One Stone

Curriculum and Instruction: Learning at One Stone is student-driven and experience-based. Much of it happens through design-thinking, which enables students to uncover new ideas that allow them to disrupt for good as well as learn and practice critical 21st Century skills. Students are grouped in Lab cohorts (their Lab51 program) which focus on different design-thinking oriented endeavors. Students are in charge of what and how they would like to learn through Deep Dives, Immersions, and Cannonballs. Topics might be pre-selected by a coach and students choose to take it, though students will still choose how they engage with the topic (for example, a coach might offer an Immersion on religion, and students choose if they would rather study all religions or just Buddhism. They can also choose if they will read text, visit a local synagogue, etc. Students are also encouraged to design their own courses with the support of a coach. This enables students to follow their interests and passions but to do so with structure, support, and the gentle pushes from a coach. Deep Dives, being the shortest course, can take students far from the One Stone campus, such as a photography course in the Grand Tetons, which enables deep place-based learning.

Assessment: Assessment at One Stone is rigorous and formative and includes data taken from performance-based evaluations, peer-to-peer reviews, self-evaluations, coach observations and written feedback. Assessment practices measure key competencies and growth over time in traditional disciplinary areas (Knowledge), as well as social-emotional development (Mindset), real-world problem solving using human centered design (Creativity), and professional habits of work (Skills).

One Stone’s Bold Learning Objectives, or BLOB, focuses those four key areas of learning. Each area includes cognitive and non-cognitive competencies and dispositions and is supported by research-based learning objectives and criteria for mastery. Through their work in relevant, real-world experiences, students develop the social and emotional skills necessary for a growth mindset; they learn how to approach challenges and solve complex problems creatively; and they gain professional skills required of leaders who pursue their passions with confidence and purpose.

The One Stone Growth Transcript is a tool that students and coaches use to measure growth in each area of the BLOB, identify areas of strength and future growth, and set personalized goals for learning. When a student demonstrates proficiency in each of the 32 learning objectives of the BLOB, they are equipped with a toolkit for life, indicating college and career readiness. You can learn more about how it all works by reading this Q&A with a student.

Finally, students create and manage a digital portfolio, which displays their work, reflects on their growth, and demonstrates their passions. The portfolio is an integral part of the biannual performance review, college transcript, and job resumé. Upon completion of their One Stone experience, students present The Curation of Me (part of the Living in Beta program), a cumulative portfolio of work and reflection of growth. Check out this inspirational project from a 2020 grad.

One Stone is also focused on building a culture which develops and appreciates the whole child. Structures like Living in Beta, portfolio development, and the Curation of Me help students know themselves as well as they know any academic topic or process, generating a deep sense of identity, belonging, purpose, and direction.

One Stone also ensures that students feel connected to one another, the school, and the broader community. While students have many unstructured opportunities to interact, there are also formal structures which support this. For example, bi-monthly Community lunches happen, as well as Community Circle and clean up, which close out each day. In addition to opportunities to work closely with coaches to design and implement courses, One Stone's advisory program ensures each child is deeply known, through 1:1's with adults and small group gatherings. Initiatives like Project Good (or video here), Mission Lab, and often D LAB give students opportunities to give back to the community and build social capital.

One Stone promotes a culture of high expectations. Their College & Career Prep program is led by Lisa Fisher, One Stone coach and author of Admissions by Design: Stop the Madness and Find the Best College for You. Students prepare for successful futures through a personalized approach to college and career exploration, bringing together all they have learned through their wayfinding process to head out into the world with purpose and intention. Keeping in line with high expectations, One Stone does not believe in preparing students for the real world, because they are already living in it. Instead, students have support as they learn by doing things they will be expected to do more independently in the future. For example, students plan and host a variety of engagements, such as a summit called Hands Up, Voices Down where students get the chance to grab a megaphone and solve real problems with real people.

Adults at One Stone are referred to as "coaches". Students describe that this more accurately portrays the relationship that they have with the adults who serve as guides and facilitators rather than purveyors of knowledge. Though coaches have expertise in a particular area and teach within that, they also sign up to teach immersions outside of their content area, to ensure that students are truly doing the heavy lifting and the adult is there to ask good questions and support the students in developing transferrable skills.

