Our school is helping all students develop the world class skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by placing an emphasis on innovative instructional practices to address our state standards through Project/Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and STEAM. Our instruction is data-driven and based on our rigorous state standards to ensure that our students develop the skills to be successful. Our professional learning opportunities provide teachers with effective instructional strategies and practices that enable them to prepare our students to be college and career ready. Through the implementation of PBL, students have the opportunity to research and solve real-world problems while communicating and collaborating as part of a team. These real-world experiences allow students to be creative and innovative and foster independence in knowing how to learn. Our STEAM Academy gives students opportunities to discover the relationships among science, technology, engineering, arts and math through PBL experiences and collaborative learning. Project Based Learning experiences in which our students have had opportunities to participate this year include creation of a “realistic” coral reef, creation of sustainable healthy snacks which we sold at the Earth Day festival, extraction of DNA for the use as a garnish on the health bars, planting of a STEAM garden in downtown Spartanburg, creation of sustainable ecosystems that maintain diverse food webs, We believe the combination of PBL and STEAM embodies the world-class skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. Our seniors complete a Senior Project where they choose a career or societal issue to explore. To complete the Senior Project, students develop and utilize the World Class Skills of the SC Graduate. Students conduct research, create proposals, conduct interviews, participate in job shadowing, and present their findings to a group of their peers. The experiences and the lessons they learn through the Senior Project process prove invaluable as these students begin the transition to life after high school. Our students also utilize World Class Skills through our Dual Credit offerings and Advanced Placement courses where they can earn credits and experience college course work prior to graduating from high school. Other CHS programs through which our students may acquire World-Class Skills include Swofford Career Center, Jobs for America’s Graduates, JROTC, Service Learning and Internship, job shadowing and LiBros and Page Turners, our boys and girls book clubs. Participation in our book clubs increased this year to over one half of our student body. Our Response to Intervention program targets struggling students and provides them a mentor teacher who assists them in developing good study habits, monitoring progress in completing projects and assignments, and in preparation for tests. To assist our ESOL students, we provide ESOL professional learning opportunities for all our teachers and an on-site ESOL teacher. We incorporate instructional strategies aimed at ESOL students as well as all struggling students as a routine component of our monthly professional development with all our teachers. The teachers in both our Response to Intervention and ESOL programs help those students develop essential skills that help them develop the World Class Skill of knowing how they learn and in turn how to apply that knowledge to reach success. Our English and math teachers also use guided instruction and reading and writing workshop which includes conferencing with students. Through conferencing, teachers are able to address specific needs of students as they also employ the World Class Skill of knowing how to learn as teachers help these students set goals for their learning.
We continued an Early Release program this year allowing our teachers to have one hour of departmental collaborative time every week. Teachers have been able to vertically align their instruction and to analyze student data enabling them to further enhance student learning. The collaborative time allows teachers to share information, plan together, and make instructional decisions that greatly benefit our students.
The efforts of CHS teachers and students have produced positive results in the 2017-2018 school year. Truly we are on the right track in ensuring that our students possess the world-class skills of a South Carolina graduate. Thomas E. Ezell, Principal; Lindsey Steven, SIC chairperson