I love being surrounded by people who look out for you and care for you. I wouldn't have had these opportunities anywhere else.

River, 11th grade

Academics

Diocese of Cleveland Philosophy and Goals

Philosophy of Catholic Education

WE BELIEVE that a philosophy of Catholic education begins with faith that God, in creating, gifted us with life, became one of us in His Son Jesus, and in the Person of His Spirit awaits our response to His unconditional overture of love. Jesus remains with the community He formed, witnessing and sharing the Good News in every age and with all people, ever yearning for a return of love either by a sincere response to conscience or by membership in His Church. It is from this perspective that the educational ministry of the Catholic community flows.
WE BELIEVE that education which is Catholic begins. With life, in the heart of the family. Parents, the primary educators, seed and nourish values deeply human, deeply spiritual. Affirmed, treasured, and supported by the loving witness of Christian faith communities, the child continues a lifelong response to God's love by growing and excelling through responsible involvement in the academic, cultural, and civic concerns of daily life.
WE BELIEVE that the Catholic school is sensitive to the mandate of Jesus: "Love one another as I have loved you" is the goal toward which all Catholic education tends. The school community, in sharing this vision within an atmosphere designed to celebrate and practice love of God and neighbor, is the most effective means available to the Church for the education of youth. This vision motivates students to grow academically, culturalIy, and socially. Among the values prized in the Catholic school are self-worth, self-discipline in the search for a moral way of life, and appreciation of our American Heritage. With deep concern for their brothers and sisters, young people in the Catholic day schools and the parish school of, religion form their personal response to truth, justice and love to God their maker.
Goals for Catholic Schools
1. To communicate the gospel message of Jesus
2. To provide opportunities to build and experience a faith community
3. To orient students to the responsibility and experience of service because of their membership in the Christian community
4. To provide students with the opportunity of growth in prayer
5. To provide instruction in religious truths and values in such a way that they become an integrated part of the school program
6. To develop a faculty and staff who by their presence and teaching express an integrated approach to learning and living in their lives
7. To provide an academic program and environment conducive to the optimal development of each child


Mission and Belief Statements

Our Mission:
Saint Martin de Porres High School is Christ’s enterprise dedicated to transforming urban Cleveland one student at a time.
Our Vision:
We are committed to the values: Work, Study, Serve, Lead, Pray.
Our Means:
An innovative college preparatory curriculum rooted in the development of the habits of mind and spirit.
A unique partnership with the local business community reflected in our Corporate Work Study Program.
A caring, Catholic community.


Belief Statements

The Mission of Caring
• We believe that education in a Christian community of caring offers the support each student needs to succeed.
• We believe that the formal curriculum and complementary experiences should involve emphasis on the interrelationship between and among work, study, service, leadership and prayer.
• We believe that education involves the whole person and that mental, emotional, physical and spiritual development should complement each other.
• We believe that community-building is essential to each day's experiences.
• We believe that the Seven Justice Themes promoted by the American bishops are integral to the content and process of the curriculum.
• We believe that the endorsement of the Jesuit and Humility of Mary religious communities enriches the St. Martin de Porres Community and its endeavors and that information about the Jesuit and Humility of Mary heritage and charisms should inform the Catholic identity of the school and be included in the curriculum.
• We believe that families are an essential part of the education of their children and that the school and families will seek opportunities to share responsibility for student success.

Interdisciplinary Nature of Knowledge

• We believe that all learning should be set in a meaningful context and related to real world experiences.
• We believe that teachers and all personnel convey an implicit curriculum by witnessing to gospel values and the following of Christ
• We believe that curricular experiences should be set in a context within the theme of Caring with a four year focus on the Community, Self, World, and the Earth respectively.
• We believe that the interdisciplinary nature of reality requires a curriculum that connects science, physical education/health, math, and technology as well as social studies, language, religion, the arts, and the work-study experience.
• We believe that each class should integrate reading, writing, and ethical components and be supported by appropriate technology.
• We believe that the curriculum begins with the students' own experiences and that those experiences must be allowed to influence it.
• We believe that each student's heritage should be respected in itself and also valued as a source of enrichment for the teaching and learning transactions.
• We believe that when a subject is taught in a way to humanize students, it also sanctifies them.