Community partnerships are key to One Stone's commitment to engage the real world. In fact, they have have provided 222 internships, job shadows, and real world experiences with over 60 organizations in Boise and beyond.

One Stone students also engage with community partners through their Studios + Labs. Take Two Birds for example. Two Birds is a revenue-generating business, where students take on local business as clients to provide a variety of services, from logo design, to filming a commercial, hosting workshops, and writing manuals. For students, this provides real-world learning about business, project management, technology, marketing, and design. Students gain valuable technical skills and real-world expertise by operating an innovative business that provides design thinking and marketing services to professional clientele on a local, regional, and national level. They learn to take risks, be vulnerable with their ideas, and approach challenges with creativity. All revenue generated by Two Birds helps One Stone offer its Studios + Labs at no cost.

Community and family members are always welcome at One Stone and area an integral part of school events. While many schools ask the question, how do we better partner with students and families? At One Stone, students tackle that question themselves.

Students are free to move about the building at their leisure. The floor plan is quite open, with particular areas more suited to particular needs. For example, one section is filled bins with lots of and creative thinking necessities, such as sticky notes, pens, dot stickers etc. which might be used for brainstorming and planning sessions. Another is where the computers are all located, accessed for Studio + Labs as well as when needed. Furthermore, Immersions and such tend to happen in a consistent location in the building, like at the communal table.

One Stone also has a house-built music studio called Ripple, equipped with instruments, recording devices, and more. This space is accessed freely but largely used to support music-centered learning experiences.The Foundry is a state-of-the-art Maker space with 3-D printers and woodworking tools. Students can openly access this space but it also used for Immersions like Crash Course, a skateboard focused Immersion. Centrally located in the building is an professional, FDA-certified kitchen, where students can keep their meals and cook them, oftentimes together. Communal seating outside the kitchen enables community and connection during lunch and during bi-monthly Community lunches, where Coaches cook for students and everyone eats together. You will find a large open space, the Great Hall, where the community can gather together (or is used as needed by smaller groups) to give presentations, such as Disruption Day. On the flip side, smaller, 3-walled spaces exist for students to meet with coaches to plan, connect, and more.

Even though One Stone's building is designed to meet the varied needs of students, many learning experiences happen outside of the building. Some are designed that way - a student interested in foraging might design a Deep Dive where he is outside in the woods surrounding Boise. This also enables students to ensure they are really working on projects with the community. Students often visit local business, interview community members in town, or visit local schools.

All this communal space only works if everyone agrees to care for it. In general, students are expected to clean up after themselves always. At the end of each day, the community comes together to take care of a particular shared space. For example. there is a recycling team who makes sure bins are set up, there is a process for using them, they are taken out on the right days, and enabling composting. The kitchen crew might be responsible for overall cleaning, unloading the dishwasher, and making sure they have enough cleaning supplies for the future.

You can take a virtual tour of One Stone's facilities in downtown Boise by visiting their homepage and scrolling halfway down.

One Stone leverages technology in many of its experience. The tools in The Foundry and Ripple are certainly high tech and require computational knowledge as well as the hands-on labor. However, technology is not the main way that learning happens. Immersions, Deep Dives, and Cannonballs let young people do the planning, and those seeking or interested in computers can certainly embed them into those experiences. Those looking to get outside, or into a book, have that option as well. Mostly, students choose to leverage technology when they want to learn a 21st century skill. However, it is not uncommon to students without interest in or penchant for technology to be trying out, either from a nudge from their coach or because they know they know how to 'fail forward'. Plus, who doesn't want to try out the 3D printer??

One Stone began as an after-school non-profit aiming to to help students in the Boise area use their voice to change the world. Students eventually demanded that the model be turned into a high school running alongside and via the non-profit, both of which are led and run by students. In fact, the Board of Directors is 2/3 students from the Boise area. The school is a a tuition-free, independent high school. They are able to operate as such because revenue generated from students' school-based entrepreneurial endeavors such as XXXX fund the school.

As an independent school, One Stone currently holds Candidate Member status with the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS).

One Stone prides itself on student voice and is doing incredibly innovative things in education. Unsurprisingly, they a lot of love in the media. Read all about coverage from their students and from the media and the awesome events that they hold. The school also has a documentary made about the incredible things they do, which you can watch a preview of here.