year-round support structures
The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice is a student-centered culture that supports the high expectations we have for our students in academics and in the other aspects of their lives. SLJ serves as a microcosm for students as they explore issues of law, governance and justice.
The following are some examples of the core routines and rituals that support and celebrate the individual while developing the school as an inviting, rigorous and supportive community:
Advisory
SLJ offers a daily advisory session that meets as a regular and required class every year. Students and teachers travel through advisory together throughout all four years, making the advisory group a smaller community within the small community of our school for students. Advisory ensures that every student is known as a student and as an individual. The advisor is the school's liaison to the student's family and the student's most strident advocate. That advocacy takes the form of telling other teachers when the student is having a problem, keeping track of their graduation and college readiness and providing a safe space for their charges.
To accomplish this, each staff member, including teachers, administrators and support staff, leads or assists as an advisor and is responsible for no more than 17 students. All advisory sessions are scheduled simultaneously to allow for mentorship opportunities between the older and younger Academies and to ensure that whole school projects and cross-grade discussions may occur. As students become juniors and seniors, they lead advisory sessions.
Advisory may be a student's most important experience at SLJ. From freshman year until graduation, students meet in small groups that become second families. The advisor is the student's advocate; he/she knows the student and the student's family well, and is there to offer help and support when needed. Advisory groups participate in profound academic and non-academic enrichment, including peer mentorship with students from P.S. 287, Cornerstone Projects, school improvement, educational trips, and community service.
Check Ins
Once every six weeks, there are grade-wide academic intervention meetings. During these meetings, the grade comes together to discuss common successes of the grade, and strategies to improve academic performance. For example, one meeting might examine a jump in academic success in math or look at changes in attendance and develop action plans. These meetings allow students to celebrate collectively and to support each other academically.
Youth Court
Students not only have the opportunities to participate in the creation of the "laws" of SLJ, they also help to enforce them. Through our partnership with the Red Hook Community Justice Center, students understand the concept of making the punishment fit the crime and help to ensure that their school is a place where there is a sense of collective ownership and responsibility. Students who graffiti, for example, might have to develop and execute a school beautification project.
Parental/Family Involvement
Through the School Leadership Team meetings and PA meetings, we develop relationships with CBOs such as Good Shepherd to provide families with information on standards, graduation requirements and assessments. This information can empower the larger school community to be accountable for the academic achievement of every student. Families can see the school as serving not only their children, but also their broader needs. We seek to create a school culture where families feel welcome in the school and see the school as part of their community.
School Environment
The physical space of the school is warm and inviting, meeting students' needs for safety, comfort, and community. Students are expected to maintain and improve upon the space, and are supported in their efforts to do so. Walls are covered with text-rich student work, notices about upcoming school and community events, and a current issues bulletin board. There is comfortable, attractive furniture that evokes a college campus, and a dedicated room ( "Student Chambers" ) for student lounge and study space. The culture of SLJ helps to make sure that students engage with the physical space with respect and a deep sense of ownership. Students, along with the staff, are responsible for designing the school space, and incorporating exhibits and artwork that reflect their interests, concerns and talents.
Common Planning Time
In order to maximize the impact of teacher time with students and with one another during the school day, teachers are programmed to have common planning time. Teachers use this time three days a week to develop interdisciplinary projects and units. During the other two days, teachers devote this time to Kid Talks based on the model developed at the Bronx Academy for Careers in Sports. Teachers discuss student needs and accomplishments. Teachers with concerns about a student who needs academic intervention services discuss him/her using a protocol, and formulate an action plan for addressing this student's needs. At the start of the next meeting, teachers review what has been accomplished with that student before moving on to their discussion of other students. Teachers also use this time to develop ways of celebrating student success. Teachers may develop contests, awards, assemblies, or incentives to recognize students who are making process.
Getting Ready for College
Every student at SLJ starts getting ready for college on the first day of school. Throughout all four years of high school, advisory supports students on this journey. During advisory class, students develop skills of time management, decision-making, and goal-setting. They take trips to colleges throughout the city, state and country so that they can make an informed decision about where they want to matriculate after graduation from SLJ. Also, they get help with SAT preparation, as well as college and scholarship applications and essays.