Piedmont Hills High School serves a diverse and growing population at the base of the east foothills of San Jose. We continue to boast a strong tradition of academic achievement within our widely diverse student body. Our school community values achievement, as reflected in high graduation and college entrance rates--which perennially lead the district. In 2005, we graduated over 98% of our seniors. Our Academic Performance Index (API) score has risen over the past four years to its current level of 791. We have met or exceeded our Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for the past three years. We have increased the number and variety of Advanced Placement (AP) sections available to our students as well as the number of students taking AP tests. We have additionally bolstered this effort with professional development to prepare our AP teachers to maximize student success.

The staff collectively has many years of experience and shares the community?s commitment to excellence. The school facility itself is safe and pleasant, and the campus climate is generally respectful and courteous. Co-curricular events at Piedmont Hills are frequent and varied, providing many opportunities for students to participate. Certainly the majority of people involved in the Piedmont Hills community are proud of its tradition and excellence.

In order to augment our standards and data efforts, this was the second year the school implemented a seven-period day in order to accommodate weekly staff collaboration. This allowed teachers to meet twice a month to deal with such issues as: moving forward with data, literacy and writing across the curriculum, using summarizing and note taking strategies to improve student success using technology in the classroom, and continuing to align lessons to California State Standards. Another key benefit of shifting to weekly staff development meetings was it allowed teachers to articulate within subject areas, across curriculum, and with feeder schools. The staff was extremely pleased with increased collaboration time and we anticipate a similar schedule for the 2006-2007 school year.

We have utilized the Internet and our streamlined organization to improve school wide communication. Students now understand how API scores can affect entry into their college of choice and parents understand how achieving API and AYP targets impacts funding for Piedmont as well as increasing their own property values. The Instructional Team Leaders (ITLs) communicate staff needs and staff direction more efficiently than in the past.

Our staff also uses e-mail as a primary tool for communicating information to parents and colleagues. In addition to using the school/district website to communicate with the community, Piedmont Hills also uses www.schoolloop.com as a communication tool. Teachers are asked to post assignments and grades to keep both students and parents updated. The service also allows communication to occur with the entire educational community.