Students at Costanoa High School grow academically, socially, and emotionally. All students complete high school with a diploma or a Certificate of Scholastic Achievement and a plan to achieve their life and career goals. Graduates understand and exhibit habits to foster a lifetime of success: they use their minds and hearts well by asking essential questions, respecting the emotions and rights of themselves and others, working hard, and supporting others in their work. Graduates know themselves as capable and effective learners who understand their strengths and challenges, enabling them to make informed decisions.
Costanoa High School students, by asking essential questions and seeking thoughtful answers, fully engage with a rigorous, purposeful, standards-based, high-interest curricula. Authentic, trustful, and safe relationships based upon open communication are cultivated among parents, staff, and the student community. As a continuously improving, collaborative team, staff members promote equity, celebrate and honor diversity, know students well, and promote the positive development of students' minds, hearts, and habits of work. Students' and parents' voices and needs are heard, valued, and incorporated into the fabric of the school. Students are guided to reflectively discover their passions and abilities, make their learning relevant, and set and monitor learning goals and life goals.
Success • Learning • Safety • Healthy Relationships • Respect for Self and Others • Diversity • Biliteracy • Equity • Happiness • Aesthetically Pleasing Environment
During the senior year students are required to do an extensive and in-depth senior project.
Costanoa is affiliated with the Coalition of Essential Schools. The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) is at the forefront of creating and sustaining personalized, equitable, and intellectually challenging schools. Essential schools are places of powerful learning where all students have the chance to reach their fullest potential.
The CES Common Principles, based on decades of research and practice, are a guiding philosophy rather than a replicable model for schools. This research and practice reflects the wisdom of thousands of educators who are successfully engaged in creating personalized, equitable, and academically challenging schools for all young people. The CES Common Principles describe the core beliefs and characteristics of Essential Schools and work in tandem with the CES Benchmarks, which describe resulting practices that successfully bolster student achievement.