Washoe Innovations

Taylor Harper is the Principal of Innovations High School and the Director of Graduation and Re-Engagement for WCSD.  Taylor was hired at Innovations in the 2013/2014 School Year  and charged with turning the school around after it was identified as the only Title 1 Priority School in Washoe County School District.  Innovations High School was previously known as “Washoe High School”, an alternative high school for over-aged, under credited  students.  Most of the students graduated from this school in their 5^th year of high school, which excluded them from being counted in the graduation rate, which in turn, reflected a graduation rate for Washoe High School that often fell in the single digit range. 

Taylor and her team knew that something had to change, and quickly.  The challenge was raising the graduation rate while still focusing on the students that needed an alternative setting.  This year, Washoe High School was officially rebranded with a new logo and renamed INNOVATIONS HIGH SCHOOL.  The school went through a complete cultural transformation when it became the very first Big Picture Learning School in the state of Nevada. 

Taylor’s other concurrent role is that of the Director of the High School Graduation Initiative, a federal 5-year grant that focuses on re-engaging vanished youth into the school setting with supports to help them reach the goal of graduation.  She oversees several Schools within Schools and Re-Engagement Centers throughout WCSD. 

Before becoming the principal of Innovations High School, Taylor Harper was the principal of Washoe Inspire Academy (the disciplinary school for elementary through high school students), Dean of the Elementary Opportunity School, and a district-level coach for Positive Behavior Supports and Response to Intervention, working with 25 district schools from elementary through high school.  Her almost 20-year career in education started in the elementary classroom, where she spent ten years teaching Pre-K, Special Education, 1^st, 2^nd, and 6^th grade students.