovation suited to the school and then making a long term commitment to
the plan.
Another striking feature of educational reform is the difference between
policymakers and classroom teachers. Cuban (1998) argues that few policymakers
have direct contact with classroom teaching, teachers or principals, yet their policies
impact the classroom experience for students and teachers. Policymakers do have
direct contact with researchers who can find favorable metrics for a given policy.
Policymakers also have direct contact with the media to make the policy and the

59
chosen metrics known. On the other hand, practitioners do not have contact with
researchers and the media to make their professional experience known. Practitioners
are expected to implement policies which may be unconnected to their daily
professional decisions, as a result, they often adapt policies to suit classroom realities
(Cuban, 1998).
Tyack and Cuban (1995) argue that the most difficult change to achieve, and
the most crucial, is in the every day interactions betweens teachers and students. This
can only be accomplished by engaging teachers and recognizing them as the
principal characters in reform. Teachers need the resources of time, money and
community support. Tyack and Cuban (1995) encourage incremental reform, adapted
to the unique needs of the community and initiated from the inside, all the while
maintaining what already works.
Thompson (2004) points out that education reforms in the United States are
often similar to a pendulum, swinging from one extreme to the opposite extreme and
back again These reform swings confuse and demoralize teachers. The students most
likely to suffer from these extremes in education “reform” are African American,
Latino and poor children. Researchers (Cuban, 1998, Hess 1999, Thompson, 2004,
Tyack and Cuban,1995), have found that ultimately, effective teachers of minority
and poor children learn to rise above politics and the confusing pendulum swings of
education reform to extablish their own good teaching practices.
Thompson (2004) provides a list of eighteen effective teaching strategies to
use with students of color. Thompson notes that these effective teaching strategies

60
are beneficial for all students. The first five of these strategies are abbreviated here:
1. let students know you care, 2. let students see you as a real human being, 3. have
high expectations, 4. keep reminding students of the big picture, 5. get to know
students on a personal level (p. 65). These strategies will be referenced in Chapter
Four, with the data from the high school chosen for this case study.
The bureaucracy and politics of education can impede education
improvement strategies. Melinda Gates of the philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation clarified why her foundation decided to fund American high school
change initiatives. She explained that the Gates Foundation decided to focus on
secondary schools because they “looked so intractable and no one was touching high
schools” (Sellers, 2008.) The Gates’ soon found out how difficult it would be to
reform high schools. Melinda admits that she and Bill were naïve. "I thought that if
we got enough schools started, people would say, 'Let me build schools just like
that.' Just the opposite is true. You could get 1,000 schools up and running, and the
system would pull them down." She added: “It’s always been one step forward and
one step back” (Sellers).
In Seattle as well as in Denver, Gates Foundation education funding has not
succeeded in maintaining systemic change (Sellers, 2008). The Gates Foundation
found that either leadership or community engagement was insufficient to maintain
the momentum. Now, when possible, the Gates Foundation works directly with
governors, superintendents and mayors, to enact secondary change initiatives.
Typically, the Gates Foundation funding for Early College High Schools as well as

61
other secondary change initiatives provides initial funding for three years. New
programs are expected to have sustainability by the fourth year (Sellers, 2008).
In spite of the potential pitfalls to urban high school reform, some successful
alternatives to the traditional comprehensive high school organization deserve
mention. One alternative is the Small Learning Community (SLC). An SLC may
take the form of a Career Academy (Zapf, Spradlin, and Plucker, 2006), with a
specific career orientation, such as Environmental Careers. A Career Academy
focuses on the connection between school and work. Or, an SLC may be organized
solely for the freshmen class. Educators in an SLC can maintain personal, long term
relationships with their students allowing them to avoid the alienation which often
occurs among urban youth in a large comprehensive school (Cotton, 2001). As will
be discussed in Chapter Four, Academy High, the school chosen for this case study,
is a small learning community and stakeholders identified their small size as a
critical factor to students’ academic achievement.
The philosophy of the SLC is to divide students into smaller groups to
encourage meaningful relationships with teachers and peers. Zapf et al.(2006) report
that SLCs have decreased the drop-out rate, and improved both school attendance
and work performance. These findings are corroborated by two surveys of high
schools students, one conducted by the National Governor’s Association (2007) and
the other by the Public Agenda Study (EdSource, 2007). Sixty-six percent of
students who had dropped out or were potential dropouts stated that they would have

62
been more likely to stay in school had they had personal attention and guidance with
courses.
Another alternative to the traditional high school which has successfully met
the needs of some at-risk students is the Middle College High School (Zapf et al.
2006). This is a high school located on a college campus. Students at the Middle
College High can simultaneously earn college credit while working for a high school
diploma. This alternative to traditional high school is credited with decreasing the
drop-out rate, and increasing both writing skills and college attendance (Zapf et al.).
The urban high school chosen for this case study, Academy High, uses the
effective teaching strategies for minority youth identified by Thompson (2004). In
addition, it combines aspects of the two alternative high school models presented
above. With a student body of about five hundred and twenty, Academy High
provides a Small Learning Community; however, rather than offer a single Career
Academy, it offers students four Career Pathways from which to choose. Academy
High students can also earn college credit while working for a high school diploma,
similar to the Middle College High School model. In 2007 Academy High scored
four deciles above similar schools in California (California Department of Education,
2007) and it earned the distinction of being named a Title 1 Academic Achieving
School in 2007 and again in 2008. Academy High leaders clearly do not subscribe to
the concept of low-expectations for low-income children (Johnson, 2002). As will be
explored in Chapter Four, Academy High offers a proven model for urban high
school reform.

63
This section detailed the history and challenges of urban environments.
Urban children of color are often America’s poorest citizens. Since 1964 most
education reform has been based on the need to improve the education of all low-
income children caught in their parents’ cycle of underachievement and poverty.
Urban concerns provided the inspiration for this study, but, rather than focus on the
myriad problems, this researcher chose to narrow the lens to a critical case, Academy
High, which has realworld solutions to offer.
American High Schools
In the nineteenth century, very few teenagers enrolled in public high school
(Oakes, 2005, Tyack & Cuban, 1995). The quotation from Wilder (1943) at the
beginning of Chapter Three reveals that in the mid-nineteenth century a fifteen year
old girl could begin teaching grammar school. The first free public high schools in
the United States did not begin until the 1860s, in New England. Thirty years later,
in 1890, fewer than ten percent of teenagers attended high school, but social changes,
including masses of immigration as well as the exodus from rural areas, were
beginning to change how secondary education was perceived (Oakes, Tyack &
Cuban).
In 1892 the Committee of Ten on Secondary Studies of the National
Education Association was chaired by the President of Harvard University, Charles
Eliot (Oakes, 2005). It is noteworthy that Eliot believed that intellectual differences
among young people were inconsequential and that Americans tended to
underestimate the intellectual abilities of the young. According to Oakes (2005), The

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Committee of Ten did not approve of separating college-bound from non-college-
bound secondary students. The secondary curriculum which the Committee proposed
was intended to help all students become educated, whether or not they went to
college.
Oakes (2005) posits that it is unfortunate that the ideas of Eliot and the
Committee of Ten did not influence secondary education into the twentieth century.
Instead, the aspirations of the throngs of poor, uneducated immigrants, and poor,
rural Americans converged on newly industrialized American cities and their
schools. In the nearly forty year period from 1880 to 1918, enrollment in American
schools increased over two hundred percent (Oakes). In this period of turbulent
change, in direct contrast to the beliefs of Eliot, the theories of Charles Darwin took
hold. Social Darwinism, as it was known, clearly ascribed to the idea of evolutionary
superiority. “Gone was the nineteenth –century notion of the need for common
learnings to build a cohesive nation” (Oakes, 2005, p. 21). The high school chosen
for this case study, Academy High, harkens back to the beliefs of Eliot and the
Committee of Ten. It does not separate college-bound from non-college-bound
students and its curriculum is intended to help all students become educated.
High school education in the United States has evolved from the status of
non-compensatory college preparatory for the privileged to the current direction of
college preparatory for all (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). In the second half of the
twentieth century the notion that all children should receive a college-preparatory
education took hold. Statistics on secondary education in the twentieth century are

65
worth noting. In 1900 only eight percent of youth attended and graduated from high
school (Tyack & Cuban). In just eighty years the percentage jumped by sixty-three
points. In 1980, seventy-one percent of American youth attended and graduated
from high school. According to Tyack and Cuban (1995) this dramatic rise in high
school graduation was caused by several factors, including: “economic,
demographic, and attitudinal” (Tyack & Cuban, 1995, p. 48) changes.
The increase in high school attendance created a phenomenon unknown until
nearly the middle of the twentieth century: teenagers (Loveless, 2001). In 1900 only
eight percent of young people attended high school and the vast majority of the
population of the United States lived in rural areas. Children were most likely to
work on farms and shortly after puberty become married adults (Loveless).
When they began attending high school, teenagers began having ample time
to spend together, away from family and most adults (Loveless, 2001). As a result,
they were considered as a group and the terms ‘teenagers’ and ‘adolescents’ became
a part of common usage. Loveless reports that James S. Coleman’s 1961 book, The
Adolescent Society: The Social Life of the Teenager and its impact on Education
was, unfortunately, largely ignored.
While a researcher at the University of Chicago, Coleman chose ten high
schools to study in northern Illinois. These high schools varied in size from 150
students to 1850 students. Schools were chosen to reflect various living conditions:
from working class to wealthy, from rural to urban to suburban. From the fall of
1957 through the spring of 1958 Coleman and his staff administered questionnaires

66
to students, teachers and parents. In addition, some students were informally
interviewed. Grades and attendance data were also collected.
In The Adolescent Society, Coleman (1961) detailed the results of his study.
He noted that younger children value approval from parents and teachers, the adults
in their lives, whereas adolescents put much greater value on approval from their
peers. Coleman cautioned educators for the need: “[…] to learn how to control the
adolescent community as a community, and to use it to further the ends of
education” (Coleman, 1961, p. 12). Adults needed to find a way to exert influence
over adolescents, just as adults had influence over young children.
Adolescent society uses a status system to give rewards and punishments,
exerting a strong psychological effect on peers. In addition, Coleman (1961) reported
that social leaders in high schools do not value intellectual activities nor do they
want to be perceived as intellectuals. There was one upper-middle-class high school
in this study, and adolescent social leaders there were particularly disdainful of being
perceived as intellectuals. Coleman found this disconcerting given that these
children of privilege were being trained to be the elites of their society. Coleman
warned that high school reform would be unsuccessful if the reformers ignored teen
culture. Coleman also warned that adults were responsible for teen peer pressure
which disparaged academic accomplishment.
Coleman (1961) related the findings from another analysis on adolescents
who attended high school outside of the United States. These non-American
adolescents were social leaders, but they actually valued intellectual activities, just

67
the opposite of their American counterparts. Forty-six years later, Friedman (2007)
also reported on an anti-intellectual trend in America: “In China today, Bill Gates is
Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears – and that is our
problem” (p. 365).
Coleman ended his book with words which still hold merit today:

[…] if secondary education is to be successful, it must successfully compete
with cars and sports and social activities for the adolescents’ attention in an
open market. The adolescent is no longer a child, but will spend his energy in
the ways he sees fit. It is up to the adult society to so structure secondary
education that it captures this energy (p. 329).

Coleman (1961) suggested that secondary education should offer adolescents more
opportunities for career exploration and more opportunities to learn how to deal with
and understand real world problems. In general, adolescents needed to learn how to
cope with complex issues.
Forty four years after the release of Coleman’s study (1961), Carroll et al.
(2005) came to conclusions very similar to Coleman’s. Carroll et al. compared
various studies to conclude that if parents and schools do not work to remain relevant
and influential in the lives of adolescents, then peer and media influences gain ever
greater importance. Carroll et al. reported on five indicators of high school student
performance which can impact teenagers’ ability to becoming economically and
socially responsible members of early twenty-first century society. The five
indicators are: teen pregnancy, substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, high school
completion and college continuation. Parents who are involved in the lives and

68
decisions of the teenager help that teen to avoid negative peer influences (Carroll et
al. 2005).
In addition to parental influence, effectively designed school programs can
reduce teen involvement in these behaviors which can negatively impact completion
of high school and post secondary education. High school students need to remain
engaged in their education and to explore career goals. When teens see the
connection between present education and future careers and hopes they are less
likely to become negatively influenced and participate in personally destructive
behaviors (Carroll et al. 2005).
American teenagers are strongly influenced by teen culture and more so than
in other Western countries (Loveless, 2001). All too often researchers, reformers and
the general public ignore the impact of teen culture on teenagers. For most of
America’s teenagers, the social life they encounter on their high school campus is the
most important factor in the high school years. Teen culture does not often value
academic achievement (Loveless, 2001). Today, the High School Survey of Student
Engagement (HSSSE), detailed and utilized as secondary data in this study, clearly
does not ignore teen culture. Yazzie-Mintz (2007) states that the HSSSE shows that
curriculum and instruction need to be adapted to students’ aspirations in order to
engage and retain secondary students.
Americans have many expectations for their high schools, from providing
athletic training and college preparation, to providing language acquisition courses
and job skills. In addition, Tyack and Cuban (1995), point out that Americans have

69
often turned to their high schools to address weighty social, political and economic
problems. High schools today range across a continuum from high performing to
grossly inadequate. This is due to the lack of a centralized system of education.
The previous section detailed urban problems. Indeed, in the second half of
the twentieth century, students in urban high schools have under performed
academically in comparison to their suburban counterparts. That does not mean that
all suburban high schools fare well. For example, Zapf, Spradlin, and Plucker (2006)
report that of all high school graduates who thought they were ready for college,
thirty-one percent had to enroll in remedial college classes.
The education data on California is sobering: “California’s scores for
students from similar families are the lowest in the nation” (Carroll et al. 2005, p.
133). They report on an ongoing RAND study which shows: “Black, Hispanic, and
non-Hispanic white students in California are among the lower-scoring students in
the nation when compared to students in other states who have similar family
characteristics” (Carroll et al., p. 134). When comparing students from similar
families among 47 states, California ranks 47
th.
Given these sobering statistics, it
follows then that California also has a low college continuation rate relative to other
states in the nation (Carroll et al).
As a whole, American high school students score far below their peers in
other nations, even though the United States spends more money on education than
most other nations. Miller (2008) addresses this recurrent concern in American
education. “The United States spends more than nearly every other nation on

70
schools, but out of 29 developed countries in a 2003 assessment, we ranked 24
th
in
math and in problem-solving, 18
th
in science and 15
th
in reading” (Miller, 2008, p.
93). Money spent on education in the United States is not spent wisely to retain and
engage students and increase academic achievement. As a result, for decades,
American high school students, as a whole, have scored below high school students
in other countries (Loveless, 2001).
The Brown Center Report on American education surveyed foreign exchange
students in American high schools (Loveless, 2001). These surveys revealed that
Asian and European high school students perform better on academic assessments
because they spend more time working for their classes, and they value their
education more than their American counterparts. Invariably, foreign exchange
students find American high school courses easier than classes at home. Again, this
is similar to Jaime Escalante’s experience when he opened a high school math
textbook at Garfield High (Mathews, 1988) and saw that the work was comparable to
fifth grade level in Bolivia.
Underscoring Coleman’s (1961) findings, in addition to the level of
difficulty, foreign exchange students revealed that doing well in classes was highly
valued by their peers at home, because high school was viewed as an important step
in preparation for careers (Loveless, 2001). The Brown Center Report also supports
the citation from Haberman (1999) which provides the theme of this study: it is
incumbent upon urban school leaders to model and generate student effort focused
on academic achievement and to show students the connection between academics

71
and future careers. The findings from The Brown Center (2001) support this case
study focused on a high school which does connect high school academics with
future careers via a rigorous and varied Career Technical Education curriculum.
The Dropout Rate
The dropout rate in American high schools has garnered national attention. A
Time magazine cover article, “Dropout Nation” (Thornburgh, 2006) reported that
since the 1970s, the education system of the United States has undergone various
reforms, yet the high school dropout rate has remained at approximately thirty
percent across all states. As mentioned earlier, this dropout rate increases to nearly
fifty percent for Latinos, African Americans and Native Americans (Orfield et al.
2004).
There is cause for alarm that the high school dropout rate in the United States
ranges from thirty percent to fifty percent (Orfield, et al.). High school dropouts are
more likely than the general population to become adults who use public assistance,
are unemployed and incarcerated (National Governors’ Association, 2006).
Haberman (1999) unequivocally argues: “The difference between making it through
high school or dropping out is frequently the difference between having a chance for
a life with a future or becoming a no-hoper” (p. 36). The high school dropout rate
increases racial divides and socioeconomic disparity. It is in everyone’s best interest
to retain and engage high school students.
The Los Angeles Times (Landsberg, 2006) reported that the Civil Rights
Project at Harvard University determined that only forty-five percent of students in

72
Los Angeles Unified School District were graduating. In March, 2006, at the
Leadership Forum on High School Dropouts held at the University of Southern
California, Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa declared that regardless of the
uncertainty of the numeric calculation of the dropout rate, student dropouts are
creating a crisis for the city. The Mayor called the dropout problem the civil rights
issue of our time (Landsberg, 2006).
Calculating the dropout rate is problematic because there is no standard
recording metric (Orfield et al. 2004). At present, states do not have state-wide data
systems to track each student. Orfield et al. have shown that if a student leaves a
district there is currently no standardized means for determining if that student
dropped out of the education system altogether or if the student transferred to another
district. In addition, there are two ways to reference the issue: the dropout rate and
the graduation rate. For each of these rates there are two ways to calculate the metric.
To add to the confusion, states depend on student dropout numbers reported by each
district, and districts are known for underreporting these figures.
In California, the official high school dropout rate is listed at three to thirteen
percent, whereas the graduation rate is given as seventy-one to eighty-five percent
(EdSource, 2007). Clearly, the official dropout rate and the graduation rate give a
conflicting view on successful high school completion in California. That view is
clouded all the more by inconsistent reporting and calculating.
As mentioned earlier, the governors of the fifty states and the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico signed the Graduation Counts Compact in 2005 (National Governors’

73
Association, 2006). This Compact is a pledge to gather accurate data using a national
formula as recommended by research (Orfield, et al. 2004). It includes common
standards for reporting drop out data and reporting annual progress on increasing the
high school graduation rate. California has pledged to adhere to the standards of the
Compact by 2010.
Some have questioned the advisability of implementing exit exams, on the
assumption that they will have a negative effect on graduation rates. In fact, it is
challenging to determine the impact the exit exam has on the graduation rate because
both are so closely linked to other factors, such as attendance (Kober et al. 2006).
For example, high school dropouts often have truancy rates of thirty days or more for
each year in high school. This absenteeism rate is similar for a majority of students
who repeatedly fail one or both sections of the exit exam (Kober et al.). In contrast,
the annual absenteeism rate for the average student who completes high school is ten
days.
Overall, small studies show that exit exams have a slight negative impact on
high school completion. States with high rates of racial diversity and high poverty
levels are more likely to find that exit exams slightly increase the high school
dropout rate (Kober et al. 2006). In addition, the level of difficulty of the test, such as
a minimum competency exam versus a more demanding exam, also has a slight
negative influence on high school completion. For example, there was a 1.3
percentage reduction in the probability that African American males would graduate
from high school in states with a minimum competency exit exam. In states with a

74
more difficult exit exam, there was a 1.8 percentage reduction in the probability that
this same population would graduate from high school (Kober et al. 2006). In
conclusion, although the exit exam may have a slight negative effect on graduation
rates, failing an exit exam is not a primary reason for a high school student to
dropout. These findings are supported by the High School Survey of Student
Engagement (2007) where a very small percentage of students reported considering
dropping out because of having failed required tests for graduation.
EdSource (2007) refers to the National Governor’s Association online survey
completed by more than 10,000 high school students across the nation, in 2005.
Based on this survey, 66 percent of students who had dropped out, or were potential
dropouts, stated that had they had personal attention for content-specific support they
would have been more likely to stay in school. A Public Agenda Study, also
conducted in 2005, of young people from eighteen to twenty-five years old, confirms
these findings (Ed Source, 2007).
Among students who eventually drop out, indicative patterns may be
established in ninth grade or before. Signs of a potential high school dropout include:
high absenteeism, high rates of incomplete assignments, high rates of test failure; all
of these indicators lead to high rates of classes failed (Kober et al. 2006). In addition,
the transition between elementary school and middle school and then from middle
school to high school can be traumatic for at-risk youth. Thompson (2003) reports
that math was the primary academic course with which students struggled and were
most likely to fail.

75
An interview with a twenty-eight year old African American man, Paul, who
had dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade illuminates underlying causes
for this national problem (Thompson, 2003). Paul reported he had earned good
grades and had positive experiences in school from elementary school through
middle school. High school was a different experience for him. He dropped out of
school because of: “(1) peer pressure and the lure of street life; (2) a boring
curriculum and unqualified teachers; and (3) harassment from adults at school”
(Thompson, p.175). He explained that he felt like he was not learning anything in
his classes and counselors did not care.
Paul’s three reasons for dropping out have also been identified by
researchers, (Carroll et al., 2005, Coleman, 1961, Loveless, 2001, Zapf et al., 2006)
who have argued for educators to acknowledge and address peer pressure and
counter it with a meaningful student-centered curriculum which allows students to
experience the connection between education and future aspirations and careers.
Paul’s final point was that counselors did not care. Possible solutions to the need for
caring educators will be explored through the school chosen for this case study and
presented in Chapters Four and Five.
After dropping out of school, Paul sold illegal drugs which led to his
spending five years in prison. This part of his life story corroborates findings from
the National Governor’s Association (2006) that high school dropouts are more
likely than the general population to become incarcerated. However, Paul changed
his life course. While in prison he earned his high school general education diploma

76
(GED). Upon his release, Paul enrolled in college with the aim of becoming a
counselor (Thompson, 2003).
Coleman (1961) stated: “[…] if secondary education is to be successful, it
must successfully compete with cars and sports and social activities for the
adolescents’ attention, in an open market” (p. 329). Echoing these words more than
forty years later, Paul, the man Thompson (2003) interviewed emphasized: “’The
peer pressure and wanting money, cars, and women, instead of sitting at home
reading books causes a big conflict’” (p. 176). Paul, like Coleman before him, said
that schools must confront and challenge peer pressure. To that end, Paul brings his
kindergarten daughter to his college classes to instill in her a familiarity with the
educational environment and a desire for her own education.
Orfield, et al. (2004) emphasized the urgency in addressing the dropout
problem. Among the data they present, more than half of African American males in
Chicago who had dropped out of high school were unemployed in 2003. In addition,
Orfield, et al. caution that studies suggest that the general education diploma, which
many dropouts say they will pursue, does not offer the same benefits as a high school
diploma (p. 8). Orfield, et al. argue for the need for more research and proven
interventions to retain and engage African American, Latino and Native American
males through high school graduation.
Miller (2008) also argues for funding for more research and development to
address the high drop-out rate as well as other problems in American education. The
United States spends more money on education than most other developed nations,

77
yet scores show that youth educated in the U. S. are behind the youth of other
nations. The problem is not that not enough money is spent on education, but that
those funds are not spent wisely to retain and engage students and increase academic
achievement (Miller, 2008). Albeit insufficient, there has been research which has
focused on what works in urban schools, as will be explored next.
What Works in Effective Schools?
Some urban high schools have achieved significant academic gains, but it is
not always clear what contributes to high performance in these schools. Research
(Marzano, 2003) shows that high performing high schools share several
characteristics, two of which are a rigorous curriculum and high expectations for all.
These latter two characteristics underscore the theme of this study: urban schools and
educators must model and generate student effort leading to academic achievement
(Haberman, 1999).
Effective schools make a rigorous curriculum accessible to all students and
constantly monitor assessments to ensure that curriculum and instruction are
addressing the learning needs of all. A crucial step in establishing a rigorous
curriculum accessible to all is ascertaining the essential standards, also known as the
power standards. Researchers (Kendall & Marzano, 2000, Marzano, 2003) have
shown that it would take an additional several thousand hours of instructional time
for a classroom teacher to teach all the content standards, as currently established in
most states. Effective schools have determined the essential standards which can be
taught within the instructional hours of the school year (Kendall & Marzano, 2000).

78
These schools have clearly identified these standards for all stakeholders. In addition,
these schools work to protect the instructional time from interruptions (Marzano,
2003).
Once the essential standards based (Marzano, 2003) rigorous curriculum is
accessible to all students, another crucial step is to monitor assessments to ensure
that curriculum and instruction are addressing all learning needs. The monitoring
system must provide prompt individualized feedback on specific skills that all
students are expected to attain. Marzano (2003) suggests that redesigned, quarterly
report cards, listing specific skills and the student’s achievement, have been
effectively used to provide pertinent monitoring and feedback.
Dembo (2004) argues for the need to place the student at the center of school
reform. This is based on the belief that in order to achieve higher academic
standards, it is most important for students, not schools to make changes. This
learner-centered perspective “believes that educational interventions need to focus as
well on students’ will to learn, intrinsic motivation, and self-regulated learning” (p.
26). This latter term refers to the student’s ability to control factors, such as amount
of time spent studying and the conditions of a study-place. After all, it is what
students do which can improve their own learning and academic achievement.
Schools can help students gain skills as self-regulated learners. In the data from the
school chosen for this case study there is evidence that this school does help students
gain skills to become self-regulated learners.

79
Researchers (Darling-Hammond, 2002, Johnson, 2002) emphasize the need
for educators of diverse students to understand these students both culturally and
personally. Educators need to see the whole picture of how culture and context
impact teaching and learning. Darling-Hammond (2002) argues for educators: “to
develop both an empathy for what others experience and a capacity to perceive each
student as a person and as a learner, with tools that reduce prejudicial filters and that
enhance the accuracy of those perceptions” (p. 209). The evidence as to how the
school chosen for this case study, Academy High, perceives each student as a person
and as a learner will be presented in Chapter Four.
Maintaining high expectations for all includes the custodial and maintenance
staffs as well as the teaching and administrative staffs. All the adults on campus must
model a culture which values and expects a solid work ethic (Haberman, 1999).
Students in the classroom need to have evidence that the adults in charge are
responsible and dedicated to their education. Just by walking on campus a visitor can
gain evidence as to whether or not the staff has high expectations for themselves as
well as for their students (Holland, 2002). The extent to which the adults at Academy
High model a culture which values and expects a solid work ethic will also be
discussed in Chapter Four.
Bottoms, Presson and Han (2004) state that their study supports the ever
increasing body of evidence that to improve high school academic achievement the
following must occur:

80
1. “rigorous academic core and high quality career/technical courses in a
high-demand field” taught in ways “that students see a reason for learning the
content and that engage them in challenging assignments,”

2. faculty must have a “shared and strong commitment to provide students the
extra help needed to meet course standards.”

