The Hybrid High School Model
2010 Report
A Report of the Hybrid High School Enterprise
ABSTRACT
The Hybrid High School (HHS) Model calls for the application of three principles—skills, work, and office—to create a powerful high school experience. The skills principle requires students to practice and track their development of specific skills through experiences both inside and outside the classroom. The work principle calls for students to complete tasks outside the classroom and to be evaluated as well as reflect on their performance. The office principle requires students to have an individual space that includes a desk and chair, a place to store their belongings and a computer where they do their work. This report describes and supports a Model that will (1) give students the necessary skills to pursue a career later in life, with or without post-secondary education,(2) help students become effective citizens and (3) help more students pass the coursework and tests to earn a diploma.TheModel provides direction for a basic design for a new school and suggests ways to improve existing schools if partially implemented. A final section will describe plans for products to be developed, tested and distributed in 2010.
This project was made possible, in part, through Enitiative. Enitiative (the Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative) is funded by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, MO, and focuses on entrepreneurship in the arts, technology, and Syracuse neighborhoods. For more information, visit Staff and financial support were also provided by the Public Affairs Program of the Maxwell School and the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University.
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Table of Contents
Abbreviated Version
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1
Skills………………………………………………………………………………………4
Work………………………………………………………………………………...……9
The Office Setting………………………………………………………………………15
Hypothetical Four-Year Schedule……………………………………………………..21
Plans for 2010……..…………………………………………….………………………25
Appendix I: Hybrid High School Skills List and Definitions
Appendix II: Cross-References with Skills Lists
Appendix III: Levels of Skill Proficiency
Appendix IV: Lists of Potential Work Activities
Appendix V: Example Evaluation Sheet for Work Activities
Appendix VI: Report on Office School Visit in November 2009
Note: This version may not contain the appendices listed in the table of contents. If you would like to see the appendices please request them by emailing Adam Patrick – or go to for a full version of the report.
HHSEIntroduction
Introduction
High schools in the United States today provide a broad range of academic and non-academic activities. On the one hand, traditional classroom-based coursework generates credit needed for most graduation requirements. On the other hand, students’ activities, community service, internship opportunities and jobs occupy much of their time and interest.
Unfortunately, the academic and the non-academic are almost never effectively integrated and frequently create competing demands that weaken the educational impact of each. Academic activities are presented and evaluated in a highly structured manner, which gives the appearance—if not the reality—of rigor. Few students are motivated to learn the material for any reason other than getting high grades. Many students are more engaged and invested in the non-academic activities. These activities, however, are rarely monitored and evaluated. If they were, they would help build many of the skills and attitudes that lead to successful careers and effective citizenship.
This report describes a model based on Bill Coplin’s experiences[1] and the research done by the Hybrid High School Enterprise over the past four months.
The Hybrid High School Enterprise consists of a group of students in a class that met in fall 2009 under the leadership of a Syracuse University senior, Adam Patrick, Professor Bill Coplin and a network of advisors that provided feedback on products and guidance for research. The Enterprise’s goal was to refine and promote the Hybrid High School Model. The Enterprise is an experiment in social entrepreneurship with the support of Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative and will ultimately provide a set of products and services to high school educators who want to implement the Model. This Enterprise includes the following students:
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Forrest Ball
Sara Bobak
Kelsie Bouchard
Ashley Haskins
Emma Kinzer
Zach Lax
Katie Lewinski
Julianna Malogolowkin
Christina Sterbenz
Dulcinea Stuk
Danielle Sutton
Perry Thurston
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The report provides a discussion of each of the three principles: skills, work and office; a hypothetical schedule to illustrate how this model integrates the three principles; and plans for the future. The series of appendices provides more detailedexamples.
The HHSModel is considered “hybrid” because it combines the academic and non-academic components of the high school experience. The model is built on three related strategic principles:
- SKILLS – Students, faculty and staff will devote as much time and energy to developing general skills as they do to the content of the curriculum.
- WORK ACTIVITIES – Students will be required to participate in structured “work activities” outside of traditional classroom-based activities. These include the typical extra-curricular activities like athletics and student organizations as well as community service, internships and jobs. Time on task and levels of performance must be met in these activities for graduation.
- OFFICE – Students will have their own individual “office” spaces, which serve as locations for their academic and experiential activities. They will attend educational sessions and team meetings but return to their office spaces to reinforce the academic sessions and follow up on the team meetings. Time in the office will also allow for study time, remedial and supplemental individual instruction and practice for standardized tests.
