The At-Risk Department of an East Harlem high school focuses on innovative strategies for student success.
Format
Poster Presentation
Location
Harborside Center
Strand #1
Academic Achievement & School Leadership
Strand #2
Social & Emotional Skills
Relevance
Academic Achievement:
Two of the programs in the At-Risk Department are focused on innovative teaching and learning strategies. Interval learning, spaced learning, and student data walls support students who have not been able to pass state mandated exams. Independent study and blended learning opportunities are offered to students in need of credit recovery.
Social & Emotional Skills:
Programs for the 9th and 10th graders are focused on behavioral interventions, social skill building, and family engagement through mobile devices.
Brief Program Description
The At-Risk Department of an East Harlem high school is composed of four innovative programs that overlap and create a safety net supporting the entire school. Programs for underclassmen are based on behavioral strategies and family engagement. Programs for upperclassmen are focused on credit recovery and state mandated tests. Innovative strategies like interval learning, spaced learning, and student data walls foster student ownership and awareness.
Summary
Renaissance Charter High School for Innovation is the only charter high school in East Harlem, NY. 40% of students have an IEP, 85% receive free/reduced lunch, and most come from middle schools that have since been shut down. Jesse Matthews, Manager of At-Risk Programs, has been working with over aged, under credited adolescents for over 15 years. He will present his school’s model for supporting students with behavioral and academic struggles
Innovation’s At-Risk Department houses four over lapping programs, creating a safety net that potentially spans a student’s entire high school career. 9th and 10th grade programs focus on interventions and 1:1 support, impacting school culture as a whole.
In the 11th and 12th grade, there is a shift to condensed learning and data driven instruction with a focus on state exams and credit recovery. This presentation will give a detailed description of the department, but takes a deeper dive on innovative teaching & learning strategies with one program in particular.
The Learning Engagement and Promotion Program (LEAP) provides intensive instructional support for students who have had difficulty passing heir state-mandated exams by engaging prior knowledge and focusing on tes0taking skills in a fast-paced, distraction free classroom. Strategies like interval learning, spaced learning, and flipped instruction proved to be effective in creating growth with students who are stagnant. Data walls foster ownership, advocacy, and self-awareness with students who are disconnected. Exercise clocks on the wall lend a sense of urgency and efficiency. These elements create a space where students are empowered to take ownership of their progress with the assistance of a favorable teacher to student ratio, a combination of teaching and learning strategies, and a distraction free, data driven classroom that fosters true peer and teacher-student relationship.
Evidence
The presentation is filled with samplings of a much larger database. We create annual growth reports to determine which teaching and learning strategies are working with our students. Strategies like spaced learning and flipped instruction are well documented. Behavioral strategies are based on PBIS and WhyTry.
Biographical Sketch
Jesse Matthews is the Manager of At-Risk Programs at Renaissance Charter High School for Innovation and has been working with at-risk youth for 15 years. Jesse was the educational coordinator at a vocational/GED school for severely emotionally disturbed adolescents aged 16-21 in Brownsville, Brooklyn for 10 years. Most students came from jail, group homes, and foster homes and were completely out of the educational system. Jesse experimented with a variety of strategies over those 10 years and brought many of them to his current position, where he e was instrumental is creating the At-Risk Department. Jesse is also an alumni of Coro Leadership’s “Educational Leadership Collaborative NYC“.
Keyword Descriptors
Teaching and learning, strategies, behavior, hot list, interval learning, data walls, theory of change
Presentation Year
2016
Start Date
3-8-2016 4:00 PM
End Date
3-8-2016 5:30 PM
Recommended Citation
Matthews, Jesse Mr., "The At-Risk Department of an East Harlem high school focuses on innovative strategies for student success." (2016). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 103.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2016/2016/103
The At-Risk Department of an East Harlem high school focuses on innovative strategies for student success.
Harborside Center
The At-Risk Department of an East Harlem high school is composed of four innovative programs that overlap and create a safety net supporting the entire school. Programs for underclassmen are based on behavioral strategies and family engagement. Programs for upperclassmen are focused on credit recovery and state mandated tests. Innovative strategies like interval learning, spaced learning, and student data walls foster student ownership and awareness.
