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.
A sample approach to an ELA + Liberatory Design Lab unit:
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Throughout the unit, students closely read selected articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) related to events in 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.

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