MC² Charter School

MAKING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS (MC²) CHARTER SCHOOL EMPOWERS ITS GRADUATES with the knowledge and skills to use their unique voices effectively and with integrity in co-creating our global public world. They become citizens of the world. And how do they cultivate these citizens? By uncovering, recovering, and discovering the unique gifts and talents of each learner.

At MC², learning is a team activity. This socially embedded practice involves creating learning teams for each individual child, made up of the learner, family members, and an advisor. The team works together to identify a learner’s strengths, needs, interests, and passions—encouraging a proactive, self-driven mindset. At MC², the learner is in charge. With the continued support of their team, they establish their own goals, manage their own time, seek out regular feedback, and adjust with new understandings. Community partners and mentors are also along for the ride to provide support and opportunities, as appropriate.

None of this learning involves grades—either letter- or age-based. Nor does it pause for a summer break. Running year-round, MC²’s competency-based system allows learners to work with educators and mentors to design personally meaningful work that meets curriculum standards. No topic or subject is off limits—learners can learn anything at anytime. They start with questions and follow the path of inquiry wherever it leads, combining math, English, history, and science as they go. Learners are then coached in how to communicate their learning through a variety of methods, including projects, portfolios, and presentations. Learners prepare daily reflections and present their progress at quarterly exhibitions, which are open to and shared with the community. The expression of learner’s pursuits go in four basic directions:

Personal Life Experiences: Any experience that enables a learner to learn may be documented for credit.

Learning Studios: Learners working together integrate their knowledge and understanding through a variety of challenge-based activities.

Treks: Field experiences develop learners’ skills and allow them to apply learning in meaningful settings.

Citizenship Internships: Learners build academic, personal, and workplace skills through one-on-one relationships with adult mentors in the community.

All of this is grounded in promoting everyone’s voice. The whole school—learners, educators, administrators, parents—has input in everything from dress code to attendance policies to the decoration of learning spaces. MC² considers itself a laboratory  of democratic practice.

Even in its pilot years, MC²’s leaders saw the potential for something bigger. In 2007, they launched the Q.E.D. Foundation to share the stories of MC², consult with and provide support to others pursuing education transformation, and develop and disseminate tools and resources for competency-based education. They are bringing the essence of MC² to life across the country.