City Honors High School (9-12)

Inglewood Unified, Los Angeles County

• 2006-07 Enrollment: 370

• Percent Free/Reduced-price Meals: 42%

• Percent African American Students: 61%

• Schoolwide Growth API (2007): 794

• African American Growth API (2007): 775

(Note: All data are current as of February 1, 2008.)

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Principal: Thelma Brown
Length of time as principal at City Honors High School: 6 years

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"We counsel our kids about academics, and we also counsel them regarding their personal and emotional concerns. We work it like a big family. Everyone looks out for each other."

Q: In your estimation, what are the greatest challenges facing African American students at the high school level?

A: Some of the greatest challenges are peer pressure, sex, gangs, single parents at home, and in some cases, taking care of siblings. Sometimes there is a lack of resources. And I think in high schools and the community sometimes there's a lack of positive role models for students.

Q: From your perspective, what are the three most important things your school does to support African American student achievement?

A: One of the big things is that we nurture the students. We provide academic and personal counseling for them. I am the counselor for the school, and we have a college counselor. We counsel our kids about academics, and we also counsel them regarding their personal and emotional concerns. We work it like a big family. Everyone looks out for each other.

Additionally, we have good educational resources such as technology, a lot of field trips for exposure, and culturally relevant activities. When we celebrate Black History Month, we have our Asian students participating, we have our Latino students participating, we have our African American students, of course, participating, we have all of the nationalities on our campus participating. And we do the same thing, for instance, for Cinco de Mayo. We have our African American students participating, all of the different nationalities participating, and they have very, very big parts.

We also have a strong curriculum and a diverse staff. And we have a small-school setting.

Q: What instructional or curricular priorities have been most important?

A: We focus on research strategies that work for our students, reading and writing, including writing across the curriculum, and group projects with oral presentations. Our students also take college classes through El Camino Community College and Santa Monica Community College. They take some of the classes here on campus--the professors come here. We also provide a bus to El Camino Community College where they can take classes. These classes are locked into their schedule. Fifth period, which would be the last period of the day, they can take a college class. If they see something in the catalog that is not offered on our campus, they can take the bus. The kids can take classes from 3 p.m. until 5:40 p.m. The bus brings them back to the high school. Every summer, the students can take college classes here on campus or they can take the bus to Santa Monica Community College for classes. They're not required to take classes during the summer, but we do have a high interest rate. One of the goals is for the students to graduate in advanced standing. When our students graduate, they usually can enter the four-year universities as second-semester freshmen or first-semester sophomores. In our first graduating class, 19 entered the UC [University of California] as juniors. Three got their AA [associate of arts] degree. (City Honors opened in 2001–02 with only 9th graders, adding a new cohort of 9th graders each year.)

Q: What challenges has your school faced, or does it continue to face, in these efforts?

A: There's a lack of a library and computer lab on the campus, but our students do have access to the city library, which is two blocks from the school. The other challenge is our population growth; we just don't have the space for all of the new students who want to come in. We also need to train our new teachers on how to fit into the curriculum that we have. Because we're a small school, it needs to be personalized. The teachers need to develop a relationship with the students, and the students develop a relationship with the staff. A lot of our teachers give the students their e-mail address and their home phone numbers. I give parents my home phone number. We personalize it, and that's one reason we think we have an edge with our African American students performing as high as they do.

Q: What resources, whether inside or outside the school, have been most important?

A: The community colleges and the classes they offer on campus and off campus, and the fact that the district provides the transportation for our students.

Q: What other support and leadership does your district provide to your high school's efforts to prepare African American students during high school and for life after high school?

A: The district sometimes hires some of the students to work at the district office and in the elementary schools. They provide for career-day speakers throughout the year.

Q: What role does data disaggregated by student subgroup play in your school's efforts to support student achievement, including among African American students?

A: Disaggregated data help us to identify what works for this group and where we need to focus our efforts to adjust the curriculum and instruction. The data really drive our curriculum.

Q: Is community college readiness a priority at your school, and if so, how does your school ensure that the students, including African American students, are prepared?

A: Is community college readiness a priority at our school? I'm going to have to say no. Our top priority is a four-year university. We use the dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment from the community colleges to get the students prepared for a four-year university.

Q: What role do the "a-g" requirements play at your high school, and how does your school support African American students in meeting these requirements?

A: Our curriculum is set up using the "a-g" requirements, and all students must meet these requirements to graduate. Our college counselor works with the students, and we evaluate their curriculum twice a year to make sure that they're taking the "a-g" requirements so they are prepared for the four-year universities. Also, the community college classes that they are able to take are UC and CSU [California State University] transferable.

Q: Is career-technical education important at your school?

A: Yes. We have what we call SCROC, which stands for the Southern California Regional Occupational Center. For instance, students interested in cosmetology can take that class through SCROC. They can also take medical assisting, dentistry, and banking. Here on campus, we offer an engineering/technology class through El Camino Community College, which enables our students to get a handle on those fields. Some career-tech classes are offered here on our campus, and we also have a bus to take kids to the SCROC facility.

Q: How does your school use the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) to inform teaching and student learning?

A: We have our students try to pass the CAHSEE by the 10th grade. If they do not pass it (we have a very low percentage of students who do not pass), we make it mandatory that they pass it no later than their 11th-grade year. We help them through tutoring before and after school and during lunch. We provide the tutorial program for the kids who don't pass it. We have never had anyone not pass it before coming out of the 11th grade.

Q: How does your high school support student engagement, whether through electives, guidance counseling, or other resources; and how does your high school support struggling students to keep them from dropping out?

A: Lots of nurturing. We have a zero-tolerance policy for poor behavior. We do not tolerate it. There is absolutely no fighting at the school. That gives the kids a chance to be focused on their education. We also have character education—that's part of our philosophy. They have several activities. There's community service, field trips, projects, and special events, and a lot of assemblies, just reinforcing that character education and nurturing and the zero-tolerance policy so we keep on top of that and keep them focused.

Q: What would you hope California policymakers, educators, and the public would understand about the academic achievement of the state's African American students?

A: I would hope that they would understand that African American students learn better through differentiated instruction, hands-on activities, interactive group projects, and real-life experiences, rather than just standardized test test test test test.

Q: Is there anything we have not talked about that is important for us to know about your school or your students?

A: Our school is a small learning community that provides a safe, nurturing, and learning environment. We have high expectations for our students, the staff, and parents. We want the students to become students of character. If a student gets into any kind of trouble, we expect support from the parent. In other words, if we say, "Your child did this," and the child says, "Yes, I made a mistake," we don't expect the parent to come in to find blame or not support us on helping their child do the right thing. We really want the students to be students of character. I feel that's really, really important with our students today. I feel that that character piece sometimes is the piece that puts the student over the edge academically.

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This article is a transcript of an interview conducted by EdSource staff in May 2008.
The opinions in this interview are those of the principal, and not necessarily those of EdSource, its staff, its funders, or its Board.