The Curriculum Model

Dishman Hills High School partners with Summit Learning for our curriculum model. Summit’s research-backed model makes teaching and learning at a Dishman Hills High School school unlike any other.

At Dishman, our teachers mentor the same group of students each year in advisory groups, which allows them to build strong relationships based on deep trust over multiple years. Mentors meet 1:1 with each student regularly to coach students toward their personal goals, and meet daily as a mentor group.

During Project Time, teachers teach universal skills through real-world projects - using their subject-area expertise to help students apply their knowledge to the world around them. Through our research-backed curriculum, Summit gives teachers the tools they need so that they can focus on teaching and becoming the best project-based teachers in the world.

We are deeply committed to continuous improvement at Dishman, both as an organization and for our individual faculty. With dedicated days of professional development built into the academic year, regular coaching sessions with a school leader, and a culture of honest, actionable, and timely feedback, we equip our teachers with the tools necessary to improve their practice and tackle challenging issues. We also prioritize developing leaders from within and have invested in multiple career pathway programs for our teachers and school leaders.

Dishman Hills High School has intensive collaboration structures built in to our weekly schedules. Teachers collaborate at the grade and subject levels, forming regular communities of practice to support each other in continuously improving as project-based teachers and mentors.

By design, our schools are small communities where every student is known. They are intentionally heterogeneous and reflect the diversity of the community. As a teacher, this will require being culturally responsive and creating equitable learning pathways for all students.