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Executive summary

Our vision is that high school prepares all kids to thrive in the world and to change it for the better. We bring our vision to life by:

Accomplishing our mission,

Our mission is to prepare our kids to thrive in the world and change it for the better. Our graduates are college ready, have career ready tech skills, and lead positive change in their communities and the world.
and

By using XQ dollars to make strategic investments in model components that will impact the broader field of high school education, all high school students.

We will ensure we achieve our mission by focusing on these core school features:

College prep academics with a computer science focus
Real-world practice and leadership experience
A supportive culture

We will maintain our operations on per pupil funds in perpetuity, and will invest XQ and other philanthropic dollars in partners with whom we will develop three model components that have the potential to scale and reach all kids in addition to our kids:

Comprehensive Computer Science pedagogy, curriculum, and platform
Competency based pedagogy, curriculum, and platform, starting with ELA
Rigorous project-based learning culminating in AP Seminar and AP Research

Our model has a powerful impact for WLA learners

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Who we are

Our mission and vision

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we treat our students like we would treat our own children, as #ourkids

and

we have the highest possible aspirations for our kids’ lives

and

we know that our kids can and will change the world for the better,

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Our mission is to prepare our kids

to thrive in the world and to change it for the better.

Our graduates are college ready, have career ready tech skills, and lead positive change in their communities and the world.

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we know that there are millions of kids in the U.S. just like our kids, who also deserve the best from high school

and

we know that we have unparalleled talent, resources, and opportunity

and

SO our vision contemplates

all of our kids in all U.S. high schools

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Our vision is that high school prepares

all kids to thrive in the world

and to change it for the better

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What we do

Our model

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Our school model consists of three major components that drive our achievement of our mission

College prep academics with a computer science focus

Real world experience and leadership practice

A supportive culture

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College-prep academics, with a computer science focus

	All students take a rigorous, college-preparatory courseload that: Is personalized so that students spend time on the content they most need Identifies clear competencies Is aligned to project-based work that supports deeper learning of academics, builds self-awareness & fuels motivation Offers a four-year progression of computer science that equips students with marketable skills, a portfolio, and at least 1 AP credit

College-Prep Academics,

with a Computer Science Focus

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Real world practice and leadership experience

	Students engage in a wide range of experiences that help them explore areas of particular interest; apply their learning; and practice leading positive change. Some of these (e.g. real-world projects) happen within our academic model and others are in addition to it: Real-world projects Internships Entrepreneurship experience College exploration and application support Real-world experiences in the field

Real world practice and leadership experience

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A supportive culture

	A supportive and relationship-based culture is the foundation of students’ ability to know and advocate for themselves, to meet the goals they set, and to lead positive change. This focus manifests itself in the design of our school-wide practices that include: Houses and Advisories, which include proactive SEL development & circles A behavior system employing restorative justice Embedded use of therapeutic strategies to promote wellness and minimize triggers Intensive interventions for students needing additional support Intentionality of relationship-building in every system from arrival to lunch to advisory and more

A supportive culture

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Organizational goals

WLA must be a strong and sustainable organization

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To ensure the long-term sustainability and impact of WLA, we will focus on three major organizational goals

Student impact

Institutional sustainability

Broader field impact

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We will use a set of key metrics to measure our progress

Impact area	Metrics
**Student Impact	WLA remains Tier 1 on the DCPCSB Performance Management Framework All graduates are admitted to a “match” 4-year college All graduates possess career-ready technology skills All graduates lead change in their communities and the world
Institutional sustainability	Operating model sustainable on public funding at steady state with a cash reserve
Broader field impact	By 2026, at least 25 ‘early adopter’ high schools/LEAs serving thousands of students have applied WLA model components to better serve their students

**The next phase of our work will include building graduate profiles to include granular and specific definitions of these metrics.

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To maintain institutional sustainability, we must ensure strong governance and financial health

	Key activities	Rationale
	Continue to emphasize / focus on building strong/diverse board	To achieve our impact goal of model spread, we will need a Board that can support that mission; strategic Board composition and strong governance while helping to raise WLA’s profile nationally
	Continue to deploy long-term financial forecasting tool	Ensure the WLA school model will be sustainable on the public dollar

Governance

Finance

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To create broader field impact, our big bets will drive change in many U.S. high schools

Shift the sense for what is possible

We will invest and build components that others will be able to adopt and deploy

By continuing our track record of supporting young people to achieve strong outcomes, to be college ready while also having skills that are immediately employable in a living wage role, we will shift the sense for what is possible for students

The content and model components we develop will be built intentionally so that other schools may be able to have access to and deploy the tools we use to support student outcomes

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Big bets

Investments and resources to drive our impact

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To be strategic in achieving our mission and realizing our vision, we must focus our resources on the areas of highest leverage

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WLA will invest significant time and resources in three big bets

4-year Computer Science pathways

Competency-based curriculum + delivery model, starting with ELA

Rigorous projects culminating in AP Seminar and AP research standards

Rationale for these investments on the slides that follow

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Investments were selected based upon ability to drive impact for WLA and the field

Is the investment tightly aligned to WLA’s model? Does WLA have a need for this asset?

How critical is the investment to achieving WLA’s intended impact? Is there evidence that this investment will lead to WLA’s intended impact?

Beyond WLA’s walls, is there a need for this asset in the broader U.S. high school field? Is there an alternate or substitute available in the market?

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We will invest in a CS curriculum that opens doors to college and jobs

Model Alignment	Core piece of academic model — necessary to deliver on promise of equipping students with marketable skills and at least 1 AP-level CS credit
Centrality to WLA impact	Critical to achieving both student and field impact Differentiator for WLA that will build its brand
Market need	No substitutes that offer a full four-year sequence (though many year-long individual courses are available) Small but growing audience for this work among leading edge charter and district schools — opportunity to gain traction among early adopters

Investment Overview: We will partner with a provider* to develop and pilot a full (4-year) HS Computer Science curriculum sequence that prepares students for multiple future pathways including job-ready skills

*Partner still to be identified

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Our competency-based ELA model, coupled with CommonLit’s curriculum will lay a foundation for college readiness

Model Alignment	Core piece of rigorous, college-prep academic vision Competency-based
Centrality to WLA impact	Enables the deep and personalized engagement with high-quality content that is necessary to ensure that 100% of students are college ready “Flagship” model component that is likely to have significant impact on the field via CommonLit and WLA’s combined efforts
Market need	Growing demand for high-quality and customizable OERs CommonLit already a trusted content source for over 40,000 schools nationwide WLA model components will be useful to K-8 schools looking to move into the HS space and in need of a full ELA model

Investment Overview: We will continue development and refinement of CommonLit’s competency-based ELA curriculum. Additionally, we will develop other model components, including assessment tools, teacher practice and training resources, and customizable tools for instructional delivery

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Our CommonLit partnership enables us to focus our staff time and energy where our expertise is most valuable

Given the heightened importance of quality and distribution in a crowded ELA curriculum market, WLA will continue and complete work with CommonLit — leveraging their expertise to build out competency based ELA progression and tools

WLA will focus on tailoring and enhancing these ELA materials through classroom pilots, iteration, and continuous improvement efforts

In addition to this WLA will build out the model components for ELA that will enable others to implement some or all of WLA’s model with fidelity

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Interdisciplinary projects will enable students to explore areas of interest, apply learning, and practice leading

Model Alignment	Projects are an essential element of the WLA model Creating a large library of rigorous projects allows for students to plan their own path without sacrificing the quality of the experience
Centrality to WLA impact	Helps to promote college readiness and build a personal portfolio contained the evidence of applied technology skills that will increase employability Spurs student engagement and retention For others in the field, provides a robust example of how projects can be reinforce a broader school model and curriculum
Market need	Less robust market need due to abundance of self-made and custom-built substitutes, but some potential for adoption by schools that choose to closely emulate the WLA model Consequently, we are placing a smaller “bet” here than in ELA or CS

Investment Overview: We will develop a set of 50 interdisciplinary projects (~12 per grade) that provide students a chance to deepen learning by applying skills to authentic, complex tasks — building their readiness for college and career. In upper grades a significant proportion of projects will focus on applications of computer science skills.

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We will take care to steward our investment dollars as we embark on this exciting path

Given the volume of work coming out of this set of big bets, WLA will stagger implementation so that leadership can focus and ensure quality outcomes for each investment

WLA will work with expert partners in ELA and CS to develop high quality content — while focusing staff time piloting and refining this content

Specifically, WLA will seek out partners who:

Believe in designing with educators, not simply for educators
Commit to maintaining and refreshing open source content
Have established distribution channels in place
Have clear plans for data gathering and continuous improvement efforts across multiple schools

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How we’ll get there

Implementation roadmap

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Our near term implementation focus is on ELA, we will sequence CS next

	SY 19/20	SY 20/21	SY 21/22	SY 22/23	SY 23/24
Competency based ELA curriculum
4 year Computer Science curriculum
Inter- disciplinary projects
Support infrastructure

Complete content devl’t investments

Support teachers with professional learning

Build, pilot, refine ELA model components

Content and model development

Support teachers with professional learning

Build, pilot, refine CS model components

Identify partner, hire, + start work

Design projects

Support teachers with professional learning

Build all content and supports with model provision in mind

Research and document outcomes

Model provision strategy

Pilot, refine, and integrate projects

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Appendix

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Significant stakeholder engagement informed our plan (page 1 of 2)

Focus groups: 10+ members per stakeholder group	Summer 2018 student focus group Summer 2018 teacher focus group Summer 2018 parent and family focus group
Teacher and staff engagement	14 WLA teachers participated in focus groups and small group interviews Teacher and staff input and feedback during August orientation Staff updates and feedback sessions at PD in August, September and November All staff received an invitation to meet with Stacy 1:1 throughout the process to share their input and feedback A feedback survey to all staff, families, and students in March All teachers were invited to provide offline feedback to Stacy and to Bellwether Education Partners
Deeper leadership and board interviews	All Board Members (as of September) in August and September Board Members who signed to discuss in March Jordan Budisantoso, CS Teacher Natalie Gould, Director of Operations Stacy Kane, Co-founder and Executive Director Darnell Riley, 9th Grade History Teacher Rachel Torres, Board Member Joey Webb, Chief Academic Officer Stephanie Young, Principal

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Significant stakeholder engagement informed our plan (page 2 of 2)

Strategic Planning Steering Committee Meetings	June 2018 July 2018 September 2018
Board meetings and retreat	Presentations and updates at three board meetings, work session at the Board retreat
External stakeholders and thought partners	Maura Marino, Education Forward DC Monica Martinez, XQ Institute Naomi Devox, Public Charter School Board

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Additionally, expert interviews helped inform our perspective

College admissions discussions

Technology leader interviews

Education leader interviews

Liz Kinsley, Northwestern University
Courtney Vaughn ‘15 | Elon University
Matt Fissinger - Loyola Marymount
DeVone Eurales - Knox College
UMD & UCLA Admissions (general)
Erin McCubbin, College counselor,

Mt. Vernon Presbyterian

Marcela E. Serratos, Career Advisor, Lindsay Unified School District

Chris Schultz, CTO, Total Child Heath, Inc.
Chris Wargo, Managing Partner and co-founder, Infolock
Tom Pageler, BitGo INC
Emily Herman, Big Nerd Ranch
Aaron Hillegass, Big Nerd Ranch
Clay Johnson, Blue State Digital
Rey Faustino, One Degree
Computer Science Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Daniel Hawthorn, Advisor Innovation Labs
Jana Chandler-Ligon, Girls who Code
Michael Oppong and Peter Jablonski, ScriptEd
Stephany Garcia, The Knowledge House

Oliver Sicat, Founder and CEO, Ednovate
Melissa Moritz, VP Strategic Initiatives, National Math and Science Initiative

Curriculum expert interviews

Amber Oliver, Robin Hood Foundation
Emily Shisler, Achievement First
Meredith Anderson, Relay
Jon Rybka, RePublic Schools