Principal Todd Haag, Rancho Cucamonga High School
Rancho Cucamonga High School (9-12)
Chaffey Joint Union High, San Bernardino County
- 2006-07 Enrollment: 2,794
- Percent Free/Reduced-price Meals: 19%
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Percent African American Students: 15%
- Schoolwide Growth API (2007): 781
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African American Growth API (2007): 744
(Note: All data are current as of February 1, 2008.)
Principal: Todd Haag
Length of time as principal at Rancho Cucamonga High School: 3 years ("Following a number of outstanding principals.")
"We work hard to get students of all backgrounds involved in student leadership on campus, and we try to exemplify the diversity that exists in as many areas as possible. That has helped us to create the kind of atmosphere where all students feel that success is possible."
Q: In your estimation, what are the greatest challenges faced by African American students at the high school level?
A: I think one of them is overcoming stereotypes and having the confidence to achieve--realizing that they can do it, that it's cool to be a student and achieve. It's also adults overcoming those same types of stereotypes that may exist, many times unintentionally, and recognizing that all students are capable, though we may have to approach things a little bit differently as teachers and administrators. We need to define those avenues to approach things differently so all of our students can be successful.
Q: From your perspective, what are the three most important things your school does to support African American student achievement?
A: We recognize and celebrate achievement. Sometimes that can be a sensitive issue: how do you approach subgroups, in this case, African Americans, indicating to them that you want them to achieve and why? It's not just because we want the school to look good and achieve high test scores. We want them to understand that their achievement opens doors for them and provides opportunities. That can be a tough message to articulate sometimes.
We try to recognize achievement when it happens, especially by subgroup. We inform students of the goal of achievement and the measures that are used from a big-picture standpoint. We do classroom visitations where we discuss what subgroups are with respect to our API and High School Exit Exam. What is their purpose? To close the achievement gap, but what is that? Why does it exist? We try to give them that kind of background so when we talk about it, in their mind we're not just talking about race, we're not just talking about something the school is trying to do. We make announcements regarding it; we publicize it. We've also tried to talk with African American students in settings that currently exist. For example, we may talk with our athletic teams about achievement and have a little bit more of a personal conversation because we're trying to have conversations that are important, and at the same time, have them in the right way so students and their parents are clear as to what we're trying to achieve. We're not trying to single anybody out or separate groups for purposes of comparison. We try to come at it from the standpoint of opportunity and growth. We also have these conversations through an umbrella organization called STAND [Socially Together and Naturally Diverse].
We also have developed some programs. One is called Leadership Summit, where we try to pull students that are leaders on campus--not just from formally existing groups like an athletic team or the smartest kid on campus but all socially identifiable groups on campus. We pull those student leaders together to have conversations about diversity and achievement. We also have something called United Student Forum that takes a similar approach. We have a Student Achievement class, led by a teacher, which celebrates, recognizes, and promotes student achievement on campus.
The other thing we're doing is having conversations with administration and staff as to how we can better address the needs of African American and Hispanic students to get our message across and to get the information out in the right way. It's a work in progress, certainly.
We try to challenge our students and create an academic mindset on campus. We do that globally, not necessarily specifically with African American students. We celebrate diversity and inclusion. We work hard to get students of all backgrounds involved in student leadership on campus, and we try to exemplify the diversity that exists in as many areas as possible. That has helped us to create the kind of atmosphere where all students feel that success is possible. But I would be the first one to say there's more we need to do.
Q: What instructional or curricular priorities in particular have been most important?
A: One of the things that's been instituted is called a BlackBoard Configuration [Dr. Lorraine Monroe], where we begin each class with a set activity. We call it a "do now." We are asking teachers to develop an objective or "aim" for the lesson. We try to get them to be as specific as possible: "Here is the aim for the lesson today, and here's what you're going to come away with" --one or two sentences about what students are going to achieve in the period. We try to use higher-order Bloom's verbs in that configuration. That's something we've been doing now for four or five years that I think has had a huge impact.
We've also provided staff with information, such as Classroom Instructional Strategies at Work by Robert Marzano and Foundation for Understanding Poverty by Ruby Payne, which helps staff look at things maybe from a different perspective. And we've developed a little booklet we refer to as Strategies for Success that summarizes and synthesizes what I just mentioned--those two texts and then some of the other things that we do on campus.
Q: What challenges has your school faced, or does it continue to face, in these efforts?
