At China and S. Pine, from Richmond Magazine article:
This year, Richmond’s Open High was once again included in U.S. News & World Report’s list of best high schools. A magnet school of less than 200 students, it takes about 20 percent to 25 percent of those who apply. Open High was awarded the magazine’s Bronze Medal, notable because the publication considered more than 27,000 schools before compiling its top schools list.
Principal Candace Veney-Chaplin says Open High uses relationships and relevance to help students perform well. “Sometimes students achieve for a teacher because they know they’re valued as people,” she says. Teachers focus on putting course content in a “real-world context” so that students understand the point of learning it, she says. For example, a statistics teacher uses the numbers from real political polls. She says that a history instructor teaches from the 20th century backward, so students can more easily relate the contemporary world to the past. The philosophy has been the cornerstone of the school since it was formed in 1972 through the impetus of parents who petitioned the Richmond School Board.
Open High also uses experience in the community to teach. A student who wants to be a veterinarian might work for the SPCA, while a student who wants to be a dentist might work as an assistant in a nearby practice. Students are motivated because they’re learning about what they dream of doing, Chaplin says. Virtually all students go on to some form of higher education after they graduate — 80 percent to 85 percent attend four-year universities and most of the rest attend community colleges.
