Learning by Design Back to School Orientation & Tour

MISSION

Learning by Design, a new TK/K-5 charter school in South Los Angeles, is designed to foster educational equity and cultivate diverse students becoming thoughtful and courageous change makers and problem solvers of tomorrow, through a dynamic 21st Century learning experience with an emphasis on personalized and experiential/hands-on learning.

VISION

LbD envisions establishing a “school of the future” where innovative and authentic learning opportunities are the norm, not the exception. We envision a school that dramatically shifts the old paradigm of school created more than 100 years ago during the industrial revolution and instead embraces Re-imagining, Re- thinking, and Re- designing school to meet the needs of today’s children and the world’s rapidly changing global and tech-based economy.

In prior years, a successful student or “educated person” had been considered one that achieved “high marks” on assignments and standardized tests and behaved in accordance to classroom and/or school wide rules. Our educational system, designed during the Industrial Age, has not evolved on pace with changes in the workplace at least not yet for underserved students. Today, simply producing a student that follows directions well and is compliant is far from sufficient.

It is now well-settled that the “Information Age” and now the “Knowledge Age” have dramatically impacted our world – the ways in which people communicate, access and distribute information, process and analyze data, create and express ideas and so much more have been changed forever. Rote knowledge and even complex calculations can be accessed in a matter of seconds on a handheld device.

Yet the “democratization of technology” – with iPhones already 10 years old – has led to far more discussion than actual change in the ways in which we educate underserved children and prepare them in particular for this new world. In an ever-increasingly “flat” world, students must also be able to understand, appreciate, and effectively communicate with other cultures and societies; recognize how the decisions and practices of one group can affect the conditions of another; and comprehend how the actions of all of humanity affect the well-being of the planet that we inhabit. An education that equips students for the 21st century must foster traits such as creativity, curiosity, a thirst for learning, discernment, and interdisciplinary thinking.

The question is, are schools in “Urban Communities” effectively doing this? Learning by Design Charter School was created to confront the ways in which children in underserved communities are being educated… is it on par with how “others” are being educated… or do these practices remain outdated and subpar? Does the divide continue to widen? Learning by Design is here to question and challenge standard practices and provide equitable learning experiences for children in urban communities.

Come visit Learning by Design to see how we utilize Project-based, Place-based, Design-based, and Innovative Learning practices to level the playing field for children in Urban communities.

We look forward to seeing you!

Learning by Design Charter School
www.learningbydesignschools.org
(323) 903-5712