
School Redesign
Breadcrumb
Decades of research provide insight into how to design schools to support the whole child. Effective school design not only provides high-quality academic learning but promotes strong interpersonal relationships and authentic and culturally sustaining instruction. The evidence points to core strategies schools can use to rethink structures to promote critical connections and student-centered learning, including the following:
- Smaller schools and learning communities, in which teachers work in teams with shared groups of students organized by grade levels or themes, such as in the Linked Learning model, which integrates college and career preparation.
- Advisory systems, in which a small number of students meet regularly with a teacher—often over multiple years—to address academic and social-emotional issues, build community, and facilitate connections with families
- Grade-to-grade looping, in which a teacher stays with the same class for more than 1 year, developing strong relationships and trust with their students and families
- Collaborative planning and professional development time for teachers who work in grade-level and interdisciplinary teams to create coherent and engaging lessons and projects
- Connections with parents and the broader community through practices such as parent–teacher home visits and community–school partnerships
Further Reading
-
Relationship-Centered Schools
-
Deeper Learning Networks: Taking Student-Centered Learning and Equity to Scale
report and related materials
-
Whole Child Structures and Practices
-
Educating the Whole Child: Improving School Climate to Support Student Success
report and related materials
-
Community Schools as an Effective School Improvement Strategy: A Review of the Evidence
report and related materials
-
Community Schools Playbook
playbook, Partnership for the Future of Learning
-
Restarting and Reinventing School: Learning in the Time of COVID and Beyond
interactive report
-
Using Performance Assessments to Support Student Learning
report and related materials
-