Empower Community School

Curriculum and Instruction: The approach to teaching and learning at ECHS is based on research of two Latinx Critical Race Theory professors, called Transformative Resistance, it consists of the following themes:

1. The centrality of race, racism and intersectionality with other forms of subordination

2. The challenge to dominant ideology

3. The commitment to social justice

4. The centrality of experiential knowledge and

5. The interdisciplinary perspective

Core instruction is grounded in culturally-relevant and community-responsive curriculum and connected to the truth lived by students, families, and community. Subjects are driven by the ultimate goal of cultivating critically conscious and empowered individuals who recognize their truth and liberate themselves and their community from the violent and destructive systems of oppression in the pursuit of a just and equitable world. Students study power and identity with a focus on perspectives of people of color across all courses. Though there are many learning experiences at ECHS, including FLOW and Quarterly intensives, the overall academic experience at ECHS is called FUTURE. Here’s how it works:

• Daily core content blocks in ethnic studies, science, math, and world languages designed for rapid acceleration through highly-engaging, personalized instruction.

• Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies (Humanities) course co-taught by the English Language Arts teacher and the Social Studies teacher focused on delivering rigorous content and skill development through a multicultural lens.

And here's an example of how it looks:

• A Math lesson where students learn about personal finance to create spreadsheets using algebraic functions that also highlights the corrupt and oppressive practice of various banks and banking systems over time.

Differentiated support is provided for students at the academic margins (both those ready for acceleration and those needing support) through FLEX block. Students in 11th and 12th grades are able to take AP courses or to pursue concurrent enrollment opportunities which enable them to gain college credit and experience prior to graduation. This is done in partnership with the Community College of Aurora.

Assessment:

Assessments are aligned to Colorado Academic Standards and connected to one or more of the above mentioned Transformative Resistance themes. Grades reflect student performance and progress toward the mastery of district content standards. To obtain a passing grade in a particular course, students must achieve an overall average of 75% or higher. Academic distinctions can be achieved by earning an average of 85% or higher.

Co-creation is a pillar of community and culture at ECHS. The diverse Community Design Team (CDT), made up of students, families, community members, and educators all have an equal voice in decisions impacting the school’s model and design. Beyond that, ECHS allows students to empower themselves as authors of their own learning. The curriculum is student-driven, students sit on hiring committees, courses like FLOW enable students to pursue their passions, experiences like Hustle Collective afford student-led opportunities adjacent to the school day, student-led celebrations, and there are countless opportunities like this one for students to share their pursuits with the broader community - just to name a few.

Another pillar is transformative resistance, which is applied to both student and adult behavior. Transformative resistance urges the community to change the environments that oppress them. It is a political, collective, and conscious awareness motivated by a sense that individual and social change is possible. This concept permeates everything that happens within the ECHS community, including discipline policies. ECHS has no school resource officers because they strive towards freedom, self-governance, personal responsibility, and restoration. To read about it in detail, check out the Student/Family Handbook.

ECHS is also all about love. CEREMONY! is an end-of-semester celebration of all the good stuff, rooted in the tradition of Indigenous people and learning cycle language. Similarly, FAMILY, ECHS' take on advisory, enables consistent groups of students and a trusted staff advisor to connect over all 4 years of high school.

ECHS offers an extended day which runs from 8:00AM-3:20PM. ECHS uses a block schedule that alternates between Monday/Thursday and Tuesday/Friday, with Wednesdays offering time for FAMILY and FUN blocks in addition to academics.

Courses at ECHS are taught by highly qualified teachers equipped with the skills and tools to deliver highly engaging, highly differentiated instruction to students. Staff also reflect the diversity of the student body - ECHS actively recruited teachers and leaders of color who are from the community and can serve as authentic role models for students. In order to maintain the aforementioned characteristics of educators and a commitment to the community, the hiring committee consists of students, families, and admin. Additionally, ECHS is helping to build a pipeline of future educational professionals. Three college students intern at the school and will join as full staff in the future.

The role of adults in the classroom is to guide learners as they explore and construct new knowledge themselves. Educators then guide applied practice in all academic fields to strengthen the student-designed curriculum and to support the acquisition of requisite skills. In order to build these skills and remain cohesive as a community, Wednesdays from 1:00–4:00 p.m. are reserved for staff meetings, PLC meetings, staff development, and other general staff activities. In addition to this weekly protected PD time, strategic collaborative planning time is scheduled throughout the week to horizontal alignment across content areas.

ECHS was built on family and community partnerships. Co-creation by students, families, community members, and educators is one of the design principles upon which ECHS was founded and continues to run. The Community Design Team which built the school continues to meet on a bi-weekly basis. Below is just a snapshot of additional ways in which ECHS engages in mutually beneficial partnerships:

• FUN Blocks - Electives are taught by community partners

• Guest Speakers - a monthly, dynamic social justice speaker series to talk to students and facilitate workshops about business, publishing, criminal justice, politics, immigration law, mental health, and identity- local leaders come to inspire students once a month. Check out a clip here.

• Pitch Night - an opportunity where students can pitch their ideas to local community partners who can choose to invest.

• Parent volunteers - share their expertise with learners as guest teachers, volunteers, and general support.

• Parents are encouraged to join the Board of Directors.

• Mardale Jay Writing Center - a student-created and -led endeavor which helps students find their voice through writing.

ECHS opened its doors in downtown Aurora to 9th graders in a small learning space, with open negotiations to expand as it continues to add grades. The construction to expand into the adjacent space is expected to begin in 2021. While learning happens in a large part on the school campus, the local community is the most fertile ground for learning such as off-campus service learning opportunities that benefit both students and the community.

ECHS is a 1:1 school with students eventually owning their laptops at the end of their four years.

ECHS doesn’t just seek input from the community - it is a true partnership. The Community Design Team exemplifies this. However, there are several others ways that communications are reciprocal at ECHS:

• On pages 4-6 of the ECHS End of the Year report. You can see that after seeking feedback from students, families, the community, and educators, ECHS displayed transparency by showing that voices were heard, and what they plan to do in order to roll that feedback forward.

• School Leadership hosts monthly Office Hours which is open to all students and families. This is a space to bring ideas, concerns, feedback and co-create solutions. It takes place the first Tuesday of the month starting Aug 2020.

• Education Cypher is an opportunity to talk about hot issues impacting our larger community and our classrooms. ECHS says they discuss, “Everything from race in education to…well, make a suggestion! What’s a topic you want to discuss with our larger community?”