John A. Rowland High School

John A. Rowland High School (RHS) is one of two public comprehensive high schools in the Rowland Unified School District (RUSD). Rowland High School’s ethnic break down is 3% African-American, 43% Asian, 8% Filipino, 35% Hispanic, and 7% White. There has been continual growth in the Asian population with a decrease in the White population over the past eight years in both RUSD and RHS.

Opened in l964, Rowland High School currently serves 2,291 students and employs 189 faculty and staff. There are 5 administrators, 81 teachers, 11 other certificated staff, 26 full-time classified, 12 part-time classified and 37 para-professional part-time classified staff.

Rowland operates on a traditional 180-day school year from August to June. Classes are 55 minutes in length, Monday through Friday, and include a staggered starting time with period one beginning at 7:10 a.m. and period seven ending at 3:03 p.m. The schedule allows students to take additional classes and to participate in programs such as International Baccalaureate (IB), AP, Career Certification, AVID, student government, athletics, ROP and performing arts.

Rowland Heights is an unincorporated suburban community located in the East San Gabriel Valley, approximately 22 miles east of Los Angeles. In the past 25 years, the community has shifted from a predominately White population to a predominately Asian and Hispanic population. Over the past ten years, declining enrollment has negatively impacted the district at all levels. Declining enrollment is due mainly to families moving out of the area. Most recently, the district’s enrollment has also been impacted by legislation enacted by the California state government, specifically SB680 or the School Choice Bill. SB680 allows parents to move children to a neighboring district that is not under Program Improvement. The district has already seen some movement of students into a neighboring district, Walnut Valley Unified School District.

In 2009, RUSD was placed on Program Improvement; however, Rowland High school has continued to maintain strong scores on state assessments, with an API of 795. RHS is not currently under Program Improvement.

Rowland’s most recent WASC accreditation visit recognized the excellence of the staff and the overall program. However, the WASC team noted the lack of Hispanic and African American students represented in honors classes. Teachers within the RHS social studies department felt compelled to apply for funding through the UCLA TIIP grant to obtain professional development opportunities that would help address this problem. The current team of five social studies teachers was formed because every member recognizes that current teaching practices have not adequately addressed the needs of our Hispanic and African American students. Furthermore, the team is committed to learning more about current research on the achievement gap and applying research-based teaching strategies to our classrooms. The team has come together with a commitment to explore ways to address the concerns of the WASC visit by learning and incorporating innovative pedagogical strategies across the social studies department and establishing an effective honors program that prepares Hispanic and African American students to successfully enroll in AP history courses.