Da Vinci RISE High

Demographics

Percentage of students*

Why Da Vinci RISE High was nominated

Da Vinci RISE uses a responsive and hollistic approach to meet the unique needs of students navigating foster care, housing instability, and other circumstances that have disrupted their schoolsing. They offer flexible scheduling, blended learning, credit recovery, and wraparound services to provide an equitable education for students traditionally left out of the larger educational narrative., Da Vinci RISE High microschools (Los Angeles, CA) are a non-profit designed to serve foster and homeless youth. They ensure students traditionally left out of the greater educational narrative receive full access to Da Vinci School’s innovative academic model while receiving vital, whole-child, trauma-informed support. , Da Vinci RISE serves high school-aged youth that are navigating foster care, housing instability, probation, and/or other circumstances by offering a flex-scheduling, credit recovery learning model. Teachers at this school have also started implementing "Project Leo," an in-house project-based learning platform that leverages AI to suggest project ideas for students., Da Vinci RISE High seeks to create a highly responsive, holistic, and integrated model that meets the unique needs of youth navigating foster care, housing instability, probation, and/or other circumstances that have caused disruptions in their academic journeys., DaVinci Schools take a completely student-centered approach across all of their models, both on-campus and hybrid. Learning is purposeful, experiential, rigorous, and engaging. They have developed a strong community within each school, supported by deep relationships among students and teachers alike. They have a tremendous learning mentality -- they are ceaselessly seeking to improve, when already they provide a learning and developmental experience to kids that should be a model for the entire nation., Designed for youth dealing with homelessness, foster care, housing instability, the juvenile justice system, and transient living, Da Vinci RISE embraces flexibility, eliminating penalties for seat time non-compliance and offering credit recovery models for remote learning. The Graduate Profile focuses on key attributes, ensuring students not only gain post-secondary content knowledge but also develop hands-on skills. Da Vinci RISE's commitment to equity creates an environment where every student, regardless of challenges, can flourish academically and personally.

Student experience design

The student experience at Da Vinci RISE High School is designed to be a haven" and a "School Without Walls," specifically engineered to serve Los Angeles County’s most at-promise youth, including those impacted by foster care, housing instability, and the juvenile justice system. The school experience is defined by the following core pillars: * A Web of Care and Stability: Recognizing that basic needs must be met before academic growth can occur, the school operates out of small regional learning sites co-located with non-profit partners (like Richstone Family Center and A Place Called Home) to provide "one-stop support" for housing, medical, legal, and psycho-social needs. * "Anytime, Anywhere" Flexibility: Students are provided a hybrid learning model with flexible scheduling that honors their external responsibilities, such as jobs, caregiving, or court dates, allowing them to pursue their education without being penalized for the instability of their daily lives. * Mastery Over Seat Time: The academic experience is competency-based, meaning students earn credit by demonstrating mastery of skills rather than sitting in a classroom for a fixed number of hours. In this model, there is no "failure"; if a student has not yet mastered a concept, they receive an "Incomplete" and continue to receive support until they succeed. * Deeply Relational Support: Every student is supported by a dedicated STAC Team (Student–Teacher–Adult–Counselor/Case Manager) that co-designs an Individualized Roadmap (or Personalized Learning Plan) to serve as a quarterly updated guide for academic and professional goals. * Real-World and Rigorous Learning: Instruction is rooted in Project-Based Learning (PBL), where students engage in interdisciplinary projects designed with industry experts to solve real-world problems. This ensures that the curriculum is both culturally relevant and applicable to the 21st-century workforce. * A Culture of Belonging and Empowerment: The school experience is grounded in trauma-informed care and restorative practices, prioritizing healthy relationships over punitive discipline. This results in an exceptionally safe environment where 96% of students report feeling safe and the school maintains a 0% suspension rate. * Youth-Driven Community: Student voice is prioritized across all aspects of the school, from Student-Led Conferences to Town Hall facilitation, fostering a "family environment" where students feel affirmed, valued, and prepared to create change in their communities. Ultimately, the RISE experience is designed to ensure that a student’s circumstances do not define their potential, providing a personalized engine for momentum that leads to dramatically improved graduation rates and accelerated academic growth.

Core Practices

Core Practices	Length of Use
Blended Learning	5+ years
Career Exploration	Less than a year
Mental Health Services	5+ years
Restorative Practices	5+ years
Trauma-informed Practices	5+ years

All Practices

Advancement On Mastery

Student Advisories

Assessments For Agency And Self-directed Learning

Assessments For Career Readiness

Assessments For Deeper Learning

Co-leadership

College Advising & Support

Community And Workforce Partnerships

Family And Community Support Services

Competency/mastery-based Education

Culturally Responsive Practices

Disaggregated Data On Student Participation

Grading Policies Focus On Mastery

Higher Education Partnerships

All Courses Designed For Inclusion

Industry-recognized Credentials

Interoperable Data From Multiple Technologies

Individual Learning Paths

1:1 Mentoring

Multi-age Classrooms

Industry Networking

No Tracked Classes

Project-based Learning

Performance Based Assessment

Reallocation Of Resources For Students Most In Need

SEL Curriculum

SEL Integration School-wide

Student-led Conferences

Student-led Goal Setting

Self-paced Learning

Students Develop Projects

Tutoring

Universal Design For Learning

Career Prep

key reasons for innovating

Artifacts

A Case For Renewal NBC News: Meet the LA school co-founder helping underserved students change their lives Reconnecting students through anytime, anywhere learning.