Sammamish High School, Bellevue School District

Thomas C. Duenwald, Principal
www.bsd405.org/Default.aspx?alias=www.bsd405.org/sammamish

Grade level: 9–12
Free and Reduced Meals: 38.7%
Year school began to implement innovative practices: 2008

Sammamish High School is a comprehensive high school which also houses all beginning Limited English Proficient students (LEPS) in the district. Additionally, 15% of Sammamish’s students qualify for special education services. Sammamish’s approach is focused on closing the opportunity gap for its LEPS and students with disabilities and has three components:

• Problem-based curricula in both AP and non-AP courses are used as a framework to support student growth in key cognitive strategies and academic behavior
• Specific supports for struggling students are focused on increased mathematics literacy
• Outside partners provide professional development to help teachers implement problem-based curricula and evaluate their effectiveness.

Sammamish is a 2010 recipient of the US Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation Grant.

Supporting Materials:

• Project Narrative: Re-imaging Career and College Readiness: STEM, Rigor, and Equity in a Comprehensive High School (PDF)
• Engineering Global Solutions: Problem-based Learning at Sammamish High School (PDF)