Going Sky High

cool schools
Future Flyers:
Aviation High School
students pass by vintage
planes after giving class
presentations at Seattle’s
Museum of Flight.
Going Sky High
An interest in aeronautics leads students
to Aviation High School, where academic
pursuits can really take flight.
For students who come to our school, having
their heads in the clouds isn’t a bad thing—it’s practically a prerequisite.
Here at Aviation High School, a public school in Seattle, students
must be willing not only to pursue a demanding academic workload but also to explore the worlds of aviation and aerospace.About
200 students have enrolled since we opened last year. Most share a
common goal: They want to understand and devour everything
about aviation, from the history of flight to the science of engineering and designing aircraft to the mechanics of piloting planes.
Others enroll because of our focus on math, science, and technology. Some choose this school
simply because it is a small,
caring learning community.
Aviation and aerospace
inspire students
and prepare them
for all that is possible.
An Idea Takes Wing
The concept for an aviationthemed high school came
up while I was principal of the Sea-Tac Occupational Skills Center
(OSC), a technical and vocational school in Burien, Washington.The
Seattle region has a long history of aviation research and, not surprisingly, at the OSC I heard from many students who wanted to be aeronautical engineers, pilots, avionics technicians, or astronauts. Why,
20
EDUTOPIA OCTOBER 2005
they asked, weren’t there programs at the high school level that
could get them started?
At the same time, our center’s strategic-planning team was conducting a program review and actively considering new course offerings. Members of that team included community members who
wanted to see the best practices of career and technical education at
the skills center expanded into new teaching and learning models in
more traditionally academic settings.
I wanted to help students realize their career goals, but I found
that too many came to the OSC in eleventh or twelfth grade expecting to become computer scientists, medical professionals, engineers—yet they were totally unprepared for the academically
demanding pathway of these careers.The passion was there, but that
did not always mean they were prepared for the task ahead. I had
been principal of the OSC for fourteen years, but this dilemma still
kept me awake at night.
In 2000, I sat down with the OSC strategic-planning team, and we
asked,“What if we had a learning model that captured the passion of
students at an earlier age and totally immersed them in what they
were inspired by or loved to do?”We looked at several career themes
for models but kept coming back to aviation and aerospace, primarily
because that’s what the students kept reinforcing that they wanted.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY REBA GILMAN
The Pacific Northwest, home to aeronautics companies such as
Boeing, seemed a natural place to start Aviation High School.We not
only boast incredible resources for the school’s students and faculty
but, as a region, we also need to cultivate future engineers and business leaders with an interest in aviation. At the very least, we must
give students the math and science background that will serve them
well in other technology-based professions.
I wanted Aviation High School to deliver the benefits of a smallschool education to a group of students who share a common interest and goals. I don’t have a background in aviation, but I grew up
around small aircraft and a local airport. Most importantly, I had seen
firsthand how much difference it makes in classroom achievement
when students are passionate about their studies.
The community endorsed the Aviation High School concept and,
for the next three years, we refined the idea and gained funding.A
design team developed an initial plan, which was revised many times
before it was submitted to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in
2002. Disappointingly, the initial proposal was not funded, but the
feedback was positive and we were encouraged to resubmit the next
year.The second time was the charm, and, in May 2003, we were notified that we would receive $600,000 in funding over four years.
Young Minds Soar
schoolwide learning goals.The more complex projects are developed
in collaboration with industry experts, such as a wing-design engineer,
a transit planner, an Arctic researcher, and a local river-cleanup coalition.The Museum of Flight, with which we have an educational partnership, provides teachers with learning resources, plus curriculum
development and instruction with some seminars. Because the museum is near our campus, there is ample opportunity for collaboration.
Full Speed Ahead
I’m proud of all we’ve accomplished in our first year, but we still have
a lot of work ahead.We have just developed the instructional program
for Flight One, for grades nine and ten, and have yet to develop the
program for Flight Two. This step will involve codevelopment of
courses with our other educational partner, South Seattle Community
College; creation of an internship program in which students learn
workplace skills in aviation and aerospace industries; and development of a senior project and a portfolio graduation requirement.
We were naive when we started, not realizing how challenging it
would be without the infrastructure of a regular high school. Not having a library or athletic fields or special education instructors is difficult and requires new thinking for how to meet students’ need in
these areas.We have also learned teachers must have support and help
in designing high-quality projects,which we’re addressing by enlisting
industry specialists and
experts in performancebased learning to aid us.
Some of our goals were
overly ambitious and will
take more time than we
expected.All ninth graders
Our application process requires written essays and a face-to-face
interview, and students must be committed to a rigorous college-prep
curriculum, including four years of both math and science. They also
must have a desire to work in a small, personalized learning environment where all students and staff know them well. Because we are a
more intimate,more focused school,students also must be comfortable
with the fact that we don’t have the full menu of courses or activities
of a comprehensive high school.
We are like mainstream schools
in that students take a variety of
courses required for high school
graduation and college admission.
The difference in our program is
the commitment to authentic
learning experiences through a
project-based curriculum. We are
not a career and technical school or
an academy; we are a theme-based
high school that relies on aviation
and aerospace to inspire students
and prepare them for all that is
possible in their lives. Our curricuHappy Campers: During a four-day summer camp at Big Bend Community College, in Moses Lake, Washington,
Aviation High School students tour a C-17 cargo plane from Fort Lewis,Washington.
lum is rigorously standards based,
and our approach to learning
requires students to develop their thinking skills as they apply took Private Pilot Ground School last year, which we’ve come to see
is probably better done in sophomore or junior year. A donated kit
what they have learned in class to solve problems.
