On August 29, 2019, superintendent Michelle Reid announced the formation of a "Goal 4 Think Tank" (G4TT) to the entire district and invited interested individuals to meet twice a week for the year. To support Goal 4 of the district's strategic plan (Innovative, Creative, Critical Thinkers), "We will be looking at research on innovation and how schools and school districts make space for it at scale." Dr. Reid also wrote, "I am excited about this conversation and how it will inform our newest high school program."
The G4TT first gathered on the evening of September 11, 2019 in the NSD board room. While not all were in attendance at every meeting, about 80 people were involved with this group from a wide variety of backgrounds. There was a large contingent of district administration and support personnel. In addition, there were school-based NSD employees, parents, students, and members of the community.
At this first meeting, the G4TT met planning principal Peter Schurke, who had been hired in August, and were given details about the former call center in a business park that the district had purchased and which was already being remodeled into a school. CP4 (Canyon Park building 4), as it was then called, was having additional bathrooms installed, an additional staircase built, and it was being retrofitted with additional earthquake supports. As much as possible, however, the original open structure of the spaces was maintained. Moveable walls were installed to create flexible-use spaces, but permanent walls were not erected that would force classes into traditional boxes.
During the bimonthly meetings, the members of the G4TT learned by reading Creating Innovators by Dr. Tony Wagner and some selected articles. Planning Principal Schurke (and a few other district personnel) also visited other programs around the country and reported back to the group about how those established programs were innovating. Eventually, the team also video-chatted with Dr. Wagner to discuss their learnings, questions, and next steps. All of this information was then captured on the "G4TT Matrix," which captured the many diverse ideas. The members of the think tank then voted on which ideas seemed most important to adopt at the new high school.
As early as November, the G4TT concluded, “What we know is that CP4 will be our lab to try out ideas, to learn about things that will work, and then to share them with other schools.” Given the innovative teaching practices that were desired and a goal to teach students how to innovate, the group began describing the new high school as an "innovation lab." Soon thereafter, that term stuck and the new school began to be called Innovation Lab High School (ILHS).
By the end of 2019, the philosophy behind the new high school was solidifying and the G4TT began to turn its attention to implementation. The G4TT had largely agreed on the following components of ILHS:
Crew
Community
Transferable skills
Cornerstone
Transferable skills
Assess what matters, which requires “collective human judgment to measure students’ skills”
Design thinking
Student-driven & student-centered
Expeditionary/project-based learning
Interdisciplinary learning
Value of multiple paths to careers, including vocational, college
Internships
Partnership with local skills center and other community organizations
Mastery Transcript
No grades
“Lab” school; NSD’s R&D
Start with vetted and proven ideas
Risk-taking
“What we know is that CP4 will be our lab to try out ideas, to learn about things that will work, and then to share them with other schools.” -November 19, 2019
“Schools must be willing to be models of learning institutions that are ready to prepare students for the future. This means schools must shift into being places where research and development is embraced as part of the educational process.” -Paraphrased from Tony Wagner, November 19, 2019
At the start of 2020, the G4TT helped Planning Principal Schurke refine his respective presentations that would be given to staff, students, and families. For the first two weeks of February, these groups heard presentations about ILHS and the application for enrollment opened. In mid-February, all NSD staff was provided with information on how to apply for transfer to Innovation Lab High School. Dr. Wagner also came out to speak to interested NSD staff, students, and families.
Goal 4 Think Tank folder, which contains...
Slides with notes from site visits, including Crew and expeditions
ILHS was quickly taking shape as the G4TT met on February 27th, 2020. The mood was optimistic, but also unsteady as some were getting worried about the COVID-19 virus that was making headlines. That meeting ended up being the last gathering of the G4TT. The school district closed all buildings on March 3rd and moved classes online. The entire district went into coping mode, reacting to the coronavirus impacts when everything was new and unsure. It was a time of constant problem-solving and innovation, but not for the new high school. Compared to the pandemic that would leave school buildings closed until April 19th, 2021, the work on this new school was a low priority.
The first staff members (Alec McTavish, Carlos Lazo, Dori Wuepper, Kirby Morgan) were notified that they were hired in mid-March, and the first ILHS staff meeting took place over Zoom on March 27th. While juggling the new challenges brought on by the pandemic, the staff began meeting regularly to figure out logistics of opening the new school. As the weeks rolled on, new staff members were hired and joined the conversations.
Due to the impact of the pandemic and the challenges associated with opening a new high school on a tight schedule, many of the G4TT's innovative ideas for the school got filed under, "Can't deal with this right now." The staff actively endeavored to implement Crew, transferable skills, student voice & choice, and expeditions. Internships were not an option even for established internship programs during the pandemic, and eliminating grades was too challenging a concept to implement at first.
The first first day of school for ILHS on September 2, 2020 looked much different than anyone could have foreseen the year beforehand. The impact of the pandemic kept students at home and all learning virtual. Students joined the all-school meeting on Zoom where they met the staff and learned a bit about the year ahead. They then attended classes also through Zoom.
The school opened with 9th and 10th grade students, only. 99 freshmen and 35 sophomores were brave enough to try a school experiment in the middle of the pandemic.
In an effort to demonstrate how the pandemic could lead to positive innovations in the world, the staff chose "Pandemics as Catalysts for Innovation" as the theme for the school's first expedition. We carved out large sections of time for students to work on the expedition, even taking a few school days and devoting them to just working on the expedition.