Silverado High School has a student population of 2,309 students in grades 9-12, with a student-teacher ratio of 24:1. Silverado is a diverse school, with 60% of students identifying as people of color, and 41% coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
SHS is well established in the Clark County School District (CCSD). Since 1994, the school’s motto “Excellence in Action” is an active practice. In the last 25 years, the population of Clark County and the greater Las Vegas metropolitan area, shifted demographically and grew significantly. As CCSD began to expand and open new schools, SHS also saw its student population reflect those changes.
In order to stay competitive and honor its strong academic reputation, it was vital to adapt to ongoing improvements and meet new challenges. When Principal Jaime Ditto was first introduced to Albert at the AP® Annual Conference, it was clear that there was an opportunity to equip her teachers with two major benefits:
In the first 18 months of Jaime Ditto’s tenure, AP® classrooms took center stage as evaluations went underway to determine what supports would help move the needle for students. Examining past AP® test results, Jaime identified that despite some students scoring a 1 in a given subject test, the same student might score a 4 on another. Diving deeper, it was apparent that even with veteran teachers, SHS students were still missing prime opportunities to practice AP® level questions across all subject areas. The first initiative to power AP® staff was then put in place: open multiple avenues for class and individualized learning with a focus on intentional data reflection.
However, Silverado wasn’t quite done. After digging deeper, this theme of equal access as preparation for high stakes courses -- and tests like the ACT® -- starts with general and pre-AP® tracks. As students were drawn to Silverado from a variety of middle schools, there was little incoming data on targeted improvement areas. Most first-time AP® students struggled with AP® material, so many staff members faced a wide range of abilities in the first couple months that compounded late in the year, near test season. The foundational skills that allow students to perform at the top level needed to be sharpened, but so did teachers’ insight into student data.
While assessing different tools and resources for Fall 2018, Jaime moved forward to enroll in the Albert Pilot Program. Subject offerings spanning 33 AP® courses, general math, ELA, sciences, and ACT® practice made Albert accessible for most of the staff, while increasing content practice, as well as building a database of student performance.
Jaime knew that it would be a team effort to meet two major goals:
Over the four weeks, the goal was to answer a minimum of 2500 questions across all AP® courses and open ACT® prep for student self-guidance in counselor courses.
Throughout Silverado’s pilot, classes for AP® general STEM and ELA were all created, and teachers rolled out student assignments ranging from end of quarter reviews, quizzes, homework, and general practice.
It was a surprise that teachers also began adding ACT® subjects to their classrooms as well! Essentially, teachers began cross-walking standards across domains in addition to their core material (i.e. CCSS or College Board-aligned). This intersection allowed students to log extra practice for a mandatory state test, while still hitting on key, foundational skills required in their core classes.
At the pilot’s end, SHS had 23 active teachers piloting, 11 of whom had over 1,000 student attempts in their courses. At this rate, it was clear Albert had potential in the classrooms, but the next challenge was ensuring that teachers would use Albert's robust data reports in their ongoing implementations as well as share their learnings with colleagues.
Moving forward, SHS staff wanted to work smarter, not harder. Planning an advanced professional development day, Silverado’s team was looking to focus on grounding data-driven efforts within teams and across the school. This initiative meant leveraging Albert’s insight tools, instant feedback, and sharing assignment data to bring out the high-performing learning in all students.
