High Tech High Graduate School of Education

09/02/2026

The CARPE trophy went missing 🚨 So, naturally, the team turned their latest convening into a heist-themed mystery.

Why the theater? Because at NCIE, we believe no joy = no improvement. Making the work enjoyable is how educators stay energized enough to do the hard, sustained work of change.

So teams cracked the case together, following clues, investigating evidence, and collaborating to uncover what was really behind the missing trophy. Along the way, they tackled the questions that actually move students toward college:

🔎 Identifying four-year-college-eligible and on-the-cusp students
🕵️ Excavating the root causes behind why A-G eligible students still aren't applying to four-year colleges
🗂️ Setting ambitious aims
💡 Surfacing opportunities to improve student outcomes
📋 Turning those insights into concrete plans

The trophy was the mystery. The real work was asking better questions, getting to root causes, and figuring out what we can change together — because when systems work better, more students can make informed, empowered choices about their future.

09/01/2026

⏰ 10 DAYS LEFT!

That idea you’ve been sitting on? The project your team can’t stop talking about? The practice that’s getting results? The experience you KNOW other educators need to try?

It’s time to share it. 🙌

The call for proposals for Deeper Learning 2027 + the National Summit on Improvement in Education 2027 closes September 11!

🎨 DL27: Workshops + immersive Deep Dives that bring creative, student-centered deeper learning to life.

📈 Summit 2027: Workshops + Improvement Reviews + Poster Sessions that dig into what’s working, what you’re learning, and how we create meaningful, measurable change.

And remember: you don’t need to have all the answers. Bring your practice. Bring your learning. Bring the work this community needs to experience.

📅 Proposals due September 11, 2026.

👀 Still have that proposal sitting half-finished on your computer?
Consider this Tina + Michelle’s official reminder to GET. IT. IN.

👉 Submit your DL27 proposal: bit.ly/dl27

👉 Submit your Summit 2027 proposal: bit.ly/summit27-rfp

09/01/2026

🎉 Hot off the press — Huge congratulations to Nuvia Ruland, Director of Professional Learning at HTH GSE, whose article, “Project Design as Playful as a Kaleidoscope,” is featured in the latest issue of Magnet Schools of America’s Distinct by Design! 🌈✨

In the piece, Nuvia shares the story and evolution of the Kaleidoscope, a project design tool that helps educators look at curriculum from new angles, spark fresh ideas, and create meaningful learning experiences for students.

We love seeing the work happening across High Tech High travel beyond our own community — and seeing Nuvia continue to find new ways to inspire educators and school leaders around the country. 💛

👏 Join us in celebrating Nuvia — and then go check out her article on pages 17–19!

➡️ Read Distinct by Design: https://bit.ly/4i0Xok8

MSA is a national nonprofit professional education association whose members are schools and school districts. The association represents and, is a resource to, magnet schools, parents, teachers, school boards, administrators, business leaders, community organizations and institutions of higher educ...

08/28/2026

📣 You’ve been doing the work. Now come share what you’re learning.

The calls for proposals for Deeper Learning 2027 + the National Summit on Improvement in Education 2027 are open—and we’re looking for educators, leaders, teams, and changemakers ready to bring their learning to San Diego!

Maybe you’ve developed a practice that’s transforming learning.
Maybe your team is seeing real results.
Maybe you’re still working through a challenge and have lessons others could learn from.

Bring it. We want to learn alongside you. 🙌

🎨 For DL27: Lead a Workshop or immersive Deep Dive that gets participants learning by doing and pushes creative, student-centered deeper learning forward.

👉 Submit your DL27 proposal: bit.ly/dl27

📈 For Summit 2027: Lead a Workshop, share your work through an Improvement Review, or present a Poster Session focused on getting results, improvement methods, and leading meaningful change.

👉 Submit your Summit 2027 proposal: bit.ly/summit27-rfp

You don’t need to have everything figured out. Bring the work. Bring the learning. Bring the ideas worth sharing.

📅 Proposals are due September 11, 2026.

We can’t wait to see what you bring to San Diego! 🙌

08/26/2026

Curious about continuous improvement—but not quite sure where to start? Start here. 👇

Join us for Foundations of Continuous Improvement, a FREE 90-minute introductory workshop designed to give you practical tools for tackling the challenges that matter most in your school, district, or organization.

You’ll explore what makes continuous improvement different from other approaches to change, learn the core CI mindsets and guiding questions, and practice using data to define a clear problem worth solving.

No previous CI experience needed—just bring your curiosity and a desire to make things better.

📅 September 23, 2026
⏰ 10:00–11:30am PT
💻 Online via Zoom
💲 Completely FREE

Perfect for educators, coaches, counselors, school and district leaders, nonprofit staff, community members, and anyone ready to dip their toes into continuous improvement.

