Arise High School

Curriculum and Instruction: ARISE's instructional vision is to create engaging learning environments that are differentiated to be rigorous for all learners and anchored in social and restorative justice. Pedagogy emphasizes cultural relevance and responsiveness and emphasizes the 5 C's of ARISE's Graduation Profile. Curriculum is aligned to grade-level standards and is divided into two foci: STEM and Humanities. Through the STEM program, ARISE is able to offer a Linked Learning experience, which is aligned to their Community and Public Health Pathway, and gives students (many of which are first-generation college-bound) access to college and career pathways. 

STEM courses aim to both remediate gaps in skills and knowledge and emphasize critical thinking and problem solving. These courses are grounded in cultural relevance, aligned to the Public and Community Health Pathway,  and provide scaffolds and differentiation for each lesson. Through this work, each ARISE student will see themselves in their S.T.E.M. classes as: scientists, health professionals, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, or researchers and empower themselves to transform their communities as agents of change. 

Humanities courses provides rigorous instruction and empowers students to grow into agents of change in their communities through Gold Standard project-based learning and collaborative community action research. Knowledge, skills, and agency build over time from 9th through 12th grades to prepare students for college-level coursework and professional careers. There are many systems and opportunities which enable all students to successfully access Humanities courses and help remediate gaps in literacy skills and knowledge. 

As part of their commitment to Unconditional Education, ARISE utilizes an RTI system to monitor student development academically (as well as socio-emotionally and behaviorally) and provide interventions as needed to ensure all students grow at their optimal pace. 

Assessment: Student learning in content areas is assessed largely using teacher-created Performance Assessments. On a macro level, ARISE uses rubrics aligned to their 5 C's (Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Critical Consciousness, and Community Transformation) to assess and support the development of each Warrior Intellectual Skill as they move towards realizing the instructional vision and graduate profile. Check out the rubric for Communication here, and if you would like to see more you can visit this page and click into the 5 C's located along the paint swatches.

When students begin their studies at ARISE freshman year, along with their families, they take an orientation to graduation requirements in order to ensure everyone is working together towards graduation. Students fulfill course requirements through coursework at ARISE High School or through approved coursework at one of the community colleges in the Peralta District. Students have the opportunity to earn credits that fulfill the University of California/California State University (UC/CSU) system A-G requirements. Transcripts follow each individual student’s personalized graduation plan.  These plans are updated regularly and, along with student portfolios and performance-based assessment presentations, provide the substance of quarterly exhibitions of student work and student-led parent conferences

ARISE's school culture is rooted in community and relationships. They are grounded in Unconditional Education (UE) to create a school community in which all students - from every subgroup at ARISE - are welcomed and can thrive. UE is the foundation of ARISE's multi-tiered system of support that focuses on building positive school culture and climate by supports each students behavioral, social, and emotional needs. One function of the COST team (see in Adult Roles) is to identify thematic areas of need around which they will develop a school-wide approach to ensure a healthy school culture, such as school transitions, anger management, relationship violence, and alcohol and drug issues. The COST team is part of Adelante Students Services. It is both structure and philosophy at ARISE to provide intensive support towards helping students move forward.

Very important to the school culture at ARISE is their Restorative Justice Praxis, which builds and sustains a safe and inclusive community, develops and strengthen relationships, and repairs relationships when a fracture has occurred. The Praxis brings together many of the components of the school model so that the school functions cohesively as it strives to build optimal behaviors and avoid harm. When a breach does occur, the Praxis leans on many existing mechanisms, such as Circles and reflective conversations to repair the harm done.

The student leadership provides opportunities for students to serve as leaders in their school community so that they can equip themselves with the knowledge & skills needed to become agents of change in their community.

As we write this, ARISE is currently committed to remote learning for the entire 2020-2021 school year, and so this page looks a little different. However, you can see their schedule and calendar for remote learning here.

ARISE believes that teachers must be active collaborators in developing the school and teachers must be actively supported to develop their teaching craft. They have four primary professional learning structures: 1-on-1 Coaching, Teacher Leadership, Critical Inquiry Groups (CIG), and Professional Development, which you can learn about in more detail toward the bottom of this page. In order to ensure educators teach towards ARISE's 5 C's and with cultural relevance, leaders and peers sit in on lessons and use this teacher-centered observation tool.

Some adults at ARISE are part of the “Coordination Of Services Team” (COST) model made up of school leaders, service providers, general education teachers, and support staff that are responsible for the coordination of intervention services. The Dean of School Culture oversees this team. The team regularly reviews school-wide data including academic, behavioral and/or social emotional health reports and progress assessments to inform decisions around intervention service. 

ARISE has over 100 community partnerships with organizations in Oakland and the Greater East Bay for their Public & Community Health Internships and other work-based learning and student engagement opportunities like job shadowing, guest speaker panels, and service-learning programs/days. One noteworthy relationships is with the Seneca Family of Agencies in the implementation of a Multi-Tiered Model (part of the UE model) for proactive support and intervention across the domains of academics, behavior, social, and emotional well-being.

ARISE also values their partnership with parents. One way they seek two-way conversations with families is through focus groups. You will notice that like the focus group messaging, all communication is also in Spanish.

The UE model promotes systematic coordination and integration of funding and services, which increase the efficient allocation of available resources so that gaps are identified and redundancies eliminated. UE emphasizes early intervention by utilizing data to identify student needs and then providing services to address those needs before students fail, thereby reducing the need for more intensive and costly remediation in the future.