In 2017, Babcock Neighborhood School (BNS) opened its doors in Babcock Ranch, FL as part of the Charlotte County school system. In August 2022, the all new Babcock High School (BHS) and athletic facility opened to the community. The first graduation at BHS will occur in 2024.
Located in the heart of America’s first solar-powered town, Babcock Schools are charter schools that offer a place-based environmentally focused “greenSTEAM” education program that integrates science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics.
Growing World Changers. The work of Babcock Schools is to develop students academically and with the essential skills for success necessary in their post-secondary experience.
Babcock Schools will design meaningful learning experiences that develop effective communicators, resilient learners, and global citizens, to become tremendous Trailblazers.
Babcock Schools have a system designed around personalized learning, student voice and choice, and a variety of instructional practices – including Project Based Learning (PBL) to engage students in relevant and real-world problem solving.
Babcock Neighborhood School is the first school in Florida to become a Certified Demonstration site for Project-Based Learning through Magnify Learning. BNS utilizes Project-Based Learning (PBL) as a framework for teaching and learning. The process includes developing a driving question around a real-world concern that helps the students focus on the instructional purpose and content of what standards will be covered in their instructional learning unit in student-friendly languate. All teachers are trained in PBL over the course of three years and are required to earn their PBL certification. This is a rigorous process that requires each teacher to provide evidence collected throughout the three years of implementation, where they, validate they have met each standard. The evidence is reviewed and only approved if the teacher has met all required areas with quality evidence.
Once the school has sufficient evidence and meets requirements, they are able to be granted certification as a demonstration site. This allows other schools to visit and see the process in action as they make decisions on implementation in their own classrooms, schools, and districts. BNS was proud to achieve this status and be a model for other schools and systems who desire to provide an innovative educational experience to their students.
The charter mission and vision has achieved many of the initial goals. Here are a few highlights over the last few years that have contributed to the success of Babcock Schools.