Technology High School, Rohnert Park, California

Technology High School was established as a project to provide more opportunities for the study of science, math and technology, initiated in 1995 by a combination of the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District, Sonoma State University, Hewlett Packard and the Autodesk foundation. The school opened its doors in 1999.Fact|date=January 2008

History

Technology High School As a Program

Initially the school was a program of Rancho Cotate High School. The students involved split their time between the two schools. Technology High School's program included Integrated Science, Engineering and Math curriculum as required courses and the students took the remainder of their classes from Rancho Cotate High School. This environment created a school focused heavily on the math and sciences with the larger high school environment providing everything else expected from a traditional high school.

Technology High School As a School

In 2002, Tech High became a separate and independent school, starting with the class of 2006. The former "program students" continued to be part-time students and split their time, while all new students came in as full-time. This called for new, undeveloped humanities, physical education, foreign language, and elective programs to be created and implemented. These have since become more developed, but are currently lagging behind the Science and Engineering curriculum.

Relations With The School District

Relations with the school district became strained when during the planning of the 2004-2005 district budget a proposal was put forth to relocate Technology High School. This caused a strong backlash of support from the community around Technology High School. Students, parents and staff felt that this would severely compromise the integrity of the program. Students and parents pulled together in an attempt to halt this measure. In a special session in January 2004 the school board voted 5-0 to keep the school in its facilities on the Sonoma State University campus.

Relations with the school district have improved considerably, partly due to Technology High School being announced as a Distinguished School in April 2005 as part of California's Distinguished School Program. Relations have also been improved due Technology High School's high testing scores. The district has now publicly stated that they feel that the proposal to relocate Technology High School was a mistake.

Recent history

*In 2005, Technology High School began its first year of an extended waiting list. A random selection process was used to follow California's fair and equitable education guidelines. The 2005-2006 school year will also be the first year that Technology High School will house 4 years of full-time students. Its first full time class graduated in June 2006.

*Technology High School was officially declared a California Distinguished High School, due in part to the quality of the students' work, the high grade average, and the outstanding STAR testing score, which was indexed at 823 API. This was the highest API of any school within 3 counties of Technology High School.

*Dr. Kay Dorner, announced her resignation in April 2007 to accept a principalship in Southern Oregon.

*On May 8, 2007, the Board of Trustees of the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District appointed Mr. Anthony Harris as the new principal at Technology High School. Mr. Harris' appointment becomes effective July 1, 2007. [http://www.crpusd.org/Press%20releases%2005_06/New%20Tech%20High%20Principal.pdf]

Campus

Location

Technology High School is housed in the Ruben Salazar Building on the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park, California. The Ruben Salazar Building is near the center of campus right off the quad placing students at an advantageous location to quickly reach any part of campus. This location also offers access to Rancho Cotate High School which allows Technology High School students to participate in its dances.

Use of University Facilities

Technology High School uses the university library as well as various other facilities. Technology High School students are also frequent patrons of the University's dining facilities and bookstores as Technology High School does not offer dining facilities of its own. Technology High School students can also take classes at Sonoma State University in addition to their curriculum at Technology High School. The on-campus nature of Technology High School is theoretically designed to increase the students comfort in university environments. [ [http://www.sonoma.edu/UAffairs/buzz/2002/tech_high.html What's the Buzz? ] ]

tudents

Gender Breakdown

(Approximate numbers for the 2005-2006 school year)

9th Grade	67% Male	33% Female
10th Grade	80% Male	20% Female
11th Grade	85% Male	15% Female
12th Grade	90% Male	10% Female

Ethnicity Breakdown

75%	White
7%	Asian
4%	African American
2%	Pacific Islander
1%	Native American
2%	Other Classification/Declined to State

[ [http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/ca/other/12248#students Student Teacher Ratio Technology High School - Rohnert Park, California - CA ] ]

Other data

There are 1.3 students per computer, compared to the California state-wide average of 5 students per computer. Many students go on to a higher educational institution while less than 20% go directly into the workforce.

Faculty

There is an average of 27 students per teacher. Full credentials are possessed by 83% of teachers, while the remaining teachers have emergency credentials or waivers. [http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ca/12248] Faculty retention has been an issue over the School's history. Retention rates were below 50% the first several years of operation but current retention rates hover around 75%.

Due to the small-school environment that Technology High School maintains there are at most 3 teachers in one department. This encourages teachers to work together on cross-curricular projects. Staff meetings happen at least once a week where the entire staff of the school gathers together to discuss any outstanding school wide issues. Another purpose of these meetings is to attempt to ensure consistency through the entire school. [ [http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/ca/other/12248#teachers Student Teacher Ratio Technology High School - Rohnert Park, California - CA ] ]

Curriculum

Technology High School's curriculum is designed to be project-based as well as cross-curricular. Teachers work closely together to create projects that span more than one curricular area. Teachers also try to time the curriculum so that students can take advantage of what they learn in one class in another. The curriculum is also designed and graded based on the Schoolwide Learning Outcomes.

References

External links

* [http://techhigh.schoolengine.com The homepage of Tech High]
* [http://www.crpusd.sonoma.edu/tech.html CRPUSD webpage for Technology High School]
* [http://www.nsba.org/site/page_REN4.asp?TRACKID=&DID=430&CID=428 2001 summary from the National School Boards Association]
* [http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ca/12248/ Profile] from GreatSchools.net
* [http://www.techhigh.tk The Unofficial Tech High Forums]