Our Approach
Find Common Ground: A community of learners and leaders, dedicated to the environment and social justice.
What you will find on this page:
The Curriculum: A Strong Core & Flexible Pathways
Our Course Offerings
The Building Blocks of Real Learning
Our Whole City Is Our Classroom
Growing Leaders for a Just & Sustainable World
Above & Beyond Learning Opportunities
College Success
The Curriculum: A Strong Core & Flexible Pathways
Common Ground is committed to helping all students travel pathways to college success and continuous learning, meaningful careers, powerful leadership for a just and sustainable world, and a happy, healthy lives.
Common Ground’s curriculum mixes rigorous expectations for all, responsive relationships, relevant learning that’s rooted in the community & environment, and real roles and rights for students.
Common Ground’s four-year pathways model challenges and supports all students. Around these core courses, students experience a mix of college prep academic classes, unique electives like outdoor leadership and food & the environment, early college courses, credit-bearing internships, and learning opportunities beyond the school day and school building.
In 9th and 10th grade, students spend half of their school day in the integrated core — combining science, social studies, English, the arts, and other subjects to explore their urban environment and build the skills they need for success beyond high school.
Every 9th grader experiences Core 9 — integrating biology, social studies, health, English, and other courses to explore who they are, our school community, and our unique 20-acre campus. Alongside the core curriculum, 9th graders take more traditional courses — including math, PE, Spanish, unique electives, and academic support classes.
All 10th graders take on Core 10 — learning science, social studies, English, and the arts as they explore stories, justice, climate change, power, and health in the City of New Haven. Sophomores also take a level-appropriate math course, chemistry, world language, electives, and academic support labs. Starting second semester of sophomore year, students who meet eligibility requirements can begin taking Early College courses, as well.
Junior and senior year, all students take junior seminar and senior environmental justice capstone — exploring college and career options, building college-level research and writing skills, reflecting on their growth as leaders, and tackling capstone environmental justice projects.
Junior Seminar empowers students to take action NOW toward their future goals — helping them get ready for the SAT, explore career and college options, and reflect on their growth as leaders. Most juniors also take Statistics, U.S. History, and Algebra 2, alongisde upper level elective courses.
In Senior Environmental Justice Capstone, students write college essays, complete and defend their portfolio of learning & leadership, conduct college-level research on an issue that matters to them, and take on senior projects that contribute to a more just and sustainable community.
Every student is part of a guidance group that provides a home base and supports pathways planning through all four years of high school, and creates and defends a portfolio showing their growth as leaders.
Over their four years of high school, students have more and more opportunities to blaze their own pathways, based on their unique passions and strengths. At all grade levels, students can join in unique electives and a wide range of out-of-school programs. Around their core classes, juniors and seniors can choose to take a mix of more traditional classes — from physics, to pre-calculus, to African American & Latinx History, Advanced Placement Government — alongside college courses, credit-bearing internships, green jobs opportunities, out-of-school programs, and electives ranging from outdoor leadership to musician’s collective.
Our Course Offerings
Learn more about our course offerings below and see our 2025-26 Course Choice Guide.
Science Courses
All students take integrated science through Core 9 and Core 10 — building a deep understanding of scientific thinking and inquiry, along with core concepts in biology, environmental science, physical science, geosciences, and chemistry.
In addition, Common Ground students take year-long courses in Chemistry and Physics. Based on science department capacity, Common Ground also offers advanced science electives like AP Environmental Science, Human Anatomy & Physiology, Field Biodiversity, and Food Science.
Many Common Ground students graduate with 6 or more science credits.
English Language Arts Courses
All Common Ground students take Core 9 English, Core 10 English, and Junior Seminar. In addition, students can choose to take electives including:
AP Language and Composition
Creative Writing
American Literature
Nature Literature
Journalism
Students who need to make up ground in reading and writing also take an accelerated reading course.
Guidance
Every student is part of a guidance group that travels through all four years of high school, and participates in a four-year curriculum focused on college & careers, leadership & agency, social-emotional learning, and academic success. Students earn credit for guidance.
