Publications

Resources to support and inform all stages of the school design journey.

How Students Thrive
Positive Youth Development in Practice
Positive youth development is the foundation of any good school model and the backbone of our school design process. In this guide, we introduce the five key tenets of positive…

Positive youth development is the foundation of any good school model and the backbone of our school design process. In this guide, we introduce the five key tenets of positive youth development: caring, trusting, and supportive relationships; high expectations; opportunities to contribute; engaging learning experiences; and consistency. The publication features student voices and offers resources for assessing how well a school has embedded these principles into their school environment and outlines actionable suggestions for building these tenets into the school’s culture.
Learning from Great Practice
Schools to Visit in 2018
A practical resource for those interested in innovative and effective school practices, this list is organized by region and includes information on each school’s model, a brief overview of key…

A practical resource for those interested in innovative and effective school practices, this list is organized by region and includes information on each school’s model, a brief overview of key model elements, contact information, and links for more information. While not exhaustive, this directory can serve as a good starting point for educators as they determine the types of practices they want to see in action and explore further.
Inside Mastery Based High Schools
Profiles and Conversations
This collection of case studies from innovative, mastery-based schools across the country is based on interviews with practitioners and includes a robust set of sample resources from each school. The…

This collection of case studies from innovative, mastery-based schools across the country is based on interviews with practitioners and includes a robust set of sample resources from each school. The learnings and tools featured are useful for any practitioner interested in understanding more about mastery-based learning and how it can be effectively implemented to drive learning outcomes and cultivate student agency.
Promising and Effective Practices and Student-Centered Scheduling
Learnings from NYC Transfer Schools
A practical guide to an essential aspect of school design, this publication is based on real learnings and successes from across New York City’s alternative and transfer high schools, which…

A practical guide to an essential aspect of school design, this publication is based on real learnings and successes from across New York City’s alternative and transfer high schools, which serve over-age and under-credited students. It is centered around four key areas of student-centered programming and scheduling to meet student needs: creating versatile course pathways to graduation, dedicating necessary time and staff to complete individualized scheduling, providing nontraditional routes for students to earn credits, and creating a cohesive culture for students and staff.
The XQ Expert Series on School Mission & Culture
All great schools are mission-driven
Featuring our founding ED, JoEllen Lynch, this is Expert Q&A focuses school mission and culture. JoEllen and fellow panelists discuss best practices and challenges of articulating a school’s shared goals…

Featuring our founding ED, JoEllen Lynch, this is Expert Q&A focuses school mission and culture. JoEllen and fellow panelists discuss best practices and challenges of articulating a school’s shared goals and values, and how to create a student-centered culture that all stakeholders can rally around.
Youth Development and School Design Video
A conversation with Sabrina Evans Ellis and Michele Cahill
Michele Cahill speaks with Sabrina Evans Ellis (Youth Development Institute) about youth development and its impact on school design. Cahill discusses her wide-ranging experience in designing schools with youth development…

Michele Cahill speaks with Sabrina Evans Ellis (Youth Development Institute) about youth development and its impact on school design. Cahill discusses her wide-ranging experience in designing schools with youth development principles in mind, and ways in which youth development research can support student success in high school, college, and career.
Strategic Approaches to Growing Schools
A Reference Guide for School Design Teams
Developed in partnership with reDesign, this reference guide focuses on the unique opportunities and challenges of growing a school model, grade by grade. It offers a set of strategies to…

Developed in partnership with reDesign, this reference guide focuses on the unique opportunities and challenges of growing a school model, grade by grade. It offers a set of strategies to optimize the success of a school’s growth strategy in order to turn both challenges and opportunities into realized strengths. Practitioner spotlights and links to additional resources help guide readers as they delve deeper into school design and growth.

Blog

The news, research, ideas, and opinions from across the Springpoint ecosystem.

