Last year, we announced a new partnership with the Barr Foundation to support the Engage New England (ENE) initiative. It has been an exciting journey working with the 9 amazing ENE partners who are designing high schools that will support students who are off track to graduation. Since this summer’s kick off, teams have eagerly delved into community-based research and we can’t wait to continue the work and see what they come up with as they move into design. We are also thrilled to expand our work with the Barr Foundation as they launch an RFP for the second cohort of grantees.

• • Read More: Some of our ENE partners shared reflections on the work from their Understand phase of the design process and we published two partner spotlights, on Domus Kids and Chelsea Public Schools.

We’ve also continued our partnership with Carnegie Corporation of New York on the Opportunity by Design initiative, where we have worked with districts, networks, and charters to open schools that will ultimately serve over 7,000 students at capacity. Through this work, we have helped design 16 new high schools in 6 cities, including 4 that opened this year.

• • Read more: Take a look at how Cleveland Metropolitan School District engages their community in school design, how one leader shadowed a student, and how one school designed an Exhibitions of Learning program.

100 educators and students joined us on national school learning tours to observe great practices and spend significant time reflecting on their own work. Our learning tours are designed to let attendees see classrooms, talk to students and teachers, have probing conversations with leaders, and develop action plans to take learnings back to their own contexts.

330 school designers, including school and district leaders, students, and other practitioners, participated in our design workshops, trainings, retreats, coaching sessions, and convenings. We believe that engaging experiences, support, and collaboration can create fertile ground to do school differently.

Our team traveled 150,000 miles to visit our partners—from Denver to Maine—and work with them to understand their students and communities and help them implement their school models.

We published several resources this year, including a practical paper on Positive Youth Development (PYD) for all educators who are seeking ways to incorporate PYD into their schools. Our Schools to Visit guide helps educators find and see great practice in action. A 4-part series on iteration shows how some of our school partners have continued to grow and adapt their school models and practices in response to evolving student and community needs. Mastery Communications Week, which we led alongside 5 other organizations, yielded dozens of resources, examples, and tools for educators working to sharpen the ways in which they relay information to stakeholders. And as always, our design guide is a practical starting place for anyone looking to develop thoughtful school designs.