“We think about technology as a tool, we don’t necessarily teach it but we incorporate it into everything we do.” A blended learning model has been adopted which means all classes involve some form of online study. In these circumstances she’s happy for them to change the course, but what they design still needs to be relevant to the curriculum in some way.Īnother important aspect of school life, Bailey says, is the way modern technology is used. A teacher might come to her and say they are sick of teaching a certain class. We are trying to build that muscle in kids’ brains to understand what works best for them.”Ĭhecks and balances are still in place, however, and students meet with their teacher at least once a week to demonstrate what they have been learning.

“If you have three hours of online homework a week and you want to wait and do it all in one night then that is your choice. Navigating online courses also lets pupils take control of their learning. A final project could involve writing a report or a letter to a congressman. They write to government officials and say these are the issues and this is what we think should happen.”Students can also decide how they submit their work. “Students become lobbyists and after hearing about senior citizens’ problems, they come up with a plan. “In social studies, there is a class called ‘I advocate’ where students team up with senior citizens in the area and study issues that they are having things the government should be addressing,” says Bailey. Coursework has included students making their own children’s books and studying birds for conservationists the Audubon Society. The school has been founded on the belief that education should be relevant to students’ lives, giving rise to some experimental school projects. We only have 450 students and there are schools down the street with 1,000 students and maybe that’s the place someone will want to learn in.” “That’s the great thing about New York City there are different schools for different learners. Leading a relatively new school which opened under such unique circumstances has its challenges, however, and not everyone gets what they are trying to do.

What we really offer is two curriculums, one aligned to the exam, and another which is still aligned to the exam but based more on student and teacher interests.”Įvery nine weeks they press reset and offer a child something different if they need it, explains Bailey, adding that they make sure students go at the right pace through lots of assessment, with daily discussions and weekly mocks leading up to exams. “If a student is slower they can have more time.

Once they’ve passed this exam they can take different units including classes on Vietnam and China, she says. Her students have the option of going through it quicker, and most complete it in one year. “We do retain some traditional parts of high school kids still need to earn credit and study certain topics but we go about studying them a little differently,” she explains.īailey gives the example of the New York global history and geography curriculum which is usually studied over two years. She says the main ways they met the brief was by changing how they use their time – mixing online learning with traditional teaching – and re-evaluating what they teach beyond the curriculum. The woman who has led this revolutionary approach for the past three years is principal Isora Bailey.

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