District + School Design
We have a long history of rethinking education systems and advocating for in-district schools that have maximum autonomy over their resources, including our pioneering work with the Boston Public Schools (BPS) and Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on the Pilot School model, and with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education on the Innovation Schools model. We partner with educators and leaders nationwide to create a new generation of districts and schools: largely autonomous, high-functioning community assets dedicated to the values of equity, rigor, and continuous improvement.
Addressing achievement gaps and promoting equity in education.
Ensuring access to high-quality learning experiences that are personalized to learners' needs and interests is a cornerstone to achieving equity for all students. We envision public schools that are tailored for each student.
Placing students at the center of their own learning.
Student empowerment is the key to increasing student engagement. Students participate as decision makers in their learning, engaging with divergent projects, investigations, and evidence of learning as they develop a sense of self-efficacy.
Supporting educators and promoting collaboration.
Collaboration is a critical component of school culture. In personalized learning schools, teachers collaborate with teachers, teachers collaborate with students, and students collaborate with one another.
How We Can Support You
We build the capacity of school and district teams to create collaborative cultures that value inquiry, leading to improvement of instructional practice and strategies to better support students. We offer a range of services that can be customized to your needs (including workshops, institutes, coaching sessions, leadership training, and online learning modules) and encourage sustained relationships with our partners to ensure the greatest impact.
Personalized Learning
We coach educators in transforming their classrooms into culturally responsive learning environments. Through Personalized Learning, students find their voice and can embrace their individual strengths, needs, interests, and culture. We've developed the Five Principles of Personalized Learning to guide educators along the path to building truly equitable learning opportunities for every student.
School Design and Redesign
We assist new and existing schools to envision, design, and implement schools where learning is personalized for the benefit of each student. We facilitate processes and protocols, such as Data Based Inquiry, to support schools to investigate teaching, learning, and assessment, examine data, explore professional dilemma, and engage in dialogue around school focus areas.
Autonomous Zone and School Planning and Development
We guide districts in planning for and implementing autonomous schools and zones. We work with leaders to grant schools autonomy over most resources and decisions, redesign central office policies to support them, create a process to select new school designs and conversions to join the zone, and establish a district accountability system to assess and support their progress.
Professional Learning Community Design and Facilitation
We build the foundations for collaborative learning groups by exploring how to establish norms for collaboration, how to use protocols and tools, and how to value the inquiry process. We provide facilitation training for educators, which is a key pathway to developing teacher leaders.
Core Offerings | |
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Personalized Learning | School Design and Redesign |
Autonomous Zone and School Planning and Development | Professional Learning Community Design and Facilitation |