Opportunities For Learning
"Empowering Minds by Inspiring Hearts"
Mission
Opportunities For Learning is dedicated to its mission to be the best independent study public charter school, empowering underserved students by unlocking their passions and dreams and moving them daily towards graduation.
Profile
Opportunities For Learning is a tuition-free program which inspires students toward completing high school graduation requirements. Our curriculum focuses on the courses covering core knowledge, based on California Curriculum Frameworks and state content standard in each of the Subject Areas. These courses are available in several levels of difficulty, in order to match the individual student's level of prior knowledge. In addition, advanced courses and electives are available for those students who want and are able to go beyond the "core" to specialize in a certain area.
Students are placed in core Subject Areas of reading, English, and math based on tested achievement levels. Materials that have not been mastered are required and advancement is determined on actual mastery of skills. Learning is thus focused on the specific skills and tasks that will result in the maximum advancement in the minimum time. This focus approach to learning will eventually permit students to devote time to the acquisition of higher order learning tasks, such as analysis, evaluation and synthesis. Students are continually informed about the transferability of courses to other public high schools and the eligibility of courses to meet college entrance requirements during the enrolment meetings, monthly newsletters and student handbook. The three key components of the learning strategies are subject matter concentration, self-paced learning, and mastery.
Opportunities For Learning strongly also believes in the personal development of its staff. This is demonstrated by ongoing staff development, facilitated by both our internal training department and external facilitators brought in to teach on their specialization. We consistently create goals and benchmarks for our schools growth and student results. We then examine the support our teachers need in meeting these goals, and assess the various means by which we can best provide this support to our staff.
Results
We use four primary sources of data to measure our cumulative student results, including the School Accountability Report Card (SARC), District Accountability Report Card (DARC) California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) results, WASC accreditation, API scores, and a similar school ranking.
The School Accountability Report Card (SARC) provides information about the school to the community, allowing the public to evaluate and compare schools for student achievement, environment, resources, and demographics. The District Accountability Report Card (DARC) includes all charters and provides overall multi-district performance totals.
We track our CAHSEE results on an annual basis. Each year we have increased the passage percentage of our students. We continually analyze this data and determine an action plan for of how we can better meet their needs.
Opportunities For Learning receives an API score in all operating districts on an annual basis. These results are then places in a similar school ranking, comparing our school results side by side with other similar school programs.
Last year, Opportunities For Learning served over 11,700 students and graduated over 690 seniors.