The Schools We Need (SWN) Project is a partnership between ResulTech and the Maine Center for Meaningful Engaged Learning (McMEL), a center at the University of Maine at Farmington that is providing educational program design services to ResulTech, as well as studying other engaging schools.

SWN schools recognize that their students benefit from learning experiences that are interesting, meaningful, and experiential. Students learn well when they are involved in hands-on work that relates to their lives and the world in which they live.

ResulTech applies the lessons of the Schools We Need Project and strives to create schools that motivate students through positive relationships, real world learning, a focus on job and career training, and technology-rich environments. Clients select our solutions as efforts to reengage disaffected and at-risk youth, as interventions to reduce minority isolation, and as economic development initiatives. We are a leader in providing innovative educational programs.

The ResulTech School Model has 9 components: 4 Teacher Practice components and 5 School Program components.

The Teacher Practice components include: Environment & Culture, Meaningful Learning, Technology Integration, and Engaged Learning The School Program components include: Facilities & Infrastructure, An Engaging Program, Data Driven Decision Making, Professional Development, and Leadership A PDF of the model is available here.

The school program is two-pronged. First, students are organized by career clusters and instruction revolves around real world learning. In this way, students learn important, standards-based content through the hands-on, project-based and problem-based work that they do. Instead of tests and quizzes, student work becomes the evidence of the learning. This real world learning is further supported by a comprehensive, standards-based computer learning system. Personalized, web-delivered curriculum and resources will draw upon and develop each student’s particular skills and abilities. There is still lecture and reading, but it is intentionally tied to the real world learning in which students are engaged. Projects come first, then the occasional lecture, reading, or computer-based instruction, as needed to complete the project and address learning standards.

This approach is important because students who don’t learn well in a traditional school setting often need to know why they are being asked to learn certain curricula or perform certain tasks. Therefore, engagement before instruction, meaning before content, and purpose before subject matter are necessary for students to make sense of what they are being asked to do and to learn. ResulTech Schools and the SWN program offer a new environment on the cutting edge of innovative practices and geared to assist all students in meeting high standards and transitioning seamlessly to a career and success in “life after school.”

Teaching staff at our schools receive extensive professional development, training and support in this approach, providing them with new opportunities and refining their skills at reaching all students. Although the planning of initial projects and activities will be provided to teachers, a substantial portion of the training and support will focus on insuring that they can plan and develop the curriculum, taking advantage of their own expertise, the interests and abilities of their students, and the unique opportunities provided within the local district.

ResulTech schools are fully accountable to its students, the parents and community, the school district, and others, including the requirements of No Child Left Behind. Multiple data paths are established to collect information related to student performance and the programmatic goals of each school. Multiple communication and dissemination strategies are used to keep the parents, community, and school district informed and involved.