5 new schools, 5 cities, 10 schools in the network, 1500 students served, 5 more schools slated to open, 4 new sets of resources, and more! Here are our 2015 highlights.

5 New Schools

A ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the International High School at Largo

In 2015, we supported the launch of five new high schools across three school districts and networks:

• Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design, a new high school with Denver Public Schools that focuses on preparing students for success in a global society. In their first four months of school, students gained familiarity with the school’s competency system. Students and staff are coming together to create a positive culture built on high expectations. As 11th graders, DSISD students will declare majors within STEM (Engineering or Social Entrepreneurship).

• 360 High School, a new high school in the Providence Public School District that focuses on providing 360 degrees of support for students. The school was designed through a robust community-based process, with working groups comprised of local students, teachers, parents and community members. Students recently participated in a resume writing workshop with Providence College.

• Evolutions High School, a new school also in the Providence Public School District, which is deeply committed to incorporating student voice in its design as it grows.

• International High School at Langley Park, a new public high school in Prince George’s County Public Schools for English language learners who have recently immigrated to the Langley Park area of Prince George’s County. Principal Carlos Beato and students were recently featured in ABC7’s Spotlight on Education.

• International High School at Largo, a new public high school for a diverse set of English language learners from across Prince George’s County. Principal Alison Hanks-Sloan and her team were featured in the Baltimore Sun last November.

An introduction to 360 High School, one of the new Opportunity by Design schools that opened in Providence Public School District last fall

Our 2014 Schools Welcomed New Students

We deepened our work with our partners that opened new school in 2014, guiding them through iterations of their competency systems and curricula. Here are some highlights from their second year of implementation:

• Students at The Urban Assembly Maker Academy in New York City visited local entrepreneurs as part of their annual Industry Day. Companies like littleBits and others engaged students in activities that mirror those of real-world inventors.

• E ³ agle Academy in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District was featured in Freshwater Cleveland’s short list of schools taking unique approaches to learning.

• Students at PACT Academy in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District participated in the Code.org Hour of Code. The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics.

At iNACOL’s Blended and Online Learning Symposium last fall, students, teachers, and leaders of E ³ agle Academy and The Urban Assembly Maker Academy shared what they’ve learned from the first year of implementation. Check out the video here.

New Partners

We began to work with Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School and deepened our work with Cleveland Metropolitan School District to open five new high schools in fall 2016 and 2017. With the support of our team, these partners are currently beginning the work of designing new high schools that will open in fall 2016 and 2017. (Check out Eric Tucker of Brooklyn Lab’s recent blog post about effective data use!)

New Tools and Resources

• We released Inside Mastery Based High Schools: Profiles and Conversations. To create this set of resources, we visited six mastery-based high schools to interview their leaders and gather best-in-class artifacts.

• In collaboration with reDesign, we co-created Making Mastery Accessible: A Practitioner’s Guide to Mastery Learning. This set of practical resources enables teachers and school leaders to design and execute mastery-based learning models. The toolkit includes guides to developing mastery-based grading policies, competencies, instructional plans, and more.

• Our partners at the School District of Philadelphia launched a website and videos to communicate their new competency system to families, teachers, and community members.

• We interviewed teachers and leaders from our new schools, including Principal Kerry Tuttlebee and facilitator Chris Audette of 360 High School, Principal Carlos Beato of International High School at Langley Park, and teacher Alex Sosa of The Urban Assembly Maker Academy.

We’re excited to support our partners as they launch new schools this fall, and to support our existing schools as they grow and develop. Check our Twitter and Facebook pages for more updates.