3. School leaders must “work with faculty members to develop a consensus
on what it means to teach to high standards, to teach well, to help low-
performing students become independent learners, and to create a climate of
continuous improvement and support for faculty and students,”

4. schools must develop “successful middle grades to high school transition
programs that result in more students being successful in more rigorous
academic courses and using the senior year to get more students ready for
postsecondary studies and work” (p.1).

Bottoms et al. (2004) argue that all high school students should take the rigorous
core academic courses which used to be designated solely for the ‘best’ students, and
all high schools students should take high quality career/technical courses.
In summary, research identifies characteristics of outperforming urban high
schools: rigorous curriculum and high expectations for all, monitoring the system,
individualized feedback and assessments (Cotton, 2001, Marzano, 2003), all adults
on campus modeling a solid work ethic and generating student effort (Cotton, 2001,
Haberman, 1999), a learner-centered perspective and guiding students in becoming
self-regulated learners (Dembo, 2004), and understanding the whole student,
culturally and personally (Darling-Hammond, 2002, Holland, 2002, Johnson, 2002).
In addition, students must take rigorous academic courses and high quality
career/technical courses taught in ways that engage students in challenging work;
faculty must have a shared and strong commitment to help students; school leaders

81
and faculty must work together “to create a climate of continuous improvement and
support for faculty and students;” and finally, schools must help students with both
pre- and post-secondary transitions (Bottoms et al. 2004, p. 1).
Chapter Four will present the data collected at Academy High. This high
school will be analyzed to determine how it is performing relative to the research
presented here identifying characteristics of outperforming urban high schools.
Leadership Culture
Effective schools have a focused leadership culture which models high
expectations and empowers all educators to collaborate and communicate with the
goal of maintaining a supportive learning environment for all. Holland (2002)
discusses the ingredients of the essential supports framework, which is frequently
seen in effective schools. In this framework, inclusion, sharing and collaboration are
prominent. The larger school community is included in policy decision making. In
addition, distributed school leadership is evident, whereby school leaders share
leadership activities among informal leaders to empower individual stake holders.
Finally, collaboration is a natural result of distributed school leadership and the
essential supports framework. Inclusion, sharing and collaboration produce more
meaningful school and student outcomes than could be accomplished by any one
individual.
As described in the section on American public education and reform, above,
the tendency in American education is to continuously engage in one reform strategy
after another, without really addressing the business of teaching and learning.

82
Researchers (Elmore, 1991, Hess, 1999, Tyack & Cuban, 1995,) often find that a
primary characteristic of very effective schools is that they do not generally
participate in the continuous cycle of reform. Instead, they engage in long term
improvement commitments with focused effort based on proven teaching and
learning theories. Thorough and effective implementation of carefully selected
reform leads to sustained increases in student outputs (Hess, 1999).
Haberman (1999) is very clear about the characteristics of an excellent
principal for urban schools. These school leaders are focused on specific and clearly
articulated goals, and they utilize encouragement, rather than coercion, to create
whole school buy-in. They strive to be just and equitable in all decisions and not
react out of anger. They model courtesy and a strong work ethic. In sharp contrast,
ineffective leaders depend on legal power, threats, bullying and coercion to engender
compliance.
Echoing the essential supports framework (Holland, 2002), described above,
Haberman (1999) explains that excellent principals of urban schools “become more
effective when they concentrate less on being the boss and more on creating
conditions under which school personnel perform their duties with fewer
impediments” (Haberman, p. 16). These leaders of urban schools have two goals:
“elicit voluntary commitment to shared purposes, and to create the conditions of
work that will enable the staff, teachers, and the children to be successful” (p. 18).
One way in which they ‘create the conditions of work’ is by shielding staff from the
chaos of regulations and changes which can emanate from the district office. As will

83
be explained in Chapter Four, the principal of the high school chosen for this case
study does strive to create the conditions of work for staff and students to be
successful, as recognized by her teaching staff.
Tyack and Cuban (1995) also referred to the turmoil which results from
endless reforms and changes from outside the school. These changes often run
counter to the school’s philosophy and program. The result is that teachers close
their classroom doors, “reassuring themselves that this, too, shall pass” (p.135). As
stated earlier, the change mandates from outside the school are most detrimental to
urban youth. Researchers (Cuban, 1998, Hess 1999, Thompson, 2004, Tyack &
Cuban,1995), have found that effective teachers of urban youth learn to rise above
politics and turmoil to establish their own good teaching practices. Likewise,
effective urban school leaders learn to shield their staff from the chaos of regulations
and changes, thereby removing impediments for school personnel to perform their
duties (Haberman, 1999).
The impediments to which Haberman (1999) refers may be clarified in a list
from another researcher. Thompson (2004) lists her beliefs about school
management:
1. a teacher should never “tolerate disrespect or abuse from any student”,

2. “all teachers have the right to teach in a nonthreatening environment,”

3. “students’ learning should not be disrupted by other students”,

4. “every teacher deserves to teach in a school that is led by supportive
administrators” (p. 69).

84
The significance of this list must be kept in the perspective of an urban
school. Both Haberman(1999) and Thompson (2004) are very clear that violence
often enters the school with urban youth and it is up to school leaders to empower
these youth with alternative reactions to violence, preferably beginning in preschool.
Thompson described how several promising teachers left the teaching profession
because of a blatant lack of administrative support.
Thompson (2004) also detailed two harrowing experiences she had as a high
school teacher. Each experience involved a male student with a history of violence
well known to the administration. In each incident, the school administration did
nothing to support Thompson, nor did they take reasonable measures to provide for
her safety. The second experience lasted for most of a school year. Finally, another
student recognized the situation for what it was and regularly visited her classroom
to protect her. From the perspective of her real world narratives, Thompson’s list,
above, becomes all the more cogent, especially number four: “every teacher
deserves to teach in a school that is led by supportive administrators” (p. 69). Urban
school leaders must provide for the basic safety of their personnel. When school
leaders fail to provide basic safety, they allow impediments to interfer with teaching
and learning.
As stated earlier, by walking on campus a visitor can gain evidence as to
whether or not the leadership has high expectations for themselves as well as for
their staff and students. High expectations can be evidenced in the cleanliness of the
school as well as the safety. The issues of safety and cleanliness on the campus of an

85
urban high school should be key concerns of school leadership and these concerns
will be addressed again in Chapter Four.
In summary, research identifies characteristics of excellent leadership for
urban schools. One characteristic is a leadership culture which models high
expectations and empowers all educators to collaborate, which is a natural result of
distributed school leadership (Holland, 2002). Another characteristic is thorough
implementation of carefully selected reforms leading to sustained increases in
student outputs (Hess, 1999). Also, excellent school leaders focus on clearly
articulated goals, and they utilize encouragement to create whole school buy-in
(Haberman, 1999). They create conditions, including open communication,
collaboration, cleanliness, and safety under which staff can best perform their duties
(Haberman, 1999, Thompson, 2004).
High School Survey of Student Engagement
As detailed above, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 (NCLB) seeks to
ensure that all children have access to an equal education, as determined by student
outcomes on standardized tests based on state-wide content standards. However, this
outcomes-based accountability reveals nothing about the educational process from
the students’ perspective. In 2004, the High School Survey of Student Engagement
(HSSSE) was initiated as a source to highlight student behaviors and students’
education-related perceptions (Yazzie-Mintz, 2007, Zapf et al. 2006). This was the
first time that a single instrument was designed and used to collect longitudinal high
school student engagement data from different types of high schools across the

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country. The HSSSE is administered by the Center for Evaluation and Education
Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University.
The HSSSE is a paper-based student survey which can be taken in about
forty-five minutes. A sample of the HSSSE is available in the Appendix of this
study. The survey questions ask students to self-identify a variety of their home and
classroom education engagement related behaviors. The HSSSE is designed to
provide school leaders with data measuring how involved their students are in
knowledge acquisition behavior linked to high levels of learning. This survey also
allows school leaders to compare their students’ responses to the responses of
students nationwide (CEEP, 2004). For each question, each school receives this data
in both aggregated form and disaggregated on a variety of identifiers, including
grade level, gender and ethnicity. Schools also receive the mean of their students’
responses which they can compare to the national mean for each question. Each
school receives the frequency of response from their students which can be
compared to the national frequency for each question (CEEP, 2004). On any given
year the student respondents to the HSSSE are from more than one hundred schools
across more than thirty states. These schools differ on any of several characteristics,
including demographics, location, school size and programs.
In 2004 the HSSSE was completed by more than 90,000 high school students
nationwide. It has been administered every year since, providing crucial information
to school-site leaders interested in enhancing student outcomes measured by NCLB-
mandated standardized tests (Yazzie-Mintz, 2007, Zapf et al. 2006). The

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mathematical courses and reading and writing assignments the HSSSE respondents
identified were compared with those of first year students at community and four
year colleges. National HSSSE data shows a disparity between students’ stated
college goals and the reality of their educational preparedness and learning habits.
For example, among students who stated they intended to enroll in college, only
forty-nine percent of them took a math course in their senior year (Yazzie-Mintz,
2007, Zapf et al. 2006).
One of the documents which HSSSE (2008) provides each school is a “means
comparison of engagement dimensions.” For this comparison, the CEEP groups the
survey questions along three identifiable engagement categories. These three
dimensions underline an important distinction between: 1. student behaviors and
habits which lead to learning, 2. student participation in the school community, 3.
student’s emotional connection to the overall learning process and the community. In
each of these three dimensions the high school receives the mean for their school,
along with the national mean and the probability and effect size. This data allows the
school to analyze if there is one dimension on which their students are demonstrating
greater engagement than the other two. The three engagement dimensions are
presented next.
One engagement dimension is cognitive/intellectual/ academic engagement.
This area covers most specifically engagement of the mind (Yazzie-Mintz, 2007).
There are sixty-five questions in this category. Three of these questions are: “Hours
spent in a typical week: 5a. Doing written homework,” and “5aa.How important:

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Doing written homework?” Question 7s: “How often have you: Discussed ideas from
readings or classes with teachers outside of class?” As indicated in the first question
listed here, in addition to identifying how much time they spend on a given academic
task, students are asked to rate the importance of that task. HSSSE data (Yazzie-
Mintz) revealed that students often report spending very little time (one hour or less)
on learning activities which they then rank as very important.
The second engagement dimension is social/behavioral/participatory
engagement. This dimension involves engagement as a part of a learning community
(Yazzie-Mintz, 2007). There are seventeen questions in this category. Three of these
questions are: “Hours spent in a typical week: 5d. Participating in school-sponsored
activities,” and “Hours spent in a typical week: 5e. Practicing a sport and/or musical
instrument and/or rehearsing for a performance.” Question 16m: “School contributed
to growth: Understanding people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds.” Much of
this dimension emphasizes programs, such as sports and music, which are typical in
a comprehensive high school.
The third engagement dimension is emotional engagement. This dimension is
engagement of the heart (Yazzie-Mintz, 2007). There are thirty nine questions in this
category. Three of these questions are given here. Question 9: “About how many of
your teachers want you to do the best work you can do?” 16n: “School contributed
to growth: Understanding yourself.” Question 18: “Why do you go to school?:
Because I enjoy being in school.”

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Distinguishing these three dimensions of engagement allow school leaders to
determine if there is a particular dimension of engagement which is most in need of
being addressed. The significance of these three engagement dimensions will be
detailed in Chapter Four – Findings. The HSSSE is one of the data instruments used
in this case study. It was ordered and administered by Academy High, as a result, the
data reported here is secondary data.
Research (Bennett, 2001, Castellano, et al., 2002, Northeast and Islands
Regional Educational, 2001, Yazzie-Mintz, 2007) underscores the need to adapt
curriculum and instruction to reflect students’ aspirations. The use of the HSSSE
allows this study to be informed by the voice of students at the high school chosen
for this case study. In addition, this instrument allows student responses nationwide
to be compared to Academy High student responses. Privileging student voices is an
integral component to understanding student engagement and academic achievement.
Career Technical Education
The following section on Career Technical Education will provide a brief
history of this aspect of American public education. Included here will be arguments
supporting the need for Career Tech Ed as well as the ideas of those who have not
yet come to a full understanding of how this field is uniquely poised to engage and
retain adolescents through post-secondary education.
When American society was primarily agrarian, beginning at a young age
children were likely to become engaged in their parents’ responsibilities. A thirteen
year old could be a fairly experienced farmer, having spent much of his young life

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learning adult work and responsibilities (Coleman, 1961). As society became urban
and suburban, parent/child interactions shifted to the child’s endeavors. Parents
became chauffeurs and spectators at their child’s sports and extracurricular activities.
Coleman argued that when this shift took place, the child’s opportunity to be a part
of and learn from adult responsibilities was lost. Connecting career information and
learning with secondary education allows adolescents the otherwise lost opportunity
to learn about careers and adult responsibilities prior to becoming adults themselves.
As mentioned in Chapter One, vocational education for secondary students
and adults in the United States began more than ninety years ago. Vocational
education first received federal funding and support with the Smith-Hughes Act of
1917 (Castellan et al., 2002, EdSource, 2005, Wirt & Kirst, 2005). “There were
worries about global competition and worker training, which prompted Washington
to enact the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act for vocational education, the first federal
program of categorical aid for elementary and secondary schools” (Wirt & Kirst, p.
37). For the next seventy five years vocational programs were used to prepare
struggling secondary students for entry level jobs in occupations that did not require
post-secondary education.
During the early 1990s, vocational education went through a significant
paradigm shift: both the name, Career Technical Education (CTE), and the
expectations changed (EdSource, 2005, EdSource, 2007). Unlike its vocational
education predecessor, CTE today offers a viable curriculum for all students. In this
regard, CTE harkens back to the findings of The Committee of Ten, presided by

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Charles Eliot (Oakes, 2005). As detailed earlier in this chapter, The Committee of
Ten in 1892 did not approve of separating college-bound from non-college-bound
secondary students. In addition, the Committee stated that secondary education was
intended to help all students become educated, whether or not they went to college
(Oakes, 2005).
As mentioned in Chapter One, in 2002, the California legislature passed bills
which authorized the state to create career/technical curriculum standards and
frameworks. In May, 2005, the standards were adopted by the State Board of
Education (SBE). According to the California Department of Education (2007), the
standards address learning goals for grades seven through twelve and include fifty-
eight career pathways in fifteen industries. The standards are intended to guide local
CTE curriculum development. Then, in August, 2006 the California State Legislature
passed AB 2448. Among other provisions, this bill mandates that occupational
courses must be offered as a part of course sequences. Finally, in January, 2007, the
new CTE curriculum framework was adopted by the State Board of Education (CDE,
2007).
California’s Governor Schwarzenegger has often stated that the vocational
education he had in his native Austria still helps him. The Governor publicly
supports CTE. In September, 2005, he signed Senate Bill 70 which allocated twenty
million dollars for career/tech programs, the first increase for CTE funding in
California in fifteen years. Schwarzenegger and the bill’s author, Jack Scott (D-
Altadena) agreed that CTE is a viable means to address the state’s high school

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dropout rate and help students become engaged in their own education (Delsohn,
2005). On the issue of CTE, these two legislators are supported by research. Carroll
et al. (2005) stated that high school students need to remain engaged in their
education and to explore career goals. When teens see the connection between
present education and future careers and hopes they are less likely to become
negatively influenced and participate in personally destructive behaviors.
Just seven months after the signing of Senate Bill 70, the James Irvine
Foundation released the results of a poll of ninth and tenth graders in California
(Landsberg, 2006). The poll revealed that six of ten students were not motivated in
school. Of these students, 90 percent agreed that they would be motivated if classes
were relevant to future careers (ConnectEd, 2006). The findings from these ninth and
tenth graders are also substantiated by research. Coleman (1961) suggested that
secondary education should offer all adolescents more opportunities for career
exploration and more opportunities to learn how to deal with and understand real
world problems. In general, adolescents needed to learn how to cope with complex
issues.
Career Technical Education is designed to prepare students for both technical
careers and college-level course work leading to a degree. The curriculum is planned
to help students develop technical and academic skills concurrently (EdSource,
2007). For example, students learn mathematics and science as they learn
technology or engineering. Both declarative and procedural knowledge is
emphasized. Students learn in sequential academic and technical courses. Many CTE

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courses now meet university admissions requirements, known as a-g (EdSource,
2007).
There is movement across California for school districts to offer CTE
programs. However, for the average unified school district in California, creating a
CTE curriculum for seventh through twelfth grades would be a monumental task.
Fortunately, since the late 1960s, California has had a variety of programs in place
which are positioned to integrate the CTE standards and curriculum into their
existing courses. In 1967, California established Regional Occupational Programs
(ROP) and Regional Occupational Centers (ROC) throughout the state. According to
EdSource (2007) the need for expensive equipment in some vocational education
programs was the impetus for the use of a regional organization structure.
The California Association of Regional Occupational Centers and Programs
(2007), identifies 53,000 businesses in the state that serve as business partners for
occupational programs. From these, 35,000 businesses offer some form of worksite
experience, such as internships. As mentioned, Academy High, the school chosen for
this case study, offers four career pathways with credits which are articulated to
universities and community colleges. The Academy High curriculum is in keeping
with the California Association of Regional Occupational Centers and Programs
mission to provide exemplary career development and education as a direct way to
contribute to student academic and career success (CAROCP, 2007).
Vocational education has been rightfully criticized (Oakes, 2005) for
exacerbating student tracking and educational inequities. Where vocational tracking

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occurred, students of color were offered vocational courses in jobs historically held
by people of color, as a way to prevent them from gaining status (Tyack, 1974); “The
job ceiling kept blacks mostly in unskilled, hard, dirty, dead-end occupations that no
one else wanted” (p. 221). In addition, Oakes (2005) found that students at all-white
schools were likely to be offered vocational courses such as marine technology and
aviation. Conversely, schools serving students of color were more likely to offer
courses such as construction, house keeping and food services (p. 162). Oakes
explains that “vocational education along with academic tracking plays a part in
restricting the access minority students have to future opportunities” (p.170).
The point that vocational education was used to restrict future opportunities
of minority students was brought up in an interview with the Superintendent of one
of the four Regional Occupational Centers in California (interview September 17,
2007). The Superintendent agreed with this criticism, emphasizing that minority
tracking was a part of the now antiquated vocational ed model. The Superintendent
was emphatic however, that today’s Career Tech Ed can be a major player in
meaningful high school reform for all students. “Career Tech Ed is not just for
Special Ed. It’s not just for college bound or non-college bound students. Those are
antiquated models. All students need Career Tech to plan for their careers. The goal
is helping students get a focus on a particular career.” To do so, all students need
information about a variety of careers. The Superintendent’s beliefs are supported by
research (Bottoms et al. 2004) which shows that all high school students should take
the rigorous core academic courses which used to be designated solely for the ‘best’

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students, and all high schools students should take high quality career/technical
courses.
The Superintendent gave some examples to show the variety of careers
available to high school students at this Occupational Center. The Superintendent
described Project Lead the Way (PLW), a national program designed by engineers to
get more young people interested in careers in engineering. The Occupational Center
offers all eight PLW sequenced courses, beginning in freshman year, at satellite
centers close to three high schools. The United States needs to encourage more
young people to pursue degrees and careers in engineering and science (Friedman,
2007, Gates, 2007), as will be discussed in the following section - Globalization and
again in Chapter Four. PLW addresses this national need.
Another course offered by the ROC at high school campuses is Virtual
Enteprise Economics, a year long course which meets the one semester Economics
requirement for high school seniors. The Superintendent explained that sequenced
courses are also available in medical and dental fields, in technology, business and
finance. Connecting career information and learning in this manner allows
adolescents the otherwise lost opportunity to learn about careers and adult
responsibilities prior to adulthood (Coleman, 1961).
The paradigm shift which created Career Technical Education in the last
decade of the twentieth century has yet to be recognized by many educators. As a
result, the Superintendent explained that she sees a large part of her current position
as teaching other educators that today’s Career Tech Ed is not the same as last

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century’s vocational ed. To that end, the Superintendent frequently makes
presentations at school board meetings and parent meetings, beginning with eighth
grade parents. Her goal is to inform educators and parents how the variety of career-
oriented programs her Center offers can have lasting benefits for engaging and
retaining high school students through post-secondary education.
The Superintendent is well aware that the vocational ed model was
ineffective and often used to track some ethnicities into dead-end jobs. Many
educators today are leery of Career Tech Ed, out of concern that it is just the old
vocational ed model with a new name. However, research suggests that Career Tech
Ed may be especially necessary for at-risk youth. According to Bennett (2001), when
at-risk students were not informed about opportunities for linking school and careers,
they became disengaged from school. Fear of repeating past mistakes in education
should not prevent today’s educators, especially educators of at-risk youth, from
offering students meaningful and high quality career-oriented education.
The Superintendent stated: “We are at the moment where a philosophical
shift is occurring. It will take another three to five years” until the field of education
will understand the import and significance of Career Tech Ed for all adolescents.
The Superintendent takes another measure to encourage that philosophical shift. The
Center holds workshops for high school counselors to provide them with the
necessary skills so that they can help students make the connections between current
academic courses and future careers. This might be one step towards addressing the

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need for competent and caring counselors, as identified by Paul, a former high school
drop out who reflected on the reasons why he dropped out (Thompson, 2003).
The Superintendent referred to two private vocational schools which have
grown dramatically in the past fifteen years, in response to a void. These vocational
schools are expensive and they recruit very aggressively; they are able to attract
many students because public schools have not met the need for career education.
Frequently, students at private vocational schools obtain government loans to attend
these schools, but the students graduate with both debts and certificates which are
not industry –recognized. The Superintendent stated that all courses at her Center are
free for teenagers, through the summer semester after high school graduation. Also,
state-sanctioned Regional Occupational Programs and Centers only offer
certification which is developed and well regarded by industry. In addition, leaders at
the Center have worked hard to offer a wide variety of courses, many of which meet
a-g college admission requirements.
With the defunct vocational education model, students just received training
for one entry level job. With today’s Career Tech Ed model, students learn about
several industries. Then, within the industry of their choice, students learn about the
variety of jobs, as well as the requisite skill level and educational requirements to
qualify for each job (EdSource, 2005). This Career Pathway approach breaks down
career information into smaller, more accessible chunks.
As a case in point, Academy High offers its students several career options.
In one option, students may earn an industry-recognized Electronics System

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Technology Certificate, while still in high school. They also learn about the job
market and they learn that units earned for their certificate apply towards an
Associate in Science degree in Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology.
Units earned for this Associate’s degree apply towards a Bachelor in Science degree
in Electronic Technology and Computer Engineering. As will be explained in
Chapter Four, the professor of the Electronics Certificate Program presented data
demonstrating that 75 percent of students who complete his program go on to college
(phone interview, January 14, 2008). He finds that when students who are not
interested in college discover that they can take and pass college courses, they then
become motivated to pursue a college degree.
Women and certain minorities are historically underrepresented in
technology fields (Friedman, 2007). The CTE model allows them to take technology
courses in the relative safety of their high school with their peers. As they gain
technology skills they also gain in knowledge about the field which is opening up to
them. They learn what courses they will need to take, and where to take them, to
increase their education, skills and salary. In this way, Career Tech Ed is a viable
means to connect adolescent’s high school experience to future careers and goals. At
Academy High, 91 percent of the student body is Latino and 85 percent are
socioeconomically disadvantaged. Rather than restricting the access of these
minority students to future opportunities, Career Tech Ed at Academy High opens
career possibilities, to include careers where women and minorities are

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underrepresented. The myriad Career Tech Ed options offered to Academy High
students is supported by research, as detailed below.
Bottoms et al. (2004) identified 50 high schools with high expectations and
quality career/technical studies as well as a challenging academic curriculum and
quality work-based learning. They then identified another 50 high schools without
these characteristics and matched high schools from the first group with high schools
from the second group based on similar demographics. They found that African
American students at the first group of schools were 20 percent more likely to meet
reading goals and 23 percent more likely to meet mathematics goals, than African
American students at the second group of schools. White students at the first group
of schools were 15 percent more likely to meet reading goals and 13 percent more
likely to reach mathematics goals, than White students at the second group of
schools. As these statistics suggest, Bottoms et al. (2004) also found that the
achievement gaps between African American and White students were much smaller
at the first group of schools than at the second group of schools. Although more
rigorous studies are needed, this research suggests that Career Tech Ed may be even
more beneficial for African American than for White students.
Foreign exchange students in the United States revealed that doing well in
classes was highly valued by their peers at home because high school was viewed as
an important step in preparation for careers (Loveless, 2001). Career Technical
Education allows for the necessary connection between academics and careers.
Researchers (Bottoms et al. 2004, Carroll et al., 2005, Coleman, 1961, Loveless,

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2001, Zapf et al., 2006) have argued for educators to acknowledge and address peer
pressure and counter it with a meaningful student-centered curriculum which allows
students to experience the connection between education and future aspirations and
careers.
Globalization
This chapter reviewing the literature on American public school education
will close with the following section on globalization and its significance for urban
high schools. As mentioned in the section above on Career Technical Education, in
the early twentieth century Americans were worried: “about global competition and
worker training, which prompted Washington to enact the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act
for vocational education” (Wirt & Kirst, 2005, p. 37). A century later, Americans
are once again worried about global competition.
Friedman (2007) identified several international events, beginning in 1989,
which converged to reshape the world’s communication system, businesses and
careers. These events led to what is now known as globalization. The brief history of
globalization and the impact that it has on American public education, particularly
the impact it has on urban youth, will be detailed next.
In the 1970s, if you had the choice between being average and living in small
town U.S.A versus being brilliant and living near Beijing, China or Bangalore, India,
your best quality of life choice would be: average in small town America. Beginning
in the year 2000, your best quality of life choice would be: brilliant in Beijing or
Bangalore (Friedman, 2007, Gates, 2007). This simple comparison is the result of

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globalization, which essentially broke down geographic, political and corporate
barriers to upward mobility. Traditional hierarchies in politics, business, scientific
research and the military are being replaced with collaborative structures with a
work-flow model (Friedman, 2007). Now, a person in most places in the world can
use his or her ability and education to compete with people in much of the rest of the
world. The removal of barriers began with the removal of a wall.
On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell. During the course of its nearly
three decades of existence the Berlin Wall had become both a physical and a
symbolic division between the ideals of Communism and those of capitalism (Rey,
1994). 11/9/89 is the date Friedman (2007) identifies as the nascent beginnings to
today’s globalization. Because globalization depends on the free exchange of ideas
and products, globalization could not coexist with the Wall.
The fall of the wall did not just end many communist states and open eastern
European countries, people and economies, it also opened India. In 1947, when India
gained independence, Prime Minister Nehru looked to the Soviet Union for
economic guidance (Rey, 1994). Forty-four years later, in 1991, partly inspired by
the fall of Communism, the Indian finance minister decided that his country’s system
of tight economic controls had to be eradicated (Friedman, 2007). That proved to be
a wise move; three years later India’s growth rate had more than doubled.
1991 was also the year that a British computer scientist launched the World
Wide Web, “a system for creating, organizing, and linking documents so they could
be easily browsed over the Internet” (Friedman, 2007, p. 60). Then, in the United

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States, in 1995, Netscape simplified the transportation and viewing of data, making
computing user-friendly. One year later, in 1996, telecommunications were
deregulated and the dot-com boom began. The combination of burgeoning computer
capabilities and deregulation enticed telecom companies to invest lavishly, about $1
trillion dollars (Friedman, 2007, p. 74), in laying fiber-optic cable across the world’s
oceans and lands. Fiber-optic cable had begun to replace copper (much less efficient)
in 1977 (Friedman, 2007). Suddenly, in the last five years of the twentieth century,
the process was vastly accelerated. This very generous increase in capacity caused
the price for a phone call or data transmission, from and to anywhere, to plummet
(Friedman, 2007).
The huge investment in fiber-optic cable benefited consumers but drove the
telecom companies bankrupt. In 2002, while telecom companies went bankrupt,
highly educated people in India and China woke up and realized that they were
virtually connected to the rest of the world (Friedman, 2007). The over investment in
fiber-optic cable was permanent. A decade earlier these same highly educated people
would have had to move to the United States or Europe to utilize their education
(Friedman). The fiber-optic gift of the dot-com bust meant that their own
imagination and skill would be the only thing blocking people in the former back-
waters of the world.
It took a while longer for Americans to wake up and realize that their career
world had changed. Engineers, journalists, accountants, call-center operators, all
these professions as well as others, could be moved, or out-sourced, to India, or

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China. Now, many Americans associate out-sourcing with lost jobs, but Friedman
(2007) argues that “most lost jobs are ‘outsourced to the past.’ That is they get
digitized and automated” (p. 280). Out-sourcing means Americans cannot take their
jobs fore granted. They will have to run a little faster, keep pace with changing skill
requirements and be educated (Friedman).
On the topic of careers for Americans, Bill Gates (2007), in a speech to the
National Society of Black Engineers explained that jobs are not disappearing:
There will be a huge number of new computer science jobs created over the
next 10 years, and the number of people majoring in those subjects is falling
short of that. In fact, those numbers are going down quite a bit. […] So,
there's almost this dispersion where if you're very well educated the
opportunities are greater than ever before, and if you're not, then you're worse
off.

