Preparing Students for College, Career, and Life

Da Vinci Schools' Student-Centered Approach to
Reimagining Education

Overview

Located in Los Angeles, Da Vinci Schools is a public charter school network that operates five charter schools and one college and career program, serving over 2,600 students from 119 zip codes. Guided by their vision of fostering a new generation of students to “lead, innovate, and thrive in the modern world,” Da Vinci Schools has been recognized for its approach in cultivating an inclusive learning environment that prioritizes relationships and promotes real-world learning to prepare students for college, career, and life. However, it is their ability to gather and effectively use data that maximizes their impact on teaching and learning — ensuring students thrive as lifelong learners.

“Transparency Facilitates Clarity”

Da Vinci Schools’ commitment to a compassionate school culture centered on relationships and personalized support is exemplified in their approach to student learning and engagement. Recognizing the importance of serving the whole child, Da Vinci Schools created a centralized Data Hub aligned to California’s Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework, integrating academic, behavioral, and social-emotional data. By creating a platform that provides easy access to granular student-level data and overall trends, staff are able to be responsive in providing students with the necessary supports.

To support teachers with their data analysis and visualization needs, Da Vinci Schools provides professional development at various points throughout the school year. Acknowledging that school sites know best, these professional development days are tailored to what each campus chooses to focus on (e.g., behavior and attendance, GPAs). Teachers have the opportunity to dive deeper into the data, determine their priorities, engage in reflective spaces, and request support in generating additional reports as needed. Da Vinci Schools’ focus on building teachers’ data capacity, coupled with the easy-to-use features of the Data Hub, has created a data culture in which teachers are regularly monitoring student-level data to identify where they’re seeing patterns.

Leveraging Attendance Data for Tailored Outreach

As with most schools across California, Da Vinci Schools saw their chronic absenteeism rates rise due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the continued spike in chronic absenteeism rates in 2022, Da Vinci Schools pivoted in the middle of the 2022-23 school year to incorporate a tiered attendance intervention system that relies on a collective approach in proactively assessing and addressing their chronic absenteeism rates. Da Vinci’s data dashboard pulls attendance data from their Student Information System (i.e. PowerSchool) and tiers students into three different levels based on their attendance rates: 71-90%, 50-70%, and 0-49%. From there, staff are able to generate student lists, access guiding documents (e.g. attendance letters), and quickly make the appropriate contact with parents.

From 2017-2022, Da Vinci Schools boasted significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates for its high schools, compared to the state average for both high schools and charter schools.

Sample Counselor Dashboard

Da Vinci Schools attributes their success in improving chronic absenteeism rates to their “divide and conquer” approach. Every two weeks, front office staff use mail merge to generate and send personalized letters (i.e., “improvement” or “no growth/decline”) home, while counselors and administrators are responsible for making personalized contact with students who fall within the 50-70% and 0-49% tiers, respectively. By integrating Da Vinci's data system with this comprehensive outreach system, counselors and administrators are able to understand the needs of the students and their families, and rally the appropriate resources to ensure students are back in the classroom. This bi-weekly cycle ensures that staff are not only stay ahead of those who may need additional support, but are also regularly engaging with those students and families — ultimately, improving school connectedness.

Da Vinci’s Approach to Deeper Learning

Da Vinci Schools’ efforts to prioritize student engagement are evident in the classroom as well. Educators aim to connect learning to students’ identities and interests through a project-based curriculum, embedding real-world experiences to prepare students for college and career pathways. Their approach to personalized, career-connected learning is made possible by the network of industry, higher education, and nonprofit partners that Da Vinci has built over the years. By leveraging this wealth of human capital, students are able to gain exposure into different career pathways, develop technical skills and knowledge, and engage in hands-on educational opportunities, such as internships, project consults, project pitch panels, mentorships, and more.

However, Da Vinci’s success in engaging students in deeper learning is in large part due to the adults. Da Vinci emphasizes the importance of having engaged, passionate educators who can foster genuine relationships with students and guide them in their learning journey. Similar to their collaborative approach in examining data to find ways they can support students, it takes a team effort to plan lessons that stimulate students’ curiosity. At Da Vinci Schools, teachers typically teach a single grade level, allowing for them to collaborate with others in their grade-level team to plan engaging interdisciplinary projects based on students’ interests. Each semester culminates in Presentations of Learning (POLs), in which students incorporate key aspects of their learning from multiple subject areas in a presentation to demonstrate their understanding and mastery of course content to their peers, teachers, family members, and the larger Da Vinci community.

