The 2019-2020 Transcend Design Collaborative: Southwest
We’re thrilled you’re here.
As you launch your journey towards reimagining what school can look and feel like in the future, we invite you to return here as your home base: This is where you’ll find the activities you’ll do on campus with your teams, how to prepare for our in-person convenings, and lots of bonus resources you can customize to meet your unique needs.
Transcend is a national nonprofit dedicated to accelerating innovation in the core design of “school.” It does that in three ways:
Build and spread innovative models in partnership with visionary school communities (like yours!)
Build and deploy a diverse force of R&D talent, called the Yellow Hats League, to develop, codify and spread these new learning models
Build and share actionable knowledge to inform the innovation process with evidence-based insights.
what to expect
Your Journey
Over the next several months, you and your design team will engage in a set of experiences that will inspire, challenge, and prepare you to reimagine school. The approach we take to this journey is a five-phase research and development cycle that will include a mix of four 2-day in-person convenings and monthly in-person or virtual coaching.
Together, we will support you to draft a vision of a new holistic school model, design and test new learning experiences to improve outcomes for all students, and develop a plan to advance your school’s conditions to support your new vision.
In the end, it is our hope that this experience accelerates your school design journey forward to implement a bold and innovative vision for your school community.
October 3-4 | Oakland, CA
Why must we reimagine school? Let’s begin by learning more about your own school community. Before the convening, you’ll observe student learning, collect data, and explore learning science. All of this will be used in Convening 1 to help you develop a detailed picture of the current reality on your campus and define an aspiration for your reimagined school.
November 19-20 | Austin, TX
In this convening, you will create a prototype of a student experience that closes the gap between your school’s current realities and the aspirations you defined in Convening 1. You’ll leave the convening with a concrete small-scale pilot plan to test the experience with students at your school site.
February 18-19 | New Orleans, LA
How might we refine our visions for our reimagined schools? After sharing what you learned from your small-scale pilots, you will begin to imagine what a day, week, year, or years might look, sound, and feel like for your students in your future school. By the end of this convening, you will have a plan to conduct a larger scale pilot to test a new aspect of your reimagined school.
May 12 | Virtual
You’re on a roll now – let’s keep this going! How will you bring your new working vision of school to life in the near and distant future? By the end of our final convening, you will leave with a plan to strengthen and sustain your school design journey.
Participating Schools
Ann Richards School For Young Women Leaders
clark high school
Collegiate
Katherine Johnson Technology Magnet Academy
Victoria Fertitta Middle School
Meet Your Coaches
Design teams will be matched with a coach from Transcend, a national nonprofit that accelerates innovation in school design. Your coaches will serve as an ongoing thought partner, design and facilitation support, running buddy, and connector to additional experts and resources at Transcend and beyond.
THOUGHT PARTNER
We’ll act as a provocateur and guide to ensure your team is building the skills to transform schooling, and eventually, to take your organization to new heights.
DESIGN + FACILITATION PARTNEr
Sometimes we’ll roll up our sleeves to build together. Other times, we might “hold the pen,” putting your ideas to paper to help accelerate your thinking.
RUNNING BUDDY
Part of our role is to hold you accountable to your goals. Much like a trusted running buddy, we’ll be sure you follow-through on the commitments you make to yourself and to your community.
CONNECTOR
We will help to identify other resources, experiences, and people who will be helpful along your journey.