World Languages
Spanish 1, 2, 3
Advanced language courses and additional language options offered through local colleges
Mathematics, Computer Science & Engineering Courses
All Common Ground 9th graders enroll in Algebra 1 or higher, and then continue with Geometry, Algebra 2, Precalculus, and Calculus. Some students take math for two periods of the school day, to ensure they can make rapid progress in this important subject. Most juniors double up on math, taking both Algebra 2 and Statistics.
Common Ground also offered Financial Literacy and Business Math as elective math courses, and teaches Computer Science. Starting with the Class of 2027, all students will be required to take a 1-semester Financial Literacy course.
In several of the past five years, Common Ground 9th graders have made more progress in math than 90% of their peers across the country, according to results of the NWEA MAP.
Social Studies Courses
All Common Ground students take Core 9 & 10 social studies — building skills for historical and social science thinking, while building understanding of core concepts from civics and government, U.S. history, and world history. In addition, Common Ground students take …
African American & Latinx History
AP U.S. History
Civics: US Government
Sustainable Design
Arts
Art 1 & 2
Ceramics
Art Portfolio
Music (introduction to music theory and composition)
Music Ensemble
Shakespeare Workshop & Foundations of Acting – Social Justice Theater offered in partnership with Southern Connecticut State University & Elm Shakespeare Company.
Physical Education, Health & Wellness
All students take health as part of Core 9.
Common Ground also offers Physical Education & Wellness courses designed for students in upper grades.
The Building Blocks of Real Learning
Across every learning and leadership opportunity, we believe that all students deserve:
Rigor. We hold all our students and staff to high standards, and know they can all thrive in and beyond high school.
Responsive Relationships. We know each other well, and support and challenge each other as individuals. We build student’ lived experiences and cultures into the curriculum. We build a safe and just school community, every day.
Relevance — Rooted in the Environment & Community. We put the environment and social justice at the heart of learning — and create active, authentic, integrated learning opportunities, rooted in our place and community.
Real Roles and Rights. We create student-centered learning that builds real choice and voice, and engaging families and community as full partners — helping all people grow into leaders and agents of change.
Our Whole City Is Our Classroom
Opportunities outside the school building expand students’ learning and leadership — and let them pursue their own pathways and passions. Our students and teachers use three sites as laboratories for learning:
The City of New Haven: its parks, people, and many educational resources.
West Rock State Park: Connecticut’s largest state park, where the school is located.
Common Ground’s 20-Acre Campus: an environmental learning center and demonstration farm at the city’s edge.
Learning and leadership continues well beyond the school day, as well. Students choose among more than 2 dozen after-school programs — from soccer, to robotics, to freedom squad. They take on paid jobs through Green Jobs Corps, and earn credit through internships at our high school, urban farm, and environmental education center. They take college classes at Southern, Gateway, and Yale, and can earn college credit through courses on Common Ground’s campus. As part of their core classes, students are out on Common Ground’s site and in the City of New Haven as well. The electronic leadership portfolios that students build include these above & beyond learning opportunities, as well as more traditional classes.
Growing Leaders for a Just & Sustainable World
At Common Ground, young people are growing into a new, more inclusive generation of environmental and social justice leaders. We believe all students can grow their POWER — Pride, Ownership, Wonder, Effort, Respect. Every class and program builds in opportunities for students to practice leadership, and learn what kind of leader they want to become. Over their four years at Common Ground, students build an electronic portfolio showing their growth as leaders, and must defend that portfolio in order to graduate.
At Common Ground, everyone leads. We support and encourage students’ growth as environmental and social justice leaders just as we support and encourage their academic success.
POWER: What it Means
Common Ground pushes every student to step up as a POWERful leader.
Pride: Confidence. Integrity. Professionalism. Advocacy
Ownership: Initiative. Responsibility.
Wonder: Inquiry. Vision. Problem-solving. Adaptability
Effort: Planning. Decision-making. Action. Perseverance.
Respect: Communication. Empathy. Interconnectedness. Teamwork.
The Common Ground community has lived by this POWER creed since 2008. We recognize students who demonstrate leadership at POWER assemblies, and encourage every student to ask themselves what POWER means to them.
