Leonardo da Vinci High School
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Leonardo Da Vinci High School (DVHS) has been located in Davis, California at 1602 Oak Avenue since fall of 2004. DVHS has about 250 students, and is expected to grow to 350 students. This school is a member of the New Tech Foundation, an organization that promotes the integration of technology and high school education by establishing schools modeled after the Napa New Technology High School, a problem-based small learning community with a technology focus. DVHS’s distinguishing feature, however, is that it is the first public high school in the US to issue each student a laptop computer to take to and from school.[citation needed]
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[edit] Philosophy
The main goal of DVHS's philosophy is to engender responsibility and competence in students, and to prepare them for the workplace. They use many unorthodox methods to achieve this goal. For example, there is no punishment system at DVHS; students are expected to just do what is right. If there are problems, consequences such as a loss of privilidges are instated on a case by case basis. There is no "detention room"; instead, the student must do odd jobs around the school to make up for their bad behavior, for example fixing a vending machine or scraping gum off the bottom of tables. Another feature is that passes are not required. The idea is to simulate a workplace environment.
[edit] Environment
Students sit in table groups,usually chosen by the teacher. They are allowed to listen to music during worktimes, and many often do.[citation needed] CD players and digital audio players are commonly used during class time at DVHS. This is intended to create a more relaxed work environment, and to allow students to feel more in control and exercise responsibility more often. The eight classrooms are arranged in a ring, with a courtyard in the middle. The floor of the courtyard is painted blue, and it has several tables. All of the doors in the classrooms have been designed and painted by students, with whimsical colors and shapes on several of them. When the school first started, one classroom was a lounge. But in the year of 06-07 the lounge was transferred into a classroom and the Senior class kept the couches and fooseball table, while the vending machine went to another classroom. How ever the food vending machines where removed due to lack of space, but drink vending machines still remain on campus.
[edit] Sports
DVHS does not compete in any sports leagues except Ultimate Frisbee, which is growing in popularity as a sport among schools in the New Tech Foundation. The league consists of a team from Napa New Tech, the Penguins, and the Knights (unofficially the Fighting Lasagnas) from DVHS.
This team is co-ed and serves to foster community within students and teachers from schools.
[edit] Funding and Partnerships
The school is funded in part by a grant to the New Tech Foundation from the Gates Foundation. Bill Gates was interested in the program because he wanted a larger pool of technologically literate workers that required less training after employment. The New Tech Foundation runs schools around the country with a similar focus on problem-based learning.
Although DVHS is located on the Davis High School campus, in 2007 it will move to a new area on the UC Davis campus. This will allow the students to take community college courses that are not offered at the high school as elective courses, which will count for both high school and college credits.
[edit] Course Offerings
There are many courses offered at DVHS, and all of them are tailored to fit the school’s environment. All of these courses are problem oriented, and centered around presentations. These presentations are meant to simulate presentations in the workplace, and students are required to wear formal attire. The presentation projects are structured around having the students research to complete more open-ended assignments, as opposed to having students listen to lectures and complete narrowly defined projects.
Not only are English, Math, and Social Studies offered at DVHS, but also more specialized courses such as Research and Communication or Graphic Arts. Research and Communication is a mandatory course which teaches the students how to use the applications loaded on their computers, including the full Adobe suite, Macromedia tools, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft Office.
Some required courses for graduation, like science, are not offered at DVHS. These are taken at Davis High School, which is next door. After DVHS moves to UC Davis, these classes will be replaced with community college courses.
[edit] Application and Selection
Students at Da Vinci go through an application process including an essay. Applications are evaluated to find students who will work better in a problem-based environment than in a regular high school, and students who have something to contribute to the community and learning environment.