Renaissance 2010 High School

The Ogden International High School of Chicago

The Ogden International High School of Chicago application for the 2009-2010 school year is available here.

Mission

Ogden International High School (OIHS) will prepare students for college and lifelong success in a global society through exceptional learning opportunities that will push them to new heights academically, developmentally, and professionally.  Ogden students will become creative problem solvers, effective communicators, and tomorrow’s leaders.  Ogden International High School will initially enroll 140 students in the 9th grade beginning in September 2009 and grow to 560 students over four years, adding a new 9th grade each year thereafter.  Each grade will be comprised of five sections of 28 students.  As a small school, OIHS will never grow beyond a maximum of 600 students.

Vision

Ogden International High School will build upon the strong foundation of Ogden Elementary School to create one of Chicago’s first PreK-12 public schools.  Ogden PreK-12 will create an educational continuum that takes full advantage of the best practices in primary and secondary education.  We anticipate approximately one third of the OIHS students will come from Ogden Elementary School and two thirds will come from other neighborhood elementary schools.

We believe that a consistent, comprehensive, and clearly defined instructional program will maintain and improve student achievement, recognizing all students and their individual needs, and will identify us as the flagship school in our community and throughout the city.  We are dedicated to maintaining and improving the high standards of education for all students at Ogden School.  Our expectations remain high, but our goals attainable.  We envision our school as a community resource, a center for family-focused activities that benefit the entire community.  Ogden is a community school with a worldly spirit.  Cooperation, collaboration, and commitment are the key ingredients for a successful community and a successful school.  All students will establish values, gain insight of self and others, internalize a sense of responsibility to our community, and understand the importance of behavior as it relates to the advancement of society.  It is through our educational program and community partnerships that we, as a school, will be the forerunner in public education throughout our city, state, and nation.

Educational Plan

Our educational program will focus on the needs of all students, integrating the fundamental learning areas, critical thinking skills, and decision-making capabilities to enable students to reach their maximum intellectual potential in our rapidly changing society.  The curriculum will be comprehensive among and within grade levels, emphasizing global studies, humanities, and liberal arts, while incorporating advanced technology designed to maximize student achievement, increase student readiness to advance to the next level, and engage students in authentic and meaningful learning experiences.

Ogden will embed internationalism in all aspects of the educational program, providing opportunities for students to relate curricular concepts to global issues, emphasizing authentic student work and objectives focusing on synthesis and evaluation.  OIHS will build on the success of Ogden Elementary which has achieved increases in standardized test scores for each of the last seven years.  This accomplishment can be directly linked to Ogden’s steadfast academic rigor coupled with a culture of high expectations and a curriculum that focuses on broadening student perspectives and experiences.  These three components are the basis of our educational program.  In addition, we will continue our partnership with Rush Neurobehavioral Center to extend the Ogden Executive Function Intervention Project to our high school.  Executive functions are the brain processes that underlie planning, organization, decision-making, attentional, and behavioral regulation.  


Leadership

The Ogden team is led by Kenneth M. Staral, principal of Ogden Elementary since 1996.  Mr. Staral is an exceptional, innovative and highly successful school leader.  With parent and community input, Mr. Staral developed a vision for Ogden and established expectations and objectives necessary to excel as an instructional leader, thus embarking upon a renaissance in teaching, learning, and community outreach.    Mr. Staral will serve as the principal of the Ogden PreK-12 school, creating a cohesive educational continuum where the culture, values and instructional program are aligned.  As principal, he views his role as a resource provider, instructional leader, and communicator.  Under his leadership, the Ogden PreK-12 will create, refine, and align the overall instructional program, promote quality professional development for all staff members, identify the school as a viable choice for neighborhood children, recruit community and parent volunteers to assist with school activities, and strengthen and establish partnerships between the school and the surrounding community, thus providing support for the school and its educational initiatives.

Curriculum

OIHS will develop a rich, rigorous college preparatory curriculum that prepares students for lifelong success in a global society.  Ogden will embed internationalism in all aspects of the educational program.    To this end, we will use the Asia Society International Studies Schools Network Graduate Profile as the foundation for our school design and our education plan.  Upon graduating from OIHS,

Graduates will have successfully:

  • Completed a globally focused course of study, including classes, extracurricular activities, and international travel, that has enabled them to develop interest and demonstrate expertise in a specific world culture or an important international issue.
  • Earned a high school diploma with credits sufficient to pursue a college education in the United States or abroad or to pursue other rigorous post-secondary education.
  • Learned how to identify options, evaluate opportunities, and organize educational experiences in college to enable them to pursue a career within the global economy

Graduates:

  • Are 21st century literate and are proficient in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in English and in one or more other language(s).
  • Analyze and evaluate global issues from multiple perspectives, gather and synthesize relevant information from around the world, and draw conclusions that consider the impact from various viewpoints.
  • Understand how the world’s people and institutions are interconnected and know how critical international economic, political, technological, environmental, and social systems operate interdependently across nations and regions.
  • Are proficient in the use of digital media, can evaluate the validity and integrity of information, and can identify sources of bias.
  • Understand and value the opportunity to work collaboratively with individuals from cultural backgrounds different from their own and can see the world from the perspective of others.
  • Are comfortable and competent in different cultural settings and know how to shift behavior and language to respectfully interact with people from different backgrounds.
  • Understand that decisions and actions taken in the United States may have international consequences and that events worldwide may have national and local implications.
  • Understand their responsibility to make ethical decisions and responsible choices, to weigh the consequences of their actions for themselves and others across the globe, and to act toward the development of a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world.

    Chicago Public School's Ren 2010 Site