Gates added that one hopeful sign is that since 1995 the number of African
Americans studying computer science has doubled. But we need to double that
number twice more. He cited the quality of education in the United States is the
nation’s most important concern, not out-sourcing (Gates, 2007). Gates (2007) is not
alone. Shirley Ann Jackson (Friedman, 2007, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
2007) and other prominent scientists and engineers have also cited the urgent need
for the United States to encourage more young people to study to become scientists
and engineers. One indicator of the urgency is that half of America’s scientists and
engineers are over forty years old and their average age is rising (Friedman, p. 342).
Both Friedman (2007) and Gates (2007) argue that globalization has changed
the career market for Americans in that post-secondary education is more important

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than ever in order to compete in the new career market. To illustrate this point,
Friedman notes: “There are several American cities, for instance, where thirty years
ago the biggest employer was a manufacturing plant and today it is a medical center
or a technology hub” (p. 361). Thirty years ago the local high school graduate or
dropout could count on finding employment in that manufacturing plant. Today, in
contrast, the dropout will not be employed in either the medical center or the tech
hub (Cotton, 2001). As to the high school graduate, she or he will have to earn at
least a certificate or an Associate’s degree to find employment in either the medical
center or the tech hub. The majority of manufacturing and factory jobs which pay
decent wages but demand no prior knowledge have been outsourced to the past, or
outsourced overseas (Cotton, Friedman). Taken as a whole, today’s workers need to
have a far greater set of skills and education than was necessary thirty years ago
(Cotton, Gates).
Americans need to do what they do best, which is “inventing the future. But
as knowledge hurtles forward, inventing the future becomes a harder and harder task-
one that takes more of the right education, the right infrastructure, the right ambition,
the right leadership, the right parenting. We need to get our whole country focused
around meeting this challenge” (Friedman, 2007, p. 399). For our nation to keep
inventing the future, Americans need to have access to knowledge and skills.
Allowing disadvantaged adolescents to leave secondary education without
knowledge and skills will be disastrous for our nation (Cotton, 2001). More than
ever, education excellence is necessary for all Americans.

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Summary
This chapter presented the literature on American urban high school
education. Knowing how we got here is a necessary first step to understanding
where we need to go, for that reason key historical events were highlighted in this
chapter. In addition to providing the historic background, this chapter revealed what
we already know about student engagement in an outperforming urban high school.
In learning about the history of American education, it becomes clear that
today’s new strategy may have been last century’s new strategy. For example,
Academy High, begun in 2001, the school used for the focus of this case study has
striking similarities with the Platoon School begun in Gary Indiana in 1906. With
twenty-first century logic one could postulate that the Platoon School’s failing was a
lack of emphasis on preparing students for standardized testing. Today’s Academy
High certainly works hard at preparing students for these high stakes tests.
In another area of education, vocational education had its beginnings in
legislation from 1917. Seventy three years later it was reformulated into Career
Technical Education, designed to help all young people prepare for today’s careers.
Again, with twenty-first century logic one could argue that vocational ed’s failing
was racist tracking where students were assigned to either college or dead-end jobs
based on race. Educators involved in Career Tech Ed today work hard to ensure that
all students learn about a variety of career fields and get direct experience related to
career interests and planning.

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Finally, it is important to learn about the history of American education in
order to remedy failings of the past. One large failing is the lack of educational
opportunities for urban children of color. This study is focused on one outperforming
urban high school with a Career Technical Education curriculum so that we can
identify and articulate the factors at this school which lead to academic achievement.

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CHAPTER 3:
METHODOLOGY
But tomorrow she would be teaching school. She did not really know how to
do it. She never had taught school, and she was not sixteen years old yet.
Even for fifteen, she was small; and now she felt very small.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, These Happy Golden Years (1943, pp.1-2)

Introduction
The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a link between student
engagement and student outcomes at an outperforming urban high school with a
Career Technical Education curriculum. The research questions which are the focus
of this study are two-fold. The first question is: What factors contribute to academic
achievement in an outperforming urban high school? The corollary question is: Is
there a link between student engagement and academic achievement in an
outperforming urban high school? This study was conducted within the first three
quarters of the 2007-08 school year. The purpose is to understand the source of urban
high school student engagement. The phenomena of interest to the researcher (Gall,
Gall & Borg, 2003) were the factors contributing to academic achievement.
As detailed earlier in this study, the need to improve the education of students
of color has been the impetus for much education reform since the passage of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Cross, 2004). According to
Cotton (2001), poverty and its related factors which impact children have the most
detrimental impact on urban youth, and urban children of color are often America’s
poorest citizens. In addition, when at-risk urban students are not informed about

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specific opportunities for school and career success they become disengaged from
school (Bennett, 2001).
The research questions of this study have been deemed important by
researchers (Norris, Pignal, & Lipps, 2003) who have found that engaged students
have higher student outputs and are less likely to be disenfranchised from their
school. Student engagement can serve as an indicator of student outcomes. The
dissertation design presented here focused on urban high school students, at a
specific school chosen for this study, who outperformed similar schools in the state.
The focus on these students was designed to determine the students’ level of
academic engagement. It will also identify school-wide factors which enhance
student engagement.
Research Design
This chapter will present the research design and introduce the area of
investigation. The process and procedures for data collection will be detailed. This
chapter will also reference the data collection instruments, all of which are presented
in their entirety in the Appendix. In addition, this chapter will explain the research
methodology used for the objective of answering the research question. The
framework, including strategies and methods, which guided this research is itself
based on research (Creswell, 2003).
The study presented here used a best-practices case study, and as such is a
qualitative study. According to McEwan and McEwan (2003), the three primary
traits of a qualitative study are: naturalistic, descriptive and meaning centered.

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However, it must be noted that mixed research methods, both quantitative and
qualitative, were used in this study. For example, in the data collection stage, the
observation protocol emphasized qualitative inquiry. In the data analysis stage,
quantitative analysis was used when examining the survey and interview findings.
Using mixed methods in research and evaluation strengthens a study (Patton, 2002),
by neutralizing the bias in any single method (Creswell, 2003).
The critical case sampling method was utilized to understand student
engagement. Care was taken to choose a high school site that would provide the most
information on student engagement in an urban high school. The criteria for selection
of the specific high school which was the subject of this case study were: 1. a high
school performing two deciles above similar schools, 2. which has urban risk factors,
such as forty percent or more of the students are from low-income families, 3.
numerically significant number of English Language Learners, and 4. an ethnically
diverse student body. Logical generalizations may emerge based on key findings.
The units of analysis were the key stakeholders at the high school. They
included: alumni, students, teachers, administrators and local education leaders. The
qualitative methods included surveys, interviews and observations. The majority of
the data was collected during the first semester of the school year, as mutually agreed
upon by the school’s administration and the researcher. Observations were
continuous during, and limited to, this period. Neither on-going nor fixed-interval
sampling occurred during this study.

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Data Instruments
For the measurement design and analysis, a mixed strategy approach was
taken. Documents, surveys, observations and interviews were the data instruments
which were collected. Documents, such as the Academic Performance Index, high-
stakes standardized test scores, grades and attendance were obtained. These
documents were reviewed and analyzed.
The next data instrument, surveys, had three components: a survey of
teachers, a survey of administrators and a survey of students. For the latter, the High
School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) was utilized as secondary data. It is
explained in further detail below. The surveys of teachers and administrators,
developed by the dissertation cohort, were designed to triangulate questions asked of
the students in the HSSSE. The researcher acknowledges that the HSSSE was used
as a guide in developing these two surveys.
The third and fourth data instruments were qualitative data, observations and
interviews. These were also developed by the dissertation cohort and were designed
to triangulate data obtained in the earlier instruments. The HSSSE was administered
to students by their classroom teacher and the data was analyzed by the Center for
Evaluation and Education Policy. All other instruments were administered and
analyzed by the researcher.
Interviews and observations are qualitative data on which content analysis
was performed. The data was disaggregated by subgroups to determine if there were
patterns unique to one group or patterns which remain constant from one group to

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another. For example, the data may reveal differences between male and female
students in attitudes towards school and involvement in campus activities.
As mentioned, the types of data collected included documents, surveys,
observations and interviews. This variety in the data instruments, including both
qualitative and quantitative data, was utilized in order to provide data triangulation
(Creswell, 2003). Each data instrument uncovers varying nuances of truth. The
variety of data instruments allowed the researcher to test for consistency among the
data sources. However, various data instruments may also reveal inconsistencies
which serve to provide unanticipated insight (Patton, 2002) in the connection
between outperforming urban high school students and their academic engagement.
Multiple data sources served to increase the validity and confidence in the findings
from this inquiry into student engagement at an outperforming urban high school.
High School Survey of Student Engagement
The stated goal of the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE)
is to: “[…] document, describe, and monitor student engagement in educationally
purposeful activities in secondary schools nationally” (Center for Evaluation and
Education Policy, 2006). HSSSE is intended to serve as an adjunct to the high stakes
standardized tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. NCLB mandated
assessments gauge current student outputs and the effectiveness of schools, but this
type of data cannot identify the learning continuum which leads to students’ test
scores. The HSSSE is a formalized instrument to allow students to reveal the process
of their own learning engagement and to identify the characteristics of their school

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which either enhance or inhibit that engagement (Yazzie-Mintz, 2007). The HSSSE
student survey results used in this study are secondary data.
Each HSSSE participant school receives a binder detailing their students’
survey responses and comparing the results to nationwide findings. School leaders
can then utilize the findings from their students to tailor the learning environment to
better meet the educational needs of the current student body. The Center for
Evaluation and Education Policy (2004) states that a school’s reform strategy based
on their own students’ experiences are more likely to achieve the stated goal than
reform strategies based solely on standardized tests. For example, when one school
received the data from their students’ surveys, the school leaders realized that their
students were reading less than the national average of HSSSE respondents. The
school staff instituted a wide-ranging strategic plan to increase the amount of time
their students spent reading, both academically and personally.
HSSSE has been administered nationally since 2004. The resulting data,
collected annually, is held by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy
(CEEP) at Indiana University. The HSSSE has produced an important wealth of data
on high school student engagement; however, there is limited data on urban student
engagement in an outperforming urban high school with a Career Technical
Education curriculum. In addition, for the 2006 HSSSE, seven percent of the
respondents were Latino (Yazzie-Mintz, 2007). This is less than half the percentage
of Latinos in the United States. Census Bureau 2000 shows that 14.4 percent of the
population in the United States is Latino. In contrast, the high school used in this

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case study has a student population that is 91 percent Latino. As such, this high
school provided much needed data on an underrepresented population to the national
HSSSE database on student engagement.
Sample and Population
The high school chosen for this case study is an outperforming urban high
school with a comprehensive Career Technical Education curriculum. The
California Department of Education’s 2006-07 Accountability Progress Reporting
(APR) findings were used for the individual school data as well as the comparative
data which follows. Academy High was chosen as the sample high school for this
inquiry. It is one of several high schools in a large, unified urban district.
The criterion for an outperforming high school is based on the school’s 2006
Similar Schools Rank being two deciles above the 2006 Statewide Rank. Academy
High exceeds this requirement: its Similar Schools Rank is eight, while its Statewide
Rank is four. In 2007, Academy High’s Academic Performance Index (API) was 717
which falls short of the state’s target of 800. Academy High has not yet achieved the
800 target, therefore it is not designated high performing. However, since the
school’s API has risen 200 points in five years and its Similar School Rank is four
deciles above its Statewide Rank, this school is clearly outperforming. This study
can be viewed as a formative assessment of an outperforming high school on the
road to becoming a high performing high school.
For the purposes of this study, the criteria for an urban high school were
threefold: 1.at least forty percent of the student body is socioeconomically

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disadvantaged, 2. the English Learners population is numerically significant, and 3.
the school is ethnically/racially mixed. For the first criterion the United States
Department of Education poverty guidelines were used. According to these
guidelines, when at least forty percent of a school’s student body is poor, then the
school is entitled to use Title 1 funds for school wide programs. Academy High
exceeds the first two of these criteria: eighty-five percent of its student body is
socioeconomically disadvantaged, and English Learners comprise seventy-three
percent of the student body. In addition, forty-three percent of the students’ parents
are not high school graduates. However, the school is not ethnically mixed: ninety-
one percent of its student body is Latino and no other ethnic group is numerically
significant. It is beyond the scope of this study to determine what influence, if any,
ethnic homogeneity has on student engagement.
The criterion for a comprehensive Career Technical Education program is
available from the California Department of Education (2007). According to the
CDE the goal of Career Technical Education is to provide a “program of study that
involves a multiyear sequence of courses that integrates core academic knowledge
with technical and occupational knowledge to provide students with a pathway to
postsecondary education and careers.”
Academy High – A Case Study
There is literature recording the development of the Career Technical
component of the Academy High curriculum. NetDay Compass.org (2001) revealed
that Academy High had established mutually beneficial high tech partnerships with

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Apple, Compaq, Cisco, AT&T and CompUSA. In addition, Academy High and the
local community college pooled resources to purchase technology which the high
school uses during the day while the college uses the facilities and technology in the
evening. Likewise, high tech conference facilities were built on the campus to
provide students with relevant work experience and are available for a fee to
businesses as a means for providing a revenue source for the school.
The philosophy which drives the school is to provide students with a genuine
connection between school work and the world of work. The career-based
curriculum is used to motivate students to learn. As with the infrastructure
partnerships just outlined, the curriculum is articulated with local business,
community college, adult and regional vocational programs. Academy High students
begin meeting professional certification and college credits. Students can choose
from one of four professional majors: 1. Technology and Media, 2. Electronics
Systems Technology Certificate Program, 3. Hospitality and Culinary Arts, 4. Health
and Medical science. The Academy High curriculum clearly adheres to the CDE goal
of providing secondary students with career pathways.
Naturalistic Inquiry
This qualitative inquiry utilized an inclusive strategic framework based on
principles of naturalistic inquiry and purposeful sampling. The phenomena of interest
to the researcher were the factors contributing to academic achievement with the
focus on students (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2003). The data collection and field work
strategies included both qualitative and quantitative data. Finally, the analysis

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strategy utilized inductive analysis leading to creative synthesis for this distinctive
case (Patton, 2002).
Naturalistic inquiry is a methodology which places priority on open-ended
questions and interviews instead of controlled and manipulated study settings. In
contrast, quantitative analysis constrains certain aspects of the environment in order
to determine the effectiveness of the influence under question. According to Patton
(2002), naturalistic inquiry avoids placing these constraints on the environment.
Instead, naturalistic inquiry allows for the study of a real-world environment as it is
logically revealed by the key participants. The researcher is free to uncover the
findings as they emerge.
Purposeful sampling involves the careful in-depth study of one significant
case. The outperforming urban high school chosen for this case study was selected
for the wealth of information it provides. It can “offer useful manifestations of the
phenomenon of interest” (Patton, 2002, p. 40), which is improved student learning.
This inquiry provides insight into urban student engagement at this high school, but
the findings are not intended to be extrapolated to the general population.
The conceptual model, below, serves as a visual guide to this study. The
phenomenon of interest is improved student learning. The question is the impact that
student engagement has on student outcomes and how the educational practices of
the school enhance student engagement. Included in the model is the variety of
factors, discussed earlier in this study, which impact the school. These factors

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include urban risk factors, district and state influences, federal accountability
measures and the globalization of the changing world market.

Figure 1: Conceptual Model

Data Collection and Field Work
The data collection and field work strategies were organized to offer
meaningful and ample descriptions of Academy High. The on-site data collection
began with a document review. Documents included minutes from faculty meetings,
attendance and discipline records, semester grades, the Academic Performance
Improved
Student
Learning
Leadership
Student
Engagement
School
Culture
Globalization
Accountability
National/State
/District
Influences
Urban-like
Risk Factors
Curriculum
&
Instruction

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Index, California High School Exit Exam passing rates and California Basic
Educational Data System information. The documents were reviewed to determine
trends or connections between data sets. Trends and connections observed in data
were used in interviews to seek insiders’ explanations. For example, Academy
High’s Statewide Rank moved from a ‘3’ in 2005 to a ‘4’ in 2006. During this same
time period, Academy High’s Similar Schools Rank moved from a ‘5’ to an ‘8.’
Interviewees were asked what they believed contributed to this marked improvement
in student outputs.
The second stage of on-site data collection was the surveys. The High School
Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) was administered to all students, with a
comparable survey administered to teachers and administrators. The researcher
would like to acknowledge that the HSSSE was used as a guide in developing the
teacher and administrator surveys. These surveys utilized quantitative measures in
both the collection and the analysis. Student responses were quantified and
disaggregated to determine the percentage of students, and the percentage of
subgroups, who utilized the educationally related activities listed in the survey. The
HSSSE provided secondary data. The teacher and administrator surveys asked the
adults to identify to what extent their students engaged in the same educationally
related activities. In this way, these latter two surveys provided the initial means to
triangulate the student responses.
All surveys included an open-ended question to allow respondents to identify
any factor influencing student engagement not mentioned in the predetermined

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response part of the survey. The open-ended question allowed for qualitative inquiry,
where the researcher was able to discover which key feature of the engagement
process the principal subjects identified in their own words.
Interviews were the third stage of the data collection. Some interviewees
were chosen for their in-depth knowledge, or their representative knowledge, in
some cases relevant to a leadership position. Alumni, teachers, administrators, a
local community college president and a former superintendent were interviewed.
The primary focus question was: What are the factors that you feel contribute to
academic achievement at your school? Each interview ended with an open-ended
question. Most interviews were audio taped, with permission of the interviewee. The
interviews data collection step was clearly qualitative; however, the analysis strategy
was quantitative, as with the surveys, explained earlier.
C. Malloy (notes, April 7, 2007) states that an interview is a negotiation, not
just a series of questions. Due to the inexperience of the interviewer, the interviews
were semi-structured, meaning that the wording for all questions, as well as the order
in which they were presented, were prepared in advance. In addition, the researcher
had prepared filter questions. For example, “Do you think …?” When a respondent
replied in the affirmative, the researcher was prepared with the follow-up question:
“How do you think …?” The researcher had also prepared questions with which to
probe for greater detail (Malloy). Finally, the questions were worded to utilize the
language of the participants. This preparation served as a guide to keep the interview

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focused on both the purpose and the time constraints, usually one hour, of the
exchange.
“The purpose of qualitative interviewing is to capture how those being
interviewed view their world, to learn their terminology and judgments, and to
capture the complexities of their individual perceptions and experiences” (Patton,
2002, p.348). For every interview the researcher was prepared to maintain empathic
neutrality (Patton) in order to allow for an environment for the key participant to
reveal perceptions and experiences relevant to student engagement. Both surveys and
interviews can reveal the emic, or insiders, perspective. To achieve this, quotations
were used to catch the interviewees own views in their own words. Openness to
discovery in the data collection process is the essence of qualitative inquiry.
Scientific observations were a crucial step in the on-site data collection
process. Case studies usually include a study of the phenomenon in its natural setting
(Gall, Gall & Borg, 2003). Observations provide an etic, or outsider’s perspective.
These observations were planned and recorded systematically and utilized the non-
participant observer method (C. Malloy, notes, March 24, 2007). Four different
settings were the focus of the observations: the high school campus, unstructured
student time (passing periods and lunch), selected classrooms and selected meetings.
The purpose of observing the high school campus was to gain information on
the learning environment, the context, within which students operated. Observation
of unstructured student time allowed for a more complete understanding of the
instructional program. Classrooms were observed to determine patterns of

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instructional interaction between students and teachers and types of learning
activities utilized. The quality (intensity and affectivity) of student engagement
behaviors were also observed. Together, these observations provided a detailed
account of the learning environment and the educational transactions (Malloy, March
24, 2007). The scope of the observations was limited to factors influencing improved
student learning.
The stakeholders at Academy High were knowledgeable about the purpose of
this inquiry; therefore, observations were overt. There were some informal
observations of students’ interactions during unstructured time. All observations
took place within the on-site data collection period.
To prepare for each open-ended naturalistic observation, the researcher
referred to sensitizing concepts (Patton, 2002) such as: engagement, learning
environment, focused exploration. These concepts served to place the observer in the
context of the data to be discovered. Although observations are inductive, scientific
observations demand that the researcher prepare mentally and organizationally to
maximize his/her perceptions of the complexity of human interactions and systems.
Another aspect to preparation for observation involves researcher self awareness.
According to Patton, the researcher must understand that who one is impacts what
one observes, notes, hears and perceives during data collection. This researcher
sought to reduce personal bias and focus on an impartial reporting of settings and
events observed, ever mindful that who she is affects what she observes.

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The researcher remained open to recording pertinent unobtrusive
communication as well as nonverbal observations (Patton, 2002). Regarding the
latter, the researcher followed up with explanations from knowing insiders, when
appropriate. Unobtrusive observation demands spontaneity and openness on the part
of the researcher. The observations included recording what did not occur. For
example, ‘cell phones were never used during class time’ is part of a valid classroom
observation on student engagement. The researcher took notes on what was
observed, on actual behaviors and words, and avoided editorial comments or
interpretations.
These observations followed the scientific norms for qualitative data
collection. According to Malloy (March 24, 2007), these scientific norms are
threefold: 1. validity (accurately identifying the source of student engagement), 2.
reliability (consistent and trustworthy information), 3. generalization.
As mentioned earlier, this research design used triangulation to seek
convergence across the findings (Creswell, 2003). The various data instruments,
including surveys, interviews and observation of documents, setting and participants
were triangulated. For example, in the classroom observation (qualitative data) one
strategy to be observed is whether or not students are participating in class. Then, the
student surveys (quantitative data) asked the students if teachers encouraged students
to participate in class. According to Patton (2002), data triangulation is the use of
multiple data sources with the intent of assessing whether these data sources reveal
consistent results. Understanding and accounting for consistencies as well as

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inconsistencies offer opportunities for greater understanding of the data. Carefully
planned and utilized, triangulation provides validity of the final interpretation of the
data.
The analysis strategy was the final stage of the research design. According to
Creswell (2003), this stage is “an ongoing process involving continual reflection
about the data, asking analytic questions” (p.190) and taking notes while studying.
Patton (2002) emphasizes that: “Qualitative designs continue to be emergent even
after data collection begins” (p. 255).
Creswell (2003) identifies a six stage process for qualitative data analysis
which this researcher used. The first stage is to prepare and sort the data for easy
reading and referencing. The second stage is to read the data holistically, while
noting observations. The third stage is to code the data, which means categorizing
and labeling the body of information. This is where the data continues to emerge, as
described by Patton (2002). The researcher continually rereads the data and finalizes
the categories and codes, based on the findings. This leads to Creswell’s fourth stage,
that of description, still relying on and refining the coding. The fifth stage is writing
the rich description about the findings. The final and sixth stage is interpreting the
data.
This chapter stated the inquiry question and presented the research design,
which is itself based on research. A conceptual model, to serve as a visual guide, was
presented and explained. The data collection instruments and process were detailed.

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The research framework for the data analysis and interpretation method was
clarified. The findings are in the following chapter.

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CHAPTER 4:
FINDINGS
I’m most proud of the climate, due to a large part that we are a small learning
community. The concept of the educational village isn’t just a name. It’s embedded
in our culture.
Raphael, English Teacher and Counselor

I love the concept of an educational village. I like the smaller format. I teach the
majority of students here. It’s almost a family-like feeling, that some of the students
don’t have in their home life. We give it to them. [The school district] had the
foresight to look at technology and educational villages, smaller learning
communities. [They] gambled on such a school.
Mark, English Teacher

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine an outperforming
urban high school with a Career Technical Education curriculum to identify factors
which contribute to academic achievement. In addition, this study will determine if
there is a link between student engagement and student achievement in an
outperforming urban high school. Finally, with the High School Survey of Student
Engagement administered in a school where 91 percent of the student body is Latino,
this study will serve to increase the representation for this minority population in the
nationwide HSSSE database.
This chapter presents the data collected at Academy High. The data
collection was organized to answer the two research questions which provided the
focus for this mixed-methods case study. The first research question: What factors
contribute to academic achievement in this outperforming urban high school? The
researcher had anticipated that the answers to a given question would reveal themes.