The Model will support the following three goals of all high schools:
- Preparing students to pursue a viable career path after high school or post-secondary education. This includes college readiness for most students.
- Developing the willingness and ability of students to take on the responsibilities of effective citizenship
- Helping students pass the coursework and test components required for a high school diploma
The Model acknowledges other goals that many high schools strive for, including: college preparation, personal development, learning for the sake of learning, appreciation of the arts and literature and other specific themes. The Model will help students with these goals; however, the primary purpose of the Model is to improve career development, citizenship and graduation rates. The Model is intended to help students with a variety of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and assumes that most high schools must do a better job of helping studentsexplore careers, develop the skills employers want andbecome active and effective citizens. Many high schools, particularly in disadvantaged areas, must also improve graduation rates.
Most high schools in the United States are moving towards an emphasis on skills and extracurricular activities as well as physical configurations different from the traditional classroom. However, few have realized the potential of all three elements and none have integrated the three. The HHSModel suggests how skill development, project- and office-based learning, and the evaluation of students’ extracurricular activities can play a larger role than it does in most high schools. It also strengthens the role of the three elements by integrating them so that they reinforce rather than compete with traditional academic coursework. The Model assumes that traditional academic programs will be used as much as they are now, but that skills, work and office can enhance both the academic and non-academic components of high schools. TheModel provides direction for a basic design for a new school and a way to improve existing schools if partially implemented.
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Skills
The HHS Model is driven by the simple idea that “it’s the skills, stupid.” The Model lists forty skills required for a successful career in any field, effective citizenship and high school graduation.A high school based on the Model must use a list, but not necessarily this specific list, as a guideline for the entire range of experiences during a student’s high school career. Students who graduate from such a high school will have developed a reasonable level of proficiency in all skills presented to students as they begin high school.
The focus on skills is suggested in a variety of academic studies, including a book written by two economists, Richard J. Murnane and Frank Levy, Teaching theNew Basic Skills: Principles for Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy (1996). The book suggests the importance of the three Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic) as well as soft skills like teamwork and communications. A recent U.S. News & World Report article(November 25, 2009),“11 Skills You’ll Need in a Career” by Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman also supports many of the HHS skills. The article highlights the importance of written and oral communication skills, teamwork, time management, and multitasking.
The Skills List
Table 1 below is a list that identifies forty skills grouped into ten categories. Ten Things Employers Want You to Learn in College (Ten Speed Press 2003) by Bill Coplin fully discusses 38 of the skills while two, “Be Ethical” and “Skill Planning,” have been added since the book was written.Appendix I providesdetailed definitions for each of the forty HHS skills.
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Table 1: Hybrid High School Skills
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1.0 Establishing a Work Ethic / 6.0 Influencing People1.1 Self-Motivate / 6.1 Manage Efficiently
1.2 Be Honest / 6.2 Sell Successfully
1.3 Be Ethical / 6.3 Politick Wisely
1.4 Manage Your Time / 6.4 Lead Effectively
1.5 Manage Your Money / 7.0 Gathering Information
1.6 Skill Planning / 7.1 Use Library Holdings
2.0 Developing Physical Skills / 7.2 Use Commercial Databases
2.1 Stay Healthy / 7.3 Search the Web
2.2 Look Presentable / 7.4 Conduct Interviews
2.3 Type Well / 7.5 Use Surveys
2.4 Take Legible Notes / 7.6 Keep and Use Records
3.0 Communicating Verbally / 8.0 Using Quantitative Tools
3.1 Converse One-on-One / 8.1 Use Numbers
3.2 Present to Groups / 8.2 Use Graphs and Tables
3.3 Use Visual Displays / 8.3 Use Spreadsheet Programs
4.0 Communicating in Writing / 9.0 Asking and Answering the Right Questions
4.1Write Well / 9.1 Detect Nonsense
4.2 Edit and Proof / 9.2 Pay Attention to Detail
4.3 Use Word-Processing Tools / 9.3 Apply Knowledge
4.4 Send Information Electronically / 9.4 Evaluate Actions and Policies
5.0 Working Directly With People / 10.0 Solving Problems
5.1 Build Good Relationships / 10.1 Identify Problems
5.2 Work in Teams / 10.2 Develop Solutions
5.3 Teach Others / 10.3 Launch Solutions
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The list is based on interviews with corporate professionals, career advisers, various studies and Bill Coplin’s forty years of experience advising and teaching undergraduates at Syracuse University. In addition, the staff of the HHS Enterprise researched and interviewed the following existing programs and operating schools to identify the skills:
Skills Lists Researched
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Achieve
Berea College
Big Picture Learning
Equipped for the Future*
Future Business Leaders of America
Junior Achievement
Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP)
New York State Learning Standards
SuncoastPolytechnical High School*
Texas Future Teachers of America
Teach for America
21st Century Skills*
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These lists overlapped a great deal with the Model’s forty skills. Of these, 21st Century Skills, Equipped for the Future and SuncoastPolytechnical High School were the closest matches and the most comprehensive. Appendix II shows how those three lists correspond with the Model’s list.
