The Learning Community

James Penha

This book describes "The Learning Community," a minischool that was founded in 1972 by five teachers as an alternative program within a large urban high school in Astoria, New York. The Learning Community included 150 high school juniors and seniors and 6 teachers. The book overviews the development of the minischool, beginning with the first teachers' meeting to address the school's philosophy; the strategies used to promote positive teacher-student relationships; and decisions made by both teachers and students regarding curriculum and student evaluation. The Learning Community was based on a democratic approach to education that gave students the freedom to plan their own course of study and that recognized individual talents, abilities, and personalities. The curriculum included required skills courses; interdisciplinary courses in which students studied a single idea or concept...

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