Prodigy 2.0 selected for final round of XQ Super School Project

The Prodigy 2.0 High School team was selected to participate in the 3rd and and final round of the XQ Super School Project competition. The XQ Super School Project (www.xqsuperschool.org) is an open call to America’s students, parents, educators, civic leaders, businesses, inventors, entrepreneurs, artists and designers to meet the challenge of preparing our students for the future by designing the next American high school. Out of over 700 applications, Prodigy 2.0 is one of 348 remaining teams chosen to move their application from the Design Phase to the Develop Phase. The Prodigy 2.0 "design process" started in September 2015 with the objective of launching a new high school in Cape Girardeau in the Fall of 2016. The Development Phase is the final submission stage of the process and includes consideration of curriculum, staffing, technology, finances, governance, and implementation.

Prodigy 2.0 in a Nutshell

Prodigy 2.0 High School is designed with a singular goal in mind: give students real experience in the things that will make them successful and happy for the rest of their lives. In order to empower students to succeed, we need to build a school founded on powerful relationships that embody the ideals of relentless perseverance, lifelong self-directed learning, and excellent communication and collaboration. These things are all skills, and like other skills, they can’t really be taught. They must be learned through direct experience, which is very hard to do in a conventional school setting. Therefore, we’re changing the setting.

Building strong relationships with students will help them to develop the inner strength necessary to take on challenging educational objectives. Our program is very challenging. It is designed to keep every student at the frontier of their own abilities. Giving students experience with self-directed learning means that we have to let go of the reins and really let them learn how to take charge. This process will start from day one, with students’ very first experience being an in-depth interview focused on discovering their interests, strengths, weaknesses, and life goals.

Perseverance is learned by doing difficult things. Giving students real experience with perseverance means that they must go through failure and recovery, repeatedly. Our school embodies this in two significant ways: mastery-oriented learning, and ambitious, student-led projects. The majority of the work students do at school will be in the form of large, ambitious projects. These will be chosen so that they give valuable experience to the students that is relevant to their career goals.

By the time our students graduate, they will have learned how to be effective self-directed learners. They will have developed a strong growth mindset and self identity that will equip them with the will to persevere through difficult challenges.

About the Prodigy 2.0 Team:

Prodigy 2.0 is a group of citizens from the Cape Girardeau area that are passionate about education and have joined together to rethink high school. Members include not only local students and teachers, but doctors, engineers, retired volunteers, parents, business owners, philanthropists, mentors, artists, agricultural specialists, and architects.

Notification Letter from XQ:

Dear Prodigy 2.0 Team,

After careful review we are so excited to tell you that we think your XQ: The Super School Project design is truly substantial and promising, and we are including you in the running to take it to the next level! You should be incredibly proud.

Next step? We will work with you to fine-tune your ideas and transform them into tangible school designs. The next phase is called “Develop” – a series of exercises and questions designed to help you push your imaginative skills and show us your capacity to actually implement your school design.

To help you, we will be launching new tools that allow you to fortify your ideas, share your thinking, and highlight your breakthrough work with others across the nation. That starts today with the brand new XQ Jumpstart Guide. It will guide you through a self-assessment to hone your strength and identify areas for improvement, and it will hopefully help give you new confidence as you move into this next critical phase.

We are deeply humbled by you. Why? Because most people don’t believe they could or should be so bold as to try and invent a new high school. You do. You’re different. You’re rare, and the future depends on you.

Please make a note that the deadline for completing the Develop phase is May 23, 2016.

Get started on the XQ Jumpstart Guide and the Develop questions available on your Dashboard. We can’t wait to see what you come up with next!

With great gratitude,

Russlynn Ali and the Entire Super Schools Team