A: Continuing to educate staff and trying to help students (and parents) understand the importance of taking education seriously and challenging themselves. We're trying to increase the number of students, including our African American students, taking honors and Advanced Placement classes. We are having a dialogue with teachers about recognizing, challenging, and encouraging students to take that step when they see potential that maybe hasn't been tapped into before. We've certainly made some modest gains in that area. We have more kids taking more exams than ever before, but we're trying to increase our under-represented groups by making it known that those doors are open. In the past, we have had some guidelines to enter the honors program with respect to assessments and testing and junior high achievement. We've tried to remove barriers. We want to make sure you're qualified. We want to put you in a position where you'll be successful, but we've tried to remove the barriers to challenge more kids.
Q: What role does data disaggregated by student subgroup play in your school's efforts to support student achievement?
A: It plays a large role. We look at data in a disaggregated fashion to inform teachers. We use data as an opportunity to look at gaps and trends and needs. Teachers look at their data to see how students are doing in their classroom and what those students' skills or shortcomings may be so they can address them individually or as a group. We also look at teacher data to see how their previous students have done so they can make necessary adjustments as well. We also look at disaggregated data by ethnicity so teachers can be aware of the achievement of African American students and look at what kinds of things they can do in the classroom. This could include instructional strategies or awareness of shortcomings or needs of groups of kids in their classroom so they can better enhance their curriculum and the strategies they use to approach those needs.
This year, we also have incorporated Data Director, a technology that allows us to even more astutely review data. Teachers can access it on their computers in their classrooms. They can look at their enrollment, trends, needs, and shortcomings or areas of concern. They can do that by individual student so they'll have a lot more intimate knowledge than they ever had before to better address the needs of students, including African American students.
Q: What resources, whether inside or outside the school, have been most important?
A: I think we have a true sense of community spirit at this school. We have involved parents who recognize the importance of achievement and the opportunities that education provides for their students. This community and a lot of our parents have themselves either benefited from or recognized the advantage of educational opportunities.
We have a parent booster organization for existing groups on campus. We also have Parent Forum, which allows parents to come in and share or ask questions. Our counseling department has provided several grade-level nights for parents to talk with counselors, hear presentations, and ask questions. Counselors have had individual parent meetings with all of our students--that came about because of the AB 1802 legislation. We feel our school is very open door. We're creating an atmosphere where parents feel comfortable coming to the school, that it is their school.
We're also attempting to establish a more formal tutoring program. We have tutoring after school in our library, and our teachers make themselves available before school, during school, and after school to develop a personal relationship with the students.
A few community groups also provide some resources, such as Upward Bound.
Q: Is community college readiness a priority at your high school? And if so, how does your school ensure that students, including African American students, are prepared for college?
A: We have certainly tried to improve our college-going readiness by promoting the "a-g" requirements and encouraging students to take an additional year of science beyond the two years required. We also have close to 100% of our juniors taking a math class. If they completed their first two years of math, we're encouraging them and almost mandating--even to the point of having a conversation with parents if students don't see the need--that all our juniors take math even though it's not a graduation requirement. We've also encouraged enrollment in foreign language early on, as freshmen. We believe that foreign language is a track to improve yourself academically and at the same time prepare yourself for college. We've made some strides in those areas. And more kids are taking the SAT and PSAT exams.
Chaffey College, which is just up the street, and our district have developed a program called "A Man and A Woman" designed specifically for African American students at Chaffey. The program provides personal mentors for African American students to better connect them to the campus. They've reached out to the high school campuses, and we've taken a large contingency of African American students in their junior or senior year to Chaffey College to experience a day in that program. This year, they started the day with a speaker, a gentleman representing the Little Rock Nine, the African American students who were part of the desegregation of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. Then they went to Chaffey to become acclimated. It's a way to reach out and say: "Here's an opportunity for you, whether or not you thought you were college-bound. We think we can help you be successful at the college level."
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: We want staff to be promoting an academic mindset and the college mindset, but at the same time we recognize that college may not be for everybody. But instead of making that assumption about a student, let the dialogue with the student about college take its course so that we don't pigeonhole anybody into any type of continuing education track.
Q: Is career-technical education important at your school? And if so, to what career paths do the programs at your school introduce students, including African American students?
A: We have a Career Center that provides information, both written materials and online, that allows students to explore both educational and career interests and opportunities. They can self-assess as to interest and ability with respect to careers.
