How can I find out about upcoming Mass IDEAS opportunities?
The Mass IDEAS initiative concluded its grants and professional learning opportunities in 2021. However, NGLC continues to support Massachusetts educators and partners who want to provide young people with the schools they deserve through a variety of services and opportunities. Join NGLC's mailing list to connect with our forward-leaning community for stories of innovation as well as opportunities like Innovative Schools Learning Excursions and Bravely.
What kind of pathways do students need?
In today’s world, each student must develop a broad range of skills in problem-solving, communicating, working with others, and lifelong learning. We believe our schools must know what powerful learning looks and feels like, and they must be designed to help our kids thrive in a time of rapid change.
What are the school characteristics that Mass IDEAS supports?
These are the characteristics, or design principles, we look to create and support in schools (and that we use to guide our own programmatic strategies and activities):
Students at the Center: Schools are centered around student learning, student needs, and student success. Solutions are developed and decisions are made based on what is best for students. At Mass IDEAS, students are our guiding light and our motivating driver, and our work is always in service of students across the Commonwealth.
Equitable: Schools enable the achievement and growth of learners—both students and adults—of every national origin and heritage, race, gender, sexual orientation, home language, ability, and other identities. Mass IDEAS constructs our activities so that people and groups who have been excluded historically in school design efforts are not just included but are empowered to participate fully.
Learning Mindset: Schools establish learning communities in which together, all learners take risks, welcome mistakes as learning opportunities, and feel compelled to accomplish goals. Mass IDEAS establishes a culture where together we can take risks, welcome mistakes as learning opportunities, accomplish goals, and participate actively in our professional learning community.
Learner-Driven: Schools support all learners to understand why learning matters, take responsibility for their own learning, and make decisions about their learning. Mass IDEAS is Community-Driven—we support communities, through their design teams, to reinvent their learning environments, understand why this transformation matters, and develop solutions for their own public schools.
Personalized: Schools meet the unique needs of all learners, allowing them to learn at their own pace and to have a say in where, how, and when they learn best. Mass IDEAS supports design teams to create school models that are tailored to their communities’ assets and needs, because there is no one size that fits all.
High expectations: Schools hold high expectations for all learners and support them in meeting clearly defined goals, in order to prepare learners for ongoing success in work and life. Mass IDEAS holds high expectations for our own work and that of the design teams we support, so together, we prepare all Massachusetts students for ongoing success in work and life.
Photo at top courtesy of NGLC