"The Rise of the Phoenix": Empowering Learners to Create Their Own Learning Cultures and Transform Their School. Issue 4 (October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: McCallister, Cynthia
• Is Part Of: International journal of educational reform. Volume 30:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: 379
• Page End: 394
• Publication Date: 2021-10
• Subjects: school reform -- curriculum reform -- school culture -- school turnaround -- professional development -- achievement gap -- academic achievement -- urban education -- self-organized learning; Educational change -- Periodicals; Educational change -- United States -- Periodicals; Education and state -- Periodicals; Education and state -- United States -- Periodicals; Education, Secondary -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 379
• DOI: 10.1177/1056787921991513
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2631-9675

Abstract

An account of a persistently failing New York City high school's rapid transformation. Urban Assembly School for Green Careers had a 39% graduation rate in 2013 and ranked in the bottom 1% of high schools citywide. As a transformation strategy, the school employed an innovative educational design known as Learning Cultures, which distributes responsibility for learning to learners. After the first year of implementation the graduation rate rose by 11%. After two years of implementation the school received a "well developed" rating on its external quality review. After 4 years the graduation rate doubled. This report describes the school design and provides an account of educational outcomes.