OCASA College Prep

Welcome to OCASA College Prep

Here at OCP, we believe in: 

• personalized learning to maximize student achievement,

• integrating STEAM education into the entire school experience,

• delivering a rigorous college prep program without piling on busy work,

• and most of all, ensuring our students have fun while they are learning. 

We would love for you to join us.

Overview

The educational program at OCASA College Prep utilizes instructional practices that are proven to promote student learning. Teachers and administrators have developed an innovative educational model that addresses the needs of the whole child and emphasizes academic, personal, social, and emotional development. The core instructional model is based on the Summit Learning Program (“Summit”) and Project Lead the Way (PLTW). 

Summit is an online platform developed by teachers for teachers, growing out of the successful Summit Public Schools in Northern California. Summit has been implemented in more than 300 schools across California and the nation. 

The Summit platform provides a personalized learning environment that allowed the OCASA College Prep students to make tremendous gains in just two years. OCASA College Prep will combine our values with what science reveals about how students learn best and cutting-edge research to tailor the school experience to students’ individual needs. The student outcomes that our educational model will promote will be:

1. Cognitive Skills: OCASA College Prep recognizes Cognitive Skills as the building blocks for student success in college and careers. Cognitive Skills equip students with interdisciplinary 21st-century competencies needed to navigate the post-K-12 world.   These higher-order thinking skills must be explicitly taught by qualified teachers using research-guided best practices. The California adoptions of the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards further this point as both emphasize the teaching and learning of cognitive skills as opposed to simple content mastery.
2. Content Knowledge: While OCASA College Prep students will develop Cognitive Skills to compete in the global workforce, they must also acquire and retain key Content Knowledge. In addition to supporting the development of cognitive skills, retaining Content Knowledge prepares students for success at each grade level and in the collegiate setting. Content knowledge supports and enables critical thinking, allowing students to move from a basic understanding to complete mastery of subjects. OCASA College Prep teachers will have a deep understanding of the Common Core State Standards the Next Generation Science Standards, the History-Social Science Framework, the English Language Development Standards (“ELD”) and the remaining State Content Standards (collectively, “State Standards”) and use these to guide the content topics introduced and explored at each grade level and in each subject.
3. Habits of Success: OCASA College Prep will incorporate social-emotional development into all aspects of teaching and programming to attend to the whole child. OCASA College Prep views social-emotional learning as the process of identifying and applying skills to know oneself, set and work towards goals, empathize, build positive relationships, engage in conversations about diversity and inclusiveness, and make responsible decisions. These social and emotional skills, or Habits of Success, enable students to be successful at both academic and non-academic pursuits.
4. Sense of Purpose: It is of paramount importance that OCASA College Prep students set goals for the development and mastery of Cognitive Skills, Content Knowledge, and Habits of Success. In order to achieve these goals, students must also cultivate a Sense of Purpose. Students need to possess an understanding of their interests, values, and skills, and the articulation of a credible path after high school for translating those interests, values, and skills into fulfilled lives. We are committed to preparing students for success beyond the walls of OCASA College Prep. To do so, we will focus on five critical components for students to develop during their time at OCASA College Prep.

First, students need to develop a sense of Self-Awareness. Students need exposure to multiple interests, the ability to explore such interests, and opportunities to pursue those interests. Students also need to explore and develop their Values. Students need support understanding what they value and how to live those values in order to lead a fulfilled life, in which they make intentional trade-offs between different options based on values. OCASA College Prep will be intentional in showing students how to effectively and proactively build Relationships that are not merely transactional, but also that put them in contact with people who want them to be their best selves. A key component of the OCASA College Prep model is supporting students in developing a Credible Path Toward Long-Term Goals. Finally, as a 6th – 12th-grade institution, OCASA College Prep is committed to facilitating a strong Transition out of high school that is aligned with their interests, skills, knowledge, habits, values, and the long-term goals they hope to achieve.

Guiding Principles: The following represents the evidence-based principles that will guide OCASA College Prep staff and administration in implementing the Summit platform:

• In order to be successful in both college and careers, students need to master a set of Cognitive Skills;
• In the 21st century, proficiency in skills at the end of high school is more valuable than proficiency in the content of any given subject matter;
• Students develop Cognitive Skills over time; the skills must be accessed within each student’s zone of proximal development;
• Cognitive Skills are learned best through strategies that require deeper learning. The deepest learning is inquiry-based, authentic, and active;
• Cognitive Skills extend beyond traditional disciplines; the same skill can be applied in multiple disciplines;

These guiding principles will be at the core of our work. Professional development and teacher growth will be couched in conversations regarding students’ cognitive skills development. OCASA College Prep has access to the entire Summit library, containing field-tested and refined longitudinal projects. Students will apply the content they have learned to real-world situations to develop their essential and transferable lifelong skills. Multiple Cognitive Skills are embedded in each project. Most projects will culminate in a performance-based assessment such as an essay, lab report, or presentation.