Earlier this week, eight teachers from  Mission High School were certified to teach Roots of Success during a training near their campus in San Francisco, CA. The newly trained instructors will begin offering Roots of Success to students at Mission High later this month, and we are thrilled to announce that we have succeeded in creating a university-credit-bearing course for those participating in the class.

4698740276_011a9d44cd_zThrough a collaboration between Roots of Success, Mission High School, and San Francisco State University, students at Mission High who successfully complete the class will have the opportunity to gain 3 college credits. The decision to award college credits was made after a comprehensive course articulation process, which looked at how students gain knowledge about critical environmental and social issues, problems and solutions, increase core academic proficiencies, and develop job readiness and professional skills through the Roots of Success course.  The version of the curriculum that Mission High School will use features examples of young people having a positive impact on their campuses and communities, as well as exercises that challenge youth to apply what they are learning in the classroom to real world challenges and social enterprise opportunities.

The course that students will get credit for on their transcript is called “Critical Thinking and Decision Making,” and is being offered as part of San Francisco State University’s College of Education Step to College (STC) Program. Students in the STC program are high school seniors who take courses that prepare them in critical thinking, academic literacy, technology, and college readiness in an effort to familiarize historically under-represented urban students with the format and structure of university courses. Students who participate in the program also receive help filling out university applications for admissions and financial aid, and when possible, scholarship support.

We are incredibly excited to be able to offer a credit bearing course to students at Mission High School, and would like to extend our gratitude to Eurania I. Lopez, Ed.D. — the Step to College Program’s coordinator — for helping to make this possible!