El Camino Fundamental High School A Comprehensive Education for a Complex World
Core Beliefs: The staff at El Camino realizes that each student’s individual future as well as our collective future is dependent on the success of the educational enterprise. High school serves a single purpose, PREPARATION FOR THE FUTURE.
Students of today face a world marked by accelerating change, intensifying complexity, increased interdependence, and fierce competition in all meaningful post-secondary venues. Local, national, and international problems are growing exponentially. H.G. Wells’ cryptic statement, “Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe” rings very true in the 21st Century.
Realizing that the high school years represent the final mandatory educational experience for American youth, El Camino’s staff is committed to maximizing each student’s level of preparation with a clear understanding of the validity of Margaret Mead’s statement, “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that can.”
Staff Perspectives: The staff at El Camino believes that a coordinated focus on PREPARATION for the future will equip each of our students for the challenges that lie ahead. Whether a student is college bound or oriented toward immediate placement in the world of work, the essential learning that takes place on a high school campus must be rigorous and must go beyond content mastery. At El Camino, students acquire the habits, skills, attitudes, and modes of thinking that each successful citizen needs. Perhaps most importantly, the El Camino staff makes the assumption that we have the ability to address the educational needs of students and to prepare them for the future. This assumption is supported by staff commitments.
Needs Identified in the Fundamental School: The list below reflects identified student needs that are systematically addressed in the Fundamental setting.
• An ethical basis on which to build a personal philosophy of life. • A sense of personal responsibility for their actions, behavior, and achievement. • An appreciation of the importance of their time in high school as an essential preparatory experience. • Intellectual self-sufficiency and a clear understanding that all behavior stems from underlying thinking. • The ability to work collaboratively and independently in the production of quality work. • The ability to create long term goals and educational plans as well as a means of measuring accomplishments. • The ability to express themselves accurately, logically, clearly, and deeply in both written and verbal modes. • The ability to comprehend, analyze, and critique a variety of written materials. • The ability to think deeply about complex issues as well as skill in analyzing their own thinking for the purpose of improving that thinking. • An understanding and appreciation of diversity and the ability to interact positively with a variety of people. • A sense of social responsibility and a willingness to contribute to both the school and greater community. • An understanding of the use and applications of technology as an educational and personal tool. • The ability to locate and use information. • The ability to make and maintain commitments. • Intellectual curiosity. • Compassion for other people.
Faculty Commitments: First and foremost, students can learn only in a safe and positive environment. The entire staff is committed to a safe, intellectually challenging, rigorous, and relevant learning environment that maximizes the number of options students will have on graduation day. The faculty and staff commits to ensuring that each student attending El Camino Fundamental HS will:
• Create a four-year educational plan that addresses post-secondary options. • Be taught reading comprehension in every class. • Be intellectually challenged each day and be respected as rational independent thinkers. • Understand that their thinking forms the basis of their attitudes, their behavior, and their personal level of academic success. • Be expected to create high quality products and to receive comprehensive feedback on each assignment in a timely fashion that assists students’ progress through the course. • Write frequently and extensively in all core and elective classes. • Learn essential study skills during the Freshman year • and have these skills reinforced through the Senior year. • Be held to the highest standards of deportment as is fitting a campus based on the principle of respect. • Acquire knowledge and skills in English 4 that bridge assigned literature and lessons with real world realities. • Be assigned both individual and group projects in all core classes on campus. • Be required to give articulate public presentations in all Language Arts and Social Science classes. • Be assigned regular homework in all core courses according to a predetermined schedule. • Be taught essential skills in critical thinking and self-determination beginning in the freshman year. • Be assigned a staff advisor who will support and guide each student throughout their entire tenure at El Camino. • Be afforded a variety of educational opportunities in such areas as Radio, T.V., Leadership, Fine and Performing Arts, Technology, Foreign Languages and Athletics.
Conclusion: EC Fundamental HS is a four-year bridge to a successful future. Processes are in place to ensure students acquire the needed habits, attitudes, skills, and content to find success in a post-secondary environment. El Camino prepares students for active participation in a democratic society by assisting in their intellectual development and enhancing their ability to make responsible contributions as citizens. At El Camino these things are done by design–not by chance.
El Camino – It’s a Simple Choice. Respect – Responsibility – Readiness
