PowerUp E: Community Partnerships
How can high schools connect meaningfully with the wider community? How can community partnerships be a source of rich, real-world experiences and networking opportunities for students?
In this PowerUp, we’ll explore those questions through excerpts from “The First Class,” a documentary that follows the founding class at Crosstown High, an XQ high school in Memphis, Tennessee. You’ll see how the school’s founders engaged community partners from the get-go in the design of the school. And you’ll see how the school continued to engage members of the community in ways that vastly enriched the student learning experience.
A PowerUp is a concise, just-in-time learning module designed to address a specific topic or practical skill, typically lasting between 1-2 hours, and is offered individually or in bundles to support professional educators with immediate, actionable content.
| Designed For | Teachers and educators |
| Topics | Collaboration; Learner-centered education; Project-based learning |
| Platform | Bluebird |
| Source | XQ |
Learning outcomes
- Develop understanding about the power of community partnerships to advance a school’s mission and transform the learning experience for high school students
- Observe and unpack examples of community partnerships that expand student perspective and empathy, and which are mutually beneficial to students and the community.
- Consider strategies for identifying diverse, mission-aligned, community partnerships in your own context.
