What if there were a high school that:

• sidesteps typical school calendars and schedules
• lives not in a "school," but rather within a community / business ecosystem
• relocates learning from curricular silos to authentic, rigorous, student-led projects
• empowers students with the autonomy to declare their learning goals and the responsibility to be accountable to their learning contracts
• embeds itself so deeply in the community that businesses, non-profits, and public purpose organizations become co-learners and co-teachers

In August 2018, a school like this will launch: last week, Ira Socol (@irasocol) announced that  Albemarle County Public Schools will be opening Albemarle Tech: The Center for Creativity & Invention. It will start with high school seniors, and add other grade levels in 2019-20.

Maybe your school should be doing all of the things that Albemarle Tech will do. Maybe some. Maybe none.

Here are the real questions:

1. What is your mission--your timeless reason for existence?
2. Based on that mission, what is your vision--your timely picture of great learning for today?
3. What kind of culture can bring that vision to life?

While private schools delay asking these quesitons, more Albemarle Techs are going to crop up.

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