In our three years we’ve developed an understanding of how to roll out entrepreneurship so that our innovators are successful. IncSchool begins in 6th grade, and we draw diverse students from all over Los Angeles.
To bring these students together into a community and prepare them for independent work, we created a sheltered 6th grade program called IncCore that focuses strongly on growing student agency and agency skills.
By the end of 6th grade, our students are able to work independently and collaboratively. They have grown in the CASEL competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. When they enter 7th grade, they are prepared to take on design-thinking-based impact projects generated by our teachers, our community partners, or the students themselves.
In 8th grade, having grown their CASEL skills and the ability to move through and define complex projects, our students are ready to take on a formal class in entrepreneurship that culminates in a business plan competition and launching a school-based startup.
In 9th grade our innovators continue to add to their expertise bank. They may continue with their startup and develop new impact projects even as they gain greater fundamental knowledge and social skills.
As we grow into 10th-12th grades in the coming years, we will be developing the second round of entrepreneurship complete with internships at local startups, deeper relationships with area businesses and non-profits, as well as a strong college preparatory curriculum.
The purpose of this playbook is to lay the groundwork for K12 entrepreneurship, both for new school designers and for existing schools wanting to innovate.
We know each school will want to individuate its entrepreneurship architecture, and as you move further along, you may find, as we did, that it’s helpful to partner with existing organizations who create entrepreneurship pathways.
While we’ve provided our home-grown entrepreneurship curriculum created by our 2014-15 Social Studies teacher Kelly Lippman in collaboration with others, we decided in 2015-16 to purchase and adapt Build’s 9th grade curriculum for our 8th graders.
In addition to Build, the following organizations offer entrepreneurship curriculum and/or support (this is by no means a comprehensive list not are we endorsing any of them):
There are a host of other organizations that have valuable resources for entrepreneurship and its components.
Design Thinking Schools & Programs
NGLC MyWays Framework & Toolkit
Our Pinterest page also has over 1,000 links to resources that support our entire model.
My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.