South Bronx Community Charter High School

South Bronx Community Charter High School is a new high school borne out of the Young Men’s Initiative in New York City, committed to dramatically increasing the educational opportunities and outcomes for young men and women in the South Bronx. South Bronx Community fosters deeper learning and promotes social justice in a culturally responsive and competency-based learning environment. This school is the newest addition to the EPIC network of schools, and is EPIC’s first charter high school. What We Are About: Some notable elements of our school model include the following principles and practices: We are competency-based: SBC organizes teaching and learning around a critical set of skills that students need for academic, career and life success. Teaching involves making learning targets explicit, providing students with the time and support required to reach their goals, and a process of continuous feedback. We use a mastery-based approach to grading so that students have a clear understanding of what they know and are able to do. On progress reports, students see the skills they are working on and their proficiency levels, rather than course titles and letter grades. We are culturally responsive: At SBC, strong relationships between staff and students are at the core of our learning model. We implement an advisory and rites of passage program that helps to strengthen relationships and throughout all aspects of the school including our pedagogical approaches, routines and practices. Group mentoring takes place for an extended block of time every week. We are human-centered and adaptive: At SBC, we encourage the development of all members of the school community and provide opportunities for sharing strengths and talents to enhance individual and collective performance. Significant time is built in to all staff schedules for collaborative planning and tuning of curriculum, supported by improvement science methodology and protocols. We are holistic in terms of integrating academic, social and emotional and professional skills: SBC integrates social and emotional learning into our competency framework. We strive to make all learning experiences interdisciplinary and inclusive of these skills so that students are prepared for college, careers and community. Being able to manage your relationships and demonstrate leadership can be just as important to success in life as many academic and technical skills.