HIGH SCHOOL GOES HIGH TECH

ASEE Prism, Apr 2004 by Hayden, Tom

Until recently, high schools that catered to students gifted in science and math were few and far between, but now they're popping up all over the place.

CHRISTOPHER LINTON is in many respects a typical high school senior. He's into skate-boarding, basketball, and video games. He doesn't care much for dry lectures or his Southern California school's dress code, especially the prohibition against shorts for boys. But as a member of the Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High's first graduating class to spend four years at the San Diego charter school, the similarities end there. Rather than copying notes in science class, he helped build, program, and test robots during an internship at a military research center. Working with three other students, he's developing his own video game. But the biggest difference between Linton's experience with high school and that of other bright, motivated students might just be the most simple: he loves it.

Industry leaders, educational experts and frustrated students all seem to agree that America is simply not doing enough to instruct and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. The complaint has been so common for so long that it's easy assume that nothing can be clone -being bored in high school is simply the price bright students have to pay to get into college. But a growing handful of specialized schools, focused on creative education in math, science, and technology, is proving that high school can be more than just one more hoop for students to jump through on their way to more fulfilling experiences with education, and eventually careers, in scientific and technological fields.

Specialized high schools that cater to students gifted in science and math are nothing new. Among the oldest, Stuyvesant High School in New York celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Started in 1904 as a manual trade school for boys, the lower Manhattan institution gradually turned its focus to math, science, and technology education starting in about 1917, though classes in subjects such as blacksmithing continued for years afterward. The idea expanded, and by the 1980s, prestigious public academies such as Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) in Alexandria, Va., and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) in Aurora - both founded in 1985 - were offering talented students advanced courses and a wide variety of hands-on projects and internships. Today, the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST) boasts some 80-member schools, and dozens more are popping up around the country.

While many of the specialized schools are public institutions, most also get financial and training support from local businesses and research institutes. And it's not hard to see why. "We have a critical need for an education system that produces scientists and engineers," says Amy Hughes, director of publications and communications for the college of engineering at the California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo. "But the CSU system is still serving a population that's remedial in a lot of these areas. That makes it very hard to aeccpt and retain students in engineering."

In San Diego, High Tech High was founded by local educators and high-tech business leaders - including namesake Gary Jacobs, son of the founder of Qualcomm, and his wife, Jerri-Ann - to help address that need. "The initial conversations were about the workforce development issue," recalls the school's associate principal, student affairs, Rebecca Haddock. "Local business and education leaders saw a need for lots of skilled, trained students, and we realized that we had to get them interested earlier."

Each school lias its own entrance requirements and approach to high-tech education, says Gheryl Lindeman, assistant to the NCSSSMST president and a biology teacher at the Central Virginia Governor's School for Science and Technology (CVGS) in Lynchburg. Rut all seem to share an emphasis on moving beyond static classroom education and giving their students real-world experience through group projects, field trips, and internships. As the partnership coordinator at GVGS, Lindeman says that "engineers grab at the opportunity" to host students for internships. "They understand that they are where they are today because of their early experiences with tinkering and problem solving," and they're happy to share their excitement with interested students. Fields such as chemical and production engineering, she says, are generally very foreign to their students, but "if they get a taste of it and say 'I like that, 1 want more,' it's much more likely that they'll think about studying engineering."

In San Diego, High Tech High is based on a business model, complete with the dress code that Chris Linton would rather do without. The school is based on three "design principles," Haddock says-personalization, real-world immersion, and common intellectual mission. The typical high school in San Diego has over 2,000 students, Haddock says. High Tech High has 430. "The students don't fall through the cracks because there are no cracks to fall through." Students must complete an academic internship, and their experiences in the business world are integrated into their coursework. "The goal," Haddock says, "is that students never ask 'why am I studying this?' " Institutions and businesses, from the SaIk Institute for Biological Studies and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center to hotels and a local news channel have all signed on to host student internships. Education groups such as the Regional Occupational Program and Project Lead the Way lend financial support and guidance to the school.