About Our School

School Description

Our mission is to provide a student centered, personalized education by utilizing the power and scalability of technology to customize education where students will be able to learn in their unique manner, where constraints of traditional classrooms and barriers to educational innovation are removed. We provide a blending learning environment, mixing the flexibility of a digital curriculum with the structure and guidance of a traditional classroom experience. 

Innovations Early College High School allows students to build their own schedules, selecting courses from the local community college, the district’s career and technical center, the district’s traditional high schools, and digital curricula on the Canvas platform administered on Innovations High School campus. 

Program Model

Students enroll in digital courses and have some flexibility to choose what classes they will be working on. Teachers deliver face-to-face instruction as needed, either one-on-one or in small groups. Class meetings are provided for all courses though not all of the classes have required attendance. Innovations students are expected to attend their Math and Language Arts courses and attendance will be documented in these courses. 

If Innovations does not offer a course on our campus students have the opportunity to take a course at another high school within the school district. For example, if a student wanted to take ceramics they would do it at East, West, or Highland. There are buses that transport students to and from Innovations to the neighboring school every class period. 

Student Experience

Students enrolled at Innovations Early College High School can customize their own school experience, choosing to learn full-time on Innovations campus using digital curriculum or to combine online learning with course offerings from the local community college, bricks-and-mortar high schools, and career and technical center. 

On Innovations High School campus, students work through digital curricula at their own pace, and face-to-face teachers provide as-needed interventions, help, and enrichment. The teacher of record is the face-to-face teacher (not an online teacher). Students work on specific subjects during designated periods during the school day and also have “Open Teacher Classroom” time to seek help in any or all of their classes, make up assignments or tests that they may have missed due to absences, or have additional time to work on their classroom projects or homework.

Each student will be assigned a mentor teacher. Students are expected to check-in with that mentor teacher every morning during Advisory (Period 9&10 - See Bell Schedule) and work within the classroom during that period. Students will meet one-one-one with their mentor teacher to track pace, set goals, and provide support for the student. 

Personalized Education means students get to choose their: 

Time - Students are expected to be on campus at least 6.5 hours a day They can complete these hours anytime between 7:30 am – 3:30 pm. Students will need to check in with their mentor each day. 

Path - There are many options for students at Innovations. They may choose to take classes at our shared building with SLCC South Campus and/or with the Career and Technical Center as well as take up to two brick-and-mortar at another high school within the district. 

Place - Students can choose what classroom they want to work in during the school day. Students are free to work in classrooms where they feel the most comfortable. Some teachers will have class times or small group meetings within the courses. Students can attend structured class meetings. 

Pace - Innovations curriculum is mainly digital with courses being primarily on Canvas, which is used by many colleges and universities within Utah. Classes are competency based, meaning that a student can choose to take an assessment to demonstrate what content and objectives they understand within a course. If a student meets the minimum requirements for that class, they may get excused from assignments that they demonstrated competency in. Students are able to move at their own pace within the courses as long as they are keeping up with the traditional high school completion rate. 

District's Vision

All Salt Lake City School District schools are committed to the district’s vision of Excellence and Equity: every student, every classroom, every day. In keeping with this vision, our schools offer academically rigorous classes based on the Utah Core curriculum, hold high expectations for all students, respond to individual student needs, and provide a safe and healthy environment for student learning. Some schools may also offer individual learning options for students. 

Please note: In the Salt Lake City School District, JROTC is available to all high school students and is housed at West High School. Also, some classes offered at Innovations may be held at the adjoining Salt Lake Community College campus or at other district high schools. Transportation is provided.