No matter whether you’re measuring by student satisfaction or test scores, most American high schools don’t have great outcomes. This has led some to declare that this centuries-old mass institution is broken. Actually, say experts, it’s working just the way it was designed to work. And that’s the problem. 

In this season of Like a Sponge, we explore how high schools need to change, and the ways some educators are rethinking assumptions and remaking their schools to actually work for students.