Our school will also dedicate itself to raising awareness in eliminating racial discrimination in STEM fields. Courser, a student at UC Davis, reported that he has a feeling of exclusion and microaggressions from subtle forms of discrimination, which made it hard for him to concentrate during the program. Our school will utilize all resources available such as counselings and teacher assistance to help eliminate micro-aggression and create a safe space where students can find their passion and continue to thrive. 

We believe that diversity is important because when students from different backgrounds collaborate, innovations and great ideas emerge. According to the Center of the Berkeley education, some research projects in STEM fields require creativity and innovation. This comes from teamwork and members having diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences, can lead to creativity. Students may also benefit from these learning opportunities.

From K-1 to K-9, we will be mainly enforcing the Common Core Standards education which focuses on:

• Math: Content includes basic algebra, geometry, and series, and will prepare students for high school math starting from K-9 onwards. 

• Science: which incorporates physics, chemistry, and biology which allows students to explore their passion.

• English/Language Arts: Students will be learning English and a new set of languages such as Spanish, Japanese, or other options while improving on the four criterias: Reading, Writing, Writing, and Listening where students have the options to learn a second language. 

• Social Sciences: This area covers history, sociology, and the introductory level of economics which helps students gain insights into social sciences. 

In addition, the school will also incorporate critical race theory (CRT) in the curriculum from K-1 to K-12 through materials covered in the classroom. CRT provides instruction that is based on understanding students’ cultural backgrounds and integrating that  into the content more familiar and easier for all students to understand. With the incorporation of the CRT, students may find it easier to process information and digest the course materials in a relatable way while also being connected to and proud of their cultural backgrounds. This will help students become aware of who they are, thus offering a stronger sense of critical thinking skills as students are capable of approaching issues with multiple viewpoints. Therefore, students can solve issues on their own and become more successful. 

Another advantage of incorporating CRT is it makes learning contextual. Instead of just telling students what happens throughout history,  teachers can explain to students what resulted in communities as a result of those historical events. Teachers can present concepts and enable students to draw parallels. In addition, CRT encourages students to leverage their cultural backgrounds. For example, the teachers can offer students to speak about their background when discussing historically minor communities or relevant topics in the classroom. Critical race theory allows students to have a voice and to find active ways to express their cultural capital, allowing each student’s voice to be heard. 

Our school also decided to incorporate both the International Baccalaureate and the Advanced Placement Program for students to best achieve their potential and are challenged academically. These programs will be offered to all students and students can choose them based on their college counselor feedback.

The main reason for lowering the weight of standardized testing is that our school does not want to use standardized testing to dictate students’ success. Instead of actually improving the quality of education, the NCLB has led to schools offering more opportunities to those who perform well while disregarding students who are struggling with the material. Although standardized testing is an economic way to evaluate a student's performance, it is not necessarily the most accurate since a student’s performance is impacted by a variety of things, like personality types and ability to handle pressure. For example, some students may perform worse than they normally do because they are stressed under timed exams or may be dealing with family or mental health issues. As a result, standardized testing is inherently biased, favoring those students who are good test takers. Standardized testing does not show a student’s full potential while limiting students’ opportunities to attain higher education as it evaluates students based on their achievements.

According to the presentation (Project Based Learning), the group shows that project-based learning can help students to learn in different ways and improve different skills such as students’ probabilistic reasoning. There is also flexibility in designing projects. Teachers can also incorporate presentations during the final stage of the group project. The presentation can both assess students’ progress and understanding and also provide them the opportunity to improve delivery. 

Standardized testing will only serve the purpose of helping the students to understand where they stand during the semester, and it will not be used as a sole tool to indicate students’ progress. However, students’ international baccalaureate and advanced placement scores are solely dependent on student’s performance on external examinations based on the program instruction.

Common Core:

https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/

Berkeley Center of Academics Discussion on Diversity

https://ofew.berkeley.edu/academic-recruitment/faculty-contributions-regard-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-belonging-berkeley#:~:text=%E2%80%9CDiversity%20%E2%80%94%20a%20defining%20feature%20of,of%20culture%20and%20circumstance.%E2%80%9D%20%5B

Standardized Testings:

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-why-standardized-tests-arent-working-for-teachers-or-students/2019/06

Pros and Cons of Standardizes Testings:

https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1542146/assignments/8854549?module_item_id=17308059

Project-Based Learning:

From presentation Project Based Learning (Fiona Chan and Tommy Tran)

Culturally Responsive Teaching:

https://repository.library.brown.edu/storage/bdr:xe36uxrp/PDF/

Model Minority:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/these-groups-of-asian-americans-rarely-attend-college-but-california-is-trying-to-change-that

Stem Diversity:

1. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180123102002.htm

2. Why so few ? Women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

3. https://edsource.org/2018/latino-african-americans-have-less-access-to-math-science-classes-new-data-show/598083

LGBTQIA:

Psychological Impact of Discrimination on LGBTQIA community:

https://time.com/7012940/anti-lgbtq-policies-impacting-queer-youth/

Video:

Roses in Concrete:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB8mTOiQXjY

Benefits of Project-Based Learning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDBsgzcG-MQ

Should America Get Rid of School Zones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbtQ_muI-tM&t=109s

Primary School EAL Programme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu9CkdmHEaM&t=84s

Teachers are also required to conduct extensive Critical Race Theory training to understand cultural diversity and the ability to foster communication among students. In addition, the entire faculty is also required to take formal training conducted by the school to understand the LGBTQIA community, concepts of Asian minority stereotypes, and how to support students with mental health issues.  This will also help support the lower income students, since many of them lack the access to these services.

Our school will also have a smaller classroom so our teachers can actively engage students and help them to learn the best. Our teachers will also be trained to mediate school bully, microaggression, and discrimination (as these will be non-tolerated). This helps to foster a more inclusive and compassionate community. 

Our school also believes parents play a vital role in their children’s education. Every year our school will host a career fair for high school students to explore their interests. We will invite parents who specialize in some industry such as law, business, or education to help give a presentation for students, allowing students to have a glimpse of what they want to pursue in the future.

We will also offer onsite tutoring where students can leverage the opportunity to refine what they learned in the classroom. These sessions will be free and are organized by different topics, for example, grade-9 teachers and math teachers may have 1 - 2 sessions from 3-4 pm per week. This provides valuable learning experiences for students. This is also helpful for students who come from a lower socioeconomic background and for those who do not have access to help tutoring at home. 

Our school also provides one-to-one tailored college guidance and all necessary preparations for students, such as helping them with writing applications and standardizing test preparations. We want to help our students to find a university that they can thrive in for the next part of their life. We believe that every student needs a process of college selection and application that will best develop their passion and talents. The admission team understands the importance of college to students later on career and professional development. We also offer admissions help across the US, UK, and other countries, including the standardized tests and application materials required during the application process. 

Our school will also provide deaf translators for students with disabilities. Deaf students need accommodations such as sign language interpreters to learn. This program will allow them to participate in classroom activities and not be isolated from their peers during classroom activities and studying.