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Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Tina McGovern 415-749-3600 ext. 19, outreach@gatewayhigh.org
Gateway High School Selected As California Distinguished School
April 4th, 2003
San Francisco, CA. -- April 16, 2003 Gateway High School, a San Francisco public charter school dedicated to a college prep curriculum, students with learning differences, and diversity was selected as a California Distinguished School.
Gateway is the second charter high school honored with the statewide award and the only public charter school that has as its mandate a commitment to serving students who have previously identified learning differences.
"Gateway's success is directly attributable to having a clear mission to reform the way special education services are provided in a college prep setting and having talented teachers who are utterly devoted to that mission," said Peter Thorp, the principal.
In the rough and tumble world of inner city public school education, Gateway has found a way to break down the mechanics of learning, pass on the elements to students and get results. In June 2002, Gateway graduated its first senior class with 99% percent of its 75 students going off to two and four-year colleges and universities, including 30% who are the first members of their families to attend college.
"We started in 1998 as a group of parents with an idea of what we wanted and we had the good fortune to find a principal and teachers who shared our vision," said one of the School's founders, Suzanne Schutte. "We found that when parents and teachers come together with a common goal, magic happens."
The School's innovations include a comprehensive Learning Center that offers students tutoring, technology support and classes on the ways in which students learn differently. The School has also developed an enriched Humanities program that integrates English and social studies. The program gives Gateway's faculty the opportunity to have fewer students for longer periods of time.
Now in the midst of its fifth year of school operations, Gateway enrolls 410 students in grades 9-12 who come from more than 100 different middle schools. Reflecting the richness of San Francisco's population, some 13% of Gateway students are African-American, 24% Latino, 15% Asian/Pacific Islander, 40% Caucasian, 1.5% Middle-Eastern and 6.5% Other Non-White. As mandated by the School's charter approximately 25% of the students have previously identified learning differences-- two and a half times the LD enrollment in the average high school nationwide. This year 550 students applied for 110 places in the incoming 9th grade class.
"Gateway's success is a tribute to the vision of its founders, the strong leadership of its principal, Peter Thorp, the dedication of its teachers, and the commitment of its parents and students," said California's Secretary of Education, Kerry Mazzoni. "The School provides an excellent college-preparatory education while sharing its "best practices" with the wider educational community."
The California Distinguished Schools Program was created in 1985 to identify and honor the state's most exemplary and inspiring public schools. Gateway will be honored on May 16 with the other distinguished schools at a statewide awards ceremony at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. Approximately five percent of California's public schools are selected each year.
To be eligible for selection, schools must achieve an Academic Performance Index (API) score in the upper half of the statewide distribution, meet annual growth targets of the Governor's Performance Awards (GPA) if the API is less than 800 and test the percentage of students required for the GPA. Eligible schools then participate in a competitive selection process conducted by the California Department of Education in partnership with the county superintendents of schools. Elementary and secondary schools are recognized in alternate years.
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