Guest blog post on The RTP Blog

RTHS is being featured on TheRTPblog.org

Check out our guest blog post here.

Below is the post:

Did you know that RTP will soon have its very own high school dedicated to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) learning?  Research Triangle High School (RTHS) is anticipating opening as a public charter school in RTP this August 2012.  The school’s launch is spearheaded by Pamela Blizzard, a founder of nationally-ranked Raleigh Charter High School, and of the science education non-profit Contemporary Science Center in Durham’s Museum of Life and Science.

RTHS will offer an education that blends digital materials with experiential learning, enabling us to reach a broad spectrum of learners, and to develop young people into mature, sophisticated thinkers and doers. We hope to draw applicants from a range of academic, economic and minority backgrounds… a school that will represent the diversity of the Triangle. Our goal is to accelerate learning for all who come to this school, preparing them for college and our globally competitive work world.

 Innovations at RTHS:

* Cutting-edge instructional techniques will blend digital material and collaborative experiences, reflecting the mobile world in which we live and work today.

* ‘Flipped’ coursework will allow students to learn from digital lectures and material outside of class time, and to learn from group labs, seminars and collaborative projects during class time, allowing much greater differentiation for students’ learning.

* Research Triangle industry internships and projects, developed through partnerships with surrounding companies, will allow students to develop skills and a solid sense of the work-world around them and their place in it.

* An extended school day will provide more opportunities for instruction and help outside of class, as well as overcome transportation barriers.

* Learning Teams of teachers and industry experts will support key STEM learning objectives, creating a fertile field of experts collaborating to create better learning opportunities for students both at RTHS and beyond.

Are you the parent of a rising 9th grader and looking at high school options?  We are anticipating charter approval by February 3^rd. The student application period will open for rising ninth grade students on February 4th and close on March 15.  The school will begin with a ninth grade class of 160 students, and add a new grade each fall until grades 9-12 are covered with a projected student enrollment of 420. For more details visit:www.researchtrianglehighschool.org.

Research Triangle High School RTP Open Houses

Friday, February 10^th 12 PM to 1 PM
Wednesday, February 15^th 5:30 PM to 7 PM

Research Triangle Park Headquarters

12 Davis Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

The Flipped Class Manifest

At RTHS, our education model is built on several innovations chosen from research and success across the country.  RTHS will be a place where students learn by an innovative blend of digital and experiential methods, in order to develop into mature, sophisticated thinkers and doers.  One of the ways we are going to do this is through a technique called "Flipped Learning." What is Flipped Learning anyway?  Recently, several authors that work with the Flipped Classroom in both administrative and applied positions got together and wrote The Flipped Class Manifest to clearly address the main ideas and the most common concerns raised about the Flipped Classroom. While RTHS will not be offering exactly what they describe, this article is a nice introduction and a great springboard for discussion on Flipped Learning. In summary, flipped coursework will allow students to learn from digital lectures and material outside class during traditional homework time and to practice higher order thinking skills through group labs, seminars and collaborative projects during class time.  The flipped digital content can be reviewed and learners will have access to any topic whenever they need it.  This technique will allow much greater differentiation for students, engage both teacher and student, and afford students much greater practice time with content and skills during class time when the teacher is present. Below are some notable quotes from the article:  "Flip" is a verb. We are actively transferring the responsibility and ownership of learning from the teacher to the students in a Flipped Classroom. When students have control over how they learn content, the pace of their learning, and how their learning is assessed, the learning belongs to them.  Teachers become guides to understanding rather than dispensers of facts, and students become active learners rather than receptacles of information.  Practitioners of the various flipped classroom models are constantly tweaking, changing, rejecting, adding to, and generally trying to improve the model through direct experience with how effective it is for kids. It's not "record your lecture once" and you're done; it's part of a comprehensive instructional model that includes direct instruction, inquiry, practice, formative and summative assessment and much more. It also allows teachers to reflect on and develop quality and engaging learning opportunities and options for internalization, creation, and application of content rather than just fluff or time filling assignments.

What do you think about Flipped Learning?  Do you have any questions about the technique? We welcome further discussion on this topic!

What are we doing?!

Last month Eric Grunden and I visited the Ohio STEM Hub collaborative and some of its key schools. MC2/Squared High School in Cleveland was highly recommended, so we spent half a day with the indomitable Jeff McClellan and were not disappointed. MCSquared is a small high school in downtown Cleveland, a public district with virtually 100% free and reduced lunch students. Since opening in 2008 they have skyrocketed to the top of the Cleveland public school district rankings with their strong problem-based learning program and innovative partnerships with the Cleveland science museum, GE Lighting and others in local industry.

So this year, with state budget cuts pushing the district to do something drastic, they did. They cut the faculty at MCSquared 83%. The fired 83% of the teachers at the top- performing school in their district. Since the kids were not going anywhere, they had to have teachers. So the district brought in substitute teachers to fill those slots - people without content knowledge or teaching experience. Jeff McClellan is working his young, passionate talented heart out to bring these new folks up to speed on how to... teach... innovatively and in a problem-based learning environment. But ...

What on earth are we doing in this country?!!

Engineering Paradise Video

One of our Board Members, Craig Nygard, has a friend that did this video.

Learning about engineering is cool!

Application submitted on November 4th to NC Board of Education

After months of preparation, on November 4th we submitted a charter application to the North Carolina Board of Education to open a STEM high school in Research Triangle Park.