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For example, all interviewees’ answers to interview question number five would be
revelatory. Instead, prominent themes were revealed throughout the interviews and at
times prior to or after the ten interview questions. The collected data was organized
according to the themes revealed by Academy High stakeholders.
Stakeholders generously gave of their time, in terms of being interviewed,
observed and questioned. The researcher was spontaneously told: Go see what is
happening in that classroom, or, Talk to this student about his research, or, Talk to
this alumnus. This generosity of spirit produced hours of recorded interviews and
pages of documents, in general, a wealth of data. The data revealed four prominent
themes in answer to the first research question. This chapter is organized according
to these four themes identified by stakeholders: the original vision, technology used
as a tool, career preparation, and the embedded culture.
There are many ways to look at data. Creswell (2003) provides one way. As
detailed in Chapter Three, Creswell identifies a six stage process for qualitative data
analysis which was used by this researcher. Stakeholder comments seldom fit neatly
into a single category, therefore, the researcher learned to accept the inherent
ambiguities in the blurred lines between the categories. Nonetheless, Creswell’s six
stages served as a useful paradigm for the researcher throughout the analysis process.
The Roots of Vision

This school came into being [...] with our last superintendent, [since] retired. He
was the one who really created this school. This was his pet project. This whole
[learning village], this mega structure, bought out every store in this former Sears
Mall. The district purchased the property when it was very deflated in value. [In

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addition, Sam, teacher and multimedia program administrator] is very responsible
for this school’s existence. […] He’s quite the visionary. He’s a technology mentor.
Will, Government Teacher

Sifting through the data, quietly seeking the emergent themes, the starting
point became apparent: that before the visible beginning of Academy High came
foresight and vision. Therefore, this first section describes the nascent vision which
led to the creation of Academy High. Vision was not the initial focus of this study;
however, stakeholders’ observations clearly revealed that the original vision of the
school was one important factor which provided an answer for the research question.
Vision was not significantly manifest in any one question; rather, it was prominent
across interviews.
Sixty-six percent of faculty interviewed stated that Academy High was a
result of the original vision from the district office. What was the genesis of this
vision? Lawrence was superintendent of the school district at the inception of
Academy High, as noted in the quotation above. He began in the district as a teacher,
was a counselor for many years and then moved into administration. In the course of
a phone interview (December 18, 2007), Lawrence repeatedly referred to the group
process in the creation of Academy High. In this he is typical of stakeholders
interviewed for this research. Stakeholders continually recognized the efforts of other
team players. Alumni credited teachers and administrators with their university
success. Teachers credited students and custodial, clerical and administrative staff.
Administrators credited teachers and students. Many credited the district office. This

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attitude of sharing the school’s success provided the first glimpse into the cyclical
nature of the culture at Academy High, as will be mentioned throughout this chapter.
In the higher wealth area of the district, the large, comprehensive high school
was and remains effective, indeed desired, by both parents and students. However,
by the late 1960s, district leaders had realized that comprehensive high schools were
not effective for many lower socio-economic students, which comprised the majority
of the district population, then and now. Lawrence stated that various models were
tried, including the Kettering Foundation’s Individualized Guided Education and the
Daily Demand Schedule. At one high school, performance-based credit, rather than
seat-based credit was tried. Utilizing different models during the course of three
decades, three successive superintendents were unable to change the district’s
comprehensive high schools to better meet the needs of their lower socio-economic
student population.
Seeking to meet the needs of these students by trying to change the large high
schools was the right direction for the superintendents to take. Tyack and Cuban
(1995) found that as early as the beginning of the twentieth century: “People began
to recognize that the graded school might have been efficient for the majority of
students whose culture matched its requirements, but for the poor and immigrants the
system seemed geared to produce failure” (p. 90). Urban youth often feel alienated in
large schools and they benefit from small school structures where they work closely
with teachers for longer periods of time (Cotton, 2001). The large, comprehensive
high school was and is effective for some but not a model to best serve the education

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needs of all. In addition, Orfield et al. (2004) urge educators to use research and
proven interventions to proactively address the learning needs of minority youth.
Lawrence stated that by the 1990s, the district’s education leaders recognized
that merely changing the comprehensive high schools was not working. According to
Lawrence, they decided to take an alternative approach and build a parallel system
from the ground up. They had learned that when a lower socio-economic student
encountered a critical transition in their lives, such as moving from elementary
school to middle school, the student suffered difficulties. These difficulties were
often reflected in diminished learning and declining grades. Thus, the local education
leaders were interested in creating a seamless K -12 alternative to the comprehensive
high school within the district.
Collins (2001) found that “leadership does not begin just with vision. It
begins with getting people to confront the brutal facts and to act on the implications”
(p. 89). As we have seen thus far, these education leaders confronted the brutal facts
that the lower socioeconomic youth in their district needed an alternative to the
comprehensive high school. Then, based on this recognition, they acted, as explained
next.
In the early 1990s, School Board member Nunez and Lawrence were visiting
the district’s two Continuing Education programs located in a largely abandoned
retail mall. The two programs were successful in spite of the decline around them.
Nunez wondered if it might be possible to expand on the success of these two
programs within the mall. The idea took root with the two education leaders. Nunez

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and Lawrence along with Sam, Multimedia Program Administrator, mentioned in the
quotation above, and other district, education and community leaders initiated the
collaborative process. The seamless K-12 alternative to the comprehensive high
school became possible when the district purchased the mall in the mid-1990s
(Duarte, 1998).
The first school at the former retail mall was Parker Elementary School
which opened in September, 1996. It now serves Kindergarten through 8
th
grade. The
high school opened five years later, in 2001. Academy High offers courses from the
local community college, as will be detailed later in this chapter. The parallel system
with an alternative approach is fully operative. The entire learning complex now
offers seamless instruction pre-k – 14, all under one roof. In this way, the Academy
High complex has similarities to the Platoon School built in Gary, Indiana a century
earlier. At the time, the Platoon School concept evolved from John Dewey’s ideas, as
explained earlier in this study.
According to Lawrence, Academy High meets three identified needs: 1. state
of the art education facilities, 2. on-going staff development, 3. and an economic
engine to support it all. State and federal grants and bonds provided start-up funding.
To provide sustainability, the larger learning complex was designed to include rent-
paying compatible industries, such as child care, adult school, and printing and
health services. Revenue from the rent-payers covers the ongoing infrastructure
expenses for all, including the K-12 schools. The larger learning complex is self-

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supporting. Lawrence stated that the idea was to aggregate various complementary
resources in one place.
When the district first moved into the former retail mall, the local area was
boarded-up and blighted. Lawrence stated that the learning complex has become a
community anchor and has had a positive local economic impact. Several boarded-
up buildings nearby have been renovated and put back into commercial use. Crime in
the local area has decreased. This too was a part of the original plan, as described in
a Senior Thesis at Claremont McKenna College written in 1998, two years after the
opening of the elementary school and three years before the opening of Academy
High. The original mall had been economically dislocated by the construction of
freeways and more accessible malls to the north and south. The development of the
learning complex was intended to “have a direct and extensive impact on enhancing
the real property tax base and the retail sales tax revenue as well as reducing the
area’s demand for a disproportionate share of the City’s services” (Duarte, p. 15).
For community revitalization as well as for education reform, Academy High and the
greater learning complex have lived up to the original vision and expectations.
Academy High is one component in a multi service concept, with an array of
like resources for students. According to Lawrence, the high school was designed
with three overarching concepts: 1. for all students to meet university admissions
requirements, known as a-g requirements, 2. Project Based Learning, 3. and an
extreme focus on accountability. The state of the art educational facilities allow the
high school to provide a wealth of technological tools for the students. Unlike

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comprehensive high schools with their sports programs and facilities, the emphasis at
Academy High is not on sports; rather, the emphasis is on technology and careers.
To return to the opening question: what was the genesis of the vision which
created Academy High? As detailed above, that vision came from decades of trial
and error. It came from various stakeholders, including key teachers, counselors, site
and district office administrators and a board member working together. It came
from a superintendent who remembered his students’ needs from the time he was a
teacher and a counselor. It came from a school board member who saw the potential
to build on the one successful program in an otherwise blighted mall. It came from
the identified goal to provide high-caliber secondary education for the lower socio-
economic students whose learning needs were not addressed in the large
comprehensive high schools. The vision was rooted in the professional efforts of
various educators working together to find better ways to provide for their students’
education.
This original vision provided the foundation for the Academy High Vision
Statement:
It is the vision of the Academy High staff in partnership with our
stakeholders, to create a community of learners who are technically,
intellectually and socially equipped to succeed in life. Students will achieve
mastery of academic requirements to pass the CAHSEE (California High
School Exit Exam). Upon graduation each student will be prepared to enter
post-secondary education and/or obtain Technical and Career Certifications.

As will be explored throughout this chapter, Academy High stakeholders collectively
search for ways to hone the education they offer their community of learners to best

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equip them to succeed in life. The data which will be presented provides evidence
that this Vision Statement continues to serve as a guide for the educators at Academy
High.
The following sections will detail three additional factors which contribute to
academic achievement at Academy High: technology as a tool, career preparation
and the multiple dynamics which create culture. None of the factors identified here
are truly unique. Many educators across the country could choose one or more of
these factors and correctly state: we do that at our school. The researcher posits that
at Academy High there is a critical mass of these essential factors which contribute
to academic achievement at this outperforming urban high school.
Technology as a Tool

I learned things [at Academy High] that I’m now using at [college] in my film
classes and I’m surpassing everybody. When I got to my film class, there were only
two other girls. The guys said girls can’t do film. Then they found out what I could
do. They found out I was serious. We were doing editing exercises. I had the
advantage because I had already used Final Cut Pro and AVID. I went from being at
the bottom of the barrel to one they had to look out for. It’s very competitive in my
film classes.
Leticia, Class of 2005

Two months after [graduating from] high school I got my tech job and I was
qualified.
Alumni Day, December 18, 2007

Technology became our sport.
Alumni Day, December 18, 2007

Researchers (Carroll, et al. 2005, Tyack and Cuban, 1995) have found that
technology skills create yet another educational divide between wealthy students and

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the socioeconomically disadvantaged. Friedman (2007) argues that the world’s poor
just want the tools to cross over into the middle class, and technology can provide
those tools. The following section presents the data revealed by stakeholders as to
how technology used as a tool at Academy High is a factor which contributes to
academic achievement in this outperforming urban high school.
All three administrators listed technology as being among the top three
factors which contribute to academic achievement. Two administrators explained
that technology provides for tri modal learning: the students can see, hear and do.
This helps students develop their speaking, listening and writing skills. It allows
them to do research and be exposed to the world every day.
Technology is a more powerful tool than I think almost any of us ever
believed it would be in the lives of these kids. We believe that much of the
academic success that we are seeing is because of […] the technology
(Rudy, Assistant Principal).

Rudy continued that the staff and students’ ubiquitous use of technology, along with
the career-oriented and familial culture, are major causes for active student
engagement and academic achievement.
Eight of the nine teachers interviewed mentioned the positive impact that
technology has on their students’ academic achievement. As with the previously
detailed factor, the original vision, technology as a factor to academic achievement
was prominent across several interview questions. It was most consistently
mentioned in response to three questions: “What are you most proud of at this
school?”, “The factors which contribute to student achievement?” and “What are the

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strengths of this school?” Several teachers stated that students are expected to use
technology to do homework and projects. The geometry teacher, Kent, stated: “Our
teachers use [computers] as the tool they are and not as a crutch for answers.”
These interview responses from administrators and faculty were triangulated
with surveys. 18 teachers were surveyed. On the question: “Students are encouraged
and provided the support to use information technology” 15 teachers (83 percent)
responded “very much,” (the most favorable response possible) and three teachers
(16 percent) responded “quite a bit” (the next most favorable response).
There were 489 Academy High student respondents on the HSSSE (2007).
Two questions on this survey asked students about technology. The first question
(#15.g): “To what extent do you believe your high school emphasizes using
computers for classwork.” 59.96 percent of Academy High students responded
“very much” (the most favorable response possible). This is in sharp contrast to
20.94 percent of HSSSE respondents nationwide. This 39.02 percentage difference
supports data presented above, regarding technology at Academy High.
The second question (#16.f): “How much has your experience at this school
contributed to your growth in using computers and the internet” (HSSSE, 2007).
66.59 percent of Academy students responded “very much.” This contrasts to 27.55
percent of HSSSE respondents nationwide. This 39.04 percentage difference
substantiates the data pointing to technology as a factor in academic achievement at
Academy High. On both of these questions students in all four grades, nine through

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twelve, were so far above the national mean that it was not likely the difference was
due to chance.
The data on technology use was triangulated across two different data
instruments: surveys and interviews, as well as across three categories of
stakeholders: administrators, teachers and students. Clearly, all stakeholders identify
technology as a factor in academic achievement at Academy High. Observations,
the third part of the data triangulation, will be presented over the next several pages.
Observations supported the findings given above.
Each Academy High classroom is equipped with a Smart Board interactive
white board, an LCD projector, an iMac for the teacher and a minimum of one laptop
per student and teacher. As the school has grown from 100 students to over 500, the
bandwidth capacity has challenged the Academy High technology team. At the
beginning of the 2007-08 school year, technology problems occurred weekly during
Project Period when 550 computers and printers could be on line at the same time.
The tech team addresses tech needs, such as increasing the capacity of the
technology infrastructure to keep up with the growth of the school and its myriad
programs.
Teachers and administrators credit the district and the new superintendent,
Dr. Martinez, with supporting their school. They recognize that district office
support is crucial to maintain the nearly eight hundred computers and the requisite
technical support staff on the Academy High campus. In addition to the technology
team at Academy High, the district supports the Jr. E-Team. The Jr. E-Team is

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comprised of student technology technicians, trained by the Multimedia Program
Administrator to work on campuses throughout the district.
At Academy High, the technology acceleration process begins in the Summer
Session, shortly after graduation from middle school. Students soon learn a myriad
of computer programs. They can earn MOS (Microsoft Office) certification, and they
have the option of enrolling in three technology courses offered in the Regional
Occupational Program. The technology options continue with Jr. E-Team and the
Academy High sound stage and filming, maintenance of the ROP website, as well as
media competitions, all of these will be explained below.
After the first semester of tenth grade, no new students are admitted to
Academy High. From tenth grade on students have mastered such a degree of
technical skill that it becomes impossible for a new student to keep up with the
required skill level:
Kids come here in the summer between eighth and ninth grade. That’s when
the acceleration process starts. They learn to type 25, 35 words per minute.
They learn the MicroSoft Office package and some beginning graphics. By
the time they get to ninth grade they actually start PhotoShop, HTML, File
Maker Pro and they continue with the MicroSoft Office […] process of
certification. […] We actually pull licenses. […] The ninth graders of last
year […] got certified in MOS, MicroSoft Office specialist. They were
trained, and then they passed the test and they actually have a diploma. That
was another experiment, it was a little early, but we are proud of it anyway.
But mostly we concentrate on Juniors and Seniors to get MOS certification.
[…] It is about forty dollars a certificate. It is a nice thing to put on a resume.
We are concentrating on all kinds of certifications, to prepare them for a job.
(Sam, Program Administrator, Multimedia).

Sam does not stop with MOS certification. He and two other teachers at
Academy High are certified as Regional Occupational Program (ROP) technology

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teachers. Together they offer three ROP technology classes. The first, Applied
Technology/Digital Music 1, according to the Mountain ROP Fall Schedule of
Classes, introduces students to “[…] basic music theory skills [and] basic recording,
mixing and editing techniques […]” through the use of Garage Band, digital music
software.
The next two technology courses are articulated with the community college,
so the students in these classes simultaneously earn college credits. Visual
Communications/Graphic Arts provides students with the opportunity to “Learn
Desktop publishing and digital imaging using PageMaker 6.5 and Photoshop 6.0
[…].” The second course is a year long: Filmmaking/Animation I. In this course
students gain the skills to do “[…] entry level work in animation […].” Students are
engaged in “[…] storyboarding, characterization, and three dimensional animation
using computers” (per the Mountain ROP Fall Schedule of Classes). In addition,
students learn how to set up a sound stage and use cameras and film.
The Academy High sound stage is yet another way in which students learn
real world skills. Students can be found there filming Superintendent Martinez
addressing the school district, or filming instructional videos used in the district
classrooms. Their skills are also sought by the city, which hires Academy High
students to film local events. Academy High students maintain the ROP website. As
noted by alumnus Leticia, quoted at the beginning of this section, the technology and
film skills students gain at Academy High can put them ahead of the competition,
either at college or in the job market. Currently, about five Academy High alumni

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are employed in the technology department of the district, which is the largest
employer in the city.
In early February, 2008, a local reporter (Petix, 2008) visited the sound stage
to watch Academy students at work. The students were filming a public service
message against violence. Students provided both the on-air talent as well as the
behind the scenes talent. All the action was under the guiding influence of Sam, the
Multimedia Program Administrator. He explained that students have already
produced professional videos for the district, the city and the police, with the money
given to the school’s Associated Student Body (Petix, 2008). One student
interviewed stated that when she goes to college she plans to continue working in
productions rather than working at a fast-food restaurant.
An African American grandmother interviewed by Thompson (2003) also
recognized the need for young people to gain skills in technology:
If our children are not taught about the modern technology-the computers and
the new procedures that they have-where’s it going to leave them? They’re
going to be doing janitorial work or flipping burgers. But if they keep up with
modern technology, they’re not gonna need them to flip burgers. Education is
their key. That’s what’s gonna give them some power no matter what color
they are (p. 181).

The words of this grandmother echo the student interviewed above (Petix, 2008),
that young people with strong technology skills do not have to flip hamburgers.
Academy High students have multiple opportunities to ‘keep up with modern
technology’ and have power and options in the workplace.

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Students have the opportunity to learn a variety of computer programs.
Alumnus Leticia mentioned Final Cut Pro, but today’s Academy High students use
Adobe Premiere Pro for the sound booth and for audio. They use Maya, for 3-D
animation to make movies and cartoons and Cinema 4-D to create special effects.
Dreamweaver is used for web page design and content management of a website,
such as the ROP website maintained by students. Photoshop CS3 is used to
manipulate web based content; Adobe Illustrator CS3 is for text editing, layouts and
design. Adobe Flash, is a web based animation tool, and After Effects, is for
advertising special effects on video. These software programs are merely mentioned
in this paragraph to provide the reader with an idea of the breadth of the Academy
High technology program, but technology teacher, Ruben, stated that each program
is presented according to a process. One tool is a prerequisite for the next.
Every spring, Academy High technology students participate in the
California Student Media Festival. For 2008, there are sixteen categories for
elementary and secondary students in this forty-two year old annual student festival
(per the Festival website). The digital video Academy High students submit to the
competition is also used to recruit students for the next school year. Academy High
students win in their category every year; the first place prize is a year’s subscription
to Discovery Education Streaming, for the school. Here is evidence of a symbiotic
relationship. Academy High teachers have free access to Discovery’s variety of
digital content, including 40,000 video clips, interactive learning resources, quiz
builder and writing prompts, all in the interest of engaging students and preparing

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them for a lifetime of learning (according to Discovery’s website). In return, the
engaged students at Academy High continue to raise their test scores, win
competitions and provide free access to digital content for their classrooms.
Academy High students have a wealth of Career Technical Education (CTE)
opportunities in technology. The three ROP courses: Applied Technology/Digital
Music 1, Visual Communications/Graphic Arts, and Filmmaking/Animation I, as
well as Jr. E-Team and the MOS Certifications, the sound stage and filming
experience, maintenance of the ROP website, the various computer programs and
instruction as well as media competitions, all of these provide students with career-
oriented education and experience. This Career Tech Education follows from the
school’s Vision Statement: to create a community of learners who are technically,
intellectually and socially equipped to succeed in life. These CTE offerings also
follow from the mission of the California Association of Regional Occupational
Centers and Programs to provide exemplary career education and contribute to
student academic and career success (carocp.org, 2008).
Technology at Academy High is used as a magnet to attract students into the
process of education. Ruben, a technology teacher, explained the significance that
technology has in motivating students:
[Students] are always engaged with technology. They are kinesthetically
connected to the computers. They are visually connected. There are a number
of modalities that are being enhanced, that keeps them engaged. It engages
the students to learn. Our technology piece has to do with the great amount of
success that we have. […] Technology opens the doors, it opens the
opportunities for them to become more successful, to become better learners.
[…] There are opportunities for them to succeed.

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Via technology, students learn the power of knowledge. They learn that they can
learn, and they take that with them when they graduate. At the first annual Alumni
Day, December 18, 2007, one alumnus stated that at his university he teaches the
technicians when they have problems, and he is not even majoring in technology.
Two students in a Spanish classroom are standing on either side of the
SmartBoard, speaking to the class in Spanish to provide the context for the
illustrations they have assembled. Later, the Spanish teacher explained that this is
one way she uses technology to motivate students. She will give an assignment to
research the economy, history, government and schools of a given Spanish-speaking
country. The students use the Internet to research in both Spanish and English and
then they translate into Spanish as necessary. The teacher acknowledged that some
students try to use Internet translating services, but she has those students redo the
translation. For this type of assignment the students will create a Power Point
presentation with pictures and graphics, which they present on the Smart Board
speaking to the class in Spanish.
On a given day, when students walk into the geometry teacher’s room, the
left side of the Smart Board has the lesson objectives and the corresponding
California state standards. The right side has the warm up activity. Students know the
drill and get to work doing the warm-up activity. After a brief review, the teacher
directs the students to turn on the lap-top in front of them and open Geometer’s
Sketch Pad. Students manipulate the virtual geometric figures and answer the
corresponding questions, while the teacher walks around directing and helping

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individual students. Cotton (2001) reported on research which showed that urban
youth responded well to computer-assisted instruction such as evidenced in this
geometry class.
The geometry teacher explained that this type of instruction, when he is
answering students’ individual questions relative to the Geometer’s Sketch Pad and
what they are learning in geometry, demands more from him than whole class
instruction. Since the students are involved in individualized, guided learning and
practice, the teacher cannot predict the direction any one student will take. The Smart
Board saves the teacher valuable time: no need to copy from a lesson plan book onto
the whiteboard. The state standards, lesson objectives and warm-up are saved on the
computer for the next time it is needed. As for the Geometer’s Sketchpad, the district
recognized the advantage of the program and has purchased a site license for each of
the past several years.
The school’s technology equipment allows teachers options in content
delivery and techniques to engage students. The examples on the classroom use of
technology, given here, are not unusual in education today, however, it is unusual to
find such a high tech educational enclave in an urban high school. Researchers
(Carroll, et al. 2005, Tyack and Cuban, 1995) have found that computer technology
exacerbated the discrepancy in education offered to wealthy students as opposed to
that offered poor students. In addition, minority students, female students and non-
native English speakers were most likely to become the technological under class in

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American schools. When these students did have access to technology they were
often assigned rote practice exercises, essentially electronic worksheets.
Higher wealth students were more likely to use computer technology as
powerful tools leading to higher level thinking (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). In addition,
Carroll, et al. (2005) found that: “the proportion of California school-age children
that have home Internet access is 48 percent, which puts the state at 35
th
among all
states” (p. 23). This is how Academy High stands out: it offers minority, low wealth
students an up-to-the-minute high tech education which encourages problem solving
and complex thinking, in addition to career exploration and acquisition of marketable
skills.
Tyack & Cuban (1995) make the point that: “Teachers have regularly used
technologies to enhance their regular instruction but rarely to transform their
teaching” (p. 122). At Academy High, evidence suggests that technology is used to
transform teaching, perhaps because teachers are a part of the collaborative learning
process. The technology is used as a lens with which to approach teaching and
learning, a tool to help students achieve academically. According to the local
community college president, Dr. Knowles, (interview December 3, 2007) Academy
High’s strengths are its:
capacity to engender identification and purpose, or relevance and
relationships, because of its small size, because of the focus that it offers
students to technology. It happens to be technology there, somewhere else it
could be something else. The students begin to connect technology […] with
career and work. When you can make those connections that is very positive.