Featured Post

Five Lessons from a School Design Leader

At Springpoint, we are fortunate to work with a variety of dedicated and experienced practitioners to support their work to reimagine high school. The Barr Foundation’s Engage New England initiative, which invests in the design and launch of new school models for students who are off-track toward graduation, recently welcomed its…

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Student Voice and Choice in School Design

As our Engage New England school design partners transition from the Understand to Design phase, it is important to continue to collect feedback and input from students. Students are the perfect audience to pressure test emerging design priorities.

Partner Spotlight: Chelsea Opportunity Academy Understanding Students in a New Way

This school-within-a-school—Chelsea Opportunity Academy (COA)—will fill an important need in the community. COA will better serve current students and incoming students that Chelsea High School does not currently serve. Instrumental in the success of COA is an intentional, student-centered design process. Springpoint is partnering with COA on the design of the school through Barr Foundation's Engage New England initiative. Our communications manager, Angela Duffy, spoke with Ron Schmidt at Chelsea Public Schools about the school design team's early work within the Understand phase of the process.

A Growing School Keeps a Focus on Instructional Development

Developing teachers is an essential part of any principal's work. This can be a doubly challenging priority when a school doubles in size. Our partner schools generally grow a grade per year, meaning that Year 2 of a school's existence is a time when the number of teachers doubles. As the school continues to grow, and more teachers come on board, the need for a well thought out teacher development plan becomes a top priority.

Partner Spotlight: A Comprehensive Research Plan to Drive Targeted School Design

One of our school partners, Domus Kids in Stamford, Connecticut, has taken on the task of redesigning their current high school, Stamford Academy. They have seen the need to put everything on the table for review and evaluation as they work to more deeply understand their students' needs. The design team is working to glean valuable insights from many stakeholder groups, alongside a deep dive into current data from over a decade of work at their high school.

Springpoint at the 2017 iNACOL Symposium

This year, Springpoint will host three sessions at iNACOL's 2017 Symposium—a StorySLAM, a panel on Cleveland Metropolitan School District's innovative strategic approach, and an interactive workshop on CBE and positive youth development. We'll also host a Springpoint network and friends happy hour and hope to see everyone there.

Remembering and Celebrating JoEllen Lynch

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of JoEllen Lynch, our Executive Director and dear friend. JoEllen passed away on Tuesday evening, October 3rd at home surrounded by her loving family.

Time Resource Analysis: A Leadership Coaching Technique

Springpoint's partner schools are located across the country—in places like Denver, Maine, and Cleveland—so we aren't able to be inside our partner schools every day. Because we can't be on the ground as much as we might like, we need a way to gain understanding in a short period of time about how we can best support the implementation and iteration of our partners' school designs. One way we can get to know our partner schools and their leaders better is through a principal shadowing exercise, also called Time Resource Analysis.

Designing Exhibitions of Learning at a First-Year School

At Lincoln-West School of Global Studies, students are gaining the skills to be master presenters through twice yearly Exhibitions of Learning (EOLs). We asked founding principal, Dr. Irene Javier, to tell us about how her and her design team developed this key instructional approach that supports students to explore their interests, brings community members into the school, and prepares students for college and career through service learning expeditions. We asked Dr. Javier about the EOL design process and what advice she would give to schools who are designing or iterating a similar approach.

We Don’t Have to Sacrifice High Expectations to Meet Students Where They Are

At Springpoint, we support our school partners to design innovative school models that set students on a path toward success. This summer, we kicked off work with our partners at Barr Foundation to support the design and implementation of nine new schools that will serve students who are off-track toward graduation as part of their Engage New England initiative. As we dive into this exciting work, we are constantly thinking about ways that schools can fill students' learning gaps and get them college and career ready.

Supporting Educators as Ambassadors for Mastery-Based Learning

Mastery Communications Week, from August 14-18, will surface resources, tools, and best practices for communicating about mastery-based learning to parents, and other community members. Next Generation Learning Challenges took a look at how schools collaborate with teachers to hone, refine, and deliver mastery messages.
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