Every Class is Leadership Class
Academic classes are filled with leadership opportunities. For instance:
In AP Calculus, students demonstrate effort and grit by applying problem-solving skills to increasingly complex problems.
In Ecologia — a team taught Spanish and Biology class — students practice respect and conversational Spanish by gardening and cooking in small student-led teams.
Senior Projects
Students’ leadership work culminates in capstone Senior Projects, in which teams of students take on a social or environmental justice issue facing the New Haven community. Students have produced documentary films, strengthened supports for English Language Learners and newcomers to the United States, helped launch New Haven’s mobile farm market, and planted gardens and trees in memory of victims of gun violence, for instance.
Community Service
Our students give back through required community service. Each student must complete 15 hours of service before moving to the next grade level – though many go far beyond this minimum. For instance:
A school-wide community service day alone nets over 400 hours of service.
Participants in monthly trips to the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen prepare and serve food.
Student groups organize service opportunities ranging from contests to help stop global warming to fundraising drives to combat measles in Africa.
Taking Leadership Seriously: Standards, E-Portfolios & Surveys
Our teachers have developed school-wide leadership standards, and we incorporate these standards into the plans for every Common Ground class — just like we use academic standards to guide instruction.
In order to graduate, each student has to create an electronic portfolio that demonstrates their leadership growth, in and outside the curriculum. Senior year, they defend their portfolios before a panel of students, teachers, family, and community members.
Each year, students complete a leadership survey that helps us figure out whether we are living up to our vision that everyone leads.
In Action: Environmental Justice
For years, Common Ground has offered a team-taught class called Environmental Justice — focusing on why environmental challenges tend to be concentrated in low-income neighborhoods, cities, and communities of color. This past year, students put their learning into action, helping the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement at Yale to launch a new healthy corner store. Read an article.
Green Jobs Corps
Each year, 80+ students take on paid leadership and career development opportunities through Common Ground’s Green Jobs Corps. They take part in work opportunities on and off of Common Ground’s site — running environmental education programs, planting trees, helping to manage farmer’s markets, improving water quality, creating school gardens and schoolyard habitats, and maintaining Common Ground’s site. They also take part in workshops and field trips that build their leadership skills and help them map out their career paths beyond high school. Learn more.
Leadership 24-7
As in our academic classes, Common Ground challenges students to look at every situation as an opportunity to lead. For instance, our students:
Planted more than 100 street trees.
Conducted research in the Dominican Republic.
Monitored water quality in the West River.
Helped to design Common Ground’s new school building, opening its doors in 2014.
Run small businesses using produce from our farm.
Help students solve problems through peer mediation and mentoring.
Above & Beyond Learning Opportunities
Common Ground offers small school support and big school opportunities. Students go above & beyond through learning and leadership opportunities, on and off campus, outside the school day.
Alongside more traditional classes, Common Ground students can:
Take college courses free of charge at Southern, Gateway, or Yale.
Take a variety Advanced Placement and Southern courses on our campus.
Take on paid jobs — and earn academic credit — through Green Jobs Corps.
Earn credit through internships — in environmental education, on our urban farm, as a teaching assistant, or helping to create educational change at Common Ground.
Choose from unique electives — including outdoor leadership, biodiversity, environmental education, and social justice theater.
Our Above & Beyond programs run for two hours a day after-school, with special opportunities before school and on weekends, as well. On any given day, more than half of our student body is after-school.
Common Ground’s After School Program is driven by the interests of our students, and led by our amazing staff. This is one of the reasons we say we offer big school opportunities in a small school setting! Check out some of our STEM-based after school opportunities in the video to the right.
Create
Dance allows students to explore hip hop and other dance forms throughout the year.
Cooking Club meets both virtually and in person, with recipe kits delivered to students’ doors.
Visual arts programs allow students to express themselves and build their portfolios.
Rap & Poetry allows students to write & record music, create beats and lyrics,
Explore
Adventure Club offers students an opportunity to hike, backpack, climb, ski, snoeshoe, canoe, and bike — often for the first time. Thanks to Common Ground’s gear locker — created with support from the Appalachian Mountain Club and Trailblazer — students have access to the equipment they need to take on any adventure.