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At Academy High, the connections between technology, career and work
begin with the Summer Session technology acceleration. The connections continue
with a myriad of computer programs, MOS certification, and three ROP technology
programs. The connections continue with Jr. E-Team and the Academy High sound
stage and filming experience, maintenance of the ROP website, as well as media
competitions. The next section will explore the multiple connections that Academy
High educators make between academics and careers for their students.
Career Preparation

[Here] people are actually able to bring forward their ideas. When it comes to Dr. P
[the principal] these programs have been brought here: like the NASA Explorer
School, the robotics lab with JPL, the ROPs and the Culinary Institute, and the
Wiring [and Cabling Course], the MicroSoft Certificates. Things that are actually
real world practical.[…] Students can come here and see that school is not exactly
worthless.
André, English Teacher

I live in the community. […] Some of our students come out MOS Certified so they
can get jobs right off the bat in technology fields. The students have majors here.
Some go into ROP classes for Medical Assisting, some go into ROP classes for
Culinary Arts. […this school] prepares students to be in the real world with a high
school diploma. […] I know from my experience that a lot of students have to pay for
college, and how you pay for it is a big deal. They have the ability to have a job,
that’s huge. I wanted to be a part of [this] program. This school is unique in that
respect.
Raphael, Teacher and Counselor

I see the future of secondary education […] as building the capacity to blend
secondary and post secondary work. […] The traditional four year comprehensive
high school experience, in many ways, is bankrupt. And further bankrupted by what
has occurred over the last thirty years in secondary education in California. That is
the erosion of capacity for career education. […] The blending I speak about is both
an opportunity for the secondary students to experience early on academic collegiate
work but also career education as well.
Dr. Knowles, community college president

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In order to develop motivation, students need to have opportunities to see
relevance and connections between academic work and their futures. According to
Dr. Knowles, educators need to provide students with those opportunities to establish
relevance, purpose and motivation because the students cannot be expected to bring
such values themselves. As stated earlier, researchers, (Carroll et al., 2005, Coleman,
1961, Loveless, 2001, Zapf et al., 2006) have argued for educators to counter peer
pressure with a meaningful, student-centered curriculum which allows students to
experience the connection between education and future aspirations and careers.
Dembo (2004) argues that some students are not motivated by awards and
recognition because they have no hope for a better future. Urban youth need: “a
different type of career education program and social experiences that broaden
students’ views” (p. 28). The following pages will demonstrate how Academy High
provides students with the career education program and social experiences
encouraged by these researchers.
Teachers, administrators, parents and students have the common goal that
student success is defined by successful completion of college or post-secondary
training. As stated in the Vision Statement: “Upon graduation each student will be
prepared to enter post-secondary education and /or obtain Technical and Career
Certifications.” Whether students choose to enroll in a university or a technical
school, or enter the workforce right after high school, they have several opportunities
to explore their options and directly prepare for their futures. In this, Academy High
leaders are supported by research (Haberman, 1999): “For children in poverty, I

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believe that being successful in school is a matter of life and death. Their only hope
of ever attaining a decent job-one that will pay for livable housing and sufficient
health insurance-is to complete both high school and some level of postsecondary
training” (Haberman, 1999, p.36).
There were two questions on the both the administrators’ and teachers’
surveys related to career preparation. The first question: “Students are encouraged
and provided meaningful opportunities to learn work-related skills.” 100 percent of
the administrators and 83 percent of the teachers agreed with this question using the
two most favorable responses. The breakdown of this data is as follows: 66 percent
of the administrators agreed “very much” (the most favorable response possible) and
33 percent agreed “quite a bit” (the next most favorable response). Among the 18
teachers, 50 percent agreed “very much” and 33 percent agreed “quite a bit.”
The second survey question related to career preparation was: “Students are
encouraged and provided meaningful opportunities to develop clear, sequential
career goals and prepare for appropriate post-secondary education or training.” 100
percent of the administrators and 94 percent of the teachers agreed with this question
using the two most favorable responses. The breakdown of this data is as follows:
100 percent of the administrators agreed “quite a bit” (the second most favorable
response). Among the 18 teachers, 77 percent agreed “very much” (the most
favorable response) and 16 percent agreed “quite a bit.”
There were eight questions on the HSSSE related to career preparation. On
all of these questions either all four grades (ninth through twelfth) of Academy High

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student respondents were above the national mean, or their overall was above the
national mean. Three of these questions, all of them under number 16, will be
examined more closely here. The three questions are: “How much has your
experience at this school contributed to your growth in the following areas? i.
Solving real world problems k. Developing clear career goals l. Understanding the
relevance of school work to life after high school” (HSSSE, 2007). All four grades of
Academy High student respondents were above the national mean by such a degree
that the difference was probably not due to chance.
In terms of percentages for “16.i. Solving real world problems,” 26.08
percent of Academy High students agreed “very much” (the most favorable response
possible) compared to 19.91 percent of student respondents nationwide. For “16. k.
Developing clear career goals,” 33.41 percent of Academy High students agreed
“very much” compared to 23.19 percent of students nationwide. On this question
there is a 10.22 percentage difference between Academy High students and students
nationwide. Finally, for “16. l. Understanding the relevance of school work to life
after high school,” 36.12 percent of Academy High students agreed “very much”
compared to 23.47 percent of students nationwide. On this question there is a 12.65
percentage difference between Academy High students and students nationwide.
This last HSSSE question: “16.l. Understanding the relevance of school work
to life after high school,” is the question which most clearly surveys students
whether their school is connecting academics to future careers as identified by
research (Carroll et al., 2005, Coleman, 1961, Haberman, 1999, Loveless, 2001,

149
Zapf et al., 2006). This question also focuses on the need to provide urban youth
with: “a different type of career education program and social experiences that
broaden students’ views” (Dembo, 2004, p. 28) The 12.65 percentage difference
between Academy High students and students nationwide is testimony that Academy
educators are addressing this education need of their urban students.
The data presented thus far, surveys of administrators, teachers and students,
provide evidence that Academy High educators are successful at providing students
with the necessary connections between high school academics and post-secondary
education leading to careers. The findings from these surveys of three different
Academy High stakeholders will be triangulated with data from interviews and
observations on the following pages.
At Academy High, the relevant connection between academic work and
future careers is initially established in the culture, beginning with the lack of bells.
“We have no bells because we wanted to be more like a professional, business-type
atmosphere” (Kathy, a founding teacher). Alumnus Natasha stated that the lack of
bells was a good thing. In addition, teachers explained that students are held
accountable to deadlines, just as at a work place.
The connection between academics and careers is most clearly provided in
four programs which flow through the students’ school days: Project Period, Jr. E-
Team, Regional Occupational Programs (ROP) and NASA Explorer School. The
latter three, Jr. E-Team, ROP and NASA Explorer School demonstrate the variety of

150
career preparation possible within the Career Technical Education concept, as
explained earlier, in Chapter 2.
Sixty one percent of stakeholders interviewed referred to Academy High as a
Project-Based school. The former Superintendent, Lawrence, emphasized that
Project Based Learning was one of the three original overarching concepts for the
school. Project Period occurs for an hour and a half every Friday. Students are
grouped according to their grade level, with about thirty students assigned to a
teacher for the school year. Each grade has a project focus culminating with a
presentation in late spring.
Ninth graders work on robotics and a health fair; they teach health issues to
the kindergarten through sixth graders at the K-8 school. As will be described in the
next section, the robotics component is taught by Kent and supported by scientists
from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The health fair is
supported by the Western University of Health Sciences. Tenth graders explore
careers. Eleventh graders explore colleges and post-secondary training. The tenth
and eleventh graders present to the seventh and eighth graders at the K-8 Parker
School. All Project Period presentations are an annual end-of-the-school-year
activity in late May.
Seniors prepare a Senior Project, which is a culmination of their individual
projects from the previous three years. They show completed college applications
and personal goals contracts, such as: “I want to be a ____. I need to be a ____.”
Each Senior finds a mentor: a professional working in the student’s chosen career

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and willing to spend time with the student. Students must observe their mentors at
work. Seniors create a resume-style electronic portfolio of high school
accomplishments and a Power Point slide show demonstrating their choices in post-
secondary education and career plans. Each Senior Project is formally presented to a
team of at least five, including community, business and/or district leaders, the
senior’s mentor, at least one teacher and two eleventh graders. Everyone present for
a Senior Project grades the student on the presentation. Kathy, a founding teacher,
stated that the professional format is designed to prepare students for the panel-type
interviews which they are likely to encounter when applying for a job. To that end,
the electronic portfolio which students create is intended to be an asset for students
in the course of future job applications.
Chloé, biology teacher, explained that Project Period creates an extra
preparation for each teacher, but teachers believe that this extra prep is well worth
their time and a necessary part of their students’ education. Spanish teacher Lourdes
stated: “Project Period […] helps our students focus on what career they would like
in the future. […] We start gearing them into thinking and motivating them to having
a career.” Project Period and the culminating presentations are a key dynamic that
Academy High educators use to guide students towards seeing relevance and
connections between academic work and their futures. By doing this, they are
fulfilling their Vision Statement: to equip students to succeed in life.
Academy High’s Project Period is supported by research. Haberman (1999) is
emphatic on the significance of projects for learning.

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Real learning for children in poverty means implementing the project
method-not all day in every subject, but for a substantial period of class time.
Fortunately, the children who become genuinely involved in learning via this
approach will do well on basic skills and achievement tests (Haberman, 1999,
p. 25).

The fact that Academy High’s Academic Performance Index has increased two
hundred points, from 517 to 717 (California Department of Education, 2007), in five
years years, substantiates Haberman’s findings.
The next three programs, Jr. E-Team, ROP and NASA Explorer School are
exemplary of the career spectrum which Career Technical Education today can offer.
The following programs are far removed from the former “vocational ed” or “trade
prep” model. Some programs are designed to provide students with in-depth
education leading to industry-recognized certification, as mentioned by Sam,
Multimedia Program Administrator, above. These certificates often allow students to
begin working in jobs paying far above the minimum wage, as will be explained
below. In addition, Academy High educators use the student’s interest in a given
career program as a hook to encourage the student to pursue a post-secondary degree
in the field. Academy High was named to the Top 505 High Schools list by U. S.
News and World Reports in part because it prepares all students for admission to
university (Morse, 2007).
The Jr. E-Team, as mentioned earlier, was begun by Sam, Multimedia
Program Administrator. Jr. E-Team students are trained to fix computer problems in
the school and the district. They are also trained in film and multimedia production.
The city has hired Jr. E-Team students for filming local events. When they graduate

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from Academy High, some Jr. E-Team students have been hired by the district or the
city. Five alumni of Academy High are employed in the Information Technology
department of the district, the largest employer in the city. One alumnus, from the
Class of 2005, works fulltime as a technology specialist for the district and supports
himself as he earns his college degree.
As stated, Academy High is located in a 1970s-era shopping mall which was
converted during the mid-1990s into a complex of complementary educational
enterprises. These career education programs are very much a part of the day-to-day
life of Academy High students. Two pieces of the multi service concept available in
the learning complex will be explored here: the Mountain Regional Occupational
Program (ROP) and the NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center.
From its inception, Academy High has offered students four strands in the
Regional Occupational Program (ROP). Most ROP courses are offered in the
learning complex; students just walk to the other end of the mall, effectively
eliminating typical barriers of transportation and access. Sam’s Technology ROP
courses are offered on the Academy High campus. ROP classes are usually offered
from 3:00 to 6:00 pm, two afternoons per week. These classes are organized in four
strands: 1. Technology and Media, 2. Electronics Systems Technology Certificate
Program (formerly Electronics Cabling and Wiring), 3. Hospitality and Culinary
Arts, 4. Medical Assisting and Medical Front Office.
As discussed in the Technology section, there are three ROP technology
courses available to students directly on their campus. One is Applied

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Technology/Digital Music I. The next two are articulated with the local community
college so students receive college credit. The first of these is Visual
Communications/Graphic Arts. The next, a year long course, is
Filmmaking/Animation I.
In an initial interview with the principal regarding this case study of
Academy High, she advised the researcher to interview the Professor and founder of
the Electronic Systems Technology Certificate Program ( formerly known as Cable
and Wiring), offered in the learning complex. It quickly became evident that the
Professor’s certificate program is well regarded by stakeholders and very successful.
It has served as both an anchor to the Career Technical Education offerings, as well
as motivation for expanding the academic curriculum.
The president of the local community college, Dr. Knowles, emphasized the
significant role that the Electronic Systems Technology Certificate Program has had:
We’ve had a small but very successful technology program in place there,
[…] in collaboration with the ROP in Cable and Wiring. It was the presence
and success of that program that had me think first about partnering with
Academy High for the Early College High School. [The Cable and Wiring
class] has been well attended. […] It has been a very good catalyst for
students to pursue further work in the general area, on the technical side of
technology.

This Certificate Program exposes students to the trades and to college-level
course work. In addition, this program provides students with a career pathway.
Students in the Professor’s Program participate in an annual field trip to the
Electronic Home Exposition trade show. The Senior students attend the show with
resumes in hand and are prepared to talk to technical representatives at the show.

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Academy High students can begin the Electronic Systems Technology
Certificate Program (ESTC Program) in their Junior year. They take “Electrical
Fundamentals” fall semester and “Fabrication Techniques” spring semester. Senior
year they first take “Cabling and Wiring” fall semester. At this point students qualify
for the Level 1 Certificate. Nearly all students continue with “Automation Systems”
spring semester. There are two six week intersession courses which students may
take either in the summer or the winter intersession. There is also a “Technical
Applications” course which is waived if they have already earned MOS certification,
as explained earlier in this study. Students who enroll in the ESTC Program will
have just two four-unit courses to complete, following high school graduation. They
will then have earned the Level 2 Electronic Systems Technology Certificate.
However, some recent and particularly motivated Academy High graduates have
been conferred the Level 2 certificate at the same time as their high school diploma.
Making this community college level Certificate Program available to
Academy High students is supported by research. Haberman (1999) posits that urban
youth do not see that the present can lead to a better future and do not believe that
they can impact the course of their own lives. Educators of urban youth must make
the connections between students’ academic work and future careers.
According to California’s Employment Development Department, Labor
Market Info service, the current hourly wage range in electronic systems field is
$21.04-$33.64. Assuming that new high school graduates with a fresh ESTC begin at
the entry level wage of $21.04 an hour, they will be earning 2.65 times the California

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minimum wage of $8.00 per hour (the state minimum wage effective January 1,
2008, per the Labor Law Center). On January 12, 2008, there were thirteen
industrial positions available for trained technicians within twenty-five miles of
Academy High. In addition, for the decade 2004-2014, the Employment
Development Department projects there will be an 18.3 percent average increase in
job openings in this field.
It is worth noting that this industry-recognized Certificate program is
available to Academy High students free of charge. This Certificate program
provides the opportunity for these high school students, 85 percent of whom are
socioeconomically disadvantaged, to earn 2.65 times the minimum wage within a
semester of high school graduation. While immediate earning potential is an
important consideration, school and district leaders also look at the long term for
their students “to be equipped to succeed in life,” as will be explained next.
In 2007 the Professor gave a report to the community college Board of
Trustees on the ESTC Program. This Certificate program is a part of the College
Early Starter Program, initiated in 2003. The College Early Starter is an outreach
program intended to make college classes accessible and to expose high school
students to college-level course work. The Professor reported to the Board that
nearly 75 percent of students who complete his program go on to college.
The Professor stated (phone interview, January 14, 2008) that both he and the
Board were pleasantly surprised by this high percentage of college attendance among
Certificate completers. These Certificate students tend to be confident about college

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since they have successfully experienced college level work in his program, while
still in high school. In addition, as explained above, they have an earning potential
which makes college more financially accessible. Those who are documented and
therefore have access to financial aid are most likely to go to local universities. The
only negative note regarding this program: undocumented students who have earned
the Electronic Systems Technology Certificate cannot legally work and therefore do
not fully reap the financial benefits of their education.
Researching this single certificate program revealed a recurrent theme which
permeates Academy High: highly effective collaboration among several public
institutions. The Professor is co-chair of the Electronic and Computer Technology
Department as well as an instructor at the community college. The ESTC program
for Academy High students is offered through the Mountain ROP which is a
partnership with two unified school districts. This reveals three-way collaboration:
community college, high school and ROP, working together to provide the best,
integrated education for their local students.
In referring to the Electronics Systems Program, as quoted earlier, Dr.
Knowles stated: “It was the presence and success of that program that had me think
first about partnering with Academy High for the Early College High School.” The
president is referring to yet another partnership between Academy High and the
community college: Early College High School. This partnership was initiated by Dr.
Knowles because of the success of the Electronics Systems Program. Beginning in
the school year 2006-07, half the Academy High freshmen class was enrolled in the

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newly created Early College program. The following year, 2007-08, the entire
freshmen class was enrolled in Early College.
The Early College High School initiative was designed to serve students of
color, lower socio-economic students and other students underrepresented in higher
education. Early College High Schools are designed as small schools. The program
is planned so that students can graduate from high school with a substantial number
of college credits. In 2007, nationwide there were more than 150 Early College High
Schools. In the first graduating class of Early College students in 2006, more than 57
percent graduated with an Associate’s degree and 80 percent were accepted to four
year colleges (Early College High School, 2007).
When the president of the community college suggested it, Academy High
educators were open to adding to the instructional program for their students and
they worked with Dr. Knowles to create an Early College High School.
Communication and highly effective collaboration across a variety of public entities
expand on the initial vision: a multi service concept, with an array of like resources
for students. Academy High administrators state that it is not clear to them the
impact this new program may have on their student body, but they continue to work
with Dr. Knowles to ensure the success of the program. Currently, Early College at
Academy High serves just 41 percent of the student body, for this reason, Early
College is not a focus of this study.
In addition to the Electronic Systems Technology Certificate Program,
Academy High students have other ROP programs from which to choose. One is the

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School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts. Students in this program take three courses:
Culinary Arts, Hospitality Food Service and Hospitality Business. According to the
Mountain ROP Fall Schedule of Classes, they learn about health department
regulations, financial checks and balances and inventory control to qualify them to
work within the food service industry, including hotels. Every school year, there are
20 to 30 Academy High students enrolled in these courses.
Biology teacher, Chloé, explained that many Academy High students are
employed by the Sheraton Hotel after completing the ROP’s School of Hospitality
and Culinary Arts. As with the other certificate programs, Academy High students in
the Hospitality program are informed about their options for post-secondary
education and for expanding on their new skills. These students are encouraged to
continue their education at the well-regarded Collins School of Hospitality
Management at California State Polytechnic University. According to their website
(2007), the Collins School offers Bachelor’s degrees; it is the largest and oldest
hospitality program in California. Advanced students in this university program
operate a restaurant and a dinner theater, with special seasonal attractions.
According to the Mountain ROP Fall Schedule of Classes, the Medical Front
Office class offers students the opportunity to learn medical terminology, billing and
customer service. In addition, Chloé explained that the Western University of Health
Sciences sends Physician Assistants to Academy High to provide training in her
biology courses and to present seminars. They teach students clinic skills and
introduce them to medical careers, including medical assisting, osteopathic medicine,

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veterinary medicine and graduate nursing, all of which are offered at Western
University.
Victoria, Assistant Principal, pointed out that Western University supports
the ninth grade health fairs. Assistant Principal Rudy explained that he recruits
students to Academy High based on the school’s strong technology component, but
every year Academy High has about 25 students, across all four grades, who are
interested in careers in medicine. Rudy has looked for summer internships in the
medical field to offer these students. Academy High students have summer
internships available in technology and hospitality, but not yet in medical fields. One
Academy High alumni is a student at the University of California at Los Angeles and
will soon apply to medical school.
Assistant Principal Rudy explained that 11
th
and 12
th
graders have the option
of working as Teacher’s Aides at the neighboring K-8 School. The goal of this
collaboration is to expose Academy High students to teaching as a profession. The
elementary school teachers who work with the Academy High students allow them
to be directly involved with the younger students so that the high school students will
gain direct teaching experience in an appropriate environment. These Teacher’s
Aides are also taught about education as a career path.
Kathy, a founding teacher, referred to one alumnus who completed the
Hospitality strand while at Academy High and was subsequently hired by the
Sheraton Hotel. He is currently enrolled at California State University Fullerton,
supporting himself with his position at the Sheraton. Assistant Principal Rudy gave

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the example of a current Senior, a Gifted and Talented student, who is determined to
be a barber. He will learn to become a barber but he already knows that he is
expected to go to college to earn a degree in business to enhance his career options
as a barber. Rudy stated that he would prefer for all students to go directly to college,
but this particular student is very determined to become a barber. Emphasizing the
importance of college to expand his barbering business is the best Academy High
educators can do to motivate him to attend college.
As quoted at the beginning of this section, Raphael, teacher and counselor,
emphasized that many students will have to pay for college and the fact that they
earn industry recognized certification allows them to have a viable professional job
while they earn their college degree. In a school where 85 percent of the student
body is “socioeconomically disadvantaged” it is a huge advantage for them to have
access to the skills which will bring them meaningful earning potential while
pursuing university education. In addition, Assistant Principal Rudy stated that
many alumni are earning university degrees in fields directly related to the field in
which they earned certification while at Academy High.
The learning complex also houses an Educator Resource Center offered
jointly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a part of the California Institute of Technology. Its
purpose is to disseminate to educators a variety of teaching materials focused on
NASA and JPL space exploration missions. To that end, the Resource Center offers
free educator training and teacher information packages which include teacher

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guides with activities, student booklets, lithograph pictures and classroom posters.
They also offer a video collection and on-line resources. One day, specialists at the
Resource Center suggested to Academy High leaders that they apply to the NASA
Explorer School program. The Academy High administrators were looking for a way
to build on their math and science programs, so they applied and were accepted.
According to NASA, the Explorer School program is sponsored and implemented by
NASA in cooperation with the National Science Teachers Association
(explorerschools.nasa.gov).
Stakeholders referred to their NASA Explorer School designation as an
important factor to their academic achievements.
This school is extremely unique. […] This school being a NASA school. […]
That’s an extremely high accomplishment. The dual-credits with [the
community college…] They have that technology aspect. We get people from
all over the world here […] because they want to create a school like this.
Marco, Class of 2006

Every year NASA chooses up to 50 schools: “[…] to participate in the three-year
NASA Explorer Schools project. […] Targeting underserved populations in diverse
geographic locations, NASA Explorer Schools will bring together educators,
administrators, students and families in sustained involvement with NASA's
education programs” (explorerschools.nasa.gov). The leading objective of the
program is to increase student interest in and knowledge about careers in science,
mathematics and technology. Once designated, each NASA Explorer School is
assigned to the nearest NASA-affiliated research center; for Academy High, that is
JPL.

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According to their website, the NASA Explorer Schools program is designed
for fourth through ninth grade. Assistant Principal Rudy explained that at Academy
High the NASA resources are focused on the ninth grade. Every year, the ninth grade
class takes a trip to JPL, located 34 miles to the west, in Pasadena. When JPL
speakers come to the school, they usually address the ninth grade class. As
mentioned, the ninth grade annual project includes robotics, taught by Kent,
geometry teacher. Once designated a NASA Explorer School, Academy High
established a five member team, comprised of an administrator and four teachers.
Kent is the team lead. Each member of the team received a stipend for participation
in a summer workshop and for implementing their school action plan. The team is
responsible for oversight and administration of the NASA Explorer School
objectives.
NASA expects their Explorer Schools to create a culture of learning among
all stakeholders. To that end, Academy High’s office staff and proctors (or security)
participate on the tours of JPL. As mentioned, the school’s administrators were
looking for a way to strengthen their mathematics and science programs. Assistant
Principal Rudy explained one direct result from the school’s affiliation with NASA.
Prior to becoming a NASA Explorer School, Academy High had one Advanced
Placement (or college level) science class, it now offers six AP science or
mathematics courses. In the fall of 2007, of 520 students, 230 were enrolled in
Advanced Placement classes. This is evidence of the culture of learning fostered by

164
NASA. In addition, when the U. S. News determined their top high schools list, one
criterion was Advanced Placement test participation and passing rates.
In the interest of expanding the science knowledge of all teachers, all
Academy High teachers are eligible to attend science and math conferences paid by
the NASA funds. A science teacher and member of the team, Alex, explained that
the year the school was selected, 2005-06, it received 10,000 dollars from NASA to
be used primarily for teachers to attend science or math conferences anywhere in the
country. For the 2006-07 school year, the school received 5,000 dollars. The third
year, 2007-08, the school received 2,500 thousand dollars. The direct NASA funding
ends after the third year, but the relationship has no expiration date. Now in the third
year of the NASA Explorer School program, NASA and Academy High leaders have
discussed grant possibilities so as to continue some of the privileges of the three year
NASA funding. Academy High would like to continue to purchase supplies for the
ninth grade robotics program and continue to have student trips to JPL.
Assistant Principal Rudy explained that Academy High educators constantly
and deliberately exploit their NASA Explorer School status. As leaders effective at
using the symbolic frame of reference (Bolman & Deal, 2003), they remind
stakeholders of their association with NASA at every opportunity. They refer to this
recognition at parent meetings and on the school’s website home page. As noted in
the quote from alumnus Marco, above, alumni are proud of this designation.
Academy High leaders want to ensure that all stakeholders are informed on the
mission to promote science, which is inherent in this NASA program. The heavy

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advertising is with the intent of getting students interested in internships at JPL and
then going to college to gain the scientific knowledge to work at NASA. Two current
Academy High students appear to have embarked on this path.
A 10
th
grade student spontaneously explained his involvement with NASA
scientists. He and a 12
th
grader are non-paid interns. Before they were accepted into
the program, NASA/JPL scientists met with the students’ parents so that they would
understand the program and be able to provide the necessary support at home. The
two students are primarily involved in collecting and logging data. The students do
some research at school and some at home. When he needs to, the 10
th
grader can
check out an i-Mac laptop from Academy High. The two students work most directly
with Kent, the geometry teacher. At times the three have telecom meetings with JPL
scientists; the scientists have visited the school, and the students have gone to JPL.
Their current research is on the Mars Rover-Phoenix, to be launched in August,
2008. The 10
th
grader stated that he had always thought about doing research and
being a scientist, but it is better for him to gain skills now, when he cannot be fired if
he makes mistakes!
According to Friedman (2007), beginning in elementary school, when a
young student may first become interested in math or science, it takes fifteen years to
train that person to become a scientist or advanced engineer. Friedman interviewed
the heads of several technology companies and university presidents. Among them
were Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel and G.
Wayne Clough, president of Georgia Institute of Technology. All of these leaders in

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science and technology today spoke about the crisis in American education and
society which is falling behind the rest of the world and not training enough people
in science and technology (Friedman, 2007). Academy High is working to reverse
this trend and to add to the pool of American scientists by exposing each ninth grade
class to the genuine possibilities of careers in science and by facilitating the initial
science research of high school students.
The ROP program and the status as NASA Explorer School are emblematic
of both the initial conception and the evolution of Academy High. The ROP
program is a part of the initial conception of the school and is integrated into the
school’s culture and academic approach. While this piece was fully functional, the
school’s administrators were looking for ways to deepen their math, science and
technology programs. When specialists at the Resource Center in the learning
complex suggested it, administrators applied to become a NASA Explorer School.
Communication and collaboration across a widening variety of public entities
expand on the initial vision: a multi service concept, with an array of like resources
for students.
These three programs, Jr. E-Team, Regional Occupational Programs and
NASA Explorer School are excellent examples of the breadth that Career Technical
Education today can cover. A small school with just 520 students has leveraged local
educational offerings to provide career exposure, training and in some cases,
certification, in a wide variety of fields, from computer technician and engineering to
hospitality management, electronic technician, teaching and NASA and JPL science

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research. Academy High students benefit from this collaboration across public
entities which provide them with a rich and varied educational and career oriented
learning experience.
The data presented in this section, surveys of administrators, teachers and
students, triangulated with interviews and observations, provide evidence that
Academy High educators are successful at providing students with the necessary
connections between high school academics and post-secondary education leading to
careers, as identified by research (Carroll et al., 2005, Coleman, 1961, Dembo, 2004,
Haberman, 1999, Loveless, 2001, Zapf et al., 2006).
In addition, research has shown that urban youth have no hope for a better
future (Dembo, 2004, Haberman, 1999). Urban youth need: “a different type of
career education program and social experiences that broaden students’ views”
(Dembo, p. 28). Career education and broadening experiences can help students
learn that they can gain the skills to shape the course of their own lives. As presented
above, this is what career education does for students at Academy High. Project
Period, Jr. E-Team, Regional Occupational Programs and NASA Explorer School:
all are integral to fulfilling the school’s Vision Statement, to create a community of
learners who are technically, intellectually and socially equipped to succeed in life.
Embedded in our Culture
There’s a climate of safety at this school so kids don’t feel like they want to stay
away. We have very good attendance, […] because they’re here they can learn. […]
The staff all wants to be here because of the atmosphere of teamwork. We’re in this
together, to try to help the students improve. We’re not carving out our own little
empires. We’re not challenging each other at the staff meetings. We’re not trying to

