High Tech High providing new take on education: charter school's goal to meld public, private partnership. (Special Report: Education).

Students at the Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High do much of their learning outside the traditional school environment.

Launched in a renovated building at the former Naval Training Center in September 2000, the San Diego Unified School District charter school is lauded nationwide as a model for a new approach to public education. Within an environment that encourages innovation and creativity, High Tech High students are immersed in a rigorous liberal arts program that includes math, engineering and science while providing relevant academic and workplace skills.

"High Tech High is really a great liberal arts school in disguise," said Tom Vander Ark, executive director of educational giving at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

High Tech High is the practical application of four key philosophical themes in a curriculum that focuses on personalization, real-world immersion, a pre-engineering theme and performance-based assessment.

High Tech High had its genesis in San Diego industry's concern over the shortage of qualified workers. The high school was funded with support from the private sector from the granting of its charter through the first day of classes in 2000. In addition to Gary and JerriAnn Jacobs' endowment of $3 million, High Tech High received $1 million from Qualcomm Inc. co-founder Irwin Jacobs, and Qualcomm is granting High Tech High an additional $100,000 a year for five years.

The state also granted High Tech High $1 million.

"Such private-sector support is vital," said Larry Rosenstock, the school's principal and CEO of its nonprofit corporation. Public charter schools receive significantly less public funding per student than traditional schools. The more than 50 public and private business partners actively supporting the school represent local and international business, and educational innovators.

"In essence," Rosenstock said, "the school's partners recognize that their investments in High Tech High are investments in their future employees and leaders." Top executives of these private-sector partners - including AT&T, Cisco Systems, SAIC and the Walton Family -- are regular visiting speakers at HTH. Public-sector partners, from the state to the Navy, are equally represented on the school's advisory boards.

* Gates Grant Will Fund

Creation of New Schools

The philosophy and education model of the tuition-free school caught the attention of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation even before opening its doors. The foundation made High Tech High the beneficiary of a multimillion-dollar grant, which included some funds for the school, but the school's replication arm is using the majority of it to create nine new High Tech High schools nationwide.

Comprised of 400 students in grades 9 through 12, High Tech High's diverse student body was selected by lottery from about 1,000 applicants. The school's small and personalized educational setting allows its students to explore their individual interests and passions with the attention, support and high standards of adult mentors. The students engage in both group projects and individualized education plans.

"Students can call you at night. If there's a problem that they are having during the day, there is always someone they can seek out to help them," said math teacher Jeff Blount.

The curriculum enables students to "shadow" adults through the latter's days at work, to engage in community service as a group project, and to meet with private- and public-sector leaders at on-campus "power lunches."

* 'Real World'

Internships

Every High Tech High student must complete at least one term-long internship outside the school as a junior or senior. This "real world" experience enables students to cultivate and develop intellectual perspectives that cut across subject areas while they develop working relationships with adults who serve as models for problem-solving and standards of excellence.

David Walters, an 11th grader at High Tech High, is interning with a local law firm that specializes in intellectual property law. "At a job you are part of a team, and if one person lets the team down, then it really doesn't work," Walters said.

High Tech High's level of personalization goes beyond its ratio of students to teachers, which is 20 to 1 or lower. The 40,000-square-foot Building 49, formerly a Navy technical training center, includes 14 multipurpose seminar rooms, seven labs, four project studios, a centralized commons and a large open area known as the Great Room. Students' studies focus on traditional high school curriculum areas (including math, the sciences, the humanities, Spanish language and the arts) while also emphasizing the wide spectrum of computer- and other technology-based skills, and application of innovative, problem-solving.

Students earn traditional letter grades, although High Tech High has developed new evaluation methods, including individual "digital portfolios." Via students' written work, oral presentations and project exhibitions that demonstrate skill and understanding, High Tech High's objective is ongoing performance assessments rather than end-of-term or standardized tests.

Students at High Tech High also have the option of taking courses for honors credit for which University of California will grant weighted GPAs, as well as participating in advanced placement courses. By graduation, students have met all state and district requirements as well as University of California entry requirements.

Jacobs is a founding donor of the Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High and also server as chairman of the board of trustees.