Teaching Style
Cristo Rey – Twin Cities, as a part of the Cristo Rey Network, upholds 10 “distinguishers” throughout its teaching model:
Transforming One Urban Student at a Time
Learning Grounded in the Real World
Authentic Assessment
School Organization
Advisor and Advisee Structure
Catholic School Culture
School Leadership
Professional Development
Parent/Family Engagement
School/College Partnership - College Preparation
1) Transforming One Urban Student at a Time
The philosophy of educating one student at a time expands beyond “academic” work and involves looking at and working with each student holistically. Overall, the school’s job is to know each student well and to provide the appropriate measure of challenge and support for each student to promote his or her growth both as an individual and in relationship to the greater community.
Some of the essential elements of this philosophy include: the development and maintenance of individual learning plans that are focused on each student’s strengths, interests, passions, talents, and needs; strong parent/family engagement; independent work time; academic rigor; student workshops; and completion of college preparatory course requirements.
2) Learning Grounded in the Real World
One of the key elements of the education at Cristo Rey is that students learn in the real world. Through the Corporate Internship Program (CIP), every student works a minimum of 40 hours in a 5-day-per-month internship with a mentor in fields of his or her interest. Throughout their internship, each student completes authentic projects on the job that benefit the student and the mentor’s business or organization.
3) Authentic Assessment
Learning at Cristo Rey can be seen as a process that is demonstrated and documented in quality work. High expectations exist for each student in order to meet goals for academic and social achievement.
The criteria of assessment are individualized to the student, the Cristo Rey Network, the Knowledge and Skills for University Success (KSUS, Conley, 2005), and the academic standards of the State of Minnesota, as well as to the appropriate accreditation body. Students engaged in this process are assessed by standardized and teacher-made written tests, portfolio project evaluation, and measures of social competence. In addition, the overall assessment process is contained within a faith-based environment and shaped by a growing understanding of one’s relationship to God, self, others, and the environment.
4) School Organization
At Cristo Rey, all students will have the opportunity to learn in a place where people know each other well and treat each other with respect. At capacity, the school will have an enrollment of 500 students – small enough that each and every student has genuine relationships with adults and other students, both in school and in the greater community.
Cristo Rey will make effective use of time, people, facilities, resources, and space in unique ways. From assessment tools to the design of the school building itself, a truly personalized school approaches each student and situation with a conception as to what is best for the individual and the community.
5) Advisor and Advisee Structure
Cristo Rey places a small number of students with one advisor for two to four years. The advisor is a coach, mentor, teacher, manager, and often friend. Advisors guide students in learning how to manage their time, plan their work, and complete projects. Advisors will coach and challenge students to seek and build authentic learning experiences within the school building and beyond. Advisors are members of the students’ Individual Learning Plan (ILP) teams and are key in helping students to monitor their progress in their ILPs. These advisory relationships are the heart and soul of the school and are often described as the “home” and “second family” by students.
Note: All adults in the school will be invited and trained to serve as potential advisors to groups of students/advisees.
6) Catholic School Culture
Cristo Rey is a small, Catholic, personalized learning community where students are encouraged to be leaders, and where school leaders are encouraged to be visionaries. The school will strive to create a respectful, diverse, creative, exciting, faith–filled, and reflective culture that supports educational excellence and lifelong learning. While the identity and charisma of the school is both Catholic and Jesuit, the faith of each person will be respected, valued, and encouraged to grow.
Other essential elements of our Catholic school culture include: students who are comfortable talking with adults about academic and personal issues, weekly written reflections by staff members, celebration of religious holidays in a variety of faiths, prayer services, inter-grade and across-grade student groupings, diversity being recognized and celebrated, clear statements of policies and procedures, emphasis on reflection and growth, high attendance rates, high graduation and college acceptance rates, low dropout rates, and an attitude of enjoyment among all participants in the learning community.
7) School Leadership
Leadership is shared and spread between a strong, visionary leadership team and a dedicated, responsible faculty and staff .The principal and the faculty collaborate in the development, periodic revision, and evaluation of the curriculum.
The Principal
The principal has been involved in an ongoing year-round professional development program, and will be supported in the start-up years of operation via the Cristo Rey Network (CRN). Principals are both the chief cultural/instructional leaders and entrepreneurs for their schools. Their role is to serve as liaisons between the CRN and their own faculty members. In addition, the principal serves as an outreach liaison to multiple segments of the local educational community, parents, corporate partners, and the general public. The principal reports to the president and serves as a member of the administrative leadership team.
Teachers
Teachers at Cristo Rey assume tremendous responsibility in day-to-day organization and management, implementation of the curriculum, the teaching/learning experience of the students, and the integration of students’ corporate internship experiences into their overall education.
Teachers receive training and support from the principal using Cristo Rey materials and the coaching process. They participate in professional development activities that focus on topics such as the framework for understanding poverty (e.g., Payne, 2005) and project based learning (e.g., Edutopia, 2002). In addition to formal professional development, teachers learn from other teachers daily by serving as reciprocal mentors and mentees.
8) Professional Development
At Cristo Rey, the principal and others lead professional development efforts for the school staff. This ongoing professional development takes place at staff meetings, regular staff retreats, and summer conferences.
Essential elements of Cristo Rey’s professional development include emphasis on collaboration among teachers, the expectation that CRN principles work with each other to problem solve and create meaningful professional development opportunities for teachers and others, and that staff members participate in CRN and other professional conferences.
9) Parent/Family Engagement – Adult Support
Parent engagement in a young person’s education is essential, and Cristo Rey will "enroll" families as well as students in the entire life of the school. By bringing students out into the community and bringing the community into the school, Cristo Rey becomes a community asset – a positive, learning-rich contributor to the immediate neighborhood, as well as to the Twin Cities.
Parents and families are actively involved with their child’s education in the following ways:
– Parental voice has a place in the school organization and culture.
– Parents, as well as students, are interviewed and sign participation agreements upon enrollment at Cristo Rey.
– Families are assisted in playing a proactive role in the college selection and application process.
– Families play important and proactive roles in garnering and demonstrating community support for the school.
10) School/College Partnership – College Preparation
All the constituent groups of the Cristo Rey community have deep faith in the capacity of students to experience success in their high school academic studies and corporate work experiences as groundwork for college readiness.
The Cristo Rey Network model allows for “backward planning,” where a student can think out to graduation from college and then work backward to freshman year at Cristo Rey in his or her plannning. This design maximizes students’ growth opportunities by developing challenging individual learning plans; delivering rigorous college readiness curriculum; providing remediation in reading, writing, and math; providing ongoing academic support throughout high school; organizing student visits to college campuses; educating families about the college application and financial aid processes; and building solid relationships with key colleges and universities.
All students are required to take college entrance exams and apply to at least two colleges. No matter what the chosen program of study, Cristo Rey requires that all students develop post-secondary plans for education. These plans become part of the students’ portfolios that also include college essays and a resumé.