Intrinsic Schools

Abstract

Updated April 2015

Students spend time in open, flexible “pods” rather than classrooms at this 6-12 charter school in Chicago. In each half-day Humanities block and STEM block, 90 students move fluidly within a pod between individualized adaptive digital content, multimedia content, small-group instruction, seminars, and group and independent project work. Master teachers design units around essential questions and curate online curriculum.

The two-page grantee profiles from Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) provide factual information about the secondary school and postsecondary degree program designs awarded grants under NGLC's third wave of funding, which focused on two areas, "Breakthrough Models for College Readiness" and "Breakthrough Models for College Completion." Each profile describes what makes each model "breakthrough" and offers important information about the instructional and financial models, student demographics, hardware and software choices, and contact info. These profiles serve to illustrate the innovations of these new blended and online models, with practical details of interest to those starting a new school or degree program.

NGLC accelerates educational innovation through applied technology to dramatically improve college readiness and completion in the United States. To learn more about NGLC and the grantees it supports, visit nextgenlearning.org

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