Here is the Problem
Thrive Ed is on a mission to reinvent school.
● To harness the power, imagination and insights of students, educators and the
community.
● To recharge our education system to be equitable, inclusive, powerful and engaging for
every learner.
● To invest students in their school experience so they are empowered and ready for their
future – equipped to lead, solve problems, make change and contribute in meaningful
ways.
The one-size-fits-all approach to learning and school doesn’t work for students, educators,
nor school leaders.
The traditional model of schooling:
●Does not prepare students for a world in which they will need to solve increasingly
complex problems and adapt to ever-changing conditions, technology, and
innovation.
●Dehumanizes students and devalues educators.
Further evidence indicates:
● Achievement disparities are large for students of color and indigenous students.
● Teachers are leaving the profession within five years.
● There is clear evidence regarding what works in school, yet the implementation of
these ideas are contextual and complex. The knowing-doing gap persists in many
schools and classrooms today.
What will we do to solve this?
We will leverage the strengths and gifts of students, educators, and our community.
We will power students as partners in their learning.
We will create a community where all teachers and specifically teachers of color thrive and grow.
We will provide unprecedented learning experiences for students and teachers to foster confidence,
high achievement, and meaningful, authentic work.
We will ensure all students thrive and achieve at high levels to pursue success in their personal and
professional lives. We are relentless in this pursuit.
How can we do this?
Using a design thinking process, we will facilitate, co-create, coach and empower students , educators,
community leaders, and school leaders to think differently about teaching and learning.
Who will be a part of this?
Students
Students are critical partners in transforming education. When their feedback and ideas are tapped, this partnership leads to dramatically improved practices and policies, engaging units of study and assessments and meaningful work. Facilitators will design and conduct conversations (focus groups, surveys, and training) with students in order to tap into their experiences and insights to improve and transform the school experience. Partnering with students to understand their experience, to gather feedback on their perceptions is collected on a continuum used to co-design, contribute to, or to make revisions to school-based practices, curriculum, and or policies.
Educators and Leaders
Time and implementation are the biggest challenges teacher teams note when creating meaningful units and assessments. Teachers are working tirelessly, many are creating innovative ideas and responding to the ever changing world that is requiring an incredibly different type of school. When trying to design more innovative future assessments and units of study, teacher teams need the space and time to think and design. As a result, our design studio provides educator facilitators to guide teams in creating meaningful, learning-focused units and assessments.
Student and Teacher's Experiences
We envision a new school that promotes mentor ship, personalization, competencies, feedback, internships and authentic learning. This school will become a learning lab for other schools and collaborative teams.
Student Experiences
Weekly Mentorship:
Students will meet weekly with educator mentors create the foundation for students to identify interests, passions, monitor progress on competencies, personalize learning, co-create learning experiences, and receive ongoing feedback.
Competencies:
Each student will be led through a progression establish learning expectations that ensure students will be prepared for the future and a world that is ever-changing and evolving.
Competencies will exceed the current requirements in the Minnesota State
Standards in the areas of:
• Literacy
• Writing
• Mathematics
• Social Studies and Civics
• Scientific Thinking
• Technology and Engineering
• Information Literacy
• Digital Literacy
• The Arts: Music, Theater, Instrumental
• Physical Literacy
• Financial Literacy
• Collaborative Problem-Solving
• Global Competencies
Authentic and relevant learning experiences:
Units of study will be designed by teacher teams and co-designed with students. Students will engage in learning that addresses local and global issues; provides opportunities to problem-solve and contribute solutions to some of our most pressing issues. Learning experiences will also be developed with our business and organization partners to ensure that tasks are guiding students to develop skills that lead to success in the future.
Weekly service learning:
Once a week, students in grades 7-8 will engage in service learning projects. Led and facilitated by school staff, students will make progress on competencies through reflection, specific tasks and a symposium sharing their insights.
Weekly internships:
(Grades 9-12): Students in grades 9-12 will have an internship each semester. Similar to the service learning model, students will make progress on competencies through reflection, specific tasks and a symposium sharing their insights. Each week, qualified and caring staff will guide students in their internship experience. Internships may include, but are not limited to, the health and human services industry, architecture and construction industry or the science and engineering field.
Students will experience college classes as part of their high school experience with the goal of students earning 1 or more college credits. Students will take college classes with the support of their teachers to guide them through this experience.
January-term projects:
Students and teacher teams will co-design 3 week intense experiences. Projects may be onsite or local, national or world travel. Students will make progress on competencies through these in-depth projects.
Teacher Experiences
Educators will experience a culture that focuses on building community and capitalizing on the strengths of both individuals and the collective.
Dedicated time:
Educators will be treated as professionals with time afforded to think, reflect, design, and collaborate. Each grade level team will have one full day each week for intentional design, student work examination, feedback, and data
analysis.
Weekly professional learning:
One day per week, teachers will gather for an afternoon of professional learning while students engage in deeper guided study.
