New Schools

In 2016, we supported the launch of two new, innovative small high schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District as part of Opportunity by Design: Lincoln-West Global Studies and Lincoln-West School of Science and Health. Both schools opened their doors in July after a robust design year supported by Springpoint. Check out some thoughts on new school startup from their founders, here.

Building on this work, we are excited to support the launch of five new schools next fall. Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools will launch two new, student-centered high school academies that will feature flexible scheduling, tiered course offerings, experiential learning opportunities and mastery-based structures. Cleveland Metropolitan School District will launch another three new high schools in summer 2017 as well, each of them being planned with a deep, community-driven design process.

New Partnership

We are excited to announce a new partnership with the Barr Foundation to help launch an initiative that seeks to develop, improve, and grow high-quality alternative education models for New England students who are off-track to graduate from high school. Check out this video, which gets to the heart this work and shows what’s possible for young people in schools that are intentionally designed to meet their needs. If you’re working to support students who are off track, we encourage you to check out the recently launched RFP. Over the next few years, Springpoint will work with the teams to are successful in this RFP process to design and grow their school models.

Stay tuned for updates on this work in the new year!

Continued Growth & Iteration

We deepened our work with our district, intermediary and charter partners, guiding them through data-driven model iteration and capacity building. Look out for in-depth profiles, published early next year on our blog, about how these schools have continued to grow and adapt their models and practice in response to evolving student and community needs.

For a peek into this work, read about Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design’s Year 2 pivots in a post from Lisa Simms, Assistant Principal. Stephanie Price, an English teacher at this school, also gave us a window into her work to create a competency-based ELA classroom. In Prince George’s County, Maryland, Assistant Principal Daniel Sass shares how Internationals High School at Langley Park is building new community partnerships on behalf of students. Check out part 1 and part 2 of Daniel’s blog series, originally published at Education Post.

Sharing Our Learnings

A few months ago, we published a new design guide—Designing New School Models, A Practical Guide. This guide outlines our three phased process for new school startup, and includes detailed tools and resources to support school designers and leaders. It’s the first of several resources that we’ll release in the coming months, including an upcoming publication on positive youth development as a key lever in successful school design. Download a copy here.

Dive deeper into learnings from our network:

• Our partners shared learnings at iNACOL’s Blended and Online Learning Symposium. We led a panel of teachers sharing honest advice on leading competency-based classrooms, a hackathon for prospective new school designers, an Ed Tech Q&A, and a storytelling event for new school designers. Watch our partners share personal perspectives on “doing school differently” at our StorySLAM!

• Learnings from our design guide spread across the blogosphere. Executive Director, JoEllen Lynch, answered 5 Questions for Carnegie Corporation of New York to talk about our work. And our Senior Director, Anna Hall, was interviewed by Education Reimagined’s November issue of Pioneering, and spoke to Rhonda Broussard about breaking up with your best ideas. Take a look at the learnings from their conversation here.

• Students from our partner schools prepare for college and careers. In a post for GettingSmart’s GenDIY campaign, students from The Urban Assembly Maker Academy and the Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design explain how their schools provide them with targeted opportunities to develop skills that will put them on a path to postsecondary success. Read the full story at The Huffington Post.

For more updates, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn—and check The Launch Pad where we collect timely and relevant insights, questions, and lessons learned.

As always, if you have feedback or ideas, please reach out to us at info@springpointschools.org We love hearing from friends, colleagues, and partners in the field, and we look forward to continuing this meaningful work in 2017.