In addition to core courses in math, science, language arts, and plane, which our students began work on last year with the help of
social studies, we offer electives such as Art, Environmental two engineers from Boeing, was to have been nearer completion by
Stewardship, Forensics, Japanese, and Science Olympiad, plus a series now. But they’re still steaming ahead, and we hope the plane will be
of seminars focused on aviation and aerospace, including Aviation ready for takeoff by the time our first class graduates in 2008. At
and the American Character, History of Aircraft Design, and Robotics. Aviation High School, we all know that the sky’s the limit.d
In each course, students complete projects that demonstrate a Reba Gilman is CEO and principal of Aviation High School. Among many honors for her
depth of understanding and skill related to our essential questions and work, Gilman was named Washington state’s Vocational Administrator of the Year in 2002.
AIMEE HORNBERGER
Not having a library
or athletic fields
at the school requires
new thinking.
2005 OCTOBER EDUTOPIA
21
cool schools
§ Build a Theme-Based
How To:
Curriculum
BY KAREN EPPER HOFFMAN
Starting up your own public school, built around a core theme such as aviation, is not easy. In
fact, it can be a lot harder than many would imagine. Much like flying a plane, it requires a lot of
multitasking: developing a rigorous yet focused curriculum, finding knowledgeable staff, engaging
outside support, getting funding. Whether you want to develop your own theme-based school, or
just a theme-based curriculum within your school, here are a few issues to keep high on your radar:
1. Seek out new streams
of financial support.
Sometimes, state and federal funding is not
enough—especially when you’re going to offer
more specialized educational offerings.
Teachers or administrators may want to consider seeking out grants—and not just from traditional school funding sources but also from
community and regional foundations with an
interest in education or in the theme or focus the
school is nurturing. For example, if you’re trying
to launch a curriculum focused on developing
budding computer engineers, seek financial
support from local high-tech companies, which
have a vested interest in cultivating new talent.
As a public school, Aviation High School
receives basic state education funding, but,
because the school is so small, that funding
does not adequately cover all the necessary
operating costs and capital improvements. In
addition to a four-year, $600,000 grant allocated
by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2003,
the Port of Seattle will contribute $6.5 million
over the next ten years. Those funds will allow
the school to make improvements to its leased
facility on the campus of South Seattle
Community College for the first two years of
operation, primarily upgrades to support the
school’s technology infrastructure.
2. Find teachers with both realworld and classroom experience.
When combining traditional academics with a
technical or practical education, it helps to be
guided by people who can walk the walk.
Teachers with at least some real-world knowledge and experience in a subject area—whether
it’s aviation, computer science, or medicine—
22
EDUTOPIA OCTOBER 2005
can offer students insights into where their studies can lead them and can give them a better
grasp of practical applications of their subjects.
Retired experts who have chosen to pursue
teaching as a second career, current professionals interested in teaching part time, and even
teachers with hobbies that correspond to the
school’s theme can be fonts of useful knowledge. Although it’s ideal to find teachers with
solid instructional skills, too, it’s important,
when developing a curriculum around a theme,
to seek out educators who, at the very minimum, also have experience and/or an interest in
that arena.
3. Engage community and
business leaders to contribute
time and money.
It’s worthwhile to enlist community members for
support, especially if the theme of your school
or curriculum relates to, or may contribute to,
that community. For example, Aviation High
School sought the advice of people in the
Seattle aviation and aerospace industries from
the time of its concept design. The school’s
founding board of directors includes representatives from Alaska Airlines (based in Seattle),
the Port of Seattle, an independent local flight
school, and the Washington State Department
of Transportation’s Aviation Division.
Attend professional conferences and governmental meetings in your city or region, or
seek out meetings with individuals you think
may bolster your cause. (Consider that officials
or professionals are likely to welcome the
opportunity to gain some good public exposure
by offering their help.) But make sure you have
a reasonable expectation for how much time
these busy and/or high-profile volunteers can
offer—and make the most effective use of their
involvement.
4. Tap mentors and parents
for support.
Just as with finding teachers with a relevant
background, developing mentor programs that
partner students with experienced professionals
can provide another inroad to better learning
and greater insight into a field. Most Aviation
High School students have been placed with
one of the more than sixty active mentors the
school has engaged—men and women who
work, or have worked, as pilots or engineers or
in other areas of the industry. The mentors volunteer their time, typically meeting once a week
with each student they mentor (some of them
work with two or three students) to help advise
them academically, provide tutoring, or just offer
some inspiration about their potential career
paths. Potential mentors can be found among
professionals who work at companies focused
on the same endeavors as the curricular theme.
Similarly, if administrators want to launch a
computer science–themed course of study in
the same region, they might go knocking on
Microsoft’s doors. Also, college-level professors
might be willing to offer students their insights
into where a particular course of study might
take them academically. In addition, getting parents involved is vital, especially if a themebased school or program is just getting off the
ground or working from a shoestring budget.
Aviation High School asks each parent to volunteer at least ten hours each semester. Not
surprisingly, several of these parents have a
background, or an interest, in aviation.