About Bulldog Tech

Bulldog Tech is an innovative project-based program and is one of the instructional choices for LeyVa Middle School students.

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Bulldog Tech is a proud member of the
New Tech Network

Bulldog Tech is the first New Tech Network School in Silicon Valley. New Tech Network partners with us to ensure the success of our learning model that will develop students college and career-ready for the 21st century. Our framework employs a technology rich environment, a school culture that promotes grit, and a curriculum that models real-life. This proven curriculum is now being used by over 160 schools in America and Australia.

Students benefit from technology that enables, culture that empowers, curriculum that engages

We are a public middle school with 300 seventh and eighth graders. We are also a school within a school and we are housed on the far east side of the LeyVa Middle School campus. We start and end the same time as LeyVa Middle School, but our class schedule is very different in order to put into practice our curriculum and school model.

All of core content classes and integrated electives are accomplished in three large instructional blocks during the first part of the students day. Our blocks are 74 minutes long and this allows our students to efficiently work with as much time possible. Almost no time is wasted walking from class to class every 45 minutes as they do in traditional school. During the last part of the day students will PE at LeyVa and a class called Connections. Connections class enables us to develop those skills that would not otherwise be taught in traditional school. In Connections, students will get the opportunity to do community service, work with our community partners, take workshops and other electives on various topics, and design their own projects. Connections class allows us to boost student learning and skills by connecting what students learn with what they do. You can read more about these extra skills on our Academics page.

All of our classes are led by two highly-qualified teachers. Both teachers in every block are trained well beyond the the minimum requirement of teachers. This training and professional development is on-going and sustained by our partnership with New Tech Network. Bulldog Tech also has a trained Site Director and coaches from the New Tech Network that ensure school success based on exemplary standards for teaching and learning. Bulldog Tech students are able to participate in all sports and extra curricular activities in LeyVa Middle School’s excellent sports program.

American Origins: Bulldog Beginnings

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Our Vision & Goal

Bulldog Tech is a school within LeyVa Middle School. Our model puts students in the center of their learning. Traditionally, we see students as passive recipients of content in school settings. While this practice may temporarily help to take an annual exam, this type of learning does little to foster the skills or determination needed to make an impact in the world later in life. We believe that in order for students to develop life-long learning, a Constructivist approach, which includes collaboration, critical thinking, social contexts, and real-life experiences, is essential. Combine this approach with rigorous and meaningful situations, guided by our state standards, and it results in learning that lasts longer and goes deeper. Students feel like what they are learning makes sense and they can explain why their learning makes sense.

We know that our students are only with us for two years at Bulldog Tech. And we also know that developmentally, these two years are the most important years in shaping skills and mindsets that will carry on for the rest of their lives. At twelve and thirteen years old, before they head off to high school, our goal is to instill a growth mindset (Agency) in our students that sets them on the path to finding their passion for learning.

Our Proven Model

Our research-based methods for this learning is developed through a partnership with the New Tech Network. Our students will receive curriculum using the following approach:

  • Project-based Learning and Problem-based Learning curriculum are used in all our classes
  • Our curriculum subjects are integrated and not segregated just as it is in real life
  • Our classrooms are led by two New Tech Network trained teachers
  • We employ low student to teacher ratios - 25:1
  • Our assessment of students reflects School-Wide Learning Outcomes that correlate to deeper learning competencies
  • Students use technology in a 1:1 ratio just like they do in college and most jobs
  • We develop community partnerships for student's projects
  • We nurture a professional culture of trust, respect, and responsibility between and among our students, staff, families and community
  • We are constantly reflecting on and improving our model through a collaborative leadership process
  • Students learn kind, specific and helpful ways to improve and critique work
  • Throughout the two years, students develop and articulate their goals for learning with their teachers, families and peers

Take a Look Inside Bulldog Tech