To a scientist, a horizon is the line between the earth and the sky. To anthropologists, it can refer to artifacts from varied origins that display cultural similarities. But for an educator, horizon means the potential that each student strives to develop. Two years ago, when our alternative public school, the Salt Lake Community High School, moved into a newer facility, we renamed it the Horizonte Instruction and Training Center, deliberately selecting the non-English term.
At the outset, many people wondered whether students would feel alienated and uncomfortable attending an institution with a Spanish name, unless, of course, they themselves happened to be Hispanic. But Horizonte's largest single minority is indeed Latino (45 percent). So Horizonte prevailed. The other minority groups are Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Asians, Eastern Europeans, and Native Americans. Total enrollment is 1,800 students. Along with high school students, Horizonte serves adults whose education has been interrupted for a variety of reasons.
In our logo, the word horizon is printed in English, Tongan, Russian, Vietnamese, Piute, and Arabic. Many Utah place names have Native American origins. We wanted our school to become an intentional symbol of multiculturalism. Everyone is welcome here—Navajos, Bosnians, Somalis, Caucasians, Hispanics. Students may wear the apparel of their homeland without being considered abnormal. Horizonte encourages student success despite the many challenges in their lives—poverty, discrimination, teenage pregnancy, and disrupted childhoods.
Even though other educators in the city may find it bewildering and maybe even threatening, Horizonte is proving that a public school in an area with rapidly growing urban, minority, and low socioeconomic student populations can improve students' learning. That is our mission.
Horizonte's Mission
It took more than a year for Horizonte staff to agree on a mission statement:Valuing the diversity and individual worth of students, Horizonte Instruction and Training Center, a multicultural learning center, will provide the education and skills necessary for students to achieve self-sufficiency and become contributing participants within their communities.As a result of their work on the mission statement, Horizonte staff members insist that the school provide a nontraditional environment driven by student needs. Students perceive—and appreciate—the differences (see fig. 1). For example, in traditional instruction, class and teacher assignments are largely arbitrary; but at Horizonte, the staff provides as many choices as possible, even in such traditionally school-controlled areas as schedules, locations of classrooms, and endpoints of courses.
Figure 1. Traditional Versus Horizonte Schooling—As Students See It
Horizonte—Where Students Come First - table
Perceptions of Traditional School | Perceptions of Horizonte |
|---|---|
| 1. The school arbitrarily assigns students to teachers and classes. | 1. Students select courses and teachers whenever choices exist. |
| 2. The faculty and administration determine student schedules. | 2. Students set their own schedules, and student-parent-advisor teams set goals at conferences. |
| 3. Teachers pay attention to students only while the student attends their class. | 3. Teachers support students and act as their advocates in all school-related activities. |
| 4. Teachers are accountable only for teaching curriculum content. | 4. Teachers respond to their students, not only as learners, but as people. |
| 5. Students have access to teachers only during formal class periods. | 5. Teachers are accessible in classrooms and halls and share a common lunchroom and restrooms with students. |
| 6. Participation in activities is limited to the elite, ignoring the full spectrum of school ethnicity. | 6. All activities are open to everyone and reflect the school's total ethnic, cultural, and economic make-up. |
| 7. The school measures student success only by SAT scores, college placement status, and athletics. | 7. The school measures student success by a mix of academic, service, cooperation, and behavioral factors. |
| 8. Classrooms are passive places where teachers tend to do the talking and teaching and students do most of the listening and learning. | 8. Classrooms are dynamic, interactive places where students and teachers both teach and learn. |
| 9. Student interaction with teachers is superificial and cold rather than self-affirming and warm. | 9. School staff treat students as individuals, and students often work one-on-one with teachers. |
| 10. Learning is restricted to classrooms in the school building. | 10. Students and teachers use the community at large as a learning resource. |
We believe that schools should be democratic institutions. We are a service organization and live in the neighborhood as fellow citizens. Our priorities are as follows: students first, teachers second, classified staff third, and administrators fourth. Above all, every student must be treated fairly and with dignity. We tell students: "You can't pick your parents or where or when you are born. It is perfectly natural to want to belong, to be acknowledged, to succeed, regardless of your circumstances."
