Colin McCarthy has been spearheading an effort to bring project-based learning to Cheltenham School District, according to a staff report from the Livingston Ledger.

McCarthy previously spent a year at the Philadelphia Navy Yard with high school seniors from some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.

There they ditched the traditional high school experience for community-oriented projects, including bringing solar power to their learning space.

He was soon convinced what he was seeing there was the future of the nation’s education.

Now, he is heading an ambitious $350,000 foundation-backed program to introduce this innovative approach to the local school district next fall.

The rollout of the program will involve 66 ninth-graders who will participate in one-to-two-month group projects of their choosing.

They will spend the first half of their school day working on these projects that will cut across traditional subjects like science, English, and world cultures.

At the end of the project, the Cheltenham community should be able to see benefits from the work the students have been doing.

“It’s really about challenging them to solve a problem — a real-world problem — in the context of the curriculum,” said Wagner Marseille, superintendent of Cheltenham School District.

Read more about project-based learning at the Livingston Ledger by clicking here.