North Carolina School of Innovation Pilot Informs COVID Recovery

• In Event: Accelerating Learning: Equity-Centered District Strategies to Support Students During COVID Recovery

Abstract

This study describes the first three years of a pilot school in a high-poverty district in rural North Carolina and how findings from the pilot have influenced the district’s approach to COVID recovery. The 6,000 student district had been labeled “low performing” based on the state testing model. Beginning in 2018-19, with support from a professional learning community focused on building capacity for transformative leadership and a district design team, the district implemented a pilot School of Innovation in an area with especially low student outcomes and that serves primarily students of color. The pilot began with a small group of 30 eighth- and ninth-grade students. Its goal was to accelerate, not remediate, learning.

The school creates systems-level change through deeper learning, design thinking, and identity development. While deeper learning approaches are often limited to students with the most educational access, it was central to this school, where students engage in project-based, hands-on, collaborative experiences. This study highlights how such an approach can be implemented in schools that historically have had limited access to resources.

Design thinking prepares students for success in real-world careers. In addition, having a understanding of human-centered design leads students to approach life with empathy and respect for all people. Identity work empowers students to understand themselves and others in their full complexity. Students approach school as a personal commitment to the world, driven by the essential question: Where does my passion meet the world’s greatest need?

Students engage in four signature learning experiences designed to empower them to navigate their identities in an ever-changing world, create meaningful transformation in their communities, and leverage their skills to pursue justice and equity for all. 1) In advisory groups, students talk about their intentions and offer support to each other. 2) During design labs, students design “Passion Projects” about topics of interest to them. 3) Standards lab includes students’ three core classes. 4) Roses in Concrete is a course that introduces students to stories of resistance and transformation, and consider their role as change agents.

After one year, students reported a significant increase in their sense of belonging and feelings of safety and their standardized test scores in reading and science increased over the previous year.

During the pandemic, the School of Innovation transitioned to a hybrid learning pod model, giving priority to students without access to wifi at home. The district maintained the inquiry- and project-based practices despite the challenges of hybrid learning. Given the success of the pilot, the district expanded the model to all sixth through twelfth graders, even in the midst of the pandemic.

This case study offers an important contribution to the field, by showing how district leaders can disrupt the status quo schooling model in service of racial equity—a need which is all the more urgent post-pandemic. The case offers practical suggestions for ways district leaders can navigate district politics and redistribute funds and resources to introduce innovative approaches to accelerating student learning through COVID recovery.

Author

• Valerie H. Bridges, Edgecombe County Public Schools