While her school was in the midst of a New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) self-study, Newtown High School Principal Lorrie Rodrigue said on Monday, April 25, one of NHS's staff presented her with a challenge.

That challenge has inspired the school staff and it has earned NHS a spot in the next round of the XQ Institute's Super School Project.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, shared the news with the Board of Education at its meeting on Tuesday, April 19, saying NHS will continue from a "very, very competitive field of applicants" into the next stage of the XQ Institute's Super School Project challenge.

The NHS application was one of 348 chosen to continue in the contest out of 700. As the group continues to write and refine its entry into the challenge, Dr Erardi said the applicants will be winnowed down to five finalists across the country. The five final chosen projects will each receive $10 million over five years to help the ideas become reality.

NHS theater teacher Janice Gabriel, library/media specialist Megan Biddle, art teacher Carol Skolas, School to Career Coordinator Peg Ragaini, assistant to the principal Nathalie de Brantes, and Dr Rodrigue worked to complete the application, with input from Board of Education Curriculum and Instruction Committee members Michelle Ku and John Vouros ,along with staff, students, and parents.

"The committee is truly excited and we will keep you abreast to this unique opportunity to Newtown High School," Dr Erardi told the school board.

The XQ Institute, an organization committed to rethinking American schooling, according to its website, started the Super School Project to have applicants rethink high school in the country.

An e-mail Dr Rodrigue sent to Dr Erardi was shared with school board members to explain the news.

"I would share that a team of NHS staff and administration," the e-mail reads, "entered a nationwide search for 'reimagining' the high school of the future, sponsored by [Laurene Powell Job's] organization."

The e-mail later says, "The next phase is more challenging, and will add the details to the design, which is called Newtown High School of Inquiry and Innovative Design, a plan that takes some of the more successful aspects of the current school and enhances the notion of learning pathways in science and technology, literacy and language, entrepreneurship, and theater/fine arts. Five winning teams will be notified in August and will receive expert support and $10 million over the course of the next five years."

This week, Dr Rodrigue said if NHS ever moves into the final five chosen entries, the winning money would be used to put the design into action.

For the challenge Dr Rodrigue said applicants could choose to design a school from scratch, or take an existing school and rethink it.

"That's what we did," said Dr Rodrigue, about the former option.

NHS learned about the challenge later than most other applicants, according to Dr Rodrigue, because the school was focused on its NEASC reaccreditation self-study and visit. At first, Dr Rodrigue said the school team thought they would not have enough time to create an idea and apply.

"We literally pulled a group together and then utilized feedback from parents and students and staff… as well as all the feedback and information we have been getting over the last two years because of our self-study," Dr Rodrigue said. "We kind of put it all together and said we've got information and enough input and insight to move a new idea forward."

Dr Rodrigue said the design will also incorporate already ongoing pilot programs at the school, like an academic partnership model piloted this school year. The academic partnership model, Dr Rodrigue said, makes sure students identified as needing further support in eighth grade are supported academically and emotionally. The idea was one of the ones used in the Newtown High School of Inquiry and Innovative Design, according to Dr Rodrigue, and it was furthered in the design and will expand next school year. Next school year, an engineering and science cohort for advanced students will also be piloted at NHS for the academic partnership model.

Dr Rodrigue said the academic partnership model is just one example of existing or current pilot programs featured within the design.

"We were thinking, all of those things are just starting," said Dr Rodrigue. "What if… it really becomes a platform for what we believe teaching and learning should look like at this high school? We started to realize that we do a lot of good here, but it takes time, creative ideas, insight, feedback, money, and resources to implement it to the level we think will really support students through their high school years, through graduation, and into careers and college."

The Newtown High School of Inquiry and Innovative Design title, Dr Rodrigue said, is based on the school's 21st Century learning expectations. All of the attributes, beliefs, and expectations NHS strives to instill in its students, Dr Rodrigue said, are represented by the design's title.

"Inquiry and innovative design, because we want kids to be critical thinkers and creative thinkers. We want them to be curious about learning," said Dr Rodrigue, "and not just because we give them tasks to encourage them to do that, but to be self-starters and active learners."

The main idea behind the Newtown High School of Inquiry and Innovative Design, according to Dr Rodrigue, is for students to use academic pathways to better map out their educational journey. Students can choose to focus on different "pathways" of study, based on their abilities and interests.

The pathways, she said, would include the option of focusing on literacy and language, business and entrepreneurship, performing arts, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.) Students would also take traditional courses, according to Dr Rodrigue, and students would be expected to complete a project in their senior year at NHS.

The next stage of the challenge will advance the designs, according to Dr Rodrigue, and they will be due on May 23. Schools will be notified in August whether they are one of the five winning teams from across the nation.

Dr Rodrigue expressed being inspired by the entire challenge.

"This was just really well thought through," Dr Rodrigue said, about the challenge overall.

If Newtown is not one of the five final winning applications chosen, Dr Rodrigue said threads from the Newtown High School of Inquiry and Innovative Design will be implemented at the school.

"If we believe it, there is a way," said Dr Rodrigue. "I believe there is a creative way always, if we truly believe this is good for kids, for high school students, then we will find a way to do it. And that was our belief moving into this process… Let's not get rid of it, just because we don't win."

Dr Rodrigue said "threads" from the design will be implemented at the school if Newtown does not win.

Dr Rodrigue said she was proud the NHS application advanced to the second round of the contest, and BOE member and Curriculum and Instruction Committee member John Vouros said he enthusiastically believes Newtown will win.