Louisiana high school on a barge will tackle coastal erosion problem

High school students will work to solve some of the most important environmental problems facing coastal America when New Harmony High opens its doors in 2018.

Of course, those probably won’t be literal doors opening — not at this unconventional Louisiana school.

The new high school will be housed on a barge floating in a coastal community at the mouth of the Mississippi River, just southeast of New Orleans. A barge is an unconventional place for a school, but fitting considering students will work on projects related to the massive erosion of the state’s coastline.

New Harmony co-founder and team lead Bobbie Hill said the idea formed in a brainstorming session among the school’s founders: “It just was a natural connection, thinking about how students will inherit this problem,” she said.

Last year, New Harmony High was one of 10 schools awarded $10 million grants from XQ: The Super School Project, which called on educators, students, parents and community leaders to rethink high school in America.

“High schools today are not preparing students for the demands of today’s world,” said XQ Senior School Strategist Monica Martinez who works with school development. She said that about a third of students who go on to college have to take remedial courses, and workforce leaders say students aren’t prepared to thrive as employees.

Perhaps most importantly, many students are bored or disengaged in school.

“Technology is used nominally, and students are typically idle and passive recipients of information,” said Martinez. “We have gone from a Model-T to a Tesla, a switchboard to a smartphone and yet the American high school remains frozen in time.”

The challenge is presented by XQ Institute and funded by Emerson Collective, the philanthropic organization founded by Laurene Powell Jobs. They originally planned on backing five winners, but the number of winners was doubled after roughly 700 proposals poured in from around the country.

The winners are a handful of schools — or ideas for schools — that plan to create student-directed learning experiences that emphasize collaboration, community and problem solving.

New Harmony’s curriculum will involve problem-solving projects tied to coastal erosion, ranging from scientific investigations to community involvement around social issues. Ultimately, students’ interests will play a big role in determining how they spend their time, and each student will have a personalized learning plan.

“Every student’s day will look different,” said Sunny Dawn Summers, a New Orleans teacher on the New Harmony team. “Their week will look different. Their year will look different.”

The founders say the issue of coastal erosion will give students ample opportunity to learn about science, mathematics, engineering and technology — along with humanities-based studies such as political science and social justice issues. Designing a curriculum based on solving real-world problems gives students a skill that is widely recognized as crucial for their futures – and for the long-term health of their communities.

Some details of the school are still being worked out, such as whether or not the school will operate as a charter school, and what learning spaces will be needed on land. But overall, the founders envision a flexible learning environment that’s light on time spent in typical classrooms and heavy on lab work and hands-on experience, with many opportunities for students to work side by side with scientists and other community partners.

“Students will be out doing internships and working on projects,” Hill said. “While we will have facilities — and we will have a barge or barges on the river — students will be out in the community.”

And while the idea of going to school on a barge tends to grab people’s attention, that’s not truly the most revolutionary thing about the idea, said co-founder Elliot Washor of Big Picture Learning. The team hopes New Harmony will inspire widespread innovation in education by demonstrating how to pair high school learning with meaningful community issues.

“It’s not just about one school,” Washor said. “It’s about how to influence public education. So many cities and communities are dealing with these same issues.”

Louisiana’s erosion problems are challenging to solve, said Steve Cochran, an associate vice president with the Environmental Defense Fund and New Harmony partner. The problem stems in large part from manmade levees in the Mississippi River, which have inhibited natural sediment deposits that historically help regenerate eroded land.

The rapid loss of land makes the region more vulnerable to storm surges caused by hurricanes, and Plaquemines Parish experienced severe damage from storms in 2005 and 2011.

“We literally have populations that are going to have to move,” Cochran said. “And America has really never done that.”

Cochran said New Harmony will be an opportunity for students from impacted communities to engage directly in planning their own future. And the school’s project-based work will likely go a long way toward preparing students for water management jobs that are in high demand throughout the region.

“It really is their future that we’re talking about,” he said.

Inspired to help make America’s high schools better? Visit XQ: The Super School Project to join the movement.