Most high school students who find themselves at Horizonte have not been successful in the regular school setting. Their self-esteem may be low. They may feel alienated from their peers. Some may believe that society has set them up for failure. Horizonte's task is to provide a supportive environment that motivates and allows students to recognize windows of opportunity and to reach their educational and career goals.
Five Guiding Principles
- Curriculum is shaped to meet student needs and learning styles. We address all state standards, but our methods are as diverse as the teachers themselves. Humanities and language arts teacher Tim Lineback recently grouped good readers, poor readers, and artistic students together to create a modern version of the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Fall of the House of Usher" and to build a scale model of the house. The outcomes revealed talents no standardized test could have assessed.
- Access to all technology is a vital need for everyone. Every student has an e-mail address and learns to use the Internet, CD-ROMs, fax machines, voice mail, and other electronic equipment in the school technology lab. Teachers require students to conduct intensive research and to analyze, evaluate, and interpret data as information users, not just efficient information gatherers.
- Horizonte is an inclusive, multicultural learning community. Forty-five percent of the participants in any Horizonte activity (in school or out of the building) must proportionally represent each minority group. In addition, we celebrate ethnic holidays with food, dance, music, and costumes. The curriculum reflects a wealth of cultural perspectives. A Russian-born pianist performed at a recent graduation ceremony. An in-depth study of the ancient Anasazi Indians preceded a field trip to the Valley of Fire historical site in Nevada.
- All students should be assisted to reach their full potential. For example, one Horizonte student was a pregnant, unmarried 16-year-old whose parents had rejected her. She attended classes with adults in the school's prenatal-postnatal care program and found a room at the local YWCA. She graduated from high school. After struggling for several years, she was able to develop a realistic goal, qualify for some benefits, and organize her time. Last year, she graduated with a degree in nursing from the University of Utah.
- Horizonte teachers are enthusiastic, adaptable, lifelong learners. Building construction instructor James Yates came to Horizonte from a career as a contractor in industry. He and his student crew, including girls and students with special needs, do cement, drywall, and other construction jobs to restore older inner-city homes, under an agreement with the Salt Lake Housing Authority. Yates has the ability to share his firsthand knowledge and to motivate students to take pride in the quality of their craftsmanship.
Curriculum Innovations
These principles have led to innovations in curriculum, such as service learning and minicourses in intriguing topics.
Service learning. Every Horizonte teacher involves students in service projects. Last winter, students collected commodities for the Utah Food Bank. They also helped build a haunted house for Halloween that benefited the March of Dimes, restored plant life along the banks of the nearby Jordan River, and volunteered as tutors for a local Head Start program.
Curriculum integration. Two annual intersessions, or minicourses, supplement core studies. Students choose topics such as writing stories for children, culture of ancient societies, sewing for fun, endangered species, and film study and analysis. A project at Horizonte's Garfield site has used archaeological digs and grids to teach math, social studies, science, English, and humanities. The study of communicable diseases is improving the skills of young parents in communications, social studies, and science.
Performance Gains
- Ninety percent of Horizonte students passed the Salt Lake City School District writing competency test in 1995-96, although many of them had failed to pass it the previous year.
- Also last year, youth with ethnic-minority and low socioeconomic backgrounds who had been at Horizonte for one or more years achieved the greatest Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) performance gain among secondary schools in the district.
- Horizonte students enrolled in the federal Job Training Partnership Act program in the summer of 1996 demonstrated an average of two years' growth in mathematics and reading.
Horizonte is an empowering place, not just because of what it teaches but how—with acceptance of all students for who they are. Perhaps the letter from a grateful parent says it best:I have seen my daughter go from Fs to As in less than a year. She actually looks forward to school again as a place where there is kindness and respect. You have given her back the confidence every teenager needs to get through life. She has learned that if you believe in others, they will believe in you.
