 In the early 2000s, HHS won multiple grants to transform school culture into small learning communities (SLC), an approach championed by Linda Darling-Hammond, who had introduced HHS faculty to the concept during a professional development day in January 2002.The planning for SLCs at HHS was funded by a spring 2002 federal grant which culminated in Coyote Point Day, a two-day discussion and planning session held offsite at Coyote Point Park in November 2002.Under the SLC model, incoming first-year students at HHS are divided into four houses (Florence, Kyoto, Oaxaca, and Marrakech), named for important medieval centers of learning; each house has approximately 100 students, who stay with a common set of teachers covering math, English, social science, and science for two years.