La Reina High School and Middle School began the school year on Aug. 11 for the 2020-2021 educational year. La Reina Leadership has spent the months since the county and statewide shutdown, this past March due to COVID-19, diligently refining their online learning instructional model and preparing campus for students to return.
“All campus preparations have been made in accordance with national and local health guidelines; the safety of our La Reina community is of the utmost importance to us,” says Laird Wilson, Director of Facilities. With the news from Governor Newsom, that Ventura County is on the state’s watch list, La Reina Leadership quickly turned to their online learning model, La Reina at Home.
The La Reina at Home instructional model was first introduced as our nation faced a quick plunge into the world of distance learning, March 2020. La Reina teachers pivoted in one day to teaching live, synchronous lessons.
“Our teachers and community faced last year’s challenging time displaying the true La Reina spirit. We had a 97.7% attendance rate and 91% parent satisfaction. Our initial AP data shows that our girls scored higher than the world average in every subject they took the tests in; AP Statistics at a 40.5% rate higher than the overall pass rate,” iterates Principal Maggie Marschner. La Reina’s Summer Enrichment program was also held virtually with an increased enrollment from the previous two summers.
Principal Marschner shares that despite the success of La Reina’s at-home learning model, they are not slowing down when it comes to refining and growing their program. This includes targeted professional development for teachers, creative student life innovations, and most importantly, mental wellness support and information for La Reina families, faculty and staff. Meanwhile, “We have designed our La Reina at Home instructional schedule with our students’ needs in mind—specifically their mental wellness and reduction in tech fatigue,” says Marschner, noting that this schedule allows for online, live direct instruction and project-based application time.
“This model allows our students to have productive student-to-teacher and student-to-student interactions while online as well as providing them with offline engaging activities,” Marschner says. “By creating a schedule such as this, students are provided with a daily framework to support their learning and productivity.”
In addition to a supportive instructional schedule, La Reina’s Return to Campus Task Force is focused on providing students with a detailed beginning of the year introduction, which includes online habits and study skills.
“Subsequently, this material will be embedded within our daily instruction,” Marschner says. “We are actively partnering with experts in the field to continue to develop models of instruction that have been proven to support self-directed learning and productivity in an online environment.”
As we enter the 2020-21 school year, La Reina is focusing on its students’ overall wellness.
“We know that students that enjoy school and have a sense of security and structure within their school community will want to attend and achieve in their online classes,” Marschner notes. Additionally, La Reina’s Director of Counseling and their Dean of Student Life are actively collaborating with our Return to Campus Task Force “to provide our students with structured time where the focus is on community, sisterhood and positive engaging activities.”
La Reina is proud to offer their La Reina at Home model for their families; furthermore, “It is our community’s hope to return to campus in accordance with health and safety guidelines,” states Tony Guevara, President. Guevara also noted that with approval from the Ventura County Health Department, “our facilities are prepared for our students’ return when Ventura County is no longer on the watch list.”
“With both these models, La Reina is committed to educating the whole person and creating a culture that is welcoming, educational and inclusive,” affirms Marschner, further noting that teachers collaborate and plan their lessons utilizing the Universal Design for Learning framework. “This framework ensures a student-centered approach where all students have access to high-quality, relevant and engaging content.”
Above all, La Reina has a long tradition of helping every student find her own voice, to believe in herself as an independent thinker, with a deep commitment to serving others.
La Reina High School & Middle School is located at 106 W. Janss Road in Thousand Oaks. For more information, call 805.495.6494 or visit LaReina.com.