Schools already using the model have a 95 percent attendance rate, a 97 percent graduation rate and a 98 percent college acceptance rate, according to the network. The model also is designed to foster "a culture that empowers," as described by the New Tech Network's website, meaning students are given relevant responsibilities and held accountable. In the New Tech model, teachers work in teams and combine subjects such as art and math or English and social studies. "It creates a sense of inquiry in students," Presiado said, explaining that biology students may be asked to create a project analyzing how pesticides affect crops rather than just reading about how pesticides work.
One core principal of the model is project-based learning, or lessons that involve students working together to research and present findings about what they have learned rather than listening to teachers and taking tests.
The model now is in 23 states and two Australian schools. "They just weren't seeing that in graduates from local schools, and that's what they saw in most of their successful employees."īusiness leaders and educators from the Napa Valley Unified School District worked together to develop Napa New Technology High School, which opened in 1996 with 100 students.Ī $6 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2001 funded the launch of 14 more schools over three years. Besides transfer students expected to come from Fallbrook and Oceanside, Cunningham said the school must handle a population boom in Bonsall, which is expected to grow from about 2,200 residents to more than 5,000 in the next six to eight years because of planned development."The business community was looking for 21st century employees with complex critical thinking skills who could collaborate," Presiado said. The new school may be built to accommodate 500 students with the ability to expand to 1,000, he said. The property is within the new boundaries of Bonsall Unified, and the high school district will deed it to Bonsall Unified at the end of the month, Cunningham said. Trustees in Bonsall Unified have not yet decided where the actual campus will eventually be built, how big it will be or how it will be funded.Ĭunningham said a likely home will be on 50 acres of land off Gird Road where the Fallbrook Union High School District had once planned to put a second high school.
"The business community was looking for 21st century employees with complex critical thinking skills who could collaborate," Presiado said.
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