At Common Ground, we believe that EVERY student can step up as a powerful environmental leader -- and we have created a four-year leadership pathway model that put that belief into action. This toolkit shares some of the key steps that students as they grow and apply their capacity as environmental problem-solvers, and some of the structures that help them connect and make meaning out of these experiences.
Check out the video above to hear from three members of the Class of 2026 about how Common Ground supported their growth as leaders -- and keep reading to learn about the specific structures students have in place to support students' growth as environmental problem-solvers.
This toolkit was developed by staff at Common Ground High School, with support from partners at the Green Schools National Network, The Greene School, New Roots, and Boston Green Academy. The development of this curriculum toolkit has been funded in part by the EPA under assistance agreement 00A01451 to the New Haven Ecology Project. It has not been formally reviewed by EPA. The views expressed in this document are solely those of the New Haven Ecology Project and our collaborators and EPA does not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication.
It Starts On Day One
Students' work as environmental problem-solvers starts on the very first day of 9th grade. As part of orientation, students watch a short video interview with one of Common Ground's first students, who started at the school in 1997. They hear how Nichole and her fellow students helped to build Common Ground from the ground up. And then, they're challenged to think about how THEY want to shape Common Ground over their four years of high school. They explore our campus -- the educational wetland, sustainability features in our school buildings, our urban farm -- looking for things they love and want to help sustain, and things they want to improve. As they travel, they learn about how other students have cared for and shaped the environment at Common Ground.
Later in their 9th grade year, they revisit this first tour of campus. They dive deeper into the stories of previous student environmental problem-solvers (see the worksheet they fill out as they explore). They study water quality and biodiversity in our wetland, and learn the story of this place. And, as part of their Core English, Science, and they develop and share formal proposals about how they want to sustain and change the environment at Common Ground.
Common Core Experiences
These proposals for stewarding and improving Common Ground's environment are just one part of the core learning experiences that all Common Ground students share. The goal is to build a foundation of environmental learning and problem-solving skills that all students can build on.
Common Ground's 9th Grade Core investigates and addresses environmental health challenges on and around Common Ground’s 20-acre campus. Core 9 integrates the study of biology, health, social studies, and English around a series of integrated units – each culminating in opportunities to engage communities around environmental health issues. In the fall, these students will use Common Ground’s urban farm as their primary learning lab, gathering data on productivity, sustainable agricultural methods, cultural relevance of crops, and nutritional value of foods grown on our farm. They will share what they learn through presentations and workshops with their families and our farm team. In Spring, students study the educational wetlands on our campus, and develop and present proposals for building a more sustainable campus and community.
Students in Common Ground’s Core 10 Curriculum learn about and tackle environmental and community health issues facing the City of New Haven. In the fall, they will interview and help to share the stories of more than a dozen environmental justice leaders in their community, investigate the pollutants and other threats impacting our soils and water, and work with an actor in residence to share what they are learning through interacting plays for public audiences. In the Winter, they create art, narratives, and argumentative letters addressing the impacts of environmental hazards on city residents and share this work through public events they plan and organize. In the Spring, they create short videos on community health issues impacting the New Haven community.
Explore an overview of the Core 9 & 10 integrated units.
Opportunities for Students To Follow Their Own Leadership Path
By the time students get to 11th grade, they've gotten to dive into a variety of environmental experiences through Core 9 and Core 10 -- and they are ready to shape their own path. In fact, many students don't wait that long -- they start diving into additional environmental problem-solving opportunities starting in their first year at the school. Across grades, students can:
- Apply for a paid environmental job through Common Ground's Green Jobs Corps -- a year-round environmental employment and leadership development program that gives students a chance to apply environmental learning and contribute to family income. Students can plant trees, lead environmental education programs for younger students, steward the brook across the street from Common Ground's campus, or operate our mid-scale composting operation, for instance.
- Choose how they want to earn the 15 hours of community service that all students are expected to complete each year -- including through school-based opportunities like Common Ground's Wetland Club and school-wide community service days that include work with environmental organizations like Gather New Haven and the New Haven Urban Resources Initiative.
- Take on electives that support students' continued growth as environmental leaders -- like AP Environmental Science, Early College Sustainable Design, and Outdoor Leadership.
- Engage in credit-bearing internships in Common Ground's environmental education programs or on our urban farm.
- Get on a pathway to an environmental major through early college courses at Southern Connecticut State University, right around the corner from Common ground's campus.
- Connect to community-based opportunities like the UConn Conservation Ambassadors Program.
Ask students what helped them most, and they talk about the adults who know them well enough to help them navigate these opportunities, and see their leadership capacity even before they do.
Every Class Is Environmental Problem-Solving Class
The goal is that every course embeds meaningful opportunities for environmental learning and problem-solving -- and teacher professional development and planning time is organized around this goal. During Common Ground's annual August institute, teachers spend time exploring Common Ground's campus -- visiting our farm, exploring the wetland, learning about healthy and sustainable practices in our building. Then, every teacher commits to the ways they will integrate environmental learning and leadership into their courses. Each teacher decides how "big" their new commitment will be -- a lesson, a project, a unit of study -- but all are expect to make and enact a plan. They put their plans in a common spreadsheet -- so that teachers can see what their colleagues are doing, support each other, commit in a public way to these practices.
Teachers revisit these plans halfway through the semester, celebrate and reflect on what they've done midyear in January, and make a new set of plans for the Spring. At the end of each school year, faculty gathers for another round of celebration and reflection. It's a simple cycle that keeps everyone moving forward together, and that builds progress over time.
This process results in lots of creative, meaningful, and challenging problem-solving opportunities, all across the curriculum. You can check out how clean air, water, and land can show up in a civics class, for instance, or how our urban farm can serve as a learning laboratory for math learning.
Portfolios & Projects That Connect & Culminate Students' Leadership Journeys
Through Senior Environmental Justice Capstone, students curate and defend portfolios that show their growth as powerful environmental leaders and take on capstone projects where they are making their unique contribution to an environmental challenge facing their community. Portfolios include reflections and artifacts from students’ most significant leadership development experiences over their four years of high school. To graduate Common Ground, students must complete a formal defense showing their development into an environmental leader. Every capstone project is developed in partnership with a community organization or a member of the New Haven Ecology Project’s staff, and involve presentations to public audiences.
Two frameworks help students as they dive into their culminating senior projects. First, they need to pick a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to which they will make a concrete contribution. Second, they need to decide what kind of changemaking style they'd like to use: Are they someone who likes to make change through direct, hands-on service? Do they want to organize others to create change? Do they want to raise funds and make a different through philanthropy? Do they want to step into a formal leadership and decision-making role?
Portfolio defenses happen senior year, but students begin work on their portfolios starting much earlier. Check out a toolkit that shares more about these leadership portfolios. We've continues to strengthen and refine this key practice, but the core remains steady: Every student is a leader, each in their own way -- so every student needs to identify and reflect on the experiences where they've demonstrated their growth and capacity to change the world for the better.