San Luis High School is featured in the Canopy Project, a collective research project that enables educators to better understand how schools are innovating across the United States.

This national study launched in 2019 as a collaborative national effort to highlight equitable, student-centered innovation in K–12 education. The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) and Transcend are releasing their annual report featuring new and updated information about 251 innovative school designs, including San Luis’ emphasis in furthering students’ skills in their heritage language. The school offers a “Spanish for Fluent Speakers” course in addition to AP Spanish Language and AP Spanish Literature courses. 

“San Luis was chosen due to the fact that we have implemented so many elements of Personalized, Competency-Based Learning (PCBL), which include student agency, student supports, pathways and pacing as well as a standards-based approach to assessment,” SLHS Principal Rob Jankowski said. “The implementation of a digital portfolio that empowers students to track their grades, set meaningful goals, and engage in reflective practices to monitor and enhance their progress has been one of our standout innovations.”

Additionally, Canopy’s report highlights San Luis’ emphasis on growing their own by bringing back alumni to work at the school. According to Jankowski, approximately 75 percent of new hires at the school are alumni. The data portal and new report, Dreaming and designing the future of equitable, student-centered schools, is available at www.canopyschools.org/research-2023

The Canopy Project is not the first recognition San Luis has received over the first month of the 2023-24 school year. Jankowski was asked to present at last month’s Arizona Board of Education meeting to showcase his school’s dual-enrollment success and on Aug. 9, San Luis was highlighted at the Yuma Union High School District Governing Board meeting for recording the lowest dropout rate in the district at 0.97 percent.

“We are very honored to be a part of the Canopy project and hope that the success we have had at SLHS can be shared with other schools and districts,” Jankowski said. “We have that exact opportunity this October when a team from SLHS will be presenting at the Aurora Institute Symposium, which is the largest gathering of education innovators working to transform K-12 education. There will be lessons about education innovation from the field, and the latest research and policy to support education transformation.”