The world is changing. School, all too often, is not. You know this already, and that’s why you’re reading this playbook.
Here’s a 2012 video from Smithsonian Student Travel that explains it well. That it feels dated already underlines how quickly our world is changing.
We believe that schools need to change to prepare students to meet this new world. Schools need to start up students to engage with the world with the skills, knowledge, networks, and resources that enable them to make an impact.
We envision three possible futures for our young innovators: college, uncollege, and startups. We promise to prepare them for all three.
Four year public or private colleges or universities have traditionally been the gateway to success. As a California public school, we ensure that our students will be qualified to apply to all University of California and Cal State schools. As the cost of higher education mounts, we ensure that our students know how to make the most of the college opportunity.
By 2020, when our first class will graduate, higher eduction will look different than it does now. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and micro-credentials are opening the doors to a world where students can curate or create their own higher educational pathway that’s not limited to four years of on-site learning at one single institution. Students may choose courses or course bundles from a variety of institutions and showcase their learning via portfolios or LinkedIn. We design our 6-12 school to prepare our students to forge their own pathway into the future.
In the 21st century, entrepreneurial ventures are formed by younger and younger teams. We teach our students to work together to take a venture from ideation to execution not once but twice in their 6-12 experience, first at the end of middle school and then again in their final year of high school. If they are prepared to do so at any other time, we try to accommodate their drive. Los Angeles is home to the third most vibrant startup ecosystem in the world, and we immerse our innovators into the thick of it.
We’ve mapped the fundamentals common to all three of these futures.
We’ve also catalogued the skills and knowledge unique to each pathway.
From this analysis, we’ve created IncSchool Fundamentals, a master blueprint for what our innovators will know when they leave our school. IncSchool Fundamentals is a living document, and you can find it here.
My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.