HIGH TECH HIGH, SAN DIEGO
High Tech High began in 2000 as a single charter high school launched by a coalition of San Diego business leaders and educators. It has evolved into an integrated network of schools spanning grades K-12, housing a comprehensive teacher certification program and a new, innovative Graduate School of Education.
High Tech High: A Snapshot
High Tech High’s mission is to develop and support innovative public schools where all students develop the academic, workplace, and citizenship skills for postsecondary success.
High Tech High Goals
At each HTH school, our goals include:
History
High Tech High was originally conceived by a group of about 40 civic and high tech industry leaders in San Diego, assembled by the Economic Development Corporation and the Business Roundtable, who met regularly from 1996 - 1998 to discuss the challenge of finding qualified individuals for the high-tech work force. In particular, members were concerned about the “digital divide” that resulted in low numbers of women and ethnic minority groups entering the fields of math, science, and engineering. Gary Jacobs, Director of Education Programs at Qualcomm, and Kay Davis, Director of the Business Roundtable, were key participants in these discussions.
In late 1998 the group voted to start a charter school and engaged Larry Rosenstock, then President of Price Charities in San Diego, as the founding principal. The founding group was clear about its intent: to create a school where students would be passionate about learning and would acquire the basic skills of work and citizenship. Rosenstock, a former carpentry teacher, lawyer, and high school principal who had recently directed the U.S. Department of Education’s New Urban High School project, brought a vision and a sense of the design principles by which this mission might be accomplished.
High Tech High: A Snapshot
- Twelve schools (five high schools, four middle schools, and three elementary schools)
- Approximately 5200 students
- 500+ employees
- 98%t of graduates have gone on to college, 75% to four-year institutions
- $57 million in real estate holdings
- Annual operating budget: approximately $40 million
- First charter management organization to operate its own Graduate School of Education (GSE), the nation's first graduate school offering Master's in Teacher Leadership and School Leadership embedded within a K-12 learning community
High Tech High’s mission is to develop and support innovative public schools where all students develop the academic, workplace, and citizenship skills for postsecondary success.
High Tech High Goals
At each HTH school, our goals include:
- Serve a student body that mirrors the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the local community.
- Integrate technical and academic education to prepare students for post-secondary education in both high tech and liberal arts fields.
- Increase the number of educationally disadvantaged students in math and engineering who succeed in high school and post-secondary education.
- Graduate students who will be thoughtful, engaged citizens.
- Support the development of excellent schools based on the HTH design principles.
- Become a self-sustaining central organization conducting “behind the whiteboard” management practices that are as exemplary as the “in front of students” programs offered at HTH schools.
- Inspire and enable others in the public education community to adopt the HTH design principles and instructional practices.
History
High Tech High was originally conceived by a group of about 40 civic and high tech industry leaders in San Diego, assembled by the Economic Development Corporation and the Business Roundtable, who met regularly from 1996 - 1998 to discuss the challenge of finding qualified individuals for the high-tech work force. In particular, members were concerned about the “digital divide” that resulted in low numbers of women and ethnic minority groups entering the fields of math, science, and engineering. Gary Jacobs, Director of Education Programs at Qualcomm, and Kay Davis, Director of the Business Roundtable, were key participants in these discussions.
In late 1998 the group voted to start a charter school and engaged Larry Rosenstock, then President of Price Charities in San Diego, as the founding principal. The founding group was clear about its intent: to create a school where students would be passionate about learning and would acquire the basic skills of work and citizenship. Rosenstock, a former carpentry teacher, lawyer, and high school principal who had recently directed the U.S. Department of Education’s New Urban High School project, brought a vision and a sense of the design principles by which this mission might be accomplished.