As 2019 comes to a close, we are reflecting on everything we’ve learned supporting communities and practitioners in reimagining high schools.
We continue to be driven by an unwavering belief that all young people can find success, and are honored to work alongside our incredible partners to design and launch school models that help students thrive. Looking ahead to 2020, we are energized by the new opportunities to deepen and expand our impact.
Read on for 7 essential insights from our work over the past 7 years.
High-quality learning experiences are key.
Rigorous and relevant learning experiences are the very core of successful schools. We are supporting 8 partner schools in New England to pilot Transformative Learning Experiences—high-quality, project-based units designed to ignite a love of learning, foster rigorous thinking, and make learning relevant and engaging for students.
Students from our partner schools joined us in Boston to present about their work. See a selection of photos and quotes here.
Developmental feedback catalyzes change.
School design is never done and developmental feedback is critical to any continuous improvement effort. To support this work, we’ve traversed the country—from Maine to Florida to California—conducting 56 school observation visits to provide robust, actionable developmental feedback to school teams.
Read a recent blog post about our approach to developmental feedback and reflections from a leader about the utility of these visits.
Preparing students for college and career is more critical than ever.
We believe the level of preparation required for young people to succeed in college and career is the same. Our partners are laser-focused on helping students build the competencies, skills, mindsets, and knowledge to succeed on the path of their choice.
Across our partner schools, students have earned well over $11 million in scholarships. Take a look at the scholarship stories already rolling in this month from a partner school in Prince George’s County serving ELL students!
Schools must engage and empower stakeholders.
Tapping into the collective wisdom of stakeholders can surface rich context, generate creative solutions, and ensure that communities are true adolescent learning ecosystems. Our partners empower students as school designers, which ensures that schools are responsive to student needs and prioritize a culture of agency, choice, and voice.
In our work coaching and supporting 32 school leaders through deep, multi-year partnerships, we have provided guidance on designing with diverse communities. Read this story by an alumna from one of our partner schools, who was integral in shaping her school’s model.
Piloting and phasing in new approaches can build momentum and garner valuable data.
Often, we see school designers feel a strong sense of urgency to transform every element of school at once. Piloting allows schools to test new ideas, refine approaches, build excitement and momentum, and create strong proof points before broader implementation.
Each of our 22 partner high schools have focused on competency-based education as a way to help students develop the skills and knowledge to be successful in their post-secondary lives. Check out our newest resource, which provides guidance on sequencing the rollout of competency-based approaches.
Social-emotional learning and academics are inseparable.
Positive Youth Development theory tells us that the work of learning and the work of becoming oneself are inextricably linked. Strong high schools hold their students to high expectations and ensure that there are consistent opportunities to build relationships, exercise voice and choice, and engage in meaningful and relevant learning experiences in and outside of the classroom.
Revisit our paper on Positive Youth Development in school design, one of our 12 seminal publications meant to provide practical resources for educators.
Robust communities of practice strengthen school design efforts.
This year marked the close of Opportunity by Design, a multi-year initiative supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York that enabled us to support the design of 16 new high schools in 6 states, serving over 6,000 students. We brought leaders together in May to learn together, celebrate their incredible work, and get energized for iteration.
Read about the convening here, including our reflections and insights.
Share this Year in Review round-up with your colleagues on Twitter or over email. And drop us a line if you’re as excited about reimagining what schools can be—we love connecting with like-minded advocates, stakeholders, and educators: info@springpointschools.org