Every semester, students participate in Presentations of Learning and Leadership, sharing what they’ve accomplished. Here a student performs an original piece on his guitar as part of the presentation from Songwriting.
Lead
Student Leadership Team gives students voice in important decisions.
Every after-school program pushes students to take leadership — and students must assemble a portfolio of leadership work to graduate.
Community Service opportunities happen weekly: from cooking for the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, to tutoring elementary students, to rebuilding trails in West Rock Park.
Experiment
Robotics club, created by students, is busy building robots from the ground up.
Science Fair participants compete in New Haven and state-wide competitions.
Science Club explores a range of hands-on science challenges.
Fun
Strategy Games meet four times a week for minds-on, social fun.
Scavenger hunts, field trips, capture the flag, and other after-school activities help students relieve stress and get exercise.
Learn
Academic Support Opportunities give every student the support they need to master high standards, and provide same-day interventions to students who are struggling.
Homework Center
Academic Labs
Saturday Academy
Thrive
Cooking Club encourages students to cook tasty food fresh from the farm — some to eat, and some to share with those in need.
Recreational Athletics occur every day between 4 pm and 5 pm during a normal school year.
The Common Ground Hawks — our basketball team — competes in the New Haven Small Schools League.
Students can also play sports for local schools.
Work
Green Jobs Corps connects students with paid work and leadership opportunities. Learn more.
Career networking workshops allow students to meet professionals and explore different career paths.
Venture
Common Ground helps students connect with off-campus opportunities, as well:
Evolutions at the Peabody Museum
ArtSpace internships
Elm Shakespeare Fellows
Sports teams at other high schools
Summer College Prep Programs
AT&T Aspire program, the Connecticut After-School Grant Program, and the 21st Century Learning Community program.
College Success
Common Ground is committed to preparing all our students for college success and life-long learning. Over the last 5 years, nearly 90% of our students were admitted to college.
Academic Supports
An all-out system of academic supports, in and outside the school day, helps all students take on college prep content. SAT prep and academic enrichment are offered during and after school.
College Classes in High School
Advanced Placement and Early College courses offered at Common Ground — including Language & Composition, U.S. Government, U.S History, Sustainability in America, Foundations of Acting, and Shakespeare Workshop — offer additional challenge and opportunities to earn college credit. As early as sophomore year, students can also enroll in classes at Southern Connecticut State University, Yale University, Gateway Community College, and Albertus Magnus free of charge. More than 2 in 3 Common Ground seniors, and more than half of juniors, take on college credit-bearing work while still in high school.
College Success
Recent graduates have been accepted to
and other colleges throughout the country.
All Students are College Material — And Every Student Chooses Their Own Path
We believe that every student can graduate ready for college — and we support each student in making the post-high school choices that are right for them. Challenging academic classes, including our core curriculum and electives, push students to investigate, participate and build new skills.
Our core curriculum builds the academic skills students need to succeed in college, careers, leadership, and life — through active, authentic, real-world learning. In Junior Seminar, ever student explores the college and career options that are right for them. In Senior Social Justice Capstone, every student writes college essays, take on college-level research, and finalize and defend a portfolio that shares how high school has prepared them for their future path.
College Experiences
Common Ground creates a college going culture through visits to colleges, college admissions officer visits to Common Ground and the opportunity speak to representatives from a large range of schools at a local college fair. For instance, students participate in:
All students have multiple opportunities to visit multiple colleges — e.g., all 10th graders visit Southern Connecticut State University as part of a unit on public health.
Common Ground hosts representatives from a variety of colleges, open to all students.
All juniors and seniors participate in college fairs in New Haven and beyond.
Guidance Groups
All students work with an advisor from 9th grade through graduation on a college and career planning curriculum. In Senior guidance, in particular, students work intensively with Common Ground staff to ensure all applications and supporting documents are in on time.
Our Results
Over the last ten years, more than 90% of Common Ground graduates have gained admissions to college. More than 90% of our students take college or career-ready courses while still in high school. In 2023-24, our students made big gains on the SAT. Common Ground was the state’s first U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School and a recipient of many awards and grants in recognition of our work, including the National Building Hope Award in 2022.