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do one-upmanship. I think that’s endemic at a large school, this competition to rise
to the top of your department. Here a department is sometimes just one or two
people. Because it’s small we work together really well. Because we work together
well there’s less stress. Less stress translates into more relaxed classrooms where
the students can feel this is a place they want to be. It builds on the fact that it’s a
cohesive staff. Cohesive staff really comes from the leadership of the administration.
They select who they want to be at this school. They provide a climate where
teachers can be as creative as they want to be. It’s a climate where you want to work
hard.
Will, Government Teacher
Culture is the last of the three factors identified in this study which contribute
to academic achievement at Academy High. This final concept is the most elusive. It
does not lend itself to a neat description or an easily enumerated list. All the
quotations from stakeholders which served to ground this chapter suggest elements
of the culture which permeate all aspects of this outperforming urban high school.
As mentioned earlier in this chapter, as well as in the quote from the government
teacher, above, the circular, mutually supportive nature of the culture becomes
apparent to the outsider. For the purposes of this study, of the multiple dynamics
which create the culture, three which stakeholders repeated the most, will be
presented here: 1. small, familial, safe school, 2. teacher experience and collegiality,
3. supportive administration. The researcher acknowledges that resorting to a list
necessarily eliminates valid elements of the culture of this school which are beyond
the scope of this study.
Researchers (Cotton, 2001, Haberman, 1999, Thompson, 2004) are emphatic
about the need to create a positive climate at urban schools. Violence is an everyday
reality for urban children. It is therefore incumbent upon the leaders of urban

169
schools to confront violence and teach students alternatives to violence. Haberman
(1999) notes that school leaders must teach urban youth “to care about the
consequences of their behavior and […] improve the quality of learning” (p. 50). A
safe urban school may not change the larger society, but that does not lessen the need
to make an urban school a place of safety, where young people can focus on goals,
learn and become empowered.
Researchers (Cotton, 2001, Holland, 2002, Nieto, 1999, Thompson, 2004)
have found that positive and personal relationships between urban youth and their
teachers can lead to academic achievement. Cotton and Haberman emphasize that
the school principal has a pivotal role in creating a safe, positive school culture.
These three factors, school climate and safety, positive student/teacher relationships
and the principal’s leadership will be detailed next.
Small, familial, safe school
School size was not intended to be a focus of this study, rather the issue and
relevance of school size to the overall aims of the research was discovered. The term
Small Learning Community is currently a popular phrase in education parlance and
school restructuring. More and more high school reform designs intentionally utilize
the small school concept to address the learning needs of disadvantaged youth
(Cotton, 2001, Holland, 2002). However, small school size is a successful reform
strategy only to the extent to which educators use school size to provide a positive
learning environment (Holland, 2002). In the course of this study, Academy High

170
stakeholders revealed profound insight as to how a small school can provide such a
positive learning environment and meaningfully influence student outcomes.
Of the 18 Academy High stakeholders interviewed for this study, 100 percent
mentioned the small size of the school. Size was cited, and repeated, most often in
answer to any of the following questions: Tell me about this school, What are you
most proud of at this school? Factors that contribute to student achievement?
Strengths of the school? Is this school unique? In many cases, the adjective “small”
was connected to “familial,” or “safe.” In addition, the concept of small was often
given as an explanation for the team feeling among stakeholders. The revelations of
these stakeholders are consistent with research (Holland, 2002) which finds that
successful small schools commonly have strong professional communities and
collegiality.
Assistant Principal Victoria explained that at Academy High all the students
are known by all the adults. Everyone, custodians and clerical staff as well as
teachers and administrators, are a part of the learning community. Every adult on
campus selects ten students to mentor for the school year. The adult interacts with
these ten students in both formal and informal means throughout the year. Victoria
explained why this adult/student interaction and school size matters:
Standards are what you base your program on and that’s what you base your
instruction and curriculum on. Knowing the whole child - that’s where we as
a small school are blessed. Being a small learning community, we know our
kids on a different level, what their abilities are. And that allows us to bring
them forward. Knowing the whole child helps you achieve the standards. It is
more important to know the whole child to get them to learn. And because we
are small we can focus on the students and learning the standards.

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Victoria’s comments echo Darling-Hammond’s (2002) words quoted earlier
in this study, that educators need to develop: “a capacity to perceive each student as
a person and as a learner, with tools that reduce prejudicial filters and that enhance
the accuracy of those perceptions” (p. 209). In addition, researchers (Cotton, 2001,
Darling-Hammond, 2002, Holland, 2002, Johnson, 2002, Nieto, 1999, Thompson,
2004) emphasize the need for educators of diverse students to understand these
students both culturally and personally. Educators need to see the whole picture of
how culture and context impact teaching and learning.
Here again, the voices of Academy student respondents to the HSSSE (2007)
are worth noting. On question 6n: “I can be who I am at this school” 28.27 percent of
Academy students checked “Strongly agree,” compared to 17.91 of student
respondents nationwide. This reveals a 10.36 percentage difference. This survey data
suggests that Academy students are more likely than their peers nationwide to feel
understood while at school. Evidence suggests that because of the small size of the
school, the educators at Academy High do see the whole child and this is a factor
which contributes to academic achievement.
In interviews, teachers were unanimous in emphasizing the importance of the
small school. They invariably described their school as: “a small, caring
community,” or “a small, safe school.” The educators take full advantage of the
small size to guide their students through the education process. Typical of his
colleagues, technology teacher Ruben was unequivocal about the fundamental role
that school size plays in regards to student outcomes:

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Small school setting. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a connection
between how small we are versus how successful we are becoming. Because
of this familial setting that we have, we can sort of nab them when they don’t
do well. We are able to come across in a way that can be projected easily.
When we say that we’ve got to raise our tests scores, it is easy to come across
to 525 students as opposed to 1500 students. The small school setting
contributes to [our academic achievement].

In spite of their students’ academic achievements, such as a two hundred
point gain in the Academic Performance Index, Academy High educators often state
that although they are on the right road, they do have concerns, often centered on the
lack of homework completed. To improve student learning and test scores, several
teachers stated that they struggle to find ways to motivate students to do assigned
reading at home. Too many students rely on class work alone to learn, rather than
making the effort to complete reading assignments at home.
The government teacher suggested the idea of daily reading quizzes. He also
noted: “We’re still struggling with how to make, or how to encourage students to
take personal responsibility for their own success.” He showed the “sticky notes” he
has on his computer to remind him to remind various students about the work they
have yet to submit. Missing assignments are the main cause for low final grades. He
emphasized how much effort teachers put into trying to get students to succeed. “It’s
a lot of extra work to force the students to be engaged, and make them turn their
work in, but it does have payoffs.” He offered the idea of a kill-switch to
automatically turn off home televisions until homework is completed.
This teacher’s observations are supported by research (Cotton, 2001) which
shows that urban youth need to be shown the connection between responsibility for

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class work, effort and academic achievement. In addition, student survey data, which
will be presented later in this study, provide evidence that Academy High students
do not spend much time on task, specifically doing written homework and studying
for class.
The ideas offered thus far: knowing the whole child, setting high
expectations, motivating and reminding students, provide evidence that Academy
High educators utilize strategies that Thompson (2004) identified as effective for
using with students of color, as cited earlier in this study. The first five of these
strategies are abbreviated again: 1. let students know you care, 2. let students see you
as a real human being, 3. have high expectations, 4. keep reminding students of the
big picture, 5. get to know students on a personal level (Thompson, 2004, p. 65). The
following three pages include statements from Academy High alumni and provide
further evidence that these educators utilize strategies such as Thompson’s to address
their students’ learning needs.
Several Academy High alumni described how they benefited from teachers
extra efforts for their education. For the first annual alumni day on December 18,
2007, there were about twenty alumni on stage answering the moderator’s and
students’ questions. Most of the questions focused on college life. Yet specific
questions kept the alumni reflecting back on their experiences at Academy High.
One alumnus referred to the big support system at Academy High and how teachers
helped and pushed students. Another alumnus stated that when he got to college he
already knew how to manage his time and college was actually easier than high

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school. A third stated that at Academy High they were nurtured and cared for before
they were catapulted out. A fourth alumnus stated that the adults at Academy High
push the students because they care and they want students to do more than work at a
minimum wage job.
One alumnus gave a statistic as evidence of the result of all that pushing.
Marco, Class of 2006, stated that he entered Academy High with a 1.80 grade point
average. As a result of the adults pushing him, he graduated with a 3.80 grade point
average. He is now enrolled at the University of Hawaii, where his only big
challenge was: “finding people like me, Hispanics.” He explained that while Hawaii
is a melting pot there are only five Mexicans at his university. He felt that his high
school prepared him well for college work. These comments from Marco, as well as
alumni comments above, provide evidence that Academy High educators utilize
strategies such as Thompson’s cited earlier.
Another alumnus, Natasha, Class of 2005, provided insight as to the deep
significance that the term “familial culture” has for her:
This school has always been my second home since freshmen year. […] In
elementary, I […] never liked school, never, never, never. […] I went to
junior high; I hated school. I just went because I had to. […] But as soon as I
came to this school, it was totally different. It changed my mind. I actually
had hopes. I wanted to go to college. It was hard to convince my parents to
allow me to go to college. […Academy High] was my second home; it was
my support. It was the one that guided me to towards where I needed to be. It
convinced my parents […] that going to college was a good thing, not a bad
thing. I just love this school. That’s why I’m back.

Natasha’s comments support the quotation from English teacher Mark at the
beginning of this chapter, that for some Academy students the school provides the

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necessary family support that students may not get at home. Natasha’s comments
also underscore the findings of Dembo (2004) that some students: “can’t visualize
any future different from the present. This situation requires a different type of
career education program and social experiences that broaden students’ views” (p.
28). Clearly, Academy High educators offered Natasha a different type of education
from that which she had experienced in her K-8 schooling, and they broadened her
views. Together this allowed her to visualize and act on a future quite different from
the norm in her environment outside of school.
Natasha enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles in the fall of
2005. She was surprised to find that a lot of students there could not even use Power
Point. In spite of her technological advantage, she left the university following her
second semester, in part because the university is huge. She was not able to make the
connections like those she had cherished at Academy High. She now works as an
Instructional Aide at Academy High and is completing courses at a community
college. She is enrolled to enter Pitzer College as a Junior in the fall of 2008. When
asked if she might return to Academy High as a teacher in the fall of 2011, her eyes
light up. She readily analyzes and admires the teaching styles of the three teachers
for whom she is working at the Academy. She especially admires how one teacher
provides a “hook” for students to remember lessons.
When asked if she knows what the school mission or vision is, she states that
she does not know what is written on paper, but she offers what she thinks the
mission statement must be, based on her experiences at the school:

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To open the students’ eyes and to show them that they could become
someone in life. A lot of students go to school because they have to, not
because they really want to. Sometimes they don’t have that support at home
or anywhere else. This is where they get it. The teachers really opened the
students’ eyes as to what the world is and help them become productive
citizens in society. When I came here, […] I didn’t see anything else for my
life. I didn’t see anything other than working. I am the first one in my family
to go to college. To me, it was an eye-opener, and I know for a lot of
students, especially Hispanic people, we didn’t have that in mind […] This
school changed our lives completely, for a lot of students. So I think that’s
their mission. To guide us to where we have to be and to give us that push
that we need, to become successful people.

As evidenced in the words of this alumnus, Academy High is successful at ‘opening
the eyes’ of these urban youth and helping them make the necessary connections
between school work and future aspirations, as espoused by research (Dembo, 2004,
Haberman, 1999).
When asked how the students learned that they could become productive
citizens, Natasha cited an incident on the first day of her freshman year at Academy
High. All the freshmen were in the conference room and they were told that they had
to build towers with flash cards. The students were afraid. They were certain that
they could not build the towers. Teachers kept encouraging students. Eventually, the
students succeeded and were amazed; their towers did not fall down. For Natasha
this was a pivotal moment and it came to exemplify the cycle of her four years at
Academy High: struggle, encouragement, struggle, success.
That’s how they are. They let you struggle a little in terms of work. They
explain to you and then […] you struggle. But then they give you a little push
and you get it and you feel so good about yourself. When it comes to another
problem, or whatever we’re working on, you already have that initiative
inside of you. You already know, “Yes, I can do it. I can do it.”

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One success builds on another. A scared freshman student four years later is a
confident graduate with his or her personalized roadmap for success.
Research (Dembo, 2004, Marzano, 2003) has shown that some urban students
need guidance such as this to overcome learned and debilitating reactions to success
versus failure. As explained earlier, Dembo found that for some urban students there
is “ability versus effort dilemma”; for these students, effort is threatening (p. 28).
Marzano (2003) explained that some people are “success oriented”; they readily take
on new challenges because they know the rewards of success. Other people are
“failure avoidant”; they often set up barriers to successful completion of a task so
that failure can be attributed to something other than lack of ability (p. 145). Failure
avoidant students would likely benefit from the supportive environment such as at
Academy High, however, it is beyond the scope of this study to determine the effect
of school environment on students with “ability versus effort dilemma.”
Natasha’s explanation of the struggle of learning exemplifies the concept that
success in school is a matter of effort, and educators can generate student effort
(Cotton, 2001, Haberman, 1999). As stated by Victoria, Assistant Principal, above:
Knowing the whole child - that’s where we as a small school are blessed.
Being a small learning community, we know our kids on a different level,
what their abilities are. And that allows us to bring them forward. Knowing
the whole child helps you achieve the standards.

The positive educational experiences of alumni Leticia, Marco and Natasha
as well as the philosophy articulated by Victoria are substantiated by researchers,
such as Nieto (1999): “research concerning what works with Latino students has

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consistently found that they respond positively to high expectations, educational
environments characterized by caring and respect, positive and close relationships
with their teachers” (p. 202). In addition, Thompson (2004) reported that there is a
positive correlation between girl students having high self-esteem and meaningful
relationships with teachers.
Safety was another component of the familial culture at the school that
stakeholders repeatedly mentioned. The fact that Academy High is safe is a big draw
for students and parents alike. Marco stated that he chose to attend Academy High
because it is known to have a very safe environment. He felt that other high schools
were dangerous. Sam, the district’s technology wizard stated:
The first thing the parents know about us is that it is a safe place.
Technology comes second. […] If you really take a parent on the side and
question them, they would tell you that this is a safe place. Kids don’t get
beat up on the way here or in here. […] That is the culture of the school.

According to Sam, safety is a part of the school’s culture. As evidenced throughout
this study, when stakeholders discussed key factors, it became evident that those
factors are interconnected. Again, Haberman (1999) is emphatic about the need to
create a positive climate at urban schools, countering the violence often in evidence
in urban settings. When a high school campus is safe and orderly, teachers and
students can focus on teaching and learning (Cotton, 2001, Holland, 2002).
There was one question on the both the administrators’ and teachers’ surveys
related to school safety. The question: “School safety is clearly a priority on this
campus?” 100 percent of administrators and teachers checked: “I agree.”

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There were four questions on the HSSSE related to school safety which will
be examined here. The first two questions are: 6.c “I feel safe in this school” and 6.d
“I am treated fairly in this school” (HSSSE, 2007). On these two questions, all four
grades of Academy High student respondents were above the national mean by such
a degree that the difference was probably not due to chance.
In terms of percentages for “I feel safe in this school,” 31.95 percent of
Academy High students checked “Strongly agree “(the most favorable response
possible) compared to 16.55 percent of student respondents nationwide. The
frequency of this choice among Academy High students was nearly double the
frequency nationwide. For “I am treated fairly in this school” 20.00 percent of
Academy High students checked “Strongly agree” compared to 13.25 percent of
students nationwide. On this question there is a 6.75 percentage difference between
Academy High students and students nationwide.
The next two questions concerning school safety begin with: “During this
school year, how often have you done each of the following?” For 7.y “Been picked
on or been bullied by another student,” 62.39 percent of Academy High students
checked “Never” compared to 44.61 percent of student respondents nationwide. This
reveals a 17.78 percentage difference between Academy High students and student
respondents nationwide. For 7.z “Picked on or bullied another student” 62.18 percent
of Academy High students checked “Never” compared to 54.60 percent of student
respondents nationwide. This reveals a 7.58 percentage difference between the
Academy students and their peers.

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The survey results from these three different stakeholders, administrators,
teachers and students reveal that Academy High educators have successfully taken
measures to ensure campus safety and to provide students with an alternative to
learned patterns of violent reactions. These survey results will be triangulated with
interview and observation data presented below.
Assistant Principal Victoria admitted that the most frequent student
infractions are gum chewing and cell phone use. However administrators also deal
with bullying and harassment. In the fall of 2007 the number of student fights was on
the rise. In addition, cyber bullying was a problem, not surprising with such a
technologically savvy student body. Victoria and Kathy, a founding teacher, address
these developments with their Peer Leadership program and the Associated Student
Body (ASB) - Student Council. They strive to triangulate leadership across the
student body. One alumnus stated that Peer Counseling helped students learn anger
management. Here too, strategies used at Academy High are grounded in research
(Haberman, 1999, Thompson, 2004) which identifies the need for schools to help
students find alternative strategies for dealing with anger.
Government teacher, Will, observed: “If [students] are responsible for little
things, that gives them success and incentive to be responsible for bigger things.” In
his 12
th
grade government class, in keeping with the Mission Statement, he
emphasizes the need for students to become socially responsible citizens. To that
end, he gives students extra credit for going to the local Teen Court once a month.
There they can see how teenagers who are in trouble with the law are judged by a

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panel of their peers. Will also referred to the positive influence of the ASB and the
small school size:
The student government is active in providing fun activities […] without
interfering with the school day. We don’t have any cheerleaders, we don’t
have any sports teams. The emphasis is on the academics. […] There is no
pecking order that I’m aware of at this school. There are no hierarchies of
jocks and nerds. Everyone is in the same social order here.

These observations support Coleman’s (1961) findings regarding the inordinate
influence school athletics had over students. Athletic prowess was much more valued
in adolescent culture than intellectual endeavor. Given the absence of sports at
Academy High, the emphasis returns to academics, and technology. As one
alumnus, quoted earlier, stated: Technology became our sport.
Earlier in this chapter Multimedia Program Administrator, Sam, explained
how the technology acceleration process begins for newly graduated eighth graders
in the Summer Session. In the same Summer Session, students also become initiated
into the carefully honed Academy High learning culture. Assistant Principal Victoria
explained that Peer Counselors and Freshmen Friends work with new freshmen in
the Summer Session to read, discuss and study Seven Habits of Highly Effective
Teens, by Sean Covey. The students are also guided in creating a personal portfolio,
to be continued in their first year in high school. Again, these specific programs are
supported by researchers (Haberman, 1999, Thompson, 2004) who urge schools to
teach students anger management strategies as well as positive habits for life, as a
step to becoming self-regulated learners (Dembo, 2004).

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In various ways mentioned, including Peer Leadership, Peer Counseling,
Associated Student Body, attendance at Teen Court, Seven Habits, Freshmen Friends
and ninth graders’ personal portfolios, the adults at Academy High are consciously
working to mold their adolescents into a community of learners. As cited earlier in
this study, Coleman (1961), urged educators: “[…] to learn how to control the
adolescent community as a community, and to use it to further the ends of
education” (p. 12). Educators at Academy High use specific strategies to shape their
adolescent community and enhance the process of education.
A different way of enhancing the education process became evident in the
2006-07 school year, when immigration marches spread across the United States,
bringing students along with them. Government teacher, Will, explained that the
educators at Academy High acknowledged that students wanted to make a statement,
so they scheduled a Cesar Chavez day and encouraged students to make a statement
at school. Academy students created posters, timelines and information sheets on the
rights and needs of immigrants. The students’ works were posted on the walls. A
beautiful Aztec inspired banner created then still decorates the main entrance.
Students also participated in a school-organized boycott march around their mall
building.
In their response to immigration marches, educators at Academy High
encouraged students to bring their own ideas and experiences into the school “where
teachers helped to put the students’ realities into a broader context” (Holland, 2002,
p. 34). By beginning with the students’ frame of interest and helping them see it

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within a larger context of influences, Academy High educators were promoting
“policies and practices that underscore diversity as a value to be affirmed rather than
an obstacle to be confronted and obliterated” (Nieto, 1999, p. 196). This is the sort
of instruction which Thompson (2004) encouraged: “a culturally relevant pedagogy
involves educating and empowering students holistically” (p. 206). Unlike the
attendance at many other high schools, at Academy High there was no dip in
attendance on the days of the immigration marches, because the students were
educated and empowered on their high school campus.
The principal, Dr. P, explained: “We work as a team. Everyone contributes.
We have built a school culture; I hope it will take on a life of its own.” The ASB is
used to establish the system and tone of the school. Research (Holland, 2002) has
shown that effective principals, such as Dr. P, share responsibilities and include the
professional learning community in the decision making process. The principal
added that her role is to monitor and create the environment and culture of the school
and to ensure that it stays in place. This is exactly what Haberman (1999)
admonishes: the school principal has a pivotal role in creating a safe, positive school
culture.
Evidence suggests that the principal is successful in her self-identified role.
The established culture appears to be sustainable. Students know that they are a part
of a community, and this fosters a sense of ownership among the student body. One
benefit of this sense of ownership is that students at Academy High do not steal,
even though it would appear that they have ample opportunity. Easily transportable

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electronic items could simply disappear into a student’s backpack. Teachers and
administrators emphasized that theft does not happen at Academy High. Counselor
and teacher, Raphael, confirmed:
[Students] know they are accountable to each other. They are accountable to
their teachers. They own, in a large part, a piece of what’s happening here.
We don’t have a lot of fights. We don’t have drug problems. We don’t have
really embedded destructive forces happening here. Students know that.
Students’ parents send them here because they see it as a safe school. The
parent may not even care much about the technology or the resources that we
offer, but know it is safe and small. Their child won’t get lost in a sea of
faces. It’s like family in a lot of ways. I hope that they take that concept with
them, we all hope that.

Here is evidence that Academy students do “care about the consequences of their
behavior” (Haberman, 1999, p. 50).
In another research study (Holland, 2002) students who had moved from a
large school to a small school reported that although they would get into fights in the
large school they would not do so at their small high school. The reasons they gave
for not fighting were that they did not want to disappoint their teachers and their
peers, and it was not an accepted part of the culture. These students recognized that
their education community was valuable to them and they could no longer hide
behind the anonymity inherent at the large high school. These students’ comments
echo the observations of Raphael, above, that the students at Academy High are
accountable to each other. A question on the HSSSE relates to this accountability. In
response to question 6i.v: “I feel supported by the following people at this school:
other students” (HSSSE, 2007), 32.07 percent of Academy High students checked
“strongly agree” compared to 20.10 percent of students nationwide. This 11.97

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percentage difference provides evidence of the positive, supportive culture at this
school which engenders accountability amongst students.
Academy High’s culture appears to be a part of a cycle. The adults work as a
team to create a school culture. They utilize strategies, including student leaders, to
create a buy-in to that culture on the part of the student body. This engenders student
ownership of the learning culture. Student ownership then strengthens and validates
the culture. As will be discussed next, the physical environment contributes to the
safety of the school; it is an inherent part of the cycle.
Academy High has a sealed environment. It is ensconced in the far west end
of the mall. Most classrooms touch the outside wall of the former mall, but none of
them open to the outside world. On the inside, the classrooms open onto a hallway
which is roughly circular, like a donut. The circular aspect of the hallway is not
immediately evident, and its configuration suggests that there are other hallways
connected to it. Intentional or not, this hallway gives the illusion that the school may
be bigger than it really is. Five classrooms and student restrooms are built on the
inside of this circular hallway, in the hole of the donut; they are not connected to the
outside wall of the mall. All classrooms have large windows facing onto the inside
hallway. The windows were a part of the initial conception of the school, to allow
visitors to view the strengths of the school, teaching and learning, without disturbing
the teachers and students.
The large windows make it easy to compare the school to a fishbowl. Less
obvious to the visitor is the concept that all participants swim around the fishbowl,

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Teaching and
Learning
Figure 2: Cyclical Nature of the Learning Environment
Small,
Familial,
Safe,
Learning
Environment

Student
Ownership
Of the
Culture

Support
and
Teamwork
Teaching and
Learning
via the circular hallway, all day long, like schools of fish. Administrators say that
they troll the loop. The three administrators and two proctors (or security) troll the
hallway during passing periods. Technology teacher, Ruben, observed: “So we are
all fishes streaming around. If you keep going, it is never ending. There are fishes
going in circles, but some go the other way. That’s exactly us. How apropos.” The
cyclical aspect of the school plant contributes to and underscores the cyclical
character of its familial learning culture, as depicted in Figure 2 below.

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Teacher Experience and Collegiality
The fact that most Academy teachers have had careers prior to teaching was
identified by stakeholders as an additional factor that contributes to academic
achievement. At the end of an interview, when asked if there were any factor that he
had not yet mentioned, alumnus Marco stated:
All the teachers that work here have had some background career. Mrs. T.
[science teacher] was in the Health Professions. Ms. B. [mathematics
teacher] was in business, accounting I think. Mr. S., English [teacher was in
business…] They all had some kind of background career; […] they know
what they’re teaching you. That really works out with the students. […] They
are not just a teacher, they’ve had a career so they know what they are
teaching you.

