Burke High School’s mission is to foster independent and responsible lifelong learners so that upon graduation, students will enter college, the military, or the workforce with the necessary skills to compete with their peers and become positive members of society. In light of our mission, Burke implemented a project-based learning (PBL) instructional model supported by New Tech Network (NTN). Students in 9th and 10th grades benefited from a co-teaching model integrating their English Language Arts and social studies courses. All other curricular areas were encouraged to use PBL as best practice. This focus directly supports the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate world-class skills of collaboration and critical thinking that allow our students to be college and career ready and to compete globally.
The purpose of PBL is to have students direct their learning through collaborative projects that ideally connect to community partners. Students are involved in relevant, real-world situations and problems as learning experiences. Moreover, the students focus on five learning outcomes: knowledge and thinking, oral communication, written communication, collaboration, and agency. Through this experience, students approach content with a growth mindset resulting in deeper learning and the ability to demonstrate knowledge and skills transferable to college and career. This initiative has been successful in year one, forging relationships with community partners and working to establish common policies in grading, communication, and expectations.
Today, Burke High School, serving students in grades 9-12, is the only public high school located on the Charleston peninsula, the city’s downtown and historic district. As such, we remain committed to the mission of CCSD and to Burke to educate and support every student in achieving college, career, and citizenship readiness. For example, the graduation rate has consistently increased from 54.3% in 2012 to close to 80% in 2018. In addition, Reading for Information measured by WIN (formerly ACT WorkKeys) has increased to 76.3% of 11th grade students in 2017 scoring at a level that qualifies them to earn a silver certificate.
Burke High School continues to promote college and career readiness by offering AP courses with increased enrollment in 2017-18. Similarly, students enrolled in dual credit with Trident Technical College increased. Burke offers Advanced Placement Academy in ELA, Art, and Social Sciences. In addition, Burke provides students a path to career readiness through Career and Technology Education (CTE) courses in culinary, cybersecurity, building and construction, business management, health science, and/or engineering. Visual and performing arts offerings include dance, chorus, drama, art, and band. Our Fine Arts students have won numerous awards and have been invited to perform throughout the country. The Army JROTC program further works to develop leadership and civic responsibility through participation in community service projects.
This spring, Burke earned New Tech Network’s 2018 Best in Network award. This honor is given to a project that exemplifies the goal of successfully combining active exploration, application, authenticity, and academic rigor exemplified by critical thinking. Burke teachers, along with their students, earned the award for their project: Finding a Voice. Finding a Voice combined World Literature and Government classes, and asked students to design graphic novels about disenfranchised and marginalized groups around the world. To assist with the graphic novels, our teachers reached out to the Charleston County Public Library system, which enthusiastically joined the project. The students reached the final stage of their project by doing independent research and interviewing a student their age who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Then, the students wrote first-person narratives about someone in their region and storyboarded all the panels of their graphic novel.
The Burke Foundation and the School Improvement Council (SIC) support the positive history of Burke. These organizations were integral in the promotion of this year’s production of the teen stage play, “Better than That.” Both organizations work to continue the tradition, history, and legacy of Burke and the successful education of all students through supporting collaboration and critical thinking, among other critical skills our students need to be successful in college, career, and life.
Cheryl Swinton, Principal
Eric Jackson, SIC Chair