| High School Highlights |
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STRATEGIC APPROACHES TO TEACHING AND LEARNINGCHS offers its students a comprehensive collection of strategic approaches to teaching and learning that are utilized across the curriculum and that address key executive functioning skills. These approaches include: PERSONALIZED LEARNING PROGRAMEvery student has a Personalized Learning Program (PLP), a formal and systematic plan that involves parents, students, and faculty to establish learning goals, develop action steps, help create self-awareness, build self-advocacy and guide students and their families in exploring career and college potentials. Included in the PLP is our COACH program, whereby each student is assigned a faculty member who serves as their COACH throughout their four years at the high school. This specifically selected point-person provides an internal connection of communication, support and follow-through that encourages, promotes, and assesses a student’s progress while supporting our mission of building independent, self-aware learners. ORGANIZATION AND TIME MANAGEMENTCHS Student Assignment Planner: Our specialized student assignment books are broken into daily and monthly sections and are the first line of defense in our mission to create independent learners. Binder System: We utilize a coded binder system that allows our students to manage and maintain organization across all content areas. Academic Portfolios:Portfolios allow students to manage all their course materials, to keep their subject area binders current and relevant, and to communicate with their parents samples of work that show both their progress and academic growth. SELF-REGULATION AND PLANNINGSupport Sessions: These designated morning and afternoon periods are blocks of time set aside each day where every teacher in the school is available to provide academic support to every student. ATTENDING AND REMEMBERINGCHS Note Taking-Cornell Two-Column Note Taking: At Craig High,weutilizetheCornellNoteTakingapproach. Ourgoalistonot only teach note taking skills and to provide the support necessary to learn this process but to also allow students controlled opportunities to become progressively more independent. C.O.D.E. Approach to Lecturing:All teachers at CHS use a dynamic approach to lecturing that is multi-sensory in nature and directly builds on a student’s ability to be more independent as a learner. L.A.G. Study Card System: LAG Study cards are an interactive approach to studying and works in conjunction with our note taking system. The goal of this program is to provide to our students a structure to prioritize their studying, focus on concepts/ideas that they are having difficulty with, and manage their study time effectively.
GOAL DIRECTED PERSISTENCECOACH PROGRAM: The COACH Program is our mentor- academic advisor support program that is designed to nurture and guide our students as both scholars and as people. It provides students with personalized guidance that includes:
Each student is designated a faculty COACH who will serve as his/herCOACHthroughouttheirtimeatCraigHigh. Thisspecifically selected “point-person” becomes a specialized resource to that student as well as a resource to their parents and other faculty members. AstudentandtheirCOACHmeetweeklythroughoutthe school year. Our cross curricular integrations of these approaches provide to our students a level of internalization and consistency that translates well beyond high school. Students graduate CHS with a strategic skill base that allows them to acquire, organize, and utilize any content they might encounter. CHS SELF PROGRAMTwo of the most significant outcomes of the high school experience are a student’s growth as an independent learner and their sense of self, anawarenessofwhotheyareandhowtheylearn. Ourcrosscurricular integrations and strategic approaches to learning guides our students in becoming progressively more independent and provides them with the tools necessary to navigate any content. Our Self Program addresses all of the levels of self that lead us to the ultimate outcome of self-advocacy. This collective of specialized courses provides the progressive guidance and opportunities necessary for our students to learn who they are as people and scholars and to explore their individual potentials for life after high school. Courses include: FRESHMAN FOUNDATION – Self and group DynamicsThrough a series of self-discovery tests that include Learning Styles, Strengths Assessments, and Multiple Intelligence Inventories, our students become aware of the various and unique characteristics that make up who they are. In addition to self-discovery, our 9th graders also hone a variety of important inter and intra-personal skills. SOPHOMORE PROJECT – Career ExplorationsIn Sophomore Project, our students focus on Career Exploration and Preparedness led by our Director of College Counseling and Transition. Studentsresearchcareeroptionsbasedoncareeraptitude tests and the self-discovery test results from freshman foundations. They learn the nuances of resume development culminating in the development of their own personal resume. Students also take part in Career Projects such as job interview skills, interviewing outside professionals in career areas that they might consider pursuing, job searches and applications, and work place etiquettes. JUNIOR PROJECT – Post Secondary AwarenessIn Junior Project, students focus on College and Post-Secondary awareness. They are actively involved in their own individualized college searches and explore the variety of potential majors that matchupwiththeirPLP. Studentsalsolearnaboutthevariouslevels of academic support and accommodations available to them at the college level. SENIOR PROJECT – Life After High SchoolSenior Project is the culmination of our SELF PROGRAM and it’s where we bring it all together. Students role play the level of advocacy necessary to manage their own IEPs/ISPs and to navigate bothinandoutsidethecollegeclassroom. Topicsexploredinclude life on a college campus, course selection and registration, support services,anddormlife. CHSgradsthatarecurrentlyincollegeserve as guest speakers and share their experiences with our seniors. TECHNOLOGYIn addition to current, individualized assistive technology, CHS offers a series of tech courses that teach students how to effectively use technology and the 21st century skills required to be successful beyond high school.Tech specifics and assistive technology available to CHS students include:
Tech courses offered include:
COMMUNICATIONAny academic questions or concerns that are raised either at home or in school need to be communicated to all of those who need to know. That includes parents, teachers, and students. Our goal is be a team whoseultimateoutcomeisthesuccessofourstudents. Atnotimewill a parent utter the words, “Why didn’t I know about this?” This is accomplished through:
EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIESCHS offers a variety of afterschool sports programs, clubs, and social opportunities: SPORTS: X-Country, Soccer, Basketball, Softball CLUBS: Billiards, Bowling, Tennis, Golf, Art WEEKENDS: Monthly “Stepping Out” Program |
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THE CRAIG HIGH SCHOOL is an independent college-prep program that specializes in working with students with learning disabilities. We are accredited by both the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges (MSA) and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and provide to our students all of the courses required to meet and even exceed theNJ state graduation requirements. We are also an ACT and SAT Test Center providing the necessary testing accommodations to our students. In addition to our course offerings, we incorporate into all of our courses a series of cross curricular strategic approaches to teaching and learning.