Faculty also recognized the positive aspects of having come to teaching as a
second career and the effect that may have on students’ academic achievement.
Representative of his colleagues, geometry teacher Kent declared: “Our staff is
unique also in that we do have so many people with second career jobs. I don’t know
if that’s because Dr. P [the principal] prefers those or if it just happened.”
There are several teachers to add to the list begun by Marco, above. The
social studies teacher retired from a 23 year career as an electrician. He stated that he
had not had the opportunity to go to college after high school. When he qualified for
retirement from his first career his goal was to earn his college degree and teach. He
is now writing his Master’s thesis. Kent, the geometry and calculus teacher worked
for 15 years as a process engineer. A science teacher had previous careers as a
landscape designer and a priest. One English teacher graduated from law school;

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after a short career in corporate finance, he decided he would rather teach. Another
English teacher first worked as a magazine publisher.
One technology teacher, Ruben, earned a degree in English and worked in
journalism and broadcasting. Then he began his teaching career. His broadcasting
skills are put to good use when students in the ROP course Filmmaking/Animation I,
need to have a professional announcer. He is also the teacher who initiated and
organized the first Academy High Alumni Day, held in December, 2007. The alumni
were on stage for three sessions, each one lasting for more than an hour. By the end
of the day all current students had had the opportunity to listen to the experience of
those who came before. Ruben’s broadcasting experience was in evidence as he was
the moderator for the day-long event.
Ruben commented that he had initiated an Alumni Day at the high school
where he had worked a few years prior, but the administrators at Academy High
were much easier to work with. They did not create roadblocks to initiatives from the
faculty. Regarding his colleagues at Academy High, he observed:
The faculty drives the school. They are the ones that sort of come up with the
ideas. I am always amazed at our staff meetings. I ponder what people say.
There is no stopping what our ideas our. [Ideas] do not die with the
administration, [they] are open.

Here again is evidence of the circular nature of the culture: talented, caring faculty
with an administration that supports their ingenuity. As cited earlier in this study,
Haberman (1999) emphasized the need for this type school culture: “school
leadership has two goals: to elicit voluntary commitment to shared purposes, and to

189
create the conditions of work that will enable the staff, teachers, and children to be
successful” (Haberman, 1999, p. 18).
The algebra teacher first worked in banking for 10 years then began her
teaching career. She conducts her class with the mastery of a symphony conductor.
Her professional tool bag is well equipped. She deftly utilizes classroom
management techniques to get full participation from all students. The student who
wants to hide in the back of the room, cannot do so. Marzano (2003) found there are
two essential characteristics of an effective teacher: 1. the ability to quickly catch
and deal with problems, 2. the ability to remain emotionally objective. The algebra
teacher demonstrated that she has both of these characteristics of an effective
teacher.
The algebra teacher stated that she began teaching six years ago as an intern.
She had had no prior courses in pedagogy. She learned to teach math through district
inservice and conferences. When asked how she acquired her classroom
management skills, she replied that to a large extent she focused on the way her
mother taught her, when she was a child. Thompson (2004), who taught in public
middle and secondary schools in California for 14 years, explained that her
classroom management style also developed from her upbringing and her
personality, rather than from teacher training courses. Thompson (2004) said she was
known for being “strict and authoritative” (p. 70).
In her six year teaching career the algebra teacher has created two learning
videos for her students. The videos are set to music and feature the teacher and her

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students dancing while repeating a catchy pneumonic for students to learn and
memorize equations. The second video, on quadratic equations, was filmed by Sam’s
students in his ROP Filmmaking course. Here is another piece of evidence of the
cyclical character of the Academy High learning culture.
The chemistry teacher worked in the chemical industry for 15 years prior to
beginning her teaching career. Early in fall semester, when introducing students to
atomic structure, she had them work in class on an assignment comparing
supermarkets to the atomic table. Students worked at organizing their “atomic table
store.” The teacher found the lesson on line.
Later that semester, the chemistry teacher commented that the Benchmark
tests would be given soon. She expressed concern that she had spent too much class
time on the atomic structure and not enough time on ions. Chemistry students are
expected to learn many standards and she struggles between teaching for mastery
(using cooperative learning, skits and games to help students learn and remember
tables and formulas) versus covering the standards in the short amount of time
allotted. She says to one student: “Are you trying to phone someone with your
calculator?” The class laughs. It is time to collect the calculators and end class.
When they are ready, she dismisses them, without a bell.
In addition to the factor of teachers’ prior professional experience, teacher
collegiality was also identified by stakeholders. The large classroom windows are
symbolic of the cross-curricular faculty support. Many stakeholders commented how
the mathematics and science teachers incorporate writing into their lessons. The

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chemistry teacher emphasized that the teachers work as a team. The English
department will give her a writing rubric and explain how to use it. Research
(Holland, 2002) has found that this level of collaboration is evident across small high
schools. The chemistry teacher also stated that the teacher teamwork is probably not
just a fortuitous accident. The principal, Dr. P is very selective as to who she allows
to work at Academy High, as will be detailed later in this study.
English teacher, André, stated that a key factor for academic achievement is
that at Academy High: “There are professional teachers. […] Teachers who’ve lived
a real life. Who have brought forward their experiences and have been able to teach.”
He continued that he can ask for teaching advice, find out what works for that
teacher, from any teacher at Academy High. At other schools where he has worked,
teachers worked alone and did not interact. Technology teacher Ruben also was
emphatic about the collegiality, which motivates him personally as well as
professionally:
I worked at [a comprehensive high school] prior to this and I sort of did my
own thing. That’s the sort of thinking in old school teaching. You close your
door and you do your own thing. Here I get to work with individuals who are
very smart, who know technology and know how to apply it. It has only
enhanced my curriculum; it has enhanced my view on how technology
works. I am also proud that I get to work with an administrative team that is
supportive.

The observations of teachers André and Ruben are supported by research.
Holland (2002) reports that small high schools are more likely than large high
schools to have professional communities which are identified by teacher
collaboration, satisfaction and a shared sense of commitment to academic

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achievement. The cohesive professional community directly and positively leads to
improved student outputs (Holland, 2002, p. 8). When teachers have efficacy
(Cotton, 2001, Marzano, 2003), they know that their efforts will lead to students’
academic achievement and they are more motivated to put forth the necessary effort.
All Academy High teachers sign up once in the school year to make a formal
presentation to parents on Parent Night, which is held every other month. One
English teacher attends every Parent Night and prior to each one he works with
students to create a skit, which is presented to the parents. A Spanish teacher
explained that teachers are constantly working together to help students succeed.
Informal collaboration occurs before, during and after the school day. In addition, all
teachers provide after school tutoring. They submit a schedule to office staff which is
then posted, listing which teachers are available to provide tutoring on any given day
after school.
English teacher Mark observed that during the five years he has taught at
Academy High, it has always been the cleanest public institution he has seen. As
stated earlier in this study, maintaining high expectations for all includes the
custodial and maintenance staffs as well as the teaching and administrative staffs.
Haberman (1999) posits that students in the classroom need to have evidence that the
adults in charge are responsible and dedicated to their education. Just by walking on
to the clean Academy High campus a visitor has evidence that the staff has high
expectations for themselves as well as for their students.

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Many stakeholders emphasized what slowly becomes obvious to a visitor.
The academic success at Academy High is the result of long hours, very careful
planning and years of collective professional experience seeking to meet the
education needs of these lower socioeconomic students. This provides evidence for
the guiding theme of this study (Cotton, 2001, Haberman, 1999) that educators must
model a work-hard ethic to generate student effort leading to academic achievement.
The principal was emphatic that a crucial factor to academic achievement is
the teachers. They set the expectations; they deliver the content; they do the hard
work, and they collaborate. She emphasized that the staff puts a lot of energy into
improving student outcomes. English teacher, Mark agreed with the principal:
All teachers are working very hard to increase student success in terms of
standardized testing, and learning and being better adults. We utilize
everything we have within our professional abilities, plus our technology,
plus our school culture to accomplish that. Emphasis by the teachers to really
produce a good quality education for the students: to put together great
lessons, to have patience with the students, to educate them. We place a very
high regard on education. It really boils down to the teachers being very
dedicated to providing students with a quality product. And of course, the
administrative staff supports us in that.

Mark clearly agrees that the faculty works hard. He then adds the inextricable piece
about a supportive administration. In this he is representative of his colleagues, as is
Ruben, quoted earlier. Mark continued that district policies are good and district
office personnel are also supportive:
From the Superintendent on down, they tend to have a real feeling of the
importance of what we are doing here is educating our youth. It’s not an easy
job, but we are supported in what we do. I get the feeling we are all going in
the same direction, which is good. I feel that way about everybody I meet in
the district as well.

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As stated by several teachers, this dedicated, hard working faculty is
sustained in their mission by a supportive administration. This, the third and final
element of the Academy High culture, will be explored next.
Supportive Administration
As evidenced by the various quotations from stakeholders, ending with Mark
above, Academy High teachers regularly acknowledged the support they get from
the three site administrators. Teachers stated that the three administrators work well
together. One teacher said that the three work seamlessly. All three administrators
have a common goal: to equip students to be technically, intellectually and socially
equipped to succeed in life.
The HSSSE (2007) had a question related to the students’ perception of
administration: 6.i.ii “I feel supported by […] administrators.” 14.92 percent of
Academy High students marked: “Strongly agree” as compared to 8.83 of the
respondents nationwide. This reveals a 6.09 percentage difference.
The teachers recognized the supportive administration, and inevitably, they
mentioned the administrative skill of the principal. One English teacher, André,
compared the principal’s administrative expertise to that of a symphony conductor:
There are millions of ideas in this world and most of them just don’t work.
To have actually gotten something like this to work, as much as it has is a
real testament to her [the principal’s] administrative skill. Like an orchestra. I
can play a piano, but I can’t put fifty instruments together. I can hear a horn
and a flute, but I cannot imagine how somebody can put that orchestra
together. There is nothing easy about it. It’s beautiful once you hear it.
Anybody who hasn’t tried it doesn’t know how hard that is. Most
administrators I’ve known have failed. I have never seen someone succeed to
this level.

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André’s ideas are corroborated by research (Cotton, 2001, Haberman, 1999)
which shows that the school principal is crucial to creating a safe, positive school
culture. Throughout this chapter, stakeholders have suggested the principal’s
influence in various ways. For example, the chemistry teacher stated that the
principal is very selective as to who she allows to work at Academy High. Some
have wondered if the principal had planned to include so many teachers who came to
teaching as a second career.
Many teachers credit the principal with trusting them as professionals and
protecting them from bureaucratic demands. The need to trust teachers as
professionals is underscored by Tyack and Cuban (1995), “educators have often
responded to flurries of reforms imposed from the outside-often inconsistent in
philosophy and program-by hunkering down and reassuring themselves that this, too,
shall pass” (p.135). Regarding the protection from bureaucratic demands which
teachers suggested, André offered a high tech possibility: “I’m not sure if Dr. P [the
principal] has put invisible fences at the gates […] to keep bureaucrats out of here.
We don’t feel pressure down our neck conforming to the latest standard that was just
passed down yesterday.” Again, André’s idea is supported by research. Haberman
(1999) referred to the chaos of regulations and changes which can emanate from the
district office. An ineffective principal allows all the chaos to fall on the school staff.
When asked to reveal her strategies for creating such a positive working
environment for teachers, Dr. P did not mention an invisible fence. She did,
however, give a short list: 1. feed the teachers, 2. support the teachers, 3. encourage

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professional development. She feeds the teachers by providing food at the weekly
faculty meetings and on the evenings of Back to School night.
She supports the teachers in a myriad ways, many referred to in stakeholder
quotations throughout this chapter. English teacher Mark stated that from the
superintendent on down, everyone believes in the importance of what teachers are
trying to do: educate our youth. Technology teacher Ruben gave an example of that
support, quoted above. He said that faculty ideas “do not die with the administration,
[they] are open.” English teacher André said that teachers do not feel pressure to
conform. The principal demonstrated support of teachers when she stated, above,
that teachers are very hard working and they are the key factor to academic
achievement.
Regarding her strategies for creating a positive culture for teachers, the
principal simply stated that she trusts teachers as professionals to deliver their
content knowledge and engage students in the learning process. Trust seems to be the
key term here. An additional way in which she supports teachers is by giving them
time and space. For the first six weeks of the school year the three administrators are
supportive and encouraging of teachers without being overbearing. It is likely that
this courtesy engenders reciprocal trust.
At a morning faculty meeting in the fall of 2007 one teacher expressed
frustration with the school’s computer grading program. The computer technician
present at the meeting told the teacher to just go to the website. The teacher was
clearly not satisfied. Before that school day ended however the technician stated that

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he felt he should have been more patient with the teacher. The teacher reported that
the technician had spent time with him that afternoon to personally explain how to
resolve the problem. The principal showed that she was aware of this exchange and
stated that this was how she expects teachers to be supported.
On the third point, above, the principal said that she strives to build capacity
with teachers by encouraging professional development. At Academy High, that
capacity includes knowledge of content, pedagogy and technology. The district
offers a wealth of professional development opportunities and teachers are
encouraged to participate. The principal tries to set the example by looking for ways
to do things differently, and encouraging all staff to do the same. The researcher
noted that the ways in which the administration applied to and embraced both the
NASA Explorer School, as well as the Early College program are surely examples of
the administration modeling for staff the import of seeking new strategies to enhance
student learning and academic achievement.
When it comes to recruiting and hiring teachers, the principal stated that all
principals in the district are trained in using Robert Marzano strategies. Marzano and
Associates hold summer symposiums to help K-12 districts and schools engage in
school reform. The principal stated that the strategies she has learned have been
useful at eliminating potential teachers from the candidate pool. Candidates are
eliminated based on their answers to key questions regarding working with a student
population such as that at Academy High. The principal believes in students’
potential and she employs teachers who think likewise. This is also in keeping with

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concepts of Haberman (1999) that principals of at-risk youth must believe they can
succeed academically.
The principal emphasized that the district has been very technology and data
driven. Here again, the district provides plenty of opportunities for both the
administrative and teaching staff to learn about technology and the use of data to
improve student learning. She said that she regularly reviews the school’s Mission
and Vision statements with her two assistant principals, always with the intent of
finding ways to better match their product to these guiding statements. Indeed, when
she was interviewed earlier in this data collection process, the principal demonstrated
that she had nearly memorized the Mission and Vision statements.
Finally, the principal noted that teachers at Academy High are very good at
identifying areas for professional growth. At the end of every school year she has
teachers evaluate themselves and identify areas for their own professional growth,
known as Process Objectives. She stated that teachers are willing to evaluate
themselves honestly because they feel supported in their work. Assistant Principal
Victoria expanded on this concept. She explained that the district places greater
emphasis on Process Objectives than on the Stuhl bill (a regular teacher evaluation
process used in California).
The principal’s leadership corresponds well with the findings of excellent
leadership in industry. Collins (2001) found that great companies first hired the
right, self-disciplined people for the company and then gave them freedom and
responsibility within a framework. Great companies also avoided tyranny from the

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top (Collins, 2001, p. 124). The principal of Academy High does hire the right, self-
disciplined staff for the high school and she gives them freedom and responsibility.
Teachers provided ample evidence that she is not a tyrannical leader. Collins’
findings regarding excellent leadership in industry can be applied equally well in
analyzing the leadership of this outperforming urban high school.
As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, stakeholders continually
recognized the efforts of other team players. The principal was no different. She
stated that since the school’s inception, students have helped shape it. She
acknowledged that all staff puts tremendous effort into student performance.
Regarding her administration of the school, she said: “It’s like putting together a
puzzle. The district trusts us to make it come alive.” In this she echoes the words of
English teacher, Mark above: “I get the feeling we are all going in the same
direction, which is good. I feel that way about everybody I meet in the district as
well.” Here again is evidence of the circular nature of the culture: a hard-working
faculty with an administration that supports their efforts and a district office which
trusts them to make it come alive, which, in turn, reinforces and validates the efforts
of the faculty.
Summary of data on first research question
This chapter presented the data collected at Academy High. The data
collection focused on answering two research questions which provided the focus for
this mixed-methods case study. The first research question: What factors contribute
to academic achievement in this outperforming urban high school? The first

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revelation was the initial vision which led to the creation of Academy High and is
still the foundation for the school’s Vision Statement. Thus far Chapter Four has
been organized according to the four most prominent themes identified by
stakeholders: the original vision, technology used as a tool, career preparation, and
the embedded culture. Stakeholders identified that these four factors contribute to
academic achievement. Care was taken to ground this chapter in the words of the
stakeholders and to that end to accurately represent stakeholders’ professional
experiences, ideas and observations.
Second research question
The remainder of this chapter will focus on the data collected to answer the
second research question. The research question: Is there a link between student
engagement and student achievement in an outperforming urban high school? To
begin, the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) privileges student
voices thereby providing insight from the source as to the level of student
engagement at Academy High.
As explained earlier in this study HSSSE (2007) organizes survey questions
according to dimensions of engagement. HSSSE provides the national as well as the
Academy High mean per grade level. HSSSE then gives the national overall mean
and Academy High’s overall mean for each dimension. The national mean serves as
a point of comparison for Academy High’s student respondents.
The first dimension: “Cognitive/Intellectual/Academic Engagement,”
includes questions concerning classroom and non-classroom related learning

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activities (Yazzie-Mintz, 2007). There are sixty-five questions in the dimension of
Academic Engagement, such as number 5: “How many hours do you spend in a
typical seven-day week: a. Doing written homework, b. Reading and studying for
class, c. Reading for yourself.” As well as, number 6.k: “Teachers try to engage me
in classroom discussions.” 6.l: “I am challenged academically by my class work.”
Number 7.f: “Written a paper of fewer than five pages,” 7.g: “Written a paper of
more than five pages.” The Academy students’ overall mean is 35.30, slightly
higher than the national mean of 34.48. With just a .82 percent difference in these
two means, these differences may be due to chance. This suggests that Academy
students are comparable with the rest of the nation in terms of academic engagement.
When analyzing student responses nationwide on the academic engagement
dimension Yazzie-Mintz (2007) noted that these are low levels of academic
engagement. He concludes that students are not sufficiently prepared for university
level work. Nationally, as well as at Academy High, there is need for improvement
regarding Academic Engagement.
Only 12.93 percent of Academy students report spending six or more hours
per week doing written homework. In contrast, 46 percent of Academy students
report spending zero to one hour per week doing written homework. In addition,
only 8.64 percent of Academy students report spending six or more hours per week
reading or studying for class. In contrast, 59.05 percent of Academy students report
spending zero to one hour per week reading or studying for class. In conclusion,
more than half of Academy students report spending one hour or less weekly

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engaged in homework. These results are in line with the findings of Yazzie-Mintz
(2007) that nationwide many high school students are not sufficiently engaged in
high school academics to prepare for university level work.
A different HSSSE question reveals how many Academy High students do
spend their time. Question 5i: “Hours spent in a typical week: Watching television,
playing video games” (HSSSE, 2007). 31.31 percent of Academy students reported
spending six hours or more per week watching television and playing video games.
On this question Academy students’ time represented students nationwide. This
compares to the more than half of Academy students spending one hour or less on
homework weekly.
In interview data presented earlier in this chapter, Academy High educators
demonstrated that they are aware of and are working to improve student engagement
on the very topics presented in the HSSSE questions listed above. Several teachers
stated that they struggle to find ways to motivate students to do assigned reading at
home. Too many students rely on class work alone to learn, rather than making the
effort to complete reading assignments at home. The government teacher showed the
“sticky notes” he has on his computer to remind him to remind various students
about the work they have yet to submit. He emphasized how much effort teachers put
into trying to get students to succeed. He proposed the idea of a kill-switch to
automatically turn off home televisions until homework is completed.
Assistant Principal, Rudy, acknowledged that the HSSSE data points to a
need Academy High educators must address: getting students to do homework. He

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was not convinced that a television kill-switch was viable. Rudy did explain that
educators’ concern with lack of homework completion has been addressed for a few
years. For example, one step has been homework-specific trainings with parents at
bi-monthly parent meetings. Parents are taught to instill in their children the
necessity of doing homework and to provide students with a quiet place at home to
do homework. An upcoming parent meeting, planned by the teachers, has been titled:
Instill the Thrill of Education. Teachers will show parents how they can promote
school success at home. Rudy plans to invite alumni to these parent meetings to
provide personal commentary regarding the value of homework.
In addition, Academy High is involved in the federally funded Upward
Bound program, where the emphasis is getting adolescents ready for college.
Through this program local university students tutor at Academy High twice a week
in after school and Saturday workshops in preparation for the high school exit exam
and for Advanced Placement classes. Also through the Upward Bound program,
Academy High students visit the Berkeley and Santa Cruz campuses of the
University of California during summer vacation.
The programs explained above have been in place for a few years. In addition
to these programs, for the school year 2007-08 two alumni were hired to work at the
school four days a week. They tutor as needed in mathematics and English classes,
during class time and after school. Both alumni serve as role models to the current
Academy students. One of these alumni, Natasha, when interviewed for this study,

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demonstrated deep awareness of the importance for Academy students to fully
benefit from the educational program offered them.
These two alumni could be part of a renewed effort to produce greater
academic engagement among the Academy students. Creating and enacting an
enforceable school-wide minimum standard on homework may be a first step.
Absent the kill-switch on the home television, as suggested by the government
teacher, educators might enlist parents in turning off televisions until homework has
been completed.
The second engagement dimension is social/behavioral/participatory
engagement. This dimension involves engagement as a part of a learning community
(Yazzie-Mintz, 2007). Much of this dimension emphasizes programs, such as sports
and music, which are typical in a comprehensive high school, but do not exist at
Academy High. For that reason, this study will not focus on this engagement
dimension except to highlight one question. Number 16m: “School contributed to
growth: Understanding people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds.” 33.64 percent
of Academy students reported “very much” (the most favorable response). This
compares to 23.99 percent of respondents nationwide checking “very much.” This
9.65 percentage difference is unexpected given the homogeneity of the Academy
student body: 91 percent of the students are from the same ethnicity. Perhaps the
favorable response on this question is evidence of the positive learning culture at
Academy High.

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The third dimension of engagement identified by HSSSE is Emotional
Engagement. For this category of engagement, the Academy High means for grades
nine, eleven and twelve were above the corresponding national mean. Academy
students’ overall mean is 25.67 which is higher than the national mean of 24.40. The
probability level indicates that the differences of 1.27 in this engagement category
are probably not due to chance.
Some of the survey questions relating to Emotional Engagement include:
6a:“Overall, I feel good about being in this school.” 6b: “I care about this school.”
6c: “I feel safe in this school.” 6d: “I am treated fairly in this school.” 6e: “I have a
voice in classroom and/or school decisions.” 6f: “My opinions are respected in this
school.” On several of these questions all four grades of Academy High students
responded well above the national mean. Some of these questions and student
responses have already been addressed in the section on “Small, familial, safe
school.”
To return to the second research question: Is there a link between student
engagement and student achievement in an outperforming urban high school? It
appears that the students’ strong emotional engagement serves as a persuasive
connection to the learning culture of Academy High. This is a crucial first step
towards student achievement. However, that link needs to be strengthened on the
academic engagement end. The hard working Academy High educators might
analyze why the programs they have in place have served students so effectively in
the category of emotional engagement. There could well be strategies which they can

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take from current successes to ground renewed efforts to address their students’ need
to deepen their academic engagement.
Chapter Summary
This chapter presented the data collected at Academy High. The data
collection centered on answering two research questions which provided the focus
for this mixed-methods case study. The first research question was: What factors
contribute to academic achievement in this outperforming urban high school? The
first revelation was the initial vision which led to the creation of Academy High and
is still the foundation for the school’s Vision Statement. The four prominent themes
identified by stakeholders: the original vision, technology used as a tool, career
preparation and the embedded culture. Stakeholders identified that these four factors
contribute to academic achievement. Care was taken to ground this chapter in the
words of the stakeholders and to that end to accurately represent stakeholders’
professional experiences, ideas and observations.
The second research question: Is there a link between student engagement
and student achievement in an outperforming urban high school? Emotional
engagement provides a viable connection to the learning culture of Academy High.
This is a crucial first step towards student achievement. However, that link needs to
be strengthened on the academic engagement end. Academy High educators might
identify strategies which they can take from current successes to ground renewed
efforts to address their students’ need to deepen their academic engagement,
specifically in completion of homework and reading assignments. Addressing this

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need for homework completion, as one aspect of academic engagement, may
strengthen the link between student engagement and student achievement at
Academy High. This strengthened link may help propel the school’s Academic
Performance Index into the state-wide target of 800.
Fittingly, this chapter will close with the words of a teacher. Technology
teacher Ruben’s words demonstrate why this school was chosen for this case study:
Someone wise once told me that if you raise the bar high enough students
will always reach it. I just thought that’s impossible. There are too many
factors contributing that do not allow students to ever reach that bar. Things
at home, whatever. I am becoming more and more a proponent of that
statement. If we continue to raise the bar higher here, we can do better. I
don’t think we are high enough. I think we have come a long way,
considering how small we are. But I would like to shoot in the 800s too.

This teacher’s observation, that if adults raise the bar high enough students will reach
it, resonates with the words of alumnus Natasha, which will be cited again to begin
the final chapter of this study.

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CHAPTER 5:
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
But then they give you a little push and you get it and you feel so good about
yourself. When it comes to another problem, or whatever we’re working on, you
already have that initiative inside of you. You already know, “Yes, I can do it. I can
do it.”
Natasha, Academy High Alumnus

In 1841 the inventor of the blackboard was heralded as a great benefactor of
mankind (Tyack & Cuba, 1995). More than a century and a half later, the blackboard
remains an enduring symbol of the American classroom, even as it has changed from
black to green to white to smart. Education reforms too have evolved, but have kept
the same basic purpose: how best to teach America’s youth. Unfortunately,
reformers tend to treat schools as if they are easily molded, but Tyack and Cuban
argue that: “[…] good schools are more like healthy plants, needing good soil and
careful tending over long periods of time” (p. 113).
Summary
The good soil at Academy High is the culture. As mentioned throughout
Chapter Four, the dynamics of the culture at Academy High appears to be cyclical.
Nieto (1999) is clear about the importance of a school’s culture: “The major issue is
not, then, the [pedagogical] strategy or approach itself, but the environment in which
it takes place. Cooperative learning, for example, can take place in the most
uncooperative and oppressive of settings, while truly extraordinary and high-level
discussions can happen in classrooms with nailed-downed seats in rigid rows”

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(Nieto, 1999, p. 208). Call it the soil, the culture or the environment: it is in good
condition at Academy High and it is a factor in academic achievement.
Stakeholders identified three key elements to the school’s culture: 1. safe,
familial small school, 2. experienced, collegial faculty, 3. supportive administration.
The administration supports faculty by ensuring that their professional needs are met.
As a school leader, a principal sets the tone and the example for the rest of the school
(Haberman, 1999). As detailed earlier, when an Academy teacher did not receive a
helpful response in a faculty meeting, the person involved sought out the teacher and
made amends. In the school culture which the principal fosters, this is how she
expects teachers to be supported.
In contrast, the interactions between teachers and students in many urban
schools may well be negatively affected by the daily onslaught of an unnecessarily
hostile working environment. Thompson (2004) reports several instances where a
hard-working teacher was not supported by the site administration at an urban
school. As a result, the teacher changed careers. One instance involved the son of a
highly respected African American teacher. This young man decided to follow his
mother’s example and become a teacher in an urban school. His principal and a
veteran teacher pressured him to lower his standards and not expect too much from
his students. He soon left teaching all together, driven out by lack of support. On this
issue, Haberman (1999) states unequivocally: “The better a teacher is, the more
protection he or she will need from the criticisms of those who will feel upstaged and
threatened” (p. 21).

