The Learning Community Charter School in Jersey City

• In Event: Roundtable Session 66
  In Roundtable Session: “Schools of Tomorrow,” Schools of Today Revisited: Histories of Five Contemporary Progressive Schools

Abstract

This paper documents the history of Learning Community Charter School, which evolved from a small parent founded progressive school into a large school with a burgeoning population. This paper describes how the school’s original progressive philosophy faded and as a result the school evolved from a small school spearheaded by teachers and parents to a more traditional administration-led school. Changes in leadership, student performance, gentrifying parents requesting more rigorous curricula, the growth of the student body, fewer progressive teachers, and a changing national and state culture of testing all contributed to the philosophical shift. Founded by affluent parents in a gentrifying city in 1999, the school reflected their progressive philosophies, while at the same time attempting to serve an economically diverse population. NCLB and the expansion of the middle school created a pedagogical divide in the school. While the lower school remained progressive, the middle school became more traditional. Some components of LCCS’s original curriculum were found to be too subtle and difficult for low-income students to understand, supporting Delpit’s research that progressive pedagogy is often difficult for low-income students to decode. The school decision-making process evolved from its collaborative origins to a less inclusive decision-making process. Therefore, over time some staff members felt that more tasks and obligations were implemented from the top down. Changes in administrators influenced the staff composition. Over time, administration recruited and hired fewer progressive teachers, especially in the middle school grades. This paper illustrates the integral role leadership, school size, national policy, and teacher training plays in influencing a school’s philosophy.

2. Perspectives: This paper uses the perspective summarized in the Paedagogica Historica special issue on ISCHE 30, which argues for the use of both historical and sociological analyses to examine education and inequality. The paper provides a sociological analysis of the history of the school through an examination of the evolution of its curriculum and pedagogy, its changes and leadership, its problems with sustainability and its effectiveness in serving a diverse student population.

3. Methods: The paper uses historical methods, including archival research, oral histories with living administrators and teachers, and qualitative sociological methods, including interviews with current teachers and administrators and ethnographic observations of the school.

4. Data sources: The paper analyzes archival documents, including memos, letters, newspapers, and planning documents, as well as interviews with former and current teachers and administrators.

5. Conclusions: The paper argues that the school has undergone a number of changes in its long history as it struggles to adapt to changing market and educational conditions. It explores how changes in leadership have been a key component of stability, change and sustainability. Finally, it argues that the school has been partially effective in balancing these conditions with admitting and serving a diverse student population, although it has reflected the interests of the affluent families more so than its working class ones.

6. Significance: The paper provides an important contribution to the literature on the history of progressive education through the analysis of a significant urban charter school.

Author

• Elizabeth Morrison-Brown, William Paterson University