California High School Attains A-G Curriculum Certification With New Program
Mountain
House High School in Tracy, CA adopted a new blended
learning program this school year that has allowed it to meet
California’s A-G
curriculum standards.
The A-G curriculum is a list of courses that high
school
graduates must successfully complete before they can be admitted to
either the
University of California or California State University.
The school, part of the Lammersville Unified School
District, used
the Sibling
Group's Blended Schools Network curriculum to overhaul its
academic
programs. The curriculum provides all the required courses, is aligned
with the
Common Core Standards and provides hosted course authoring tools,
professional
development for teachers and a learning management system.
A team of high school department chairs worked with
Sibling
Group experts to create customized curricula that they believe will
enhance
student engagement, community outreach and differentiation, given the
wide diversity
in the student body.
Attaining the A-G certification is also significant
for the
Sibling Group because it indicates that it can offer the same kind of
program to
other California school districts.
Mountain House High School Principal Ben Fobert said
the
school would rely heavily on the Blended Schools Network curriculum as
it
prepares for its first summer school program. The Lammersville district
school
board earlier this month approved $300,000 of additional funding for the
summer
school after it learned that nearly 200 of the 485 students at the
school were
not prepared to graduate from high school.
"Mountain House High School's leadership was
strategic about
their adoption of our curriculum," said Sibling Group Chief Academic
Officer
Jed Friedrichsen. "The professional learning plan for their staff
created a
transformational, personalized learning climate."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.