ELP hosted its first “Tinquevation” Summer Accelerator, piloting a new structure that supports system design and transformation. The week-long experience was attended by Design Teams from 4 of the Envision Schools, and a client school from Madison, WI, Capital High. Click here to read more about Capital High, as Karyn Stocks Glover, principal of Capital High, shares her thoughts on our work together.
Design Teams consisted of school leaders, teacher leaders, and student leaders who came together in downtown Oakland to be in community together as we investigated how to re-imagine our systems with an uncompromising priority of putting equity at the center.
The Accelerator borrowed structures from the world of technology and start-ups to try and create spaces for people to learn deeply and then to immediately prototype applying that learning to their own contexts.
Each morning started with informative and diverse panels of speakers representing voices that we need to inspire and push our thinking – alumni, business leaders, higher education folks, etc. Personal and collective equity work was woven throughout each day, and thanks to the leadership of ELP coach, Alcine Mumby, it became clear that the most important work we need to do is to center the voices of our most marginalized in our systems.
One of the most impactful dimensions to the Accelerator was the uplifting and centering of student voice. Not surprisingly, having students at the table who felt invited and supported in speaking authentically about their lived experience within our systems was the richest content created during the week.
Teams left the Accelerator with plans to locate the most marginalized voices at each school and to engage in deep and relational empathy with these folks in order to better understand their realities, their needs, and their asks for changes to be made. Our school teams developed a clear path forward after the accelerator:
Envision Design Teams will meet with each other throughout the academic year as they dig into an inquiry project about what the Graduate Profile should be for Envision Schools, and how can it live more at the center of our system.
Capital High is mapping backward from their first round of Graduation Portfolio Defenses that will take place in May, during which their students will reflect deeply on how they have understood and practiced Growth Mindset in their lives in and outside of school.
The Accelerator planning is being wonderfully lead by ELP team member, Abby Benedetto, learn more about her in this post, and is being supported by a long-time deeper learning colleague and thought leader around equity in education, Shane Safir.
ELP looks forward to the next iteration of the Accelerator, stay tuned for more details.
The September Newsletter’s Resource Corner provides some of the slides from the Accelerator and to read more about its development, click here.
