Academics

Academics

KGC provides a rigorous college preparatory education with an emphasis on reading, writing, and critical thinking. In addition to graduation requirements set by the Texas Education Agency, students at KGC will receive ongoing support to develop organizational skills and study habits that will enable them to be successful in college and beyond. Students must gain acceptance into a four-year college or university as a high school graduation requirement. Our curriculum features:

• Texas College and Career Readiness Standards
• 4 years of English, science, math, and social studies
• Advanced Placement courses (AP)
• Dual Enrollment courses
• Summer of Learning Program (Internships)
• UIL Athletics and Academics
• Extended school day
• Community service and outreach
• College Counseling Program
• Senior Capstone Project and Independent Stud-ies
• Spanish as a Foreign Language
• Collegiate Fridays

Enrichment Opportunities:

• Visual arts (photography, illustration)
• Athletics (team sports—,football, basketball, track)
• Spanish Club
• Student Leadership Opportunities
• Student Council
• Agents of Change Committee

Founding Year CORE Instructional program

At KIPP Generations Collegiate, clearly defined goals and high expectations for student achievement guide the development of research-based curriculum, design and implementation of instructional strategies, and learning activities. All curricular objectives utilized in classroom instruction are rooted and aligned to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS),  the College Career Readiness Standards (CCRS), and the ACT College Readiness Standards,  in the areas of English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. High standards and student rigor focus the curriculum to help each KGC student achieve maximum success in the academic arena. In order to achieve maximum success, teachers at KIPP Generations Collegiate understand the drive for continual improvement in implementing optimum curriculum for student achievement. In this strive for achievement, teachers utilize a plethora of diverse instructional strategies including technology to meet the needs of the diverse and emergent KGC student. Through teacher collegiality, student monitoring through assessment, and constant evaluation and revision of teaching methods, KGC teachers implement curricular objectives that are important and valid in the lives of our diverse learners.

With each new school year, KGC curricular objectives must adhere to the needs of the changing students. As a new school, teachers will begin scoping curriculum with a focus on mastery of standards and scaffolding student learning over their years of education at KGC.  Teachers at KIPP Generations Collegiate will dedicate common planning time to the creation and implementation of curricular objectives imperative and valid to the KGC student of today.

English I (1 credit)

This course concentrates on the fundamental language skills of reading, writing, conventions of written and oral language, research, and listening/speaking in an effort to build a foundation for student success in advanced high school English classes. Students practice both reading and writing as a process and perform an array of reading strategies as they work to become proficient in understanding and responding appropriately to a variety of texts. Students refine their reading comprehension skills through the study of fiction, literary nonfiction, poetry, drama, and informational text throughout the year. Students write for varied audiences and purposes and work to develop ideas, voice, word choice, fluency, and organization in their writing while applying conventions of the English language. Throughout the year, students develop skills to enhance media literacy.

Algebra I (1 credit)

Algebra I begins the study of functions. Functions represent the systematic dependence of one quantity on another. Students use functions to represent and model problem situations and to analyze and interpret relationships. Students work in many situations to set up equations and inequalities and use a variety of methods to solve them. A variety of representations (concrete, numerical, algorithmic, and graphical), tools, and graphing calculators are used to model mathematical situations and solve meaningful problems.  Coursework concentrates on foundations for functions, linear functions, and quadratic and other nonlinear functions. All ninth-grade students who did not take Algebra I in eighth grade will enroll in this course.

Geometry (1 credit)

Geometry consists of the study of geometric figures of zero, one, two, and three dimensions and the relationships having to do with size, shape, location, direction, and orientation of these figures. The students use a variety of representations, tools, and technology to solve meaningful problems by representing figures, transforming figures, analyzing relationships, and proving things about them. Topics will include congruency, similarity, dimensionality, and patterning of all geometric figures. ~Prerequisite: Algebra I

Mathematical Models with Applications (½-1 credit)

In this course, student use algebraic, graphical, and geometric reasoning to recognize patterns and structure, to model information, and to solve problems from various disciplines. Students use mathematical methods to model and solve real-life applied problems involving money, data, chance, patterns, music design, and science. Math models from algebra, geometry, probability, and statistics and connections among these are used to solve problems from a wide variety of advanced applications in both mathematical and nonmathematical situations.              

Biology I (1 credit)

In Biology, students conduct laboratory and field investigations, use scientific methods during investigations, and make informed decisions using critical thinking and scientific problem solving. Students in Biology study a variety of topics that include: structures and functions of cells and viruses; growth and development of organisms; cells, tissues, and organs; nucleic acids and genetics; biological evolution; taxonomy; metabolism and energy transfers in living organisms; living systems; homeostasis; and ecosystems and the  environment.

World Geography Studies (1 credit)

In this required course, students analyze the relationships between people, places, and environments. Students use problem-solving and decision-making skills to ask and answer geographic questions as well as to determine the geographic factors which have influenced past and present events. A significant portion of the course will center around physical processes, places, and regions, the environment, the political, economic and social processes that shape cultural patterns, human systems such as population distribution and urbanization patterns, and the economic conditions which have led to and reinforced the developed and developing world.

College Readiness

An integral component of KGC’s curriculum is defined by the academic behaviors and cognitive strategies that can be emphasized cross-disciplinary through the Collegiate Pathway at KGC.  The Collegiate Pathway includes four courses that will utilize the cross-disciplinary Texas College and Career Readiness Standards outlined by the Texas Education Agency and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board[1].  Each Collegiate Pathway course will thematically focus on one of the school’s core values and underlying beliefs.  The KIPP Generations Collegiate Counselors and faculty members will create and implement curriculum based on the following:  1) intellectual curiosity, 2) reasoning, 3) problem solving, 4)academic behaviors, 5)work habits, 6)academic integrity, 7)reading across the curriculum, 8)writing across the curriculum, 9)research across the curriculum, and 10)use of data.  Core content classes (English, mathematics, science, and social studies) will be assessed for high school graduation through End of Course testing at the end of each academic year.  What these tests do not assess are a student’s social and self awareness in navigating through difficult coursework, asking for assistance, creating study groups, various modes of writing, proving a research hypothesis, and applying for college, the very skills and behaviors needed for our graduate scholars to become college ready and not need remedial education in college.  The Collegiate Pathway will be implemented in the founding year in:

Freshman Collegiate- “A New Generation of Hope”

Ninth grade students will examine the questions, “Who Am I?” and “How do the roles I play affect my community and my future?”  The Freshman Collegiate course will be taught by a Communications Applications certified teacher (certified in English Language Arts as well).  First year KGC students will need time to adapt to their new environment and develop new relationships with their teammates and their new mentors.  Our scholars will face the challenge of adjusting to teammates who may have different boundaries[2]and needs than the family and friends from their middle schools and social awareness of navigating and developing close friendships is integral to the adolescent development of our ninth graders.  During the freshman year, students will become classmates from KIPPsters from two feeder schools (KIPP 3D and KIPP Polaris) and also a 10% outside of KIPP student recruited base.  Understanding how to navigate personal freedoms such as using lockers, using an agenda in high school, not walking in lines, and choosing courses of study can be an exciting and overwhelming experience.  The Freshman Collegiate course will develop awareness and social norms in how students must manage their daily responsibilities that accompany their increased personal freedom.  This course will focus on the following essential questions:

• What is the relationship of the individual to the community?
• What is the impact of gender roles that society creates and enforces?
• How do the values of sports affect the way we see ourselves?
• How does the language we use reveal who we are?
• To what extent does pop culture reflect our society’s values?[3]

KGC’s new generation of scholars will learn to establish norms within communities and push each other for affirming and adjusting feedback in their collaborative practices.   Our Freshman Collegiate will become the foundation to where our beacons of hope will begin to build the citizens we wish to see change the world in four years.

Service Learning

 “A New Generation of Hope”

Citizenship is one of KGC’s core values. To honor this value, we require our students to complete at least 400 (100 hours each summer) hours of service learning activities to graduate from high school. Instead of simply volunteering, our scholars integrate community service activities with an academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen our community. Furthermore, we have at least one week during each school year devoted to service learning activities. At KGC, we believe that “We Lift as We Climb” and that our student’s successes are rooted in the successes of those who come before and after us. As a new generation of hope, KGC will seek to establish mentoring roles with its feeder middle schools, KIPP 3D Academy (North Houston) and KIPP Intrepid Preparatory School (East Houston).