E.E. Ford Fellows Program at University High School

It was June of 2016 when we learned that University High School was awarded a matching grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, as our administration and staff had spent weeks developing the idea, writing the proposal, and crafting the budget. But we weren’t a shoe-in either, as (then in our 16th year) we were a relatively young school and this was a substantial amount of money.

In the last two years, our teachers have studied everything from counting the physical campus as a teaching tool to specialized trainings for teachers who travel with students, from new mediums in art to new frameworks that offer shared language for our craft. We’ve experimented with a new scheduling model, with co-curricular classes, with course evaluation models, with learning groups. And, perhaps more than anything, we’ve normalized the practice of talking with one another about the core work of our school — teaching and learning. 

This opportunity has been a gift to University High School — made up of 65 actual gifts, one from the foundation and 64 from community members like you — and for that we are truly thankful.

Thank you for giving. Thank you for listening. And thank you for being a part of the University High School community.