Successful Urban School

Central High SchoolSince 1866

HistoryFounded in 1866

No education in the area besides an elementary school and students wanted high education

It took many years of moving into different floors of building before Central High School had it’s own space in 1883 after much debate

Even though the process for Central School to become a great place for education it is still going strong today a total of, almost, 130 years

Today at CentralLocated in St. Paul Minnesota

Central has the largest enrollment of the seven Saint Paul public high schools.

Total enrollment 2236Student: Teacher 27:1Student: counselor 559:1

Ethnic/ Racial CompositionCaucasian 33%

Black/ not Hispanic 32%

Asian/ Pacific Islander 29%

Hispanic 5%

Native American 1%

40 languages spoken in students’ homes

Before and After School Opportunities

Central Offers many different before and after school programsStudent lead groups and

organizationsVarious SportsCounseling services for students

and families

Before and After School Opportunities

On Central’s Website there is over 70 student groups and organizations including…National Honor SocietyYearbookSalsa DancingDebateChess ClubAnimeCollege Possible And so many more!

College Possible

College Possible is an AmeriCorps program making college admission and success possible for low-income students through an intensive curriculum of coaching and support.

Watch the video on the next slide for more information

Specialists OfferedMedia Communications- Central has a recording

studio used for music, morning news, broadcast journalism, and more.

Performing Arts- Central is known for their Touring Theater Group. As well their music department which goes through out the school year.

Visual Arts- Like other program the visuals arts are offered using several types of media. Central also offers some AP and IB art classes. The program is also involved with Concordia University

where they get to have an end of the year exhibit.

Specialist ContinuedBuilding Technology Academy- This program focuses

on raising awareness for students who want to pursue careers within the construction field and to give a more hands on experience.

Besides these specialists Central also offers five options for college preparedness. International Baccalaureate- IB Middle Years Program- MYP Advanced Placement- AP Quest College in the Schools Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Program

Typical School Day6 period day with an Advisory/ Homeroom

Each class last about 50-55minutes, except for 1st hour which is an hour long, usually for announcements.

Advisory is only 15 minutes of the day

The students attend one of three lunches during the day

School Schedule

Test ScoresCentral did not meet AYP

Reading MCAFall 2011 MAP data: 24% of students are “at risk”

for achieving success on the MCA reading exam only 61% of students are "on target" from credit

loss data:

Math MCAELL students & Af-Am students are the least likely

to pass the math test (34.5%) 19% of Central students did not pass the math test.

Test Score Cont.

Parent Community Outreach

On the Central website there is a link for parents seeking counseling for themselves or their family members. This is a way central tries to provide support for their community.

PAC- Parent Advisory CouncilThis is a team of parents/guardians that get together a

5 times a school year to make a better community for Central

Last year PAC raised over $15,000 to help the school It is a great way for parents to be involved with the

school community, get to staff, teachers, and the principal

Attendance RatesReading over the school’s improvement plan,

there was a lot of information about raising attendance to improve testing score.

By involving student’s families, it is more likely the attendance rates will improve.

Teacher RecruitmentAccording to the school’s improvement plan

The district tries to hire highly qualified staff and retain highly qualified staff

Recruitment includes many places including newspapers, district website, local colleges, student teachers, and referrals from schools and special licensure programs like Collaborative Urban Educator and Transition to Teaching.

There are also efforts to retain highly qualified staff by mentoring, performance evaluations and feedback and workshop opportunities.

ConnectionsLandsman’s “A White Teacher Talks About Race” and

“Lessons From Teacher’s” article connections There were many different connections… It is important to show students we care

From information about Central, I have believe this is something that is evident with the support they provide for their students, a strong alumni association, involving the community, and many different organizations and clubs run by teachers and students.

Tell students they are smart and they can succeed no matter their background

Mainly looking at programs like College Possible, that Central provides, I think it is one way of showing the students and telling the students that they can succeed! And that Central will do what it can to help their students.

Successful Urban School? I believe there are many definitions of success, most will

look at test scores to figure out “success” but I believe there are other things to look at.

Looking at Central I believe it is a successful schools because A strong alumni association, alumni still care about the school

which makes me believe Central has a strong community Central provides MANY different opportunities for their

students to succeed in different areas. There is effort to work with the community since Central has

been a part of the community for so long, the community will only continue to get stronger.

Test scores have only been going up for the last 10 years, improvement is always happening!

References Central high school online. (2012). Retrieved July/4, 2012, from http://central.spps.org/home.html

College possible- who we are. (2012). Retrieved July/4, 2012, from http://www.collegepossible.org/whoweare

Saint Paul Public Schools. (2012). Retrieved July/4, 2012, from http://datacenter.spps.org/Attendance.html