Designers of high school programs can use the HHS list or one of the other lists appearing in Appendix II as a starting point and then develop their own list. The most important requirement of the lists is that students understand the skills.The Enterprise hastried to avoid jargon and put the skills in terms that high school students can comprehend. In addition, the list does not just enable students to understand it better but also allows measurement of the skills through a clear set of guidelines.Designers should agree on a list or a revised form of this list as a starting point. The list gives direction to students and a framework for promotional material, syllabi, curricular design and program evaluation.
Academic Coursework
Traditional academic coursework required for high school graduation can incorporate the skills in two ways. First, students should be introduced to the list of skills in the recruiting material for the high school and during the first week of the 9th grade. A half-credit course entitled Career and Skill Development offered each semester throughout the four years will help students focus on the skills they need to develop and facilitate continuous evaluation among other things (see the next section for more on the course). Students will complete self-evaluations of their skills each semester. During the semester, students will prepare logs indicating which skills they have practiced in their academic courses. In this way, students will see their coursework both for its content and skill development.
Second, faculty will design course content with the skills list in mind and highlight the major skills that will be practiced in the course. The specific skills will be provided at the outset of the course and periodically mentioned throughout the course. Since teachers already help students develop many of the skills as part of their educational goals, this requirement should not necessitate major changes in the content of the course. It may, however, encourage a different approach to delivering the content. For example, team projects within the course will help students practice many of the skills in the category of working with people. All course syllabi are required to have a set of content and skill objectives specific to the course.
With constant reminders from the Career and Skill Development course and the faculty in their courses, students will focus on developing the forty skills. The Model assumes that if students have a clear picture of the skills they are supposed to be developing and can monitor that process, they will develop their skills.
Work Activities
The Model requires opportunities for enhanced skill development through a full range of activities outside of the classroom. All work activities will be organized, evaluated and supplemented in the Career and Skill Development course.The activities discussed here are explained in more detail in the next section of this paper.
Students should view every work activity—whether assisting teachers, participating in athletic programs, doing community service or working at a part-time job—as opportunities to develop their skills. Students willbe evaluated on their “job” performance and, at the same time will be required to complete self-evaluations on which skills they practiced during the experience. Alerting students to opportunities to practice skills in these settings will enhance their skill development.
Appendix III contains a list of “levels of skill proficiency” for each of the forty skills. The list is organized into four levels ranging from no proficiency to high proficiency. The list is designed to be used by students to track their progress over their four years of high school. Teachers of the Career and Skill Development course can use these levels of skill proficiency to organize their curricula and evaluate student skill levels.
Achieving the Three Goals through Skills
“It’s the skills, stupid” is the driving force behind the HHS Model. By practicing the skills throughout their four years of high school in both academic courses and work activities, students will begin to understand the necessities of a successful career, which skills they like to exercise and can do well. Also, effective citizenship requires the use of many of the skills like using simple statistical techniques and interpreting survey results, as well as soft skills like influencing people and problem-solving. The skills approach is applicable to coursework and, by improving their skill sets, students will improve their chances of meeting graduation requirements.
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Work Activities
The HHS Model refers to non-academic activities prescribed by the Model with the term “work activities” and treats these activities as equally important to academic coursework in the overall high school experience.
High schools throughout the United States encourage and support, to some degree, most of the “work activities.” The Model, however, breaks new ground by requiring more rigorous evaluation through the Career and Skill Development course and also byincluding work in the school and paid part-time jobs as an integral part of a high school educational experience.
The benefit of this approach will be to help students understand that, as Aristotle commented, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Too few students in high school take extra-curricular activities seriously. Many students see them just as an opportunity for fun and are all too ready to quit if it stops being fun. Students also see part-time jobs, community service and internships as something that they will do well if they find it interesting rather than as something they will do well because they have a professional responsibility. Making these activities a requirement and evaluating them will greatly enhance the educational value of these experiences for both career development and effective citizenship.