HIGH SCHOOL
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LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Kalo: As the primary nutritional staple and ancestral foundation of Hawaiʻi, the kalo represents the essential academic nourishment provided within these walls. These spaces are designed to function as the lo'i of learning, where the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary for a student’s growth are cultivated and sustained.
Overview
Overview
A Learning Community organizes instructional space into what is often referred to as a Small Learning Community (SLC) or School-Within-A-School and is designed to subdivide a large school population into smaller, autonomous groups of students and teachers. The core purpose is to create a more personalized learning environment tailored to better meet student needs. A Learning Community groups related classrooms, labs, and shared spaces into visually connected clusters that support interdisciplinary collaboration, student belonging, and flexible teaching practice under a well supervised environment. The shared Extended Learning space at the center of each Learning Community serves as a flexible hub connecting classrooms and should support collaboration, exploration, creation, reflection, and presentation, accommodating diverse learning styles and groupings throughout the school day.
Faculty Hubs are shared between Learning Communities to allow a convenient teacher gathering space for instructional planning, as well as accessibility and supervision to students. Teachers in these units often share common planning time, which allows them to develop interdisciplinary projects and monitor the progress of their shared students. This structure is designed to support the development of the whole student, including academic achievement and HIDOE's values of Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ): Belonging, Responsibility, Excellence, Aloha, Total Well-being, and Hawaiʻi.
The Learning Communities should be designed to stack vertically, conserving land area and supporting building efficiency on constrained sites. Connections to outdoor spaces can be prioritized with lanais, and learning gardens integrated as functional instructional spaces, reflecting the significance of the natural environment as both a classroom and a cultural asset.
Adjacency Diagram
Adjacency Diagram
Space Descriptions
Space Descriptions
4.01 General Classroom
See Typical Spaces, General Classroom
Support full range of Academy-focused instructional activities within flexible, well-proportioned room that can accommodate whole-group, small-group, and individual learning configurations
Activities include brief instruction or project introduction, research, discussion, ideation, creation, reflection, presentation and demonstration of knowledge through testing
Main Instructional Wall provides infrastructure for a digital screen and whiteboards
Instructional and student presentation space should be possible at other locations to allow for flexible groupings of students
Functional classroom proportions and furniture to support flexible arrangements and visibility to all walls
Mobile student technology stored and charged in carts within the classroom
Transparency beyond the classroom provides supervision of student groups expanding to other areas, and natural daylight
Doors to corridor are recessed into classroom to limit excessive door swings into circulation zones
4.02 Extended Learning
Provide flexible, centrally located shared space that serves as connective hub of Learning Community, supporting a range of group sizes and instructional activities beyond what individual classrooms can accommodate
Typically, an indoor space but may be designed as open-air if fully shielded from sun and weather conditions
Strong visible connections to classrooms and, at times, acoustic connection to allow for continuous supervision
Adjacent courtyard / lanai often works best for large groups
Shade protection critical for outdoor learning spaces
Ensure adequate seating and lighting for activities
A shared Extended Learning space is centrally located as a flexible hub connecting classrooms, and when possible, outdoor areas. This space supports collaboration, exploration, creation, reflection, and presentation, accommodating diverse learning styles and groupings.
4.03 Small Group
Provide acoustically separated, visually transparent spaces for focused small group instruction, collaboration, and independent work in direct support of adjacent classroom and lab activities.
Highly visible from the Extended Learning space and adjacent classrooms through glazing, while providing sufficient acoustic separation for focused work and conversation
Flexible/movable table and chairs for small group meeting, instruction, and collaboration
To be utilized in conjunction with larger learning commons and academy-based general classrooms, correlating CTE labs and science classrooms
4.04 Faculty Hub
Serves as staff work area, professional development or collaboration, and a break / lunch area
Space should be easily reconfigurable to accommodate professional development meetings, work/layout tables, and/or lunch groupings
Kitchenette to include refrigerator, sink and counter space
Work area allows for access to supplies and some preparation for class learning activities. More extensive preparation or production of class learning manipulatives can take place in the Library Work Room
4.05 Toilet, Single (Staff)
For keying efficiency, prioritize access to toilet rooms within Faculty Hub
See Typical Spaces, Toilet
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