13 Schools Visit to Hear MVPS Story

Each year as Mount Vernon continues to experience a surge in enrollment, the School also receives more and more requests from schools far and wide that want to meet our faculty, visit our redesigned classrooms, and witness the transformative learning that’s taking place here.
Last week MVPS hosted 13 schools from as far away as Missouri and Michigan, with each group seeking to know our school story and specifically how might they integrate some of our successful methods into their own schools.
Kicking off the experience, Head of School Dr. Brett Jacobsen provided an overview of Mount Vernon