Our VisionWe Love. We Dream. We Do. Students are given real world opportunities to apply knowledge and fulfill their greatest potential. Those who use the school are empowered with responsibility to create the world for themselves.
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Our MissionThe U School readies ALL young people for college and careers by supporting students to accept challenges and opportunities through: student agency, real-world problem-solving, developing engaging high-quality products with the purpose of demonstrating mastery , and to push the boundaries of seat time through asynchronous learning.
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Our values:
LoveWe believe that TRUST, SAFETY, SUPPORT and HONESTY represent the basic ingredients of a healthy connection
We believe that all humans possess PASSION We believe that JOY is derived from human passion We believe that EMPATHY is a connection-building and marketable skill We believe AGENCY represents the power of making choice for yourself and/or those around you. |
DREAMWe believe that appropriate CHALLENGE is the basis of all great learning
We believe that CREATIVITY is a lens to solve problems We believe that RISK-TAKING and MISTAKES are learning opportunities We believe that COLLABORATION and NETWORKS are launch pads for success DREAM-MAKING represents the alignment of passion and purpose |
DoWe believe that people learn by DOING
We believe that doing is difficult, and creation is EMPOWERING We believe that GROWTH represents individual adaptation to adversity We believe that PERSISTENCE is an indicator of future success We believe that REFLECTING about where you and what you have done are is as important as the process of getting there |
ALIGNMENT OF VALUES, CORE PROCESS AND EXPERTISE
The U School commits to making the core processes as legible as possible for all users. Below you will see a visualization of the alignment of values, the design process, skills and ideas about what that might look like.
KEY MODEL ELEMENTS
the model
The U School's instructional model includes some of the following elements:
- Youth development focus: all students will join an advisory team (called Posse) with peers and a mentor educator who will design and create a vibrant high school experience; Posse will support goal-setting, college and career planning, and strong engagement with families to support learner growth.
- Personalized learning: every learner is supported in developing a personalized learning plan (PLP) and designing their learning pathway so that it reflects learner interests, needs, and aspirations.
- Competency-based education: learning goals are organized as "competencies" - the knowledge and skills learners must successfully apply in order to solve real world problems. Learners only advance once they have demonstrated proficiency of the learning goals.
- Design-based learning: learners lead personal and team-based investigations around the "Great Challenges of Our Time," and develop key skills in research, problem-solving, communications, and taking action.
