Mass IDEAS uses a set of design principles to guide teams we support to create or redesign schools. These design principles are:
Students at the Center
Schools are centered around student learning, student needs, and student success. Solutions are developed and decisions are made based on what is best for students.
Equitable
Schools enable the achievement and growth of learners—both students and adults—of every national origin and heritage, race, gender, sexual orientation, home language, ability, and other identities.
Learning Mindset
Schools establish learning communities in which together, all learners take risks, welcome mistakes as learning opportunities, and feel compelled to accomplish goals.
Learner-Driven
Schools support all learners to understand why learning matters, take responsibility for their own learning, and make decisions about their learning.
Personalized
Schools meet the unique needs of all learners, allowing them to learn at their own pace and to have a say in where, how, and when they learn best.
High Expectations
Schools hold high expectations for all learners and support them in meeting clearly defined goals in order to prepare learners for ongoing success in work and life.
In addition, Mass IDEAS is guided by a parallel set of design principles for our own strategies and activities. These design principles allow us to focus and hold ourselves accountable for our own work.
Students at the Center
Students are our guiding light and our motivating driver. Mass IDEAS’ work is always in service of students across the Commonwealth.
Designed with Equity
Mass IDEAS constructs our activities so that people and groups who have been excluded historically in school design efforts are not just included but are empowered to participate fully.
Learning Mindset
Mass IDEAS establishes a culture where together we can take risks, welcome mistakes as learning opportunities, accomplish goals, and participate actively in our professional learning community.
Community-Driven
Mass IDEAS supports communities, through their design teams, to reinvent their learning environments, understand why this transformation matters, and develop solutions for their own public schools.
Personalized
Because there is no one size that fits all, Mass IDEAS supports design teams to create school models that are tailored to their communities’ assets and needs.
High Expectations
Mass IDEAS holds high expectations for our own work and that of the design teams we support, so together, we prepare all Massachusetts students for ongoing success in work and life.
Photo by Paul Schnaittacher
This expression of the design principles is a working draft, as of January 2018.