New Designs for School
Breakthrough Schools D.C. Round 3 Grantees
16 schools reimagining for more personalized and deeper learning ...
New Designs for School
Knowledge Academies, Inc.
New Designs for School
New Designs for School
We’ve all had the experience of truly purposeful, authentic learning and know how valuable it is. Educators are taking the best of what we know about learning, student support, effective instruction, and interpersonal skill-building to completely reimagine schools so that students experience that kind of purposeful learning all day, every day.
School: KA High School
Grades Served: 9-12
Location: Antioch, TN
Operator: Knowledge Academies (KA)
Operator Type: Charter
Setting: Urban
Students at Start: 110
Students at Capacity: 440
Hallmark Feature: Learner ownership
- Knowledge Academies currently runs a middle school, which attained the highest “Most Effective” rating from the Tennessee Department of Education in 2012-13. The charter organization is positioned to transition to more personalized learning environments utilizing blended learning, self-pacing, and mastery based credit.
- The new high school’s academic model will center on 1) the individual student via personalized pathways and learner ownership, and 2) a community of youth and adult learners via blended learning teams (BLTs).
- BLTs, comprised of 5-12 participants, will emphasize building communities and trust, peer observations and feedback, examining student work, and text-based discussions; they will meet at least four hours per week.
- Students, staff, and families will be supported in transitioning to redefined roles of Learner, Learning Mentors, Teacher Facilitator, and Learning Coaches.
- KA’s design principles hold all learners (youth and adult) to the same standards of accountability, using a standardized framework focused on learner ownership.