All of this could be possible at Woodlawn High School and the schools that feed into it if a proposal from the Woodlawn Foundation and Goodrich Foundation becomes reality. Representatives from the two foundations, which are part of Woodlawn United, made a presentation to the Birmingham Board of Education at the April 2 work session.

Woodlawn United is working to revitalize the Woodlawn community using the Purpose Built Communities Model, which has been successful in other cities. One of the four pillars of the model is a "cradle-to-career education pipeline."

The Woodlawn Innovation Zone would align Woodlawn and its feeder schools - Avondale and Oliver elementary schools, Hayes K-8 School and Putnam Middle School - with the purpose of ensuring that every student is college and career ready and has an intentional path forward.

District administrators, school leaders, parents and community representatives, employers, colleges and non-profit agencies serving the community would come together to study and plan the programs for the schools.

Just as we spent a year planning for the career academies that admitted students at six high schools this school year, the planning stages would take a year. A new, rigorous curriculum extending from pre-K through 12th grade would be designed.

The focus would be on hands-on learning, including project-based and inquiry-based learning. Elementary grades would be STEAM (science, technology, arts and math) academies that benefit from local community experts who would create engaging projects that integrate concepts from various academic subjects and the arts.

Middle grades would be "innovation academies" that continue the focus on nurturing creativity, imagination and problem solving, as well as critical thinking skills.

Woodlawn High School would transform into two early college small schools, each with a distinct theme. Each student would have a personal learning plan, and personalized and intense acceleration and remediation would be provided so that every student would be at grade level. Students would be offered the opportunity to earn college credit.

This would dovetail nicely with the district's current focus on career academies and Advanced Placement classes.

A lot of work will be required to bring this concept to fruition, but it will be worth every hour spent if we are able to provide our students with the education they need to be successful in the future.