The Jacoby Creek Charter School District (JCCSD) is a one-school district that serves 419 students in kindergarten through eighth grades. The district is located in the unincorporated village of Bayside, a rural community adjacent to Arcata, which is a city of 15,000 people located on California’s northern coast, 300 miles north of San Francisco.
The JCCSD uses project-based learning, community service models, and service-learning models. The goal of this community-based, student-centered program is to provide a clear school vision that supports California’s standards and assessments, demonstrates accountability by highlighting students’ achievement and school success, and integrates community service and civic responsibility into the curriculum.
The JCCSD service-learning initiative, "Community, live in it, learn from it, and give to it," develops and maintains a learning atmosphere that promotes high academic achievement and enhances the social, civic, cultural, and personal development of all students. The district’s goal is to foster strong partnerships that promote becoming an integral part of community development. The district seeks to create a feeling of connection, a sense of commitment, and a shared purpose among faculty members, students, parents, and members of the community. The district has gained strong support for its service-learning initiative. Each child who graduates from JCCSD is offered at least one service-learning experience per grade-level. The service-learning school policy was adopted in May 2004.
The district successfully implemented 20 high-quality projects in 2005-06. Environmental issues have been identified as a critical community need, and such projects as dune restoration, salmon rearing, watershed restoration, water-quality sampling, and waste and energy reduction address these needs. Other projects address developing intergenerational relationships, caring for animals in captivity and in the wild, growing and donating food for the hungry, and assisting the Water Safety Coalition by creating water safety public service announcements. The initiative is vigorously supported by the district and the community, as evidenced by more than 80 established partnerships, which include Humboldt State University and the City of Arcata. Numerous local, state, and non-profit agencies provide invaluable opportunities through which students and community members demonstrate that learning and serving together benefit both individuals and the community.
The advisory and evaluation committees work to develop policies and assessment strategies for projects that enhance a student’s natural desire to learn while helping others and meeting needs throughout the community.
Jacoby Creek Charter School District (Outside Source)
