The Neighborhood as Curriculum
Between periods at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, May 2011.
The role of the curriculum in school "turnaround" efforts is not often acknowledged, which is why I wanted to writethis piece, about Crenshaw High School in South L.A. The school has struggled with difficult demographics, constant administrative turnover, and persistently low test scores. But the district has now empowered a group of activist teachers at Crenshaw to enact an unusual reform agenda, in which an interdisciplinary, problem-solving curriculum built around social challenges in South L.A. is married to more traditional goals, such as raising
