OUR CURRICULUM
Our Common Core aligned direct instruction methods explicitly teach students the skills needed to become both graduates and social change agents. By combining rigorous academics with community activism, we increase student engagement and their understanding of the content. We intentionally adopt curricula that reflects the cultures of our students and their families.
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Our school proudly boasts the highest increase in PARCC proficiency for a middle school in Ward 5, both in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics.
PARCC = Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers
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In the 2022-2023 school year, 97% of students engaged in social justice learning expeditions. This means that students went on unique field trips, did collaborative research with other students across the city, and pursued cross-subject projects.
SOCIAL JUSTICE SCHOOL
COURSE EXAMPLES
ENGLISH & LANGUAGE ARTS + LIBERATORY DESIGN UNIT
Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly
The Most Beautiful Roof in the World by Kathryn Lasky
Being the Change by Sara K. Ahmed
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America by Sharon Robinson
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Throughout this sample Liberatory Design unit, students closely read selected articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) related to events in the novel Esperanza Rising where human rights are threatened.
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Our scholars will then compare Jackie Robinson’s Promises to Keep with The Most Beautiful Roof, a book on rainforest change, through a set of workshops based on curriculum for social change.
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Scholar-Activists will write reflections and share their own visions for change.
SOCIAL STUDIES + LIBERATORY DESIGN UNIT
Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution
Frederick Douglass, Lydia Maria Child, and the Aboltionst Movement in the United States
Just Mercy (2019) based on the memoir of the same name
The National Museum of African American History and Culture
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In this sample Liberatory Design unit, Scholar-Activists begin by learning about the history of slavery in the United States. Then, they learn about the Haitian Revolution (1791 - 1804) along with the the Abolitionist Movement in the United States (1830s to 1870s). Then, Scholar-Activists will be introduced to more recent movements, such as Tiananmen Square in China. The unit culminates with students drawing connections to present-day prison and criminal justice reform movements.
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Students read both first-person accounts by activists like Frederick Douglass, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Lydia Maria Child, as well as critical analysis in textbooks. Students are invited to consider other ways of telling these stories, such as through podcasts or films (for example, selected clips from Just Mercy).
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Projects may include designing their response to a Pulitzer Center-approved lesson, a "World Without Prisons" or writing a curated of a path, with their own narration, through the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C.
STEM + LIBERATORY DESIGN UNIT
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In this sample Liberatory Design unit, Scholar-Activists watch Hidden Figures (2016) which follows the real-world story of some of the world's first "computers"--three brilliant African American women who did complicated calculations in order to make the Moon landing possible.
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Then, Scholar-Activists then continue to learn basic physics and math principles, but with this inspiration in mind. Scholar-Activists will complete hands-on projects like the Egg Drop Challenge.
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​Students continue with the unit by watching interviews from contemporary scientists like this video with Neil Degrasse Tyson, this video with Lydia Villa-Komaroff, and this video with student Nianshuang Wang on his work on the COVID-19 vaccine. Scholar-Activists then design their own experiment or project to be completed in our Maker Space. Our Maker Space includes 3D printers; button-making machines; t-shirt making machines, MacBooks, and soon, iPads.