School Accountability Report Card

Reported Using Data from the 2019–2020 School Year

The mission of the El Dorado High School learning community is to offer engaging and rigorous educational opportunities to each student. Together, the school and the community provide and encourage a safe and healthy learning environment in order to promote both self-directed and collaborative learning among students. Classes are offered to meet the diverse needs of all students; special day and resource programs are available for special needs students. Two English Language Development classes are offered to English Learners. Many of our EL students are concurrently enrolled in Reading Improvement to help them improve their reading proficiency. EDHS offers thirteen Advanced Placement (AP) courses, multiple College Prep classes and many elective offerings. El Dorado High School also offers the students several Career Technical Education programs that help us provide a meaningful and challenging course of study for all students.

Based on the most recent Facility Inspection Tool (FIT) evaluation conducted in November of 2020, the school received the highest ratings in all categories and an overall exemplary rating. The district Maintenance and Operations team provided outstanding service in response to site safety and cleanliness needs.

El Dorado High School offers a host of industry related classes, many of which have a Regional Occupation Program (ROP) capstone offering with the opportunity for career certifications. Our CTE offerings include; Automotive Technology, Woodworking and Carpentry, Finish Carpentry, Metals, Exploring Computer Science, Health Careers and Culinary Arts. In addition El Dorado High School maintains three specialty programs in medical arts, natural resource management and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). The Health Academy (HCA) and Natural Resource (NR) programs prepare students for immediate entry into these fields or for ongoing education within these specific fields. Again, both the HCA and NR programs have applicable CTE capstone courses with career related certificates. The Natural Resource program manages a satellite campus of forty acres located in Camino. Students experience project-based learning in CAL 1 and CAL 2 classes which include science experiments and student-designed projects which give them practical experience in fieldwork. The HCA students cap their experiences in field internships to learn about the medical field through hands-on training.

El Dorado High School also runs an excellent foods and nutrition program that feeds into the ROP Culinary Arts class that is hosted on the El Dorado High School campus at the Foothill Grill. The Foothill Grill serves as an on-campus restaurant for many school events. Many El Dorado High School students have successfully completed this sequence of courses and are currently working in the local food industry.

The CTE Auto program has worked to secure a matriculation agreement with Universal Technical Institute (UTI). Several graduates each year use this agreement to continue their education with UTI and then step into lucrative, high-end automotive careers.

El Dorado High School monitors and measures student performance via marks distribution in all courses and certificate completion in those that apply. Many of the students in all of the CTE programs find work in the local area or are prepared for further education or training as a result of their involvement in our CTE programs.

The school and the district have been very successful in writing proposals and receiving considerable support from various foundations and agencies. Recent awards from the California Technical Education Initiative Grant (CTEIG), Perkins Funds, and the CRANE grants have provided the CTE programs close to $100,000 in funds to replace aging equipment and purchase state of the art equipment that gives our students industry level materials to work with.

Parents are important partners in the education of the students at El Dorado High School and as such, they are involved and encouraged to participate actively in their students’ education. El Dorado High School parents serve on a wide variety of committees and community foundations. These include the School Safety Committee, School Site Council, band, drama and athletic boosters clubs, Hearts and Minds Foundation, Health Academy Advisory Board, Sober Grad Night Committee, AVID, Natural Resource Advisory Board, and the English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC). In addition, many parents and community members volunteer to assist during academic and extracurricular activities.

Each year the school hosts a fall Back to School Night which allows parents to meet teachers and see what the expectations are for the classes. In the spring we hold a Showcase Night to introduce courses to the incoming freshmen and preview courses for our current students and parents and in August we host Freshmen Orientation. El Dorado High School offers translation for Spanish speaking families at all of these parent activities.

Parents are invited to attend grade level evening meetings hosted annually by the counseling office. These meetings provide valuable information on academic planning as well as an opportunity to meet other parents, counselors, and get questions answered in a friendly forum. Parents are kept informed of current events and schedule information through the use of the Parent Square system that can share information in both English and Spanish. In addition, the El Dorado High School web page offers extensive information and links to teacher information, homework and grades. Parents of English Learners students and teachers work collaboratively with our bilingual counselor and our bilingual aide who serve as liaisons. Both the bilingual aid and bilingual counselor meet with parents to ensure they are comfortable, informed and involved in the education of their children. The school provides Spanish sessions for our Spanish speaking families at New Student Orientation, Back to school Night, and our Showcase Night for incoming freshmen and current students.

Another communication tool that El Dorado High School has implemented is the Aeries grade and attendance system and the web application ParentSquare. Parents can access their student(s) grades, assignments and attendance on a regular basis. These student information systems also allow teachers to send out class e-mails to families to keep them informed about class policies and procedures as well as assignments. El Dorado High School administration also uses these tools to keep families informed of happenings around campus. In addition to teacher web pages, these systems of communication are a vital link between teachers and families.

El Dorado High School maintains a safe school campus. The Emergency Plan is updated annually and filed with the El Dorado High School District Office and El Dorado County Office of Education. Quarterly District Safety meetings are held which include fire, police, and the Office of Emergency Services. Site Safety meetings are held at least twice a year with several fire drills and lockdowns conducted during the year. The Safety Plan and evacuation routes were discussed and maps were distributed at the September faculty meeting. We have had two fire drills so far this year with a lockdown drill scheduled for early in the spring semester.

To ensure a safe campus, El Dorado High School has two campus monitors and a School Resource Officer from the Placerville Police Department. El Dorado High School administration does monthly reminders of safety issues at our faculty meetings. These ongoing reminders help keep the response plans fresh while providing any new information that is reflected in the school safety plan. We have organized a Crisis Response Team to address anticipated emergencies. The School Safety Committee created a drug-free zone 1,000 feet around the school that authorizes enhanced penalties for drug trafficking in the area.

With the national increase in teen anxiety and suicidal ideation, the district and El Dorado High School have been working diligently to create a Suicide Response Manual that will assist the school in responding appropriately to threats, attempts or suicides. The district should release the final version in the early part of the spring semester. El Dorado Union High School District and Sierra Child and Family Services have partnered to host a Wellness Center on each campus as well. At El Dorado High School, the Wellness Center is located right next to the counseling office and college and career center providing students a healthy and supported path through the four years of high school.

El Dorado High School provides ample opportunities and support to ensure student success. During the scope of the regular school day, El Dorado High School has several specifically designed support classes provided to students to address challenges in learning and help students succeed. El Dorado High School recently implemented a schedule with embedded intervention time. This schedule immediately showed a positive impact on grades and student success. El Dorado High School has several teachers working as support providers for students ensuring that students in need are aware of the support opportunities and work to get them to those offerings. Many of the academic support classes have added elements of credit recovery with the intent of keeping students on track for graduation. We also currently have student tutors working throughout the day to support and assist fellow students in their academic pursuits. El Dorado High School has invested in the use of formative assessment across the curriculum as a way to encourage students to participate in classes and work without being punished for their attempts at practice.

El Dorado High School currently funds six classes with Title I funds. These classes include Spanish Heritage, academic support and planning, credit recovery, and language support. Additionally, we have two sections of AVID and one section of English Language Development that are paid for with Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) funds. These classes are designed to give our low socioeconomic and second language students smaller classes that give them skills and knowledge that will allow them better access to higher level courses. Title I dollars are also used to pay for a Bilingual Instructional Specialist to support our Spanish speaking students in their academic courses.