For many students, conforming to the traditional K–12 education system is not always compatible with their life circumstances. Map Academy in Plymouth, Massachusetts, now in its second year of operation, aims to provide an education that adapts to the needs and interests of its students while maintaining high expectations.
This profile of Map Academy from CRPE and the Christensen Institute details the school’s practices that have proven successful, how they have adapted in the face of the pandemic, and how other school communities can begin to make their systems and structures more responsive to students’ needs and interests.
Other schools can consider these questions based on Map Academy’s model:
- What flexibility might schools create to support students who struggle to conform to the systems and processes of conventional instruction?
- What would better foster students’ sense that effort leads to progress in school?
- What systems and structures can schools create that enable more caring and supportive relationships between students and staff?
- How can schools ensure that every student’s needs and circumstances are known and supported while also holding every student to high expectations?
About the Project
Innovation profiles are part of Think Forward New England, a research project focused on how high schools in New England are reimagining learning for adolescents and young adults in the context of COVID-19. Each profile illustrates a school charting a compelling new course for high school education, and aims to spur new questions and conversations among education leaders about emerging from the pandemic with a commitment to reimagining high school.
