A School Without Walls began as a partnership with NYC Outward Bound Schools, a nonprofit that supports project-based, expeditionary learning. It opened with its first class of 9th graders in the fall of 2022 as the first public school to win approval from New York State for a hybrid learning model. 

A School Without Walls (SWoW) is part of XQ’s part of Imagine NYC Schools, a dynamic partnership between New York City Public Schools and XQ to design innovative, high-quality schools with equity and excellence at their core. Students, teachers, families, and community members are coming together to imagine high schools that are engaging, inclusive, and student-centered—schools that prepare all students for a wide variety of postsecondary options, and all the future has to offer. Learn more at NYC + XQ.

Through its hybrid model, A School Without Walls maximizes how students use time, space, and technology. Students learn in person two to three days a week. The rest of the time, they complete asynchronous and synchronous learning, both online and in the real world. Through this independence, students can pursue internships and enroll in early college classes through the City University of New York. They can also work on passion projects, student-led and student-designed research projects that are central to the school’s curriculum. These projects flip the model of what is “core” and what is “elective” by teaching core competencies through real-world projects that matter to students and their communities. Student projects cover topics like mental health in schools, Black female empowerment through prenatal care, and sustainable fashion and weaving. 

Student progress at A School Without Walls is measured through competencies, a research-backed and XQ-championed model that empowers students to lead their own learning. Instead of traditional letter grades, SWoW students receive narrative reports from their teachers guiding their development of seven competencies: analyzing, collaborating, connecting, investigating, designing, presenting and communicating, and reflecting. SWoW students build their own competency-based portfolios to show what they’ve learned and take the lead in twice-yearly conferences to reflect on what they’ve learned and what they need to improve.