PSI High prioritizes real-world learning through a student-centered approach. Dubbed a “program of emphasis” within the district, PSI High offers a unique experiential learning curriculum that seamlessly integrates project- and place-based learning through the lens of design thinking. With an enrollment of just over 200 pupils, it also nurtures caring, trusting relationships between adults and students in a smaller, more personalized environment than a typical school. Leaders listen to and consider student feedback before making decisions.
Each student at PSI High gets assigned to an advisory cohort of peers they stick with for their entire high school tenure. The teachers leading these advisories guide students through social, academic, and cognitive needs beyond the classroom. Classroom teachers also forge close bonds with students to ensure their students are supported well when achieving their academic and personal goals. With restorative practices at the heart of the school’s behavior management approach, teachers receive coaching to better support student needs.
At PSI High, students learn in an environment that looks more like a high-tech office than a classroom, with teams of students working together to solve real-world problems. Projects organize student learning around three interdisciplinary tracks: Humanities, STEM, and Innovation and Design, focusing on entrepreneurship. Students experience rigorous learning through authentic, engaging projects within these three blocks. Each project must then meet a driving question centered on an issue close to students, engage an authentic audience, and produce a quality deliverable that lives beyond the classroom.
Students can freely choose how to engage with each project and demonstrate mastery of course skills and content. The program’s mastery-based grading system also helps ensure students are fully prepared for college, career, and beyond. The program abandons the traditional assignment-driven grade book, replacing it with standards-based grading using rubrics that define when a student has mastered a competency.
