It was founded in 1997 in the first round of charter schools created in Connecticut and is the oldest environmental charter school in the United States.

[2][non-primary source needed] The school subsequently expanded to reach approximately 180 students.

Common Ground is located on 20 acres of city park land at the base of West Rock Ridge State Park in New Haven, near the Southern Connecticut State University campus.

The school is a program of the New Haven Ecology Project, a non-profit organization that also operates a community environmental education center and urban farm on the same site.

In 2013, work began on a new building and campus improvements that would allow the school to grow to 225 students.