Forest Park is located in a suburban community approximately 35 miles south of Washington, D.C. in Woodbridge, Virginia. It is a comprehensive school, serving over 2, 500 students in grades 9 through 12. Forest Park provides a variety of high tech vocational preparation programs that use modern laboratories as well as challenging academic offerings that strongly emphasize college preparation. Forest Park High School has been designated as the Center for Information Technology in Prince William County. In 2002 Forest Park High School was invited to serve as the pilot high school in a national Community of Practice (CoP) to advance teaching and learning through the optimum use of technology. Members of a CoP participants share replicable expressions of best practices to create life-long learners with the critical-thinking skills to compete in the 21st century economy. This approach can transform education without increasing budgets, impacting teacher unions or requiring policy changes. Forest Park High School offered two important best practices to CoP participants.

IDENTIFIED BEST PRACTICES

1.) The Information Technology Program (iT) (Coordinator Chuck Drake)

The Information Technology (iT) Program is a four-year rigorous and challenging course of study for academically and technologically motivated students. Students are engaged in a program of studies developed through a collaborative relationship with the business and academic community. Upon successful completion of their course of study, students are eligible to receive an iT certificate and medal to accompany their graduation diploma. iT core areas, classes and suggested sequences are as follows:

• Graphics/Multimedia; Graphic Design I 9th , IT computer Graphics I, II, 10th, and 11th , IT Multimedia Software Design, Development I & II, 11th, and 12th
• Engineering/Networking; iT Foundations of Technology 9th, Computer Systems Technology (A+ curriculum) 10th, iT Network Design and Engineering, CiscoAcademy 11th & 12th ,
• Math/Programming; Computer Math 9th, ADV Geometry 9th, AP Computer Science I 10th, AP Computer Science II 11th , Advanced Computer Studies

Source: vastar.schoolfusion.us