Jennifer Villalpando

7th Grade Language Arts Teacher – Jefferson Middle School, Oceanside
TL Graduate 2011

Action Research Project: Creating a Community of Communicators

“High Tech High Graduate School of Education's Teacher Leadership program was life-changing for me. After a decade as a parent and a teacher in the public education system, I was frustrated by the narrow focus on test scores, and the lack of focus on engaging students in real learning. I knew that there were great things happening in education, but I did not now know where to find the resources or how to integrate them into my own classroom. In the GSE, I was introduced to a new world where the students were the center of the conversation, where my colleagues were supportive in a way that I had never experienced, and where one spark of an idea could be turned into a masterpiece with the help of my colleagues. I also emerged as a leader in my school. I spoke up, shared what I was learning and pushed for change within our school and our district. The time I spent surrounded by the passionate, creative, inspiring, and encouraging educators in this program has proven to be the most valuable in my entire teaching career.”

Jennifer Villalpando earned her B.A. in History from the University of California, San Diego, and her M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership from High Tech High Graduate School of Education. She has been teaching in the Oceanside Unified School District for 11 years. Currently, Jennifer teaches 7th grade Language Arts at Jefferson Middle School, where she collaborates with Outside the Lens to integrate photography and literacy. Jennifer’s action research focused on building the 21st century skills of all students, specifically those related to communication and collaboration.Less ←

“In the GSE, I was introduced to a new world where the students were the center of the conversation, where my colleagues were supportive in a way that I had never experienced, and where one spark of an idea could be turned into a masterpiece with the help of my colleagues.”

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Jennifer Villalpando

7th Grade Language Arts Teacher – Jefferson Middle School, Oceanside
TL Graduate 2011

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OUR APPROACH

Leading with Innovative Practice

Like the HTH K-12 schools, the HTH GSE is committed to providing its students with learning experiences that are personalized, authentic, and relevant. Our graduate students create personal learning plans, pursue a project-based curriculum, explore their own questions through action research and other forms of inquiry, and develop digital portfolios to demonstrate their learning. HTH GSE programs lead with practice and provide ample opportunities for students to apply theory to real-world teaching and learning contexts. Just as we expect surgeons to have hands-on experience in their residencies, HTH GSE provides its graduate students with hands-on, practical experience in the real world of effective, innovative schools. 


Challenging Common Assumptions

For over 75 years the American high school has followed three critical operating instructions that are so ingrained in the culture by now as to seem natural:

• Segregate students by class, race, gender, language ability, or perceived academic ability.
• Separate academic from technical teaching and learning.
• Isolate adolescents from the adult world they are about to enter.

High Tech High schools overturn these tenets by grouping students heterogeneously, integrating the curriculum, and placing students in the adult world of work and learning. In turn, the GSE prepares educators both to design and to assume leadership in such programs, driven by a commitment to equity, rigor, and relevance for all students.

A Culture of Collaboration

GSE faculty are committed to providing educators with ample opportunities to work and learn together across grade-levels, disciplines, and diverse schooling structures. We believe that learning is a social enterprise, and occurs most deeply in communities where people are surrounded by caring, committed colleagues. To that end, our programs are selective and built on a cohort model, ensuring that all GSE students are known well and are surrounded by peers who encourage them to think deeply, take risks and take action to create positive change in their schools. 

A Total-Immersion Adult Learning Community

With a graduate school of education embedded within its K-12 schools, the entire High Tech High community is a powerful group of learners all working towards the same mission: to prepare K-12 students for postsecondary success and thoughtful citizenship. HTH GSE students learn and work alongside HTH teachers, administrators and students. They learn as the best teachers do from their students and each other by examining what works and what does not, by inviting feedback, and by assessing their own effectiveness in terms of student outcomes. As a community of learners, HTH serves as a laboratory of teaching and learning for all its members.

INSTITUTIONAL LEARNING OUTCOMES

The mission of the GSE is to develop reflective practitioner leaders who work effectively with colleagues and communities to create and sustain innovative, authentic, and rigorous learning environments for all students. This shared vision is articulated in our Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) to Practice Thoughtful Inquiry and Reflection, Design Equitable Learning Environments, and Engage in Leadership for School Change and the corresponding learning outcomes for each program.

Practice Thoughtful Inquiry & Reflection (IR)

• Graduates will be able to pursue scholarly inquiry and reflective practice that contributes to broader understandings of teaching and learning.

Design Equitable Learning Environments (D)

• Graduates will be able to design learning environments that offer access and challenge to all learners.

Engage in Leadership for School Change (L)

• Graduates will be able to build supportive learning communities to transform teaching and learning.

STRATEGIC PLAN & PRIORITIES

The HTH GSE aspires to be recognized within the country and around the world as a hub of progressive practice related to teaching and learning, and as a model of thoughtful, integrated, and transformative graduate education that has a direct impact on K-12 schools. This aspiration reflects HTH GSE's special and unique capacity as a graduate school embedded in highly effective and innovative K-12 schools to bridge the worlds of theory and practice, of scholarship and action.

To achieve this aspiration, the HTH GSE has outlined the following three strategic priorities:

Strategic priority number one: The GSE aims to model and promote thoughtful and forward-thinking teaching and leadership both within and beyond its clinical sites.

Strategic priority number two: The GSE aims to assist teachers, administrators and policy makers in their efforts to transform teaching and learning locally, nationally, and globally.
 

Strategic priority number three: The GSE aims to secure the financial sustainability of our institution, and ensure its future.