Project-Based Learning at a Community School in San Francisco

• In Event: Teaching and Learning in Community Schools

Abstract

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Academic Middle School is located in San Francisco and serves approximately 500 racially diverse students, with nearly 75% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. When Principal Essien joined the administrative team of this longstanding school in 2014, he brought with him a commitment to a community schools approach that integrates project-based learning (PBL) as part of its strategy. In this paper, authors describe how a dual community schools/PBL approach have been integral to the school’s success.

This case study, based on school and community observations and interviews, documents MLK’s transformation to a new approach to teaching, learning, and school climate—traditional educational methods and teachers acting in isolation were not options. Support services were put into place and teachers were deeply engaged as leaders in the school transformation process. Teachers on the Instructional Leadership Team, for example, visited classrooms and identified schoolwide academic priorities. Another group of teachers formed a Culture Club to interview students and recommend ways to make instruction and discipline more culturally responsive. The community school coordinator, joined the staff and brought in the Peer Resources Program, breakfast in the classroom, and counseling and academic services provided by community-based organizations. With these changes, disciplinary referrals at MLK plummeted and student test scores began to rise. However, disengagement was still an issue for many students. PBL was explored as a solution. It was clear, though, that MLK students could not successfully complete interdisciplinary, applied projects if these support systems, services, and structures were not in place.

Project-based learning—defined as inquiry-based activities where the context of learning is provided through authentic questions and problems within real-world practices—engages students in creating an end product that represents their new understandings, knowledge, and attitudes regarding the question being investigated (Kokotsaki, Menzies, & Wiggins, 2016). PBL can provide students with multiple opportunities to engage in formative self-assessment and revision, and promote participation and a sense of agency—enabling students to monitor their own understanding and assisting them in becoming active, agentive, and self-reflective learners (Barron et al, 1998). As MLK students, working in groups, become experts on current social issues such as immigration and homelessness (e.g., through interviews with community members), develop recommendations, and create a range of methods for sharing their work, students became more engaged, reflective, and aware of the relevance of their learning to the world around them. Grounding the work in local contexts and incorporating the knowledge of community members into the pedagogy and curriculum strengthened the work and the outcomes.

As the authors describe, the presence of the community schools and PBL approach facilitates and supports the other. As a teacher explains, “PBL and community schools integrate really well because a lot of the same shifts that it takes as a teacher to embrace community schools it also takes to embrace PBL. You’re giving back some of your ownership to the students and community.”

Authors

• Anna Maier, Learning Policy Institute

• Jenny Founds, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Academic Middle School