Christa McAuliffe School
Encyclopedia
Christa McAuliffe School is a public elementary school
and middle school
(K-8th grade ) located in Saratoga, California
, in the Cupertino Union School District
(CUSD). Named for Challenger
astronaut
Christa McAuliffe
, it is one of four alternative schools in the district, accepting enrollment from anywhere within CUSD.
The primary differentiators that make McAuliffe an alternative to CUSD's neighborhood schools are its focus on educating the whole child and its parent participation. As opposed to back-to-basics schools that focus on the three Rs
, McAuliffe teachers use a constructivist
educational approach, employing an integrated, holistic curriculum that includes both social and broad academic learning. At McAuliffe, parent participation is not just encouraged, but one of the requirements of enrollment. This, along with professional teacher's aides, provides a very high ratio of adult instructors and/or aides to students.
An important part of the McAuliffe experience is a series of overnight field trips. For example, while studying the settlement of the American west, third grade students go on a three-day trip where they simulate parts of the settlers' lifestyle. In some years, older children go on longer trips which they plan themselves, such as the 2006 8th-grade bus trip that ended with the students helping New Orleans residents clean up after Hurricane Katrina
.
The unofficial motto of McAuliffe is the following quote from Confucius
:
A second, newer motto is: creativity, collaboration, community
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
and middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
(K-8th grade ) located in Saratoga, California
Saratoga, California
Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....
, in the Cupertino Union School District
Cupertino Union School District
The Cupertino Union School District covers the city of Cupertino, California, and parts of San Jose, Sunnyvale, Saratoga, Santa Clara, and Los Altos, California. The CUSD operates twenty elementary schools and five middle schools...
(CUSD). Named for Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...
astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
Christa McAuliffe
Christa McAuliffe
Christa McAuliffe was an American teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, and was one of the seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster....
, it is one of four alternative schools in the district, accepting enrollment from anywhere within CUSD.
The primary differentiators that make McAuliffe an alternative to CUSD's neighborhood schools are its focus on educating the whole child and its parent participation. As opposed to back-to-basics schools that focus on the three Rs
The three Rs
The three Rs are the foundations of a basic skills-orientated education program within schools: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic.The phrase is attributed to a toast given by Sir William Curtis around 1825...
, McAuliffe teachers use a constructivist
Constructivist teaching methods
Constructivist teaching is based on constructivist learning theory. This theoretical framework holds that learning always builds upon knowledge that a student already knows; this prior knowledge is called a schema...
educational approach, employing an integrated, holistic curriculum that includes both social and broad academic learning. At McAuliffe, parent participation is not just encouraged, but one of the requirements of enrollment. This, along with professional teacher's aides, provides a very high ratio of adult instructors and/or aides to students.
An important part of the McAuliffe experience is a series of overnight field trips. For example, while studying the settlement of the American west, third grade students go on a three-day trip where they simulate parts of the settlers' lifestyle. In some years, older children go on longer trips which they plan themselves, such as the 2006 8th-grade bus trip that ended with the students helping New Orleans residents clean up after Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
.
The unofficial motto of McAuliffe is the following quote from Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
:
- I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
A second, newer motto is: creativity, collaboration, community