A 21st century education begins with a 21st century learning environment. Businesses long ago left chalkboards in the dust. It is time for schools to do the same.
Computers and electronic Information are not the wave of the future - they are today's reality.
We have an obligation to our youth to provide them with the knowledge, the skills, and the tools they will need to build tomorrow's world.
Click on a topic:
Computer Access
E-Books
Multimedia Integration
Distance Learning
Student Records Online
Campus Security
At Sun Valley Charter High School, we will provide computer access to every student. Computers will not be confined to a single space, but will be spread throughout the school, in regular academic classrooms as well as specialized labs.
Students will be expected to use computers on a routine basis for word processing, information gathering, and multimedia projects. All phases of our program will interface with the computer.
We will contract with an electronic book service to place a college-level academic library at the fingertips of each student. Questia.com provides 70,000 full text readable books and journals online. Student accounts will be established that will allow the library to be accessed from any location, any time of the day, 7 days a week. To test drive Questia.com and see the features they provide, click here. (Once you are there, click on "test drive." I suggest you don't take the "tour" unless you like animated graphics and loud music. )
Research will be done via the Internet through filtered access, with each student having their own account. Those accounts will be monitored by school personnel, and available for monitoring by the students' parents.
Teachers will incorporate the latest technology in their classrooms. Data projectors, innovative interactive software, and hands-on multimedia instruction will be blended with personal attention and experience. Students will benefit form the use of technology in their classrooms and will learn how to make technology work for them.
Students will be able to access their school and e-book accounts from home on their own computer, allowing them to work on projects as if they were at school. Lesson plans, assignments, links to research documents, even recorded lectures and slide shows will be available for students to access through the school website.
Student records will be available not only to school administrators, but also to the students themselves and their parents (with appropriate login codes for privacy protection). This will allow parents to keep up to date on their student's progress, attendance, etc. To see what information will be available from home, click here. Scroll down the page to see which features can be accessed by whom, then click on the link to the "School Office Connection" to see a sample student's page.
Our campus at 2102 Main Street will have a fully fenced and/or walled parking lot, with access to the building through a magnetically locked security door. Each teacher, student, and visitor will be required to swipe a magnetic strip card to enter.
Throughout the building, in public areas only, streaming video cameras will keep an eye out. Parents will be able to access some of these cameras, via the internet, from home or the office, with the appropriate access codes. For information on how the system will work, click here. The site being shown in the school demo is Hoover High in San Diego. Try camera #8 to see people walk by. Ramona High School also uses the system.
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