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Both Thompson (2004) and Haberman (1999) elucidate a problem at urban
high schools: the ‘bigotry of low expectations’ exerts a downward pull on all
teachers. Teachers who try to set high expectations for their students are likely to be
actively discouraged by administrators and colleagues. Thompson is emphatic: “I
believe that every teacher deserves to teach in a school that is led by supportive
administrators” (p. 69). Haberman and Thompson are not alone in suggesting that it
is the exception rather than the rule for teachers at urban schools to be supported by
administration. Nieto (1999) addressed this issue: “Poorly funded and small in
number, although generally staffed by a corps of determined and dedicated teachers,
alternative schools are a ray of hope where an entire constellation is needed”(p. 210).
Although Academy High does not appear to be ‘poorly funded’ it is certainly staffed
by a corps of dedicated adults.
Administrative support of faculty is a key factor for academic achievement at
Academy High. As the government teacher stated: “The staff all wants to be here
[…] because of the atmosphere of teamwork. We’re in this together, to try to help the
students improve.” Rather than being pitted in a competition against each other, the
Academy faculty works as a team for the students’ benefit. Teachers acknowledged
that their teamwork is the result of the principal who has established and maintained
a culture of teamwork. Academy faculty remarked on their collegiality, which they
valued. They strive together to increase student achievement, the English department
sharing and explaining writing rubrics to their science and math colleagues. All
teachers benefit from NASA funding to attend science and math conferences.

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Academy High offers a different model from that of low expectations. As
English teacher, Mark said: “we are all going in the same direction.” Mark
explained that there is an excellent working relationship amongst all staff: teaching,
custodial, clerical and administrative. The atmosphere of teamwork begins with the
principal who actively recruits teachers who do not view lower socioeconomic
students as deficits. She initiates the culture by using Marzano’s strategies to hire
teachers qualified to work at this urban high school. Her strategies continue with, as
she stated: 1. feed the teachers, 2. support the teachers, 3. encourage professional
development. The principal then establishes an environment where adults work
together as a team for the benefit of the students. It is a mutually reinforcing
relationship. Instead of protecting individual teachers from those who feel threatened
by excellent teaching (Haberman, 1999), the Academy High principal encourages a
culture where all adults work together at creating an excellent school for all their
students.
This study was initially focused on a high school with a strong Career
Technical Education curriculum. Academy High did not disappoint; as detailed in
Chapter Four, this high school offers students a rich variety of career oriented
programs and instruction. Students have options in terms of career exploration:
NASA science and computer science, technology, media, and electronic systems,
hospitality and culinary arts, medical fields or barbering. This wealth in programs is
testimony to the dedication of the educators. But this study revealed that programs

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alone are not enough. These urban students benefit from the personal attention and
pushing afforded them in the strong learning culture at Academy High.
This student body is motivated to work harder than they expected. HSSSE
Question 8.i addresses this issue: “I have worked harder than I expected to in school”
(HSSSE, 2007). 66. 37 percent of the Academy High student body checked either
“agree” or “strongly agree” (the two most favorable responses possible). This
percentage is 6.67 points above the 59.70 percentage for respondents nationwide.
Academy High students do not spend more time studying than their peers nationwide
and spend about the same amount of time watching television and playing video
games, but 66.37 percent of them recognize that they are motivated to work harder
than they expected.
The concept of generating academic effort from urban students was presented
at the beginning of this study as the theme:
Educators who understand that schools contribute to creating at-risk
youngsters are willing to accept responsibility and hold schools accountable
for solving the problem. Such individuals have a different explanation for
success in school, attributing it to effort rather than ability. This perspective
leads them to believe that schools and educators can be held accountable for
generating effort (Haberman, 1999, p. 37).

Data from surveys as well as observations and interviews provide evidence that
Academy High educators do generate effort from their students. Strategies which
have served them well thus far may be useful in generating greater effort from their
students in terms of homework completion, the one area which student survey data
revealed greater attention is still required.

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Conclusions
As is true in most American high schools, the Academy High student body
includes each of the three types of students described in the opening scenario. There
are students such as Chris, who always seem to get their work done, who know how
to be successful. There are Academy students such as Terry who need
encouragement, personal attention and guidance. And Academy High has students
such as David who need interventions, counseling and a reason to stay in school.
They need to be shown: that school is not exactly worthless, as stated by André,
Academy English teacher. Alumnus Natasha elucidated how the needs of these latter
two students are met with the careful planning and personal attention offered at
Academy High.
What is most striking in the words of alumni Natasha and Marco is how
Academy High educators did not give up on them. Natasha described the cycle of
struggle-encouragement-struggle-success which she had experienced over four years
at Academy High. Marco explained how he began with a 1.80 grade point average
and graduated with a 3.80 grade point average. Both alumni expressed gratitude for
the educators pushing them to succeed beyond their own expectations for
themselves. Success became a building block for these students to gain self-esteem
during the course of their four years at Academy High and this self-esteem was
affirmed by the school culture and policies. It was also affirmed by college
acceptance letters.

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These two, as well as other alumni, referred to the very positive
student/teacher relationships at Academy High. These relationships are integral to
academic achievement. “Change where it counts the most-in the daily interaction of
teachers and students – is the hardest to achieve and the most important, but we are
not pessimistic about improving the public school. We think it difficult and essential,
above all for the educationally dispossessed” (Tyack & Cuban, 1995, p. 10).
Research shows that student/teacher relationships are central to school improvement
strategies.
Academy teachers are clearly a part of the improvement process. Tyack and
Cuban have identified teacher buy-in to improvement as crucial: “unless
practitioners are also enlisted in defining problems and devising solutions adapted to
their own varied circumstances and local knowledge lasting improvements will
probably not occur in classrooms” (1995, p. 137). Any superintendent or education
leader hoping to initiate school or district reform would do well to heed the findings
revealed from Academy High, and supported by the research of Tyack and Cuban:
“many of the best programs of instructional change involve close collaboration
between practitioners who share common purposes but adapt them flexibly to their
local circumstances” (p. 139). As revealed by the faculty, the Academy High
principal does allow the faculty flexibility, freedom and responsibility within a
framework.
It is easier for a superintendent to mandate a longer school day or school year
than it is for the same superintendent to mandate ‘close collaboration.’ Easier

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perhaps, but not impossible. The comments of Academy High teachers are revealing.
Two teachers, Ruben and Will, each stated that he had taught at a large
comprehensive high school prior to teaching at Academy High. Government teacher,
Will, described the competition that is endemic at a large high school. He contrasted
that competition to the collegiality he has been a part of at the Academy:
We’re in this together, to try to help the students improve. We’re not
challenging each other at the staff meetings. We’re not trying to do one-
upmanship. I think that’s endemic at a large school, this competition to rise to
the top of your department. Because [Academy High is] small we work
together really well.

Ruben referred to the old school teaching, where every teacher closes the classroom
door and is isolated from the other teachers. He then contrasted that to teaching at the
Academy where he gets to work with smart people who motivate him and add to his
teaching. Both Ruben and Will had worked at a typical large high school and were
able to change their professional personas to match the culture at Academy High.
This suggests that change is possible, in a healthy culture which has good soil and is
carefully tended.
Academy High could serve as a beacon here. Academy’s state standardized
test scores rose two hundred points, from 517 to 717 over a five year period, because
stakeholders were committed to the long term. Academy High educators do not use
the student deficit model as an excuse (Holland, 2002), instead, they find ways to
help their students become committed to and believe in their own capacity for
learning.

216
This study has revealed many alluring, positive qualities about Academy
High. Indeed, many might be replicated in order to best serve the secondary
education needs of a far greater number of urban youth. However, a case study
necessitates a dilemma between studying the particular aspects of the given case and
the desire to extrapolate these findings to a wider sampling. There is an inherent
contradiction in understanding the uniqueness of a case and the need to add to the
body of knowledge.
It must be emphasized that the adults at Academy High do not appear to be
overly confident of their students’ academic success. Instead, these educators
articulate the factors for their students’ successes and also identify areas where the
school might improve. To this researcher, therein lies an additional factor for
academic achievement: these educators are never satisfied that they have done
enough. Like the chemistry teacher pondering breadth (mandated by standards)
versus depth (for learning) in her planning, all the educators at the Academy quietly
and collectively exude a sense that they must do more. They are on the right track,
but they have not arrived. There is more tinkering and improvements to be made on
the academic road ahead.
Perhaps when educators are never satisfied that they have done enough, they
will be more likely to keep improving. Nieto’s words resonated with this researcher:
“I was determined not to repeat the sentimentalizing that goes on when specific
educational strategies or programmes are simplistically proposed as the cure for the
many difficult problems confronting schools and society” (Nieto, 1999, p. 210).

217
Instead of proposing that the strategies of Academy High must be replicated for all
urban high schools, educators must realize that nothing is the ultimate cure for the
problems within urban schools. Any one, or all, of the factors identified in this study
could be poorly implemented. No strategy is impervious to poor implementation in
the hands of educators who just do not understand.
Summary of Findings
Using several metrics, Academy High was identified as an outperforming
urban high school, for the purposes of this study. The first metric is the school’s 200
point Academic Performance Index (API) gain over five years, culminating in the
2007 score of 717. As a result of these gains, in 2007 the school scored four deciles
above similar schools in California. The school was also recognized with placement
on the Title 1 Academic Achieving Schools List in both 2007 and 2008. Finally, in
December, 2007, Academy High received national recognition with placement on
the list of the top 505 high schools in the country, by U. S. News and World Report.
Academy High is an urban high school outperforming similar schools. This study is
a formative assessment identifying the factors which contribute to this outperforming
high school’s academic achievement.
The data collection at Academy High centered on answering the two research
questions which provided the focus for this mixed-methods case study. The first
research question was: What factors contribute to academic achievement in this
outperforming urban high school? Stakeholders identified four factors: the original

218
vision, technology used as a tool, career preparation and the embedded culture.
Stakeholders revealed that these four factors contribute to academic achievement.
The second research question: Is there a link between student engagement
and student achievement in an outperforming urban high school? At Academy
High, emotional engagement provides students with a viable connection to the
school’s skillfully created learning culture. This is a crucial first step towards student
achievement. However, that connection needs to be strengthened on the academic
engagement end. Academy High educators might identify strategies which they can
take from current successes to base renewed efforts to address their students’ need to
deepen their academic engagement, specifically in completion of homework and
reading assignments. Addressing this need for homework completion, one aspect of
academic engagement, may strengthen the connection between student engagement
and student achievement and thus serve to help drive the school’s Academic
Performance Index into the state-wide target of 800.
Implications
This study will close with three implications for further research. The
following implications became evident during the process of recording and writing
the description of the findings.
As detailed earlier in this study, research (Dembo, 2004, Marzano, 2003) has
shown that some urban students have learned and debilitating reactions to success
versus failure. Dembo found that for some urban students there is “ability versus
effort dilemma” where effort is perceived as a threat (p. 28). Marzano found that

219
some people are “success oriented”; they readily take on new challenges because
they know the rewards of success. Other people are “failure avoidant”; they often set
up barriers to successful completion of a task so that failure can be attributed to
something other than lack of ability (Marzano, 2003, p. 145). One implication for
further study would be to determine if and how a supportive environment such as at
Academy High, benefits failure avoidant students, helping them gain the skills to
become success oriented.
Fear of repeating past mistakes in education should not prevent today’s
educators, especially educators of at-risk youth, from offering students meaningful
and high quality career-oriented education. Coleman (1961) suggested that
secondary education should offer all adolescents more opportunities for career
exploration and more opportunities to learn how to deal with and understand real
world problems. In general, adolescents need to learn how to cope with complex
issues. There are two reasons, stated below, why today’s educators need to take the
time to understand Career Technical Education.
The first reason why educators need to understand Career Tech Ed is in the
interest of students themselves. Career Tech Ed allows for the necessary connection
between academics and careers. Researchers (Bottoms et al. 2004, Carroll et al.,
2005, Loveless, 2001, Zapf et al., 2006) have argued for educators to acknowledge
and address peer pressure and counter it with a meaningful student-centered
curriculum which allows students to experience the connection between education
and future aspirations and careers. Although more rigorous studies are needed,

220
research (Bottoms et al. 2004) shows that all high school students should take the
rigorous core academic courses which used to be designated solely for the ‘best’
students, and all high schools students should take high quality career/technical
courses. Carroll et al. (2005) report that high school students need to remain engaged
in their education and to explore career goals. When teens see the connection
between present education and future careers and hopes they are less likely to
become negatively influenced and participate in personally destructive behaviors.
According to Bennett (2001), when at-risk students were not informed about
opportunities for linking school and careers, they became disengaged from school.
The second reason why today’s educators need to take the time to understand
Career Technical Education is that the United States needs to encourage more young
people to pursue degrees and careers in engineering and science (Friedman, 2007,
Gates, 2007). This national need can well be addressed through an effective Career
Tech Ed curriculum. A second implication for further study is more rigorous studies
focused on Career Technical Education and its impact on urban adolescents and their
futures.
Finally, this researcher and educator is proposing that the greatest lesson
from Academy High is to get the educators to work together. To get: “Change where
it counts the most-in the daily interaction of teachers and students” (Tyack & Cuban,
1995, p. 10), then the daily interactions of teachers and clerical, teachers and
custodial, teachers and administrative must be framed in a positive, supportive,
work-hard environment. The school’s environment, or soil, or culture – it must all be

221
in good working order. The adults at any urban school must work together in a
mutually supportive environment to model a hard-working ethic for students. Then,
the adults can generate the hard, focused work on academics from urban youth which
is a necessary condition for their future success.
In summary, one implication for further study would be to determine if and
how a supportive environment such as at Academy High benefits failure avoidant
students, helping them gain the skills to become success oriented. A second
implication for further study is more rigorous studies focused on today’s Career
Technical Education and its impact on retaining and engaging urban youth. The third
implication is how best to get the adults at any urban school to work together in a
mutually supportive environment to model a hard-working ethic for students.

222
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX-A
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

Classroom Observation

Suggested time: 30 minutes each (Minimum of 15 classes to observed)
Types of classrooms: Cross-section of the courses observed; different ability levels

1. What kind of class observed?
a. Content/subject area:
b. Ability Level (Intervention/special education, general, college
preparation, advanced/honors):
c. Time of day:
Notes/Observations:
2. Teacher/student ratio:
3. Student participation: Are students doing the following and if so how
often……
a. Asking questions in class?
b. Participating in classroom discussions.
c. Making a class presentation
d. Preparing two or more drafts
e. Participating in group work
f. Presenting different perspectives (diversity)
g. Turning in homework (percentage)
h. Ready and prepared for class
Notes/Observations:
4. Instruction
Objective of the lesson:
Is it standards-based?
a. How are the first and last five minutes of class spent?
b. Are higher-level thinking skills emphasized? (Examples)
c. Are classroom activities relevant to students? (How?)
d. Examples of rigor and high expectations:
Notes/Observations: (Describe instruction, the lesson plan, and activities)
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
Focus: Factors Impacting Student Achievement at
Urban High Schools

232
5. Student/Teacher Interaction
a. Describe the student(s)/teacher interactions:
b. Are both students and teachers asking questions? (Cite questions and
identify student or teacher)
c. Choice given to students? (Examples)
d. Is the teacher treating students fairly? (Examples)
Notes/Observations:
6. Classroom environment
a. Describe how the class is organized (seating, location of the
teacher)?
b. Describe the physical environment (bulletin boards, learning
centers, computers)?

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APPENDIX B:

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT OBSERVATION

School Environment Observation

Suggested Observations: Before school, snack/lunch period, between classes,
dismissal time, student activities such as an athletic contest, dance, club meeting.

1. Describe the physical plant of the school (physical layout, facilities, parking
lot, common areas, lockers, signage, maintenance, etc.):
2. Is the campus a closed campus or open campus?
3. How are visitors greeted at the site (feeling tone)?
4. Describe the snack/lunch period
a. Are students segregated or are there mixing of groups?
b. Any organized activities?
c. Cleanliness of the campus after the snack/lunch period?
Notes/Observations:
5. Describe student participation at school activities and sports:
a. Is student participation consistent with the overall
demographics of the student body?
b. Do students support school-wide events?
Notes/Observations:
6. How do the adults in supervision roles interact with students?
7. How do the students interact/respond to the adults in authority on campus?
8. How do students treat each other?
9. How are students behaved?
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
Focus: Factors Impacting Student Achievement at
Urban High Schools

234
APPENDIX C:

LEADERSHIP OBSERVATION

Leadership Observation

Suggested Observations: One faculty meeting, one department meeting, half-day of
shadowing the principal.

1. Staff/faculty meeting (content, is related to school vision and goals, is student
achievement discussed, interaction between leader and staff (two-way,
collaborative etc.)
2. Department/content area meeting (content, is related to school vision and
goals, is student achievement discussed, interaction between leader and staff
(two-way, collaborative etc.)
3. Shadow the principal.
a. How does he or she spend their time?
a. Describe interactions between principal and students
b. Describe interactions between principal and staff members.
c. Describe interactions between principal and parent/community
members.
d. What frame(s)(Bolman & Deal) does the principal use?

University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
Focus: Factors Impacting Student Achievement at
Urban High Schools

235
APPENDIX D:

SURVEY OF HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS REGARDING STUDENT
ENGAGEMENT

This survey asks questions about how you perceive the high school experience for
the students at your high school. The information provided by these surveys will be
compiled to be shared with site and district stakeholders. Thank you for your
thoughtful responses.

1. What subject area do you teach?
____________________________________________
2. Which category represents most of the classes you teach?
_____ General/Regular
_____ Special Education
_____ Remedial
_____ Honors/College Prep
_____ Career/Career Technical Education

3. Are you _____ Female ______ Male
4. What is your racial or ethnic identification?
(Mark all that apply.)
______American Indian or other Native American
______Asian American or Pacific Islander
______Black/African American
______Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin
______White
______Other, specify: ___________
______Prefer not to respond
5. Is English the main language used in the majority of your students’ homes?
_____ Yes
_____ No
_____ I do not know

6. Do the majority of your students have a computer with Internet access, at home?
____ Yes
____ No
____ I do not know

236
7. For the majority of your students, what is the highest level of education completed
by at least one parent?
____ Did not finish high school
____ High School diploma or GED
____ 2-year college degree (Associate’s)
____ 4-year college degree (Bachelor’s)
____ Master’s degree
____ PhD or other advanced professional degree (law, medicine, etc.)
____ I do not know
8. During this school year, about how many writing assignments have you given?

______________________________________0-2__3-4__5-6__7-8__9-10__11+__
a. Written papers/reports of more than 5 pages
b. Written papers/reports of 3 to 5 pages
c. Written papers/reports of fewer than 3 pages

9. How much reading do you assign in a typical school week?
# of hours of assigned reading
____ 0
____ 1
____ 2-3
____ 4-5
____ 6-7
____ 8-10
____ 11+
10. During this school year, how often have you utilized strategies to encourage all
students to participate in class?
____ Very often
____ Frequently
____ Sometimes
____ Never
11. During this school year, how often have you given prompt, personal feedback to
students on assignments?
____ Very often
____ Frequently
____ Sometimes
____ Never

237
12. School safety is clearly a priority on this campus?
____ I agree
____ I disagree
For numbers 13 – 19, fill in the response that comes closest to how you feel
about the given statement.

13. I take pride in this high school.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

14. I feel supported and respected by the administration.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

15. I feel respected by students.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

16. I feel respected by students’ parents.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

17. I put forth a great deal of effort in all my professional responsibilities, including,
preparing lessons and grading papers.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

238
18. The support I get at school encourages me to continue to work hard.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

19. If I could teach at any high school, I would choose this one.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

For numbers 20- 30, fill in the response that best identifies the extent to which
this high school emphasizes the skill or learning activity mentioned.

20. Students must spend a lot of time studying and on school work.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

21. Students are provided the support needed to succeed in school.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

22. Students are encouraged to participate in school events and activities (athletics,
music, etc.).
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

23. Students are encouraged to get involved in school leadership and governance.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

239
24. All adults on campus treat students fairly.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

25. Students are encouraged and provided meaningful opportunities to learn work-
related skills.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

26. Students are encouraged to write effectively.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

27. Students are encouraged and provided the support to use information technology.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

28. Students are encouraged and provided opportunities to solve real-world
problems.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

29. Students are encouraged and provided meaningful opportunities to develop clear,
sequential career goals and prepare for appropriate post-secondary education or
training.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

240
30. Students are encouraged and provided meaningful opportunities to make their
community a better place.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

241
APPENDIX E:

SURVEY OF HIGH SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS REGARDING STUDENT
ENGAGEMENT

This survey asks questions about how you perceive the high school experience for
the students at your high school. The information provided by these surveys will be
compiled to be shared with site and district stakeholders. Thank you for your
thoughtful responses.

1. What subject areas do you supervise?
____________________________________________
2. Which category (categories) represents most of the classes you supervise?
_____ General/Regular
_____ Special Education
_____ Remedial
_____ Honors/College Prep
_____ Career/Career Technical Education

3. Are you _____ Female ______ Male
4. What is your racial or ethnic identification?
(Mark all that apply.)
______American Indian or other Native American
______Asian American or Pacific Islander
______Black/African American
______Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin
______White
______Other, specify: ___________
______Prefer not to respond
5. Is English the main language used in the majority of your students’ homes?
_____ Yes
_____ No
_____ I do not know

6. Do the majority of your students have a computer with Internet access, at home?
____ Yes
____ No
____ I do not know

242
7. For the majority of your students, what is the highest level of education completed
by at least one parent?
____ Did not finish high school
____ High School diploma or GED
____ 2-year college degree (Associate’s)
____ 4-year college degree (Bachelor’s)
____ Master’s degree
____ PhD or other advanced professional degree (law, medicine, etc.)
____ I do not know
8. During this school year, about how many writing assignments has the average
student had?

_______________________________________0-2__3-4__5-6__7-8__9-10__11+_
a. Written papers/reports of more than 5 pages
b. Written papers/reports of 3 to 5 pages
c. Written papers/reports of fewer than 3 pages

9. During this school year, how much reading has the average student been assigned
in a typical school week?
# of hours of assigned reading
____ 0
____ 1
____ 2-3
____ 4-5
____ 6-7
____ 8-10
____ 11+
10. During this school year, how often have you seen classroom strategies to
encourage all students to participate in class?
____ Very often
____ Frequently
____ Sometimes
____ Never
11. During this school year, how often have you known that prompt, personal
feedback was given to students on assignments?
____ Very often
____ Frequently
____ Sometimes
____ Never

243
12. School safety is clearly a priority on this campus.
____ I agree
____ I disagree
For numbers 13 – 19, fill in the response that comes closest to how you feel
about the given statement.

13. I take pride in this high school.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

14. I feel supported and respected by the faculty, staff and fellow administrators.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

15. I feel respected by students.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

16. I feel respected by students’ parents.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

17. I put forth a great deal of effort in all my professional responsibilities.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

244
18. The support I get at school encourages me to continue to work hard.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

19. If I could work at any high school, I would choose this one.
____ Strongly Agree
____ Agree
____ Neutral
____ Disagree
____ Strongly Disagree

For numbers 20- 30, fill in the response that best identifies the extent to which
this high school emphasizes the skill or learning activity mentioned.

20. Students must spend a lot of time studying and on school work.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

21. Students are provided the support needed to succeed in school.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

22. Students are encouraged to participate in school events and activities (athletics,
music, etc.).
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

23. Students are encouraged to get involved in school leadership and governance.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

245
24. All adults on campus treat students fairly.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

25. Students are encouraged and provided meaningful opportunities to learn work-
related skills.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

26. Students are encouraged to write effectively.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

27. Students are encouraged and provided the support to use information technology.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

28. Students are encouraged and provided opportunities to solve real-world
problems.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

29. Students are encouraged and provided meaningful opportunities to develop clear,
sequential career goals and prepare for appropriate post-secondary education or
training.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

246
30. Students are encouraged and provided meaningful opportunities to make their
community a better place.
____ Very much
____ Quite a bit
____ Some
____ Very little

247
APPENDIX F: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Interview Questions

Suggested personnel to interview: Principal, Assistant Principal(s), Superintendent,
Support staff, Parent groups and community groups, Extra-curricular Activities
Leaders (minimum of 5 interviews)

Questions

Tell me about this school.

What are you most proud of at this school? What areas would you like to improve
within the school?

What is the vision or mission of the school? Are there common goals in which all
stakeholders are focusing upon? If so, please tell me about them.

What are the factors that you feel contribute to student achievement at your school?

What role do you feel student engagement (defined by cohort group) contributes to
student achievement at your school?

What do you feel are the strengths of the school?

Would you consider your school outperforming? Why or why not? If so, how?

Is your school unique? If so, how?

How does the school prepare students beyond high school?
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
Focus: Factors Impacting Student
Achievement at Urban High Schools

248
APPENDIX G:

HIGH SCHOOL SURVEY OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

249

250

251

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The United States has a high school dropout rate as high as 50 percent for some ethnic groups. This dropout rate exacerbates racial divides and socioeconomic disparity. Youth at-risk of dropping out are often over represented in urban schools. Today 's educators are challenged to find ways to retain and engage all students. This need is all the more urgent because changes in the job market have resulted in far fewer no-skill required jobs. Today 's job market demands that young people have meaningful secondary and post secondary education.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Kershner, Anne Elizabeth (author)

Core Title Factors which may contribute to academic achievement in an outperforming urban high school with a career technical education curriculum

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 05/05/2008

Defense Date 03/17/2008

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,outperforming urban high school,secondary and career education

Place Name California (states)

Language English

Advisor Gothold, Stuart E. (committee chair), Hocevar, Dennis J. (committee member), Hollins, Etta R. (committee member)

Creator Email akershne@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m1224

Unique identifier UC192050

Identifier etd-Kershner-20080505 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-68777 (legacy record id),usctheses-m1224 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Kershner-20080505.pdf

Dmrecord 68777

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Kershner, Anne Elizabeth

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu