School Design Fellowship Application

Beginning this summer, the Chamberlin Family Foundation, West Contra Costa Unified School District, and TrueSchool Studio have partnered to provide the School Design Fellowship for a cohort of schools in West Contra Costa.The Fellowship kicks off this summer and will include in-person, interactive Studios and coaching tailored for your school team. This structured, hands-on experience provides you with the time, process, and support you need to design and refine ideas for your school that are grounded in student needs and have the power to transform student outcomes. We are currently seeking applications from schools for this unique experience.

TrueSchool Studio specializes in developing cultures of innovation in schools and building the knowledge, practices, and mindsets of educators to become leaders of innovation. We believe the best ideas for the future of education will come from teachers and principals working on the ground in schools. We want to tap into your big, bold ideas to dramatically improve outcomes for students! To learn more about our work, check out our Why and read about schools who have participated in our programs across the country and around the world.

School Design Fellowship – SUMMER 2017

The focus of this 2-week summer program is to uncover a core problem area that, if solved, would transformationally improve student outcomes. Schools teams join us for two in-person Studios and one virtual coaching session. We work through a discovery process focused on building empathy with and gaining insights from students, parents, colleagues, and community members. Empathy serves as the inspiration for redesign and shifts problems to new possibilities.

At the end of the summer, there will be the option for participating schools to continue forward with the Fellowship and receive additional programmatic support to further build, refine, and scale their solution throughout the academic year. 

Core commitments for participating in the program:

  • Participate as a school team of 3-6 members, including the principal, between 1-4 classroom teachers, and any additional members of the staff or school community. Ideal team size is 4.
  • Full team attends all in-person Studios (dates below).
  • Engage in team meetings, independent research, and collaborative preparation for Studios and coaching (approximately 2 hours/week)
  • Collaborate and coordinate as a team to submit deliverables on time
  • Share insights and findings, including interviews, written documents, photos, and videos
  • Come with an open mind and big vision of what is possible for students!

Time Commitment:

  • Studios: 10 hours (for 2 Studios)
  • Personalized Coaching: 1 hour
  • Fieldwork: 8 hours
  • Total: approximately 20 hours

Key Dates:

  • Friday, May 19: Application deadline
  • Studio 1 – Monday, August 7, 9am-3pm, TBD location in East Bay
  • Fieldwork – Tuesday, August 8th, flexible time with your team in your school and community (please plan for a full day of getting out in the field with your team on August 8)
  • Studio 2 – Wednesday, August 9, 9am – 3pm, TBD location in East Bay
  • Virtual Coaching Session: Week of August 14

 

School Design Fellowship Application

Fields marked with an * are required.

(A copy of this completed application will be sent to this address)

Please complete the following for the members of your school’s School Design Team.

OPTION 1: Please complete a written application by submitting answers to the questions below.

OR

OPTION 2: Please submit a video interview in which members of your school’s team answer the following questions verbally. No need for any fancy editing or soundtracks—a simple video captured on your cell phone works just fine.You may submit a separate video clip for each question or one video clip with all questions. Different staff members may answer different questions; however, all 4 questions must be answered. Bonus points if a teacher leader serves as interviewer and submits the video. Please text your video clip(s) to 732-207-5334 or email to studio@trueschoolstudio.com.

If your team had to pick one challenge that, if solved, would most improve student outcomes at your school, what would it be and why? Why do you think this problem persists at your school? What have you tried so far to address it? Be as clear and specific as possible. (200 word limit)

Video option: Any member of the team may answer this question. Instead of submitting a written answer below, please text your video clip(s) to 732-207-5334 or email to studio@trueschoolstudio.com.

Why does your team want to participate in the School Design Fellowship? What makes your school a place for innovation? Why are you and your team the people to lead and execute this work? How did you select your team members? Why is the timing right for your school to participate in this program now? (200 word limit)

Video option: A teacher must answer this question. Instead of submitting a written answer below, please text your video clip(s) to 732-207-5334 or email to studio@trueschoolstudio.com.

 

Describe an example of a situation where you, as a team, tackled something for which there was no precedent. How did you figure out what to do? What worked? What didn’t? How did you adjust and what did you learn along the way? (150 word limit)

Video option: Any member of the team may answer this question. Instead of submitting a written answer below, please text your video clip(s) to 732-207-5334 or email to studio@trueschoolstudio.com.

What do you anticipate will be your biggest challenge in successfully completing this program? (150 word limit)

Video option: Principal or Vice Principal  must answer this question. Instead of submitting a written answer below, please text your video clip(s) to 732-207-5334 or email to studio@trueschoolstudio.com.

Submit an additional video (3-5 minutes) that illustrates some aspect of your response to question #1. Focus on showing versus telling. We encourage you to be creative. Please text your video clip(s) to732-207-5334 or email to studio@trueschoolstudio.com.