Q: Is your secondary school committed to student-centered learning?

Q: Do you want to connect with and learn from colleagues across the region?

Q: Do you want to improve student performance and learning outcomes?

A: Consider joining the League of Innovative Schools

The League of Innovative Schools is a new collaboration-driven support network for New England’s secondary schools. Membership in the League is open to any interested secondary school—including charter schools and career-and-technical centers—provided that the school community is committed to sustainable improvement and willing to share their practices with colleagues across their state and region. As League members, participating schools will become part of a growing network of secondary institutions working to improve programs, exchange professional expertise, and create more student-centered learning opportunities.

In an era of top-down accountability, the League of Innovative Schools is founded on the belief that professional integrity, authentic collaboration, and self-accountability can motivate, sustain, and enhance school improvement. The League will encourage accountability through peer interaction and transparency, rather than by imposing external expectations. Certain basic membership requirements—such as a signed letter of commitment and an agreement to undertake a self-assessment process—will be expected, but schools will be free to pursue an improvement process that meets the needs of their students, teachers, and community.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the League of Innovative Schools, please read the following information:

Begin by reading the League description, which provides a detailed overview of the network, including membership benefits, member obligations, and the theory of action that guided the initiative’s design. Schools should also review the Consortium’s vision, mission, and declaration of commitment, since these values inform every dimension of the League.

The next step is to review Global Best Practices, a comprehensive tool developed by the Consortium. When joining the League, schools will be asked to undertake a self-assessment process using Global Best Practices, which describes many of the research-based strategies that define high-impact, student-centered teaching and learning in the 21st century.

Then contact your state liaison to express your interest in joining the League and to ask questions about how the network will operate in your state. The five liaisons are the Consortium’s on-the-ground representatives, and they will be helping to coordinate League activities.

Finally, make sure we know you’re interested! The League is just getting underway and more detailed membership information will be coming out over the next few months. Add your name to our mailing list by using the sign-up form on this page or contact Gwen Merrick: 207-773-0505 or gmerrick@greatschoolspartnership.org. We will make sure you receive regular updates.

How the League Began
In October 2010, the New England Secondary School Consortium assembled a group of dedicated educators from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont devise new strategies for supporting the redesign of secondary learning at scale across the region. No longer satisfied with pockets of excellence—where student performance and learning outcomes are often determined by zip code—these educators were committed to designing an open and flexible network that encourages, inspires, nudges, and supports educators to improve, while also explicitly acknowledging the talents, capacity, and commitment already present in New England’s high schools. These teachers, principals, superintendents, and state officials are excited to announce the League of Innovative Schools, and to invite high schools across the five states to join our regional network.