Strategies for Effective Learning

• We believe that collaborative models of problem-solving should characterize all levels of decision-making from administration to classroom.
• We believe that teachers should be committed to educational methods that maximize the potential of the students and incorporate student-centered processes in all subjects.
• We believe that student success in learning is supported by a range of pedagogical approaches which include but are not limited to Socratic questioning, adult and peer coaching, adult and peer presentations, problem ¬based learning, constructivist approaches, inquiry method, appreciative inquiry, dimensions of learning, and other forms of active learning, as well as the circle of context, experience, reflection, action and evaluation (See Figure 4).
• We believe that for learning to be meaningful and memorable it must be related to multiple intelligences; contexts; exemplars; applications; experiences; learning styles; and assessments.
• We believe that curriculum is both a conversation and also a site where past meets present and that curriculum combines a set of experiences and processes which are influenced by historical, autobiographical, aesthetic, political, and gendered processes.
• We believe that assessment should be an ongoing, shared responsibility of teachers and students, designed in multiple forms,
• We believe that teachers should be in ongoing dialog in order to strengthen their subjects and their interdisciplinary connections and in order to improve the quality, currency, and meaningfulness of teaching and learning.


Philosophy and Overview of Curriculum

Saint Martin de Porres High School, a member of the Cristo Rey Network, is dedicated to its mission of integrating a quality, Catholic college preparatory education with an innovative work-study program for students of all faiths. Every student at Saint Martin de Porres High School will be engaged in a program that requires that they "work, study, serve, lead, and pray - the school's motto, The curriculum is designed to maximize the potential of the school's graduates to assume roles of leadership and service. The curriculum begins by learning about, understanding and valuing the life experiences of the students who come to the school and using those experiences as the foundation for each student's growth. The school will share responsibility for the students' education with their families. Based on the Academic Content Standards for the State of Ohio, the Diocesan Guidelines for Curricula and the Profile of a Catholic School Graduate, the Saint Martin de Porres High School curriculum seeks to develop content knowledge and habits of mind and spirit that will ensure the unique progress of each student.

The Saint Martin de Porres community believes that habits of mind and spirit may be more important than specific content knowledge in the development of each individual. The habits of mind the school will foster include critical thinking, analytic thinking, independent thinking, creativity and problem solving; intellectual curiosity; willingness to accept and act on critical feedback; openness to growth, including possible failures; the ability to cope with challenging learning tasks and possible frustration, and the ability to work collaboratively to create an effective community. Rooted in Catholic teaching and the charisms of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary and the Society of Jesus, the school will foster habits of spirit including respect for self and others, humility, hospitality, personal integrity, commitment to community, dedication to nonviolence, care for the earth, and social justice which are lived expressions of a relationship with God.

The work-study program is central to the mission and to the curriculum of Saint Martin de Porres High School. Each student will be part of a job-sharing team, working five days per month at an entry-level clerical position in a Cleveland company, The workplace learning that each student experiences will be an integral part of his/her development as a scholar and as a person. All of the academic disciplines will seek to integrate the knowledge gained in the workplace with what students must know and be able to do to be successful in post-secondary education. In addition, students will engage in service to the school community through upkeep of the school facility, student government, extra-curricular events and clubs and activities that promote school spirit. Service to the larger community also will be an essential part of the life of the school.

The curriculum also will seek to provide an experiential approach to academic learning, making connections to the students' own experiences and to their
communities, providing multicultural and gender understandings, and hands-on, authentic experiences inside and outside the classroom. The academic disciplines will be connected to an overarching theme for each of the four years of high school: Care for the Community, Care for the Self, Care for the World, and Care for the Earth. Each year the theme will allow students and faculty to develop key aspects of the seven themes of social justice outlined by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In addition to this thematic emphasis, certain academic skills are so Important that they must be an essential part of every course in the curriculum. To that end, every course will include direct focus on ethics, reading, writing, speaking, technological literacy, and media analysis.

The school recognizes that academic success in high school and college in all disciplines depends on critical reading skills. For that reason. the Saint Martin de Porres faculty is committed to addressing each student's reading needs in every course. Regular monitoring of students' progress in reading will be a regular part of grade level meetings and teachers will engage in ongoing professional development to further their own skills in addressing reading skills in the academic disciplines, A systematic program of reading instruction (e.g. Read 180) is a regular component of the ninth grade English Language Arts curriculum, but teachers in the other disciplines support this effort to underscore the importance of reading instruction across the curriculum. After a year's exposure to Read 180, the use of this software and other tools will be determined on an individual basis.

The assessment of students at Saint Martin de Porres High School will be based on a growth model that supports a variety of assessment strategies. The academic program will include workshop sessions in English and math (and other disciplines as needed), using diagnostic assessments to address the individual needs of each student. Teachers and students will develop a portfolio of rubrics, tests, self-assessments, authentic assessments, peer assessments, and exhibitions of learning in order to monitor the progress of each student. Communication and regular conferences with parents will be an ongoing part of assessment. Preparation for the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) will be addressed in each discipline; and assessments in each discipline Will include the formats that are used in questions on the OGT so that students are prepared to succeed. Evaluation of workplace performance will be a regular feature of each student's work experience, At the end of the senior year, each student will produce a capstone project, a public exhibition of mastery, which will showcase the knowledge and skills learned throughout the student's tenure at Saint Martin de Porres.