In order for citizens to effectively design an education system, they need access to information that will support their effort. This information will be combined with their own values, aspirations, and creativity to produce the “design solutions” to be considered for their education system or school.

The collection of all of the support materials being made available to citizens for the design process is called the Knowledge Base Support System.

The following elements of our Knowledge Base Support System are now available for you to download (PDF format). Additional resources will be posted as they become available

An annotated bibliography of books, articles, and other materials describing models and methods that inspired or otherwise relate to the Garden City Community School.
Garden City Profile. This document summarizes information about the people, economy, geography, history, and other aspects of Garden City. It also includes information about the schools currently serving Garden City, and excerpts from a survey of Boise-area youth regarding developmental assets. Note: This version does not include the map that is available in the print version.
Facts About Learning .This document, produced by the Mary Parker Follett Foundation, is a user-friendly summary of key findings from research about how people (particularly children) learn. It covers a wide range of subjects. Accompanying each “Fact” are questions about educational design that the fact might help to answer. Contact the Foundation for information about obtaining printed copies (info@follettfoundation.org). (A Spanish-language version of Facts About Learning is coming soon.)
Results of the May, 2004 Garden City Charter School Survey that was sent out to area households through the Garden City utility bill.
Conclusions and Recommendations from the Idaho Education Survey Commission (1946). This document features excerpts from the report of the Idaho Education Survey Commission, which was created to study the education system in Idaho nearly 60 years ago. Although dated, the findings related to curriculum and instruction are very relevant to today’s educational issues.
How They Do It This document, compiled by GCCS design facilitator Matthew Shapiro, provides short descriptions of how a variety of schools have implemented progressive approaches such as arts integration, experiential learning, community-based education, and more.