Crosstown High: Innovative Memphis School In A Vertical Urban Village

By Tom Vander Ark – Forbes

February 28, 2020

One of the most innovative schools in the country is located inside one of the most innovative buildings in the country. Crosstown High operates on the fourth and fifth floors of Crosstown Concourse, a renovated million-square-foot Sears office and distribution center that opened in 2017 just east of downtown Memphis.

The idea for the high school began when Ginger Spickler noticed a billboard advertising major grants for innovative new high schools. She believed the Concourse—home to businesses, retail, health services, and arts organizations—would be an ideal place for students to learn. Earlier plans to include a high school in the building had stalled, so Spickler gathered a team, developed a proposal for Crosstown High, and applied for funding. In 2017 the project received a $2.5 million XQ grant, and the following year the diverse-by-design, project-based high school opened.

Students regularly work on projects connected to the surrounding community. One ninth-grade interdisciplinary unit combined English and AP Geography in a project called Project 901, named after Memphis’s area code. The guiding question asked students to investigate challenges facing Memphis neighborhoods and consider how solutions could be designed or adapted to address them. Students toured under-resourced neighborhoods, identified issues, and selected specific challenges to explore. Using design thinking, they researched possible solutions and wrote proposals. Teachers provided feedback throughout the process as students refined their ideas.

Braxton, a student who had previously attended a traditional private school, said he appreciates the opportunity to develop real-world skills while also participating in strong arts, theater, and sports programs. His Project 901 research focused on homelessness in downtown Memphis.

In a tenth-grade sociology class, teacher Lauren Mueller used game development activities to simulate civic and social situations where race, class, and gender influence outcomes. Students explored topics such as hiring practices, judicial sentencing, and economic mobility. Another tenth-grade group created documentary films examining similar social issues. Students explained that each class emphasizes three competencies, and they work to advance through four levels of mastery for each competency.

Another student, Juan, enjoys the Socratic seminars used in literature classes, noting that the discussions make it clear who has read and engaged with the material.

Crosstown High currently serves about 280 students in ninth and tenth grade and plans to grow to approximately 550 students when fully enrolled. Each grade level is divided into two cohorts. Within each cohort, five teachers share a connected set of classrooms called a “Basecamp,” where they collaborate on planning and often teach together.

In Algebra II, teacher Shelley Cox organized students into teams to solve problems involving exponential growth. Like other teachers at the school, she encouraged collaboration—one of twelve competencies students are expected to develop and demonstrate throughout their coursework.

The school’s approach emphasizes diversity by design. Through its location, outreach, enrollment, culture, and structure, Crosstown High aims to reflect the demographic diversity of Memphis, where neighborhoods and schools have often been segregated. The Concourse and the school together represent a microcosm of the city, creating opportunities for students and community partners to collaborate and imagine the future of Memphis.

The Crosstown High community centers its mission on meaningful contribution. Its purpose is to prepare students to understand and pursue solutions to the challenges faced by their city and the broader world, while giving them the confidence to act as agents of positive change both now and in the future.

Being located inside Crosstown Concourse provides many opportunities for service learning, work-based experiences, and performing arts. Students can interact with a wide variety of professionals working throughout the building. They can visit restaurants, attend cultural events, and use the large YMCA on the second floor.

The Crosstown team continues to experiment with new approaches to education. Their model combines project- and problem-based learning connected to opportunities in the Concourse and the surrounding community with personalized, competency-based instruction focused on essential skills for success. All of this takes place in a diverse environment designed to reflect the future of Memphis.