Example of a Presentation of Learning presented by a group of students from Da Vinci Design

For example, students at Da Vinci Design visited a homeless organization and wanted to find a way to support the homeless teens that they interacted with. The students incorporated Da Vinci Design’s Four C’s (Care, Conceptualize, Create, and Critique) to guide their thinking process and decided to focus their design project on creating skateboards that they could auction off, with the goal of donating the funds they raised back to the homeless organization. Not only did the students utilize their critical thinking skills, they studied artistic pieces and added design elements to the skateboards using what they learned in Geometry and Algebra 2. Leveraging what they learned in class in a practical way to give back to the community is the basis of Da Vinci’s mission of “cultivating a caring culture, building future-ready skills, developing meaningful partnerships, and creating impact in [their] work to solve complex educational problems” (Da Vinci Schools, Strategic Plan).

Personalized Pathways to Lifelong Learning

Mastery-based grading is another cornerstone of Da Vinci’s approach in honoring each student’s unique learning journey. At Da Vinci Schools, it’s not until the end of the year that students’ learning is considered complete. As students continue to demonstrate mastery throughout the semester, teachers collect the “preponderance of evidence” for a certain skill set or standard and make a judgment call at the end of the year to determine whether they have mastered that standard. By moving away from the traditional 100-point scale, Da Vinci creates an environment in which students feel safe to fail, allowing students to progress at their own pace regardless of where they are in their learning journey.

Da Vinci’s approach to personalized learning also extends to the way their schools are structured. Da Vinci Schools offer both on-campus and hybrid instructional models that meet students’ needs and interests to prepare them for college, career, and life. With Career Technical Education (CTE) embedded in the core curriculum, students have the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge to succeed in different industries. Da Vinci’s 10 CTE pathways aim to provide immersive learning experiences that develop students’ critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and problem solving skills “through the context of relevant, industry-aligned projects” (Da Vinci Schools, Signature Programs + Practices).

Da Vinci’s innovative educational model to strengthen education-to-employment pathways has gained them recognition over the years. In 2012, Da Vinci Schools was one of eight projects awarded the Wave III Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) grant for “integrating blended learning, early college, and real-world experiences with the project-based approach.” Their efforts to personalize students’ learning experiences for college readiness and completion can be seen in their flexible pathways to postsecondary education. Da Vinci offers free college and career programs in partnership with El Camino College, UCLA Extension, and Southern New Hampshire University, where students can start earning college credits towards a two- or four- year college degree while in high school. These programs provide opportunities for real-world learning and career exploration in a scaffolded learning environment, setting students up for success in higher education.

In 2016, Da Vinci RISE High was also one of 10 schools in the nation to receive a $10 million XQ ‘Super School’ grant, which aims to uplift innovative ideas that reimagine what engaging, equitable education could look like. Designed for youth in need of flexible learning schedules, RISE High operates three learning sites in partnership with social service providers and community agencies to meet the needs of students “navigating foster care, experiencing housing instability, probation and/or other circumstances that have caused disruptions in their academic journeys” (Da Vinci RISE High). Da Vinci’s vision of RISE High is guided by their belief in creating an inclusive, equitable learning environment for all students. RISE High’s unique school model ensures that the transient student population has access to a rigorous curriculum with real-world, project-based learning opportunities that prepare students for college-and-career pathways, while honoring their voice and agency in navigating their educational journey.

Lessons Learned

Da Vinci Schools truly embody what it means to keep students at the center of learning. By prioritizing caring relationships, relevant learning, and growth, Da Vinci has created a culture that ensures “every student is known, seen, and valued” (Da Vinci Schools, Our Story). This personalized attention and support is at the core of Da Vinci’s educational approach, and one of the reasons why students show up to school with a desire to learn. Da Vinci re-envisions how a system can be transformed to support students’ individual interests, needs, and goals, rather than placing students in a one-size-fits-all model.

Learn More About Da Vinci Schools' Partners

Wiseburn Unified School District and Da Vinci Schools have a unique and collaborative district-charter partnership model that “cultivated the success of Da Vinci’s high school programs, providing Wiseburn students and others with a college and career-ready model that aligns project-based, real-world learning with workforce needs.”
Da Vinci Schools partners with El Camino College and Arizona State University to offer dual enrollment courses for students to earn college credits toward an associate's or bachelor’s degree. Students also have the opportunity to earn terminal degrees at Southern New Hampshire University, which includes on-the-job work experience through internships, project consults, mentorships, and more.
Da Vinci Schools leverages their network of over 100 industry partners to provide students with career exposure and training, including mentorships, internships, work experience opportunities, project planning support, and more.

Meet the Team

Chris Miller

Director of Data & Equity

Gloria White

Director of Data & Accountability

Carla Levenson

Director of External Relations

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