The student, the teacher, the subject or the content and the school all influence what and how learning happens. Class sizes are small (ideal 1-15). We have six vans and field trips and other out of school” happenings “ are frequent. Lecture or “content presentations” are minimized and our classrooms of  “inquiry” encourage dialog between students with students and teachers learning from each other, side by side.

 

 

Conventional Public Schools, generally intend learning to happen in a classroom, directed by a teacher, at a defined pace for all, with textbook content chosen by the school district and assessed primarily with quizzes and test, one size fits all. The result is the student acquires facts as knowledge with little understanding of how this knowledge could add value or have meaning in their own lives. Many students become disconnected and disinterested in this process and lose their desire to learn.

 

CHS provides a choice to that scenario. While many students thrive and succeed in the conventional school learning system, many do not. We believe each student has a unique learning “personality” or “identity” and we encourage each student to develop his or her own “voice” and learning “style”. Our goal as educators is to challenge each student to challenge themselves to discover their “ own ‘ joy in learning and become active, self-directed, life long learners.

We believe that the highest form of learning is teaching. Therefore, we encourage our  experienced and accomplished students to “ give back” to the community by taking their place as young adults and to tutor and encourage other students in overcoming their obstacles to learning. Some of our students actually teach classes at Compass High School.

The most important difference between conventional high schools and Compass High School is our emphasis on relationships founded in Art Combs six principals of learning. Each student has an Advisor  with whom the student develops his  “mutually agreed upon education plan” or MAP. This is a document that literally “maps” out the learning intent of the student and is an ever changing and evolving plan. With our advisory system, each student has at least one adult at Compass High School that gets to know them encourages and challenges them and prevents them from falling through the cracks. Ideally, an advisor will follow a student’s progress throughout his academic career at Compass High School. Adolescent and high school transitions can be very difficult so at CHS helping students to over come their obstacles is an essential part of advising.

 

We believe a hands on experience is more valuable then textbook content. What can you “do” with what you have learned? Students are encouraged to be involved in all aspects of their education including assessing their own progress and their demonstrations of learning. Tests and quizzes are used sparingly.

We are an open school of choice and encourage mutual respect and self-control in and out of the classroom. We believe in non-coercive, non-threatening policies. We seek cooperation and communication and define ourselves by how we deal with conflict. We do set boundaries and have a student hand book which spells out the “rules” of our school.

We believe, that while content is necessary element of any intent to learn, understanding of the process of learning, and the personal application of this acquired knowledge in the student’s own world should be our emphasis in High School. Our graduation  expectations reflect this commitment. We believe that High School should provide students the opportunity to prepare for lives as adults. Academic and intellectual  development, at Compass High School, is therefore balanced  with the requirements of personal/individual skills and most importantly social/communication skills.

 

The State board for Charter Schools has challenged Compass High School to provide a real “choice” for public educational services. It is our HOPE  for many mis-educated and under served students that we have met that challenge.  Please come to our school for a tour of our facility, meet our staff and bring your questions about your student’s educational experience.

We believe that learning can take place anywhere, anytime not just in a formal classroom setting, Credit for graduation can be earned in many unconventional ways such as independent study, travel, special projects, internships and passages. Our passages are individually student designed learning experiences that encourage students to pursue their “passion” for learning in the areas of career, adventure, practical skills, creativity, global awareness, logical inquiry or a personal challenge yet to be defined.

 

A passage can be the beginning of a life exploration into areas of  learning just for fun, the start of a career or an experience to be shared around the camp fires or a trip to polar ice caps.