The tracks we have on campus from a technology standpoint are a strong business department and technical education department. We also have a strong fine arts and performing arts department. ROP [Regional Occupation Programs] also provide vital options for our students.
Q: How does your school use the California High School Exit Exam [CAHSEE] to inform teaching and student learning?
A: We use the CAHSEE standards and have developed intervention programs during the school day, after school, and on the weekends for students who need help with CAHSEE. We've developed something called Skill Builders, which we use in the core academic areas during the regular school day, generally on a weekly basis, to help address any gaps in our curriculum with respect to the CAHSEE. Those are primarily in English and math, but we use them in science and social science as well. We have developed some "mini-lessons" that address gaps schoolwide in our curriculum with respect to English language arts and math. Various departments build those mini-lessons into their curriculum throughout the year. We have a very collaborative approach on this campus with respect to teachers delivering the same curriculum by design and common assessments.
We are also going to incorporate CAHSEE practice tests for our freshman--one in the fall and another one during our state-mandated STAR testing. The practice exams will provide information about where student shortcomings may be so we can address them with interventions. Also, it gives students the opportunity to go through that experience so they have a better idea going into their sophomore year of what the CAHSEE exam is all about.
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: That's a work in progress. We're always looking for ways to reach more students, to identify those students who are struggling. We've asked our guidance department to compare how students have achieved on the California Standards Tests in English language arts and/or math with the grades that they're getting in their math or English class. Do they jive? Did they do well on the CAHSEE but are struggling academically here at school or vice versa? Why is that?
I mentioned earlier the grade-level nights that our counselors provide and the Leadership Summit. We also have Girl Talk that we do with freshmen. Again, the overall message is to achieve academically and take advantage of the opportunity here. We also have United Student Forum that provides a similar message.
And we have peer counseling on our campus, a very viable program that reaches out to students to help them remediate problems.
Our teachers understand the importance of time related to "bell-to-bell" instruction. I mentioned our formal tutoring program. But I would be remiss if I didn't talk about how our teachers make themselves available for tutoring and for individual student needs. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't have a meeting after school with teachers and they say: "Hey, Mr. Haag, is this going to take long because I've got four kids in my classroom that I'm mentoring" (or teaching or tutoring or doing a make-up test or what have you). That's very much a strength on this campus.
Q: What support and leadership does your district provide to your high school's efforts?
A: The district provides a strong vision and a clear direction for our schools. Their primary role is providing staffing and funding. They support interventions, especially with respect to the CAHSEE and students that are achieving below grade level. They've also provided the licensing for the Read 180 program to help us address the needs of students reading below grade level. That has been a great program that's still in its inception on our campus.
The district also provides a dialogue for principals and assistant principals. We meet on a regular basis and talk about issues and bounce things off each other, and the district shares the latest trends and the needs that they see from a district standpoint. Together, we put programs in place that can better address the needs of our students. They're a great provider of data in a manner that makes the data readily available for us to use in educating us and pushing the sites to continually address the needs of our African American students and all of our students. Staff development opportunities have also made a tremendous difference. The district annually supports large numbers of teachers attending the Effective Schools Conferences in Arizona and California, and also the Curriculum Mapping model has been instituted at schools district-wide.
Q: What would you hope California policymakers, educators, and the public understand about the academic achievement of the state's African American students?
A: I would hope they have an understanding and can better hear the voices of those people on the high school campuses as to what they see as needs and what they see as issues and what they see as solutions to addressing the needs of our African American students regarding policy or funding. I don't think there's any kind of a quick fix. There's a lot of history and a lot of social dynamics to overcome that play into the achievement of African American students. All stakeholders, educational leaders, students and parents must be open to doing things differently.
Q: Is there anything that we have not talked about that is important for us to know about your school or your students?
A: I think the environment we provide lends itself greatly to us having some of the successes that we have had. We have a very strong sense of community and genuine school spirit on this campus. That sounds corny sometimes, but I think that's something all large high schools struggle with developing and maintaining, and we work very hard at it. Again, we have a lot of work to do and we're always looking for ways to improve. But we've provided a foundation for a lot of things, whether it's dialogue with students and parents, whether it's celebrating student achievement, whether it's talking about sensitive issues--that tone on campus, that positive environment from a staff and student standpoint, a connectivity to school, if you will. We have a foundation for dialogue and positive change to take place.
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.
For more information about this school, see the Ed-Data website.
For information about African American student achievement in California, please also see the following:
