The DCP academic program is designed to help students who have fallen behind not only catch up but excel. DCP's teachers have built a curriculum that is a finely calibrated mix of rigorous college-prep course work, targeted remediation, and time for practice and review. In every classroom, students are tackling complex problems, developing effective work habits and study skills, and, most importantly, learning to read and write at the college level.

As teachers and administrators refine the DCP program, they ask the same question: does this help our students get closer to college success? Using student performance data as well as a growing understanding of the challenges our graduates face in college, the DCP staff is constantly making both fundamental changes as well as subtle refinements in curriculum and programming to ensure that the school keeps its promise to its families of college success for all.

Remediation
Data- and Results-Driven Strategies
Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum
Case History: Math Program

Remediation:
At least half of the students who enroll at DCP enter 9th grade at the 7th grade level or below in Reading and Math. While all DCP students enroll in college preparatory classes, DCP offers intensive support classes for students who need to develop basic skills in order to be able to meet the demands of college preparatory work:

College Readiness
Students develop key study and test-taking skills, learn productive habits of work, and practice reading comprehension and expository writing strategies.

Numeracy
This two-year course strand focuses on key standards that students failed to master in middle school, along with intensive practice in arithmetic accuracy and number sense.

Verbal Reasoning (9th) and Latino Literature (10th)
These courses are carefully articulated with English I and II and offer intensive, personalized remediation in reading strategies, grammar, and writing fluency.

DCP offers students additional opportunities to make up skill gaps with two programs outside the core curriculum:

SummerBridge
A five-week intensive summer program for incoming 9th graders which introduces new students to the DCP culture and helps them prepare for college prep curriculum.

Intersession
A two-week period between the 1st and 2nd semester where students get a chance for intensive review in Math and English before tackling new material.

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Data- and Results-Driven Strategies:

Standardized Testing
DCP teachers and staff conduct careful analyses of student scores on California Standards Tests, the California High School Exit Exam, and internal computer-based math and reading diagnostics. This work informs DCP's curriculum development to ensure that students are mastering state-mandated grade-level standards.

Student Performance in the College-Prep Curriculum
Another key source of data is student performance on classroom-based assessments tied to state standards. In addition to the state standards, grade-level benchmarks have been clearly defined and teachers use results from conventional pen-and-paper tests, extensive student writing, and project-based assessments to gauge whether students are making sufficient progress toward college readiness.

Feedback from DCP Graduates
Data collected from DCP alumni is key to our understanding of the effectiveness of our program. Formal and informal surveys have led to such changes as renewed emphasis on research skills, increased focus on CSU placement tests, which allow students to bypass remedial classes, and further development of DCP's relationships with special outreach programs at particular target campuses.

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Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum
Literacy is not just the work of English teachers; teaching students how to read and write is a focal point in every single classroom. DCP's Literacy program has several key elements that are integral to its success:

Core Curriculum in the Humanities
English, History, and remedial courses focus on reading and writing strategies and give students the coaching and feedback they need as they progress toward grade-level achievement. Teachers in Math, Science, Art, and Spanish re-teach, reinforce and require the use of these strategies.

Expository Writing
The vast majority of writing at DCP relies on students' reading comprehension and their ability to navigate texts. Grade level writing expectations have been articulated so that a student writing a lab report in Biology, a research paper in history, or an artist statement in Photography are all held to the same standard they are held to when writing an English paper.

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Case History: Math Program:
The evolution of the math program provides an example of teacher practice at DCP. At first, the DCP founders hoped that all students would take AP Calculus before graduating: the assumption was that lack of access to accelerated classes and a supportive academic culture were the primary obstacles. In DCP's early stages, consistent student failure to meet college-prep standards led to an honest, probing investigation of the curriculum that, combined with the school's commitment to excellence for under-achieving students, has led to a series of pivotal changes in the math program.

As the math department collected and analyzed student achievement data, it became apparent that the real drag on student performance was severe gaps in their understanding of basic, fundamental material. This led to the development of a multi-layered remedial program, with a two-year strand of support classes that provide intensive Algebra I support, and an emphasis on building conceptual understanding in all Math classes. In addition, responding to alumni feedback, the math program has woven preparation for the UC/CSU placement test into the curriculum to ensure that DCP's graduates are placed into college courses that count toward graduation. AP statistics has also been added to provide more students -especially those who are not headed toward math and science majors in college- with an opportunity to take college-level math in high school.

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