West Hawaii
Explorations Academy
OWL’s work at the West Hawaii Exploration Academy enters its third year, building on foundational work to help the school develop collective efficacy and deeper, interdisciplinary collaboration within and across the tiers (WHEA’s name for grade levels).
RESULTS
In addition to co-designing experiential learning projects with individual teachers, OWL and WHEA are focusing their partnership on four areas: refining the school’s prototype Portrait of a Graduate as part of a student design sprint, scaling a competency based framework that math teachers have been piloting, developing a Decision Making protocol that aligns with the school’s status as a Teacher Powered School, and developing the essential elements of a Common Instructional Framework as an outgrowth of the WHEA Way.
100+
Students and stakeholders involved in focus groups that have guided innovation efforts
IMPACT
Honoring OWL’s commitment to driving positive change through the design process, all of these initiatives stem from a series of student focus groups and meetings with the school’s community stakeholders. Further collaborative problem-solving and iteration with staff & stakeholders helped formalize roles and distribute leadership, center the student experience in each tier’s place in the whole journey, and adapting current innovations to align with a common vision.
“This is the best start to a school year we’ve ever had”
Teacher
After July 2022 Workshop