The BHS Innovation Fund is pleased to announce the investment of nearly $300,000 for curriculum innovation at Brookline High School in the 2020-21 school year in the following program areas:
Pandemic Response and Faculty Support
Reacting with urgency to the unprecedented change in the educational environment due to the coronavirus pandemic, the BHS Innovation Fund spearheaded a Summer 2020 effort to provide robust grant funding for collaborative faculty work through the COVID-19 Teaching and Learning Response Grant. Thirty BHS educators from the Departments of English, Math, Science, Social Studies and World Language, as well as Special Education and Career and Technology Education, collaborated simultaneously over a three-week period to address academic skill gaps, assess remote learning, share best practices and create community-building plans for students. Teachers, department chairs and school administrators developed a cohesive vision and implementation strategy to ensure that the educational experience at BHS remains as strong and supportive as ever, even in these uncertain times. Read more about the grant impact here.
Foundations for Achievement and School-wide Reach
As the 2020-21 school year begins, the BHS Innovation Fund is excited to announce the launch of Coding @BHS, a school-wide initiative to embed computer science curriculum into all math and science courses at Brookline High School so that every student will graduate with a basic understanding of how to code through hands-on coding practice. This new grant is a collaborative effort from the Departments of Math, Science and Career and Technical Education. The timing of this school-wide initiative is aligned with the current construction of the new STEM wing at BHS. Part of the work that faculty will do, in examining the existing BHS curricula across departments, will also determine how coding fits in with other STEM courses and learning opportunities for all students. Read more here.
Innovative and Interdisciplinary Courses
The BHS Innovation Fund also continues to fund these innovative programs, which were launched at the start of the 2019-20 school year: Experiential Physics for 9th grade, a robust, new physics course that develops scientific, engineering, and entrepreneurial skills to teach students collaborative approaches to designing solutions to today’s problems; Hub/Advisory, an updated approach to school-wide Advisory that emphasizes community and connection among students and faculty; and Brookline Lens, a career-focused arts elective that gives students the opportunity to learn business management skills as part of a student-run production company that provides photography and videography services to the community. Read more here.