WOODSTOCK, VT , OCTOBER 3, 2019 – WCSU (Windsor Central Supervisory Union) Superintendent Mary Beth Banios and Curriculum Coordinator Jennifer Stainton participated in the inaugural NuVuX Summit held in Cambridge, MA – September 27-28th. The gathering, held at the award winning NuVu innovation school, brought together international representatives from the 14 schools that partner with NuVu to deliver leading edge programming and professional development aimed at preparing children with the skills and dispositions needed for success in life after graduation.

In 2017, the Woodstock Union Middle/High School became the first public middle/high school in the world to partner with NuVu, a full-time innovation school based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition to its full-time school for middle and high school students in Cambridge, NuVu has partnerships (NuVuX) with 14 schools around the world including schools in Scotland and India and a community innovation center in Turkey.

The NuVuX Summit featured industry leaders who shared trends about the future of learning and teaching, the future of work, and the future of innovation/design in the context of an increasingly complex and uncertain world. Additionally, key-note speaker Meghna Chakrabarti (Journalist, Radio Producer, host of NPR’s On Point) commented that our children need to have a new set of skills to handle the speed, complexity, and uncertainty in today’s modern world. Chakrabarti noted that NuVu’s philosophy and contributions toward transforming education are precisely what is needed.

NuVu’s studio model provides students with the opportunity to develop rich skills in complex problem solving while engaging with rigorous academic content. Students are treated as solution-finders to authentic problems as they grow their disposition to become comfortable with complexity and uncertainty. These skills are critical to success in the 21st century.

Representatives from NuVuX partner schools shared lessons from the field and WSCU Superintendent Mary Beth Banios spoke about how our public school district has recently completed a strategic plan and portrait of a graduate (unanimously approved by the School Board) and how the NuVu experience directly aligns with the outcomes in those plans. Through connections made at the Summit, Mary Beth Banios and Jennifer Stainton have begun initial conversations about collaborations with Kelvinside, a leading school in Scotland, and furthered the Middle and High School’s relationship with other international colleagues.

The Summit and comments from participants reaffirmed that the Windsor Central Supervisory Union is not only on the right path with its Strategic Plan and direction, it is leading the way for rural New England public schools and has the potential to become an exemplary hub for innovation in education in rural New England. The following link highlights WCSU’s portrait of a graduate in context: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VHEAsbvss04K-NNfbgzSMHxkBI0yhwDx/view?usp=sharing

District Superintendent and Curriculum Coordinator Among International Representatives At NuVuX Summit in Cambridge, MA