👉 Save your spot: bit.ly/CI-Foundations

08/24/2026

What changes when students know their work will be seen, discussed, and experienced by someone beyond their teacher? 👀

➡️ Read the latest issue + subscribe here: bit.ly/gsenewssub

At High Tech High, exhibition is part of the learning process. Students share their questions, research, prototypes, artwork, discoveries, and reflections with families and their communities—creating an authentic audience for their work.

And that audience matters.

It gives students a reason to revise. To explain their thinking. To answer questions. To reflect on what they’ve learned. And ultimately, to take greater ownership of the work they create.

These snapshots from elementary exhibitions across High Tech High are a reminder that even our youngest learners can create meaningful, beautiful work worth sharing. 💙

Looking for more ideas, strategies, and stories from classrooms? HTHGSE News brings them straight to your inbox!

08/14/2026

Over the first weekend of August, HTH Graduate School of Education welcomed a new cohort of educators into our Educational Leadership program — experienced teachers and school leaders stepping further into the work of transforming the systems they already know deeply. Among them: our very first full cohort pursuing a Preliminary Administrative Services Credential (PASC), preparing the next wave of site and district leaders. 🏫

Their immersion weekend opened with EDU 600: Core Values and Foundations- a chance to build community agreements together and begin drafting the leadership philosophy each of them will return to and refine throughout the year.

From there, cohort members moved into the project slice — Forgive It Forward, facilitated by Tina Schuster, Helen Shao & Britt Perro — experiencing deeper learning from both sides of the desk: as a learner and as a facilitator. It's one thing to advocate for meaningful, authentic student work. It's another to sit inside it for a full day and reflect on what it actually takes to lead a culture that makes that work possible. 💭

The weekend closed with leadership dilemmas and role plays — real scenarios, real tensions, the kind of judgment calls these leaders will be making in their own schools and districts before long. 🎭

The cohort reconvened online to keep building their leadership philosophies and prepare for their first Presentation of Learning — carrying this weekend's work into the year ahead.

Welcome to the HTH GSE community — we're honored to help build the next generation of leaders for San Diego schools, for California, and for districts across the country. 🙌

08/11/2026

New year, new residents! 🎉

This week, we officially welcomed Cohort 9 into the San Diego Teacher Residency at HTH Graduate School of Education — 33 incoming teacher candidates who spent their first four days building the relationships and skills that will carry them through the year ahead. 🌊📚

They wrote and shared "Where I'm From" poems at open mic 🎤, and learned the history of High Tech High straight from co-founder Rob Riordan.

They also dug into the real work of the profession — exploring what it means to thrive as educators and getting their first intro to justice-centered teaching with Carol Battle, alongside HTH Cautionary Tales from Kelly Wilson and real talk on professionalism through case study work with Marquita Griffith.

And of course, there was fun mixed in too: a project slice out on the water 🏄 — paddleboarding as a hands-on lesson in project-based learning, led by Mike Strong from Blue Dot Education — plus an improv workshop, because building a justice-based, deeper learning community apparently also requires learning to "yes, and" your way through a room full of new colleagues and future students.

By day four, residents were joined by their cooperating teachers 🤝 to build the mentor-mentee relationships that anchor this program — co-constructing agreements, running empathy interviews, and diving into their first Design a Project Sprint together.

That's the heart of SDTR: real relationships, real practice, real reflection, from week one. We can't wait to see these residents dive into their school site teams and welcome K-12 students into their classrooms next week! 🍎

Welcome to Cohort 9 — and a huge thank-you 🙏 to the leaders and partners who made launch week unforgettable.

07/13/2026

✨ NEW in Unboxed: What if the way we teach adults actually reflected the way we hope students learn?

Too often, professional learning asks educators to embrace innovative teaching while experiencing...a lecture. This week's issue explores a different approach—one grounded in symmetry: the idea that students and teachers deserve to learn in the same engaging, collaborative, and meaningful ways.

Inside this issue:
🚀 How High Tech High Mesa launched a staff project before asking students to do the same
🏫 Practical strategies for building (and resetting) a positive classroom culture
🤝 A norm-setting protocol that works for students and staff
👀 How looking at student work can transform teacher coaching
📚 A deeper dive into designing schools as equitable communities of inquiry

Whether you're preparing for a new school year or rethinking how adults learn alongside students, there's something here to spark your thinking.

➡️ Read the latest issue + subscribe here: bit.ly/gsenewssub

07/09/2026

✨ Some moments are worth revisiting.

As we look ahead to a new school year, we're reflecting on one of our favorite traditions: Exhibitions of Learning.

For our students at High Tech Elementary and High Tech Elementary Explorer, these exhibitions were more than presentations. They were opportunities to share ideas, answer questions, celebrate growth, and experience what it feels like to have an authentic audience for meaningful work.

Every project told a story. Every conversation reflected weeks of curiosity, collaboration, and persistence. And every exhibition reminded us that some of the deepest learning happens when students have the chance to share what they've created with others.

We're still smiling about these moments—and we're already looking forward to the next round of exhibitions.