Jennings Community School

Jennings Community School (jcs) has been operating for over a decade. Founded on innovative and student-centered principles, students at Jennings learn through a variety of ways always with the understanding that all people learn things differently. All students have different interests and life paths. Schools like Jennings work to customize individual personal learning plans for all students. The School is organized through the use of advisories. Teachers take on the role of an advisor. Simply put, an advisor is a facilitator of learning, a manager, an assessor, a challenger, a coach, and a planner. An advisor is more of a generalist than, in traditional schools, a teacher who instructs or lectures in a certain subject area. Students at Jennings engage in a host of learning venues: seminars/workshops, short courses, project-based learning (perhaps the cornerstone of the academic program), online learning, individualized instruction, peer teaching, service learning, internships, restorative justice circles, cooperative learning, and, travel opportunities for which Jennings is perhaps best known. Most students are from st. paul and qualify for free or reduced lunch. The School's population is diverse and students and staff affirm that it is a safe School for many who have had troubles in other places.