Introducing Innovageous School Design: Reimaging Practices of Our Now & Future

The past three and half years of building Innovageous have been a journey that we did not quite expect, but welcomed with open arms. In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Innovageous was established to support continuity of learning during uncertain times. We supported leaders in making innovative and courageous decisions to move online and encouraged them to embrace hybrid learning, all while remaining steadfast in our dedication to educating young people. During our first year, we worked with individual charter schools, school districts, and nonprofits to pivot and plan for flexible programming. In the years since, our work has expanded to include landscape analysis and horizon mapping, professional development facilitation, programs and systems planning, operations and infrastructure building, family and community engagement, and marketing and communications. We’ve curated customized tools for leaders and educators, refined our process for collaborative planning and thought partnership, and formed unique partnerships across the country with schools from diverse sectors and communities. 

One thought that continues to be heavy on our hearts is that traditional schools as we know them are not meeting the needs of students, families, or educators in a post-COVID world. Many schools have not been meeting the needs of stakeholders for years, even before the pandemic. The current system focuses on typical classroom learning environments, high stakes testing that deemphasizes opportunities for SEL and wellness, and instructional practices that are inequitable and not inclusive for our diverse learners and families. This broken and outdated system is driving away caring and committed adults from their professions, purpose, and passions. It is further pushing families to make tough choices about educational options that are not adequately meeting the needs of their children. It’s time to make a change. We have gathered everything we learned from our partners across the country, and continue to architect a design that reimagines traditional schooling by centering the principles, values, and practices of our now and our future.

We are proud to announce the launch of Innovageous School Design. Innovageous School Design merges decades of experience in highly effective schools with key insights into the changing workplace and educational landscape. Innovageous School Design is being developed by three education leaders with over 50 years of experience in virtual and in-person teaching, learning, and leadership. Through working with over 100 schools and organizations to implement innovative and adaptive systems that address the needs of diverse learners and employees, we have gained a deep understanding of the needed changes to ensure schools operate and prepare children for the future. Innovageous Schools adopt four principles of high-quality, future-focused education for K-12 students and teachers:

• Human-Centered Wellness - Innovageous Schools promote social and emotional wellbeing by embracing a human-centered approach for all stakeholders. Our schools move beyond meeting the basic needs of our students and staff, and recognize the impact of physical, emotional, and social environments on overall wellbeing.

• Entrepreneurial Learning - Innovageous Schools recognize evolving technology in the world and the considerations that need to be made for teaching, learning, and balanced workloads for students and educators. Our schools embed entrepreneurial mindsets to launch young people into opportunities that open doors for their future. 

• Global Empathy - Innovageous schools embrace, promote, and encourage diversity of thought and systematic integration of equitable approaches across the school community. 

• Community Focused - Innovageous schools implement programming in flexible learning spaces and times that meet the needs of the community. Our schools promote young people as contributing citizens in their community and across the globe, and advocate for a culture of care through multi-faceted partnerships and authentic school-community relationships.  

Within all of our learning, partnerships, and networking across the country with educational leaders, we recognize the lack of equitable access across all schools and organizations to our Innovageous services. While there are many schools that have funding to support our partnership, there are many schools that do not. Within the same district, schools have different allocations and budget constraints, leading to inequitable access to our customized tools, resources, and Innovageous thought partnership. This is something we cannot ignore. We have taken small steps to make Innovageous more accessible, including curating a resource section on our website, providing free asynchronous trainings available online, and crafting a regular blog that links to related resources to deepen understanding. But, this is simply not enough. Our team is taking actionable steps to ensure that all communities can leverage our Innovageous tools and resources to develop more innovative and courageous schools.

By creating publicly available resources such as detailed frameworks for implementation, rubrics for evaluation, and aligned toolkits for each of the four principles, we can increase the number of schools and communities that can access the design features and adopt them with intentionality within their school communities. As a result, Innovageous Schools will have educators who are valued and dedicated to their school communities, families who are connected and a part of the daily operations of the school, and students who achieve and grow as scholars and global citizens. 

Our Innovageous team is looking to build an ecosystem of partners to ensure this work is truly innovative and courageous - we need your help! Ways that you can support: 

1. Funding - Support the development of these resources and tools so that this certified Woman-Owned Business can broaden our reach and access by providing these free resources to anyone who wants to make their school community more innovageous! 

2. Focus Groups & Committees - Are you an industry partner in education and/or professional workspaces who wants to provide input to the development of resources and tools? Let us know! 

3. Partnership - By partnering with us, you help increase equitable access to Innovageous tools and resources. Your support through ongoing collaboration and partnership helps sustain our work, and expand our reach.

If the Innovageous School Design is something you want to learn more about, get more involved with, or can provide financial support, please reach out at info@innovageous.com.