OCAHS Purpose, Mission and Vision

The school aims to assist individuals in meeting their educational needs through online learning globally.

OCAHS’s purpose is to become a truly global school serving students worldwide and equipping them with tools, strategies, values and attitudes so they can contribute to their families and societies as national and international citizens. The purpose is only met by providing them opportunities regardless of race, color, and religion and bridging the divide between the haves and have nots.

Mission

Within a rigorous academic culture, we foster personalized creative growth, that strives to fully stimulate our students’ potential and achieves self-driven transformation of global innovative talents. By going beyond education to enlightenment we create compassionate lifelong learners ready to lead.

Our Vision

To create an international learning community that fosters personal growth, sharing of new knowledge, and fulfilling of potentials and dreams.

Our Values

Compassion, Tenacity, Love of Learning, Creativity, Excellence

Core Beliefs

The OCAHS believes that growth cannot be assured without compliance with standards and involved in a continuous improvement process. Part of our mission is five core beliefs.

1. Students learn in a variety of ways, depending on their learning style. Each year they go over several types of courses, ie. General, College Preparatory, Remedial, Honors, Advanced Placement, and Vocational. General courses include acceleration activities for students who are succeeding in the lesson to expand their Knowledge of the subject and remediation activities to support struggling learners. Students are able to learn using a variety of modalities, including videos, interactive tools, problem-solving activities, and various readings.
2. Students acquire knowledge inquisitively in an active learning environment. Students are given autonomy over how and when they do their work with the understanding that much of their coursework is an opportunity to build themselves, rather than an assessment of what they learned. In that nature, students have the chance to revise some of their work continuously. OCAHS students also feel encouraged to become involved in a variety of extracurricular activities because they recognize that the entire OCAHS community works hard to ensure that their emotional environment is accepting and caring.
3. Students as active learners learn from relevant curriculum and experiences which otherwise is not able in the traditional classroom. The curriculum adheres to national standards. The breadth and depth of the curriculum provide an opportunity for every student to find the courses interesting, challenging, and relevant to their current situations. Students are asked to apply their advances to real-world experiences.
4. Students learn best when provided with clearly articulated expectations and goals. Upon enrollment into OCAHS, an academic plan, called a Graduation Pathway, is developed with the student and parent where their student counselor is also involved. Each year during the scheduling process, this plan is updated. The new student orientation tutorials also help incoming OCAHS students understand what is expected of them and what they can achieve. Every student receives the OCAHS student handbook. In each course, the goals of each unit are stated at the beginning of each unit as well as how the students will show how they achieved those goals. Similar statements are made at the beginning of each lesson. When students complete a Unit Project, a rubric is provided so that students are aware of what is expected when they submit their projects.
5. Student motivation and assumption of responsibility are the keys to student learning. The focus at OCAHS is on students as learners. The entire OCAHS community has high expectations for our students. As a community, we foster the skills necessary for students to graduate from high school and achieve their academic goals, such as attending college or technical schools.

School Climate

The school climate engenders respect, one of the school’s core values; students feel free to accept and express ideas without fear of prejudice. Our educators are compassionate, competent, committed, consistent, and considerate.

When communicating, all stakeholders (parents, students, administration, faculty, and staff) are expected to show respect and consideration for each other.

Purpose and Direction

OCAHS promotes its mission through various mediums such as the school website, L.M.S., social media (i.e., Facebook and Twitter), school website, and student/parent handbook.

The following indicators reflect our philosophy for realizing our vision and fulfilling our mission:

1. Congruence between what we say and what we do is apparent to all those affected by our services. Our actions reflect our philosophy.
2. Stakeholders involved in educating our youth have a sense of ownership in the values and principles that undergird our programs and policies. There is a widely-shared sense that we are all in this together.
3. Our focus is on students-as-workers, rather than on teachers-as-deliverers-of-services.
4. Before graduating, students must exhibit what we expect them to know and do. These exhibitions embody the qualities, skills, and knowledge they will need to be productive, global citizens.
5. We enjoy an educational environment in which all staff members feel free to take risks for the good of students. Experimentation with new programs and strategies is commonplace.
6. Each staff member and administrator is actively engaged in a continuous process of personal and professional growth.
7. As a reinforcement of our mission and belief statements, our statement of OCAHS Student Expectations declares that Orange County American High School graduates are:
8. Effective communicators who exhibit a broad range of skills, including listening, reading, speaking, and writing; make appropriate use of contemporary technology in processing information; and demonstrate the ability to interact with various groups.
   1. Critical thinkers who visualize, think creatively, and generate new ideas; make wise value judgments and prudent decisions; and apply Knowledge and solve problems.
   2. Responsible citizens who know how social, political, and environmental systems work and interact; recognize contributions of diverse cultures; are able to identify, organize, and utilize human and material resources; and promote values, practices, and policies that improve the quality of life.
   3. Confident individuals who understand and use their unique abilities to be lifelong contributors to their world; are willing to take risks for their personal growth; exhibit self-discipline; and can recognize and appreciate their successes.
   4. Caring persons who demonstrate concern for others; respect a variety of viewpoints; and build healthy personal relationships.
   5. Cooperative team members who act in a responsible, tolerant, and appropriate manner; willingly seek and give help and support; and accept personal responsibility.
   6. Self-directed learners who recognize the necessity for and enjoy the challenge of acquiring new knowledge and skills; use effective learning techniques; and set goals, monitor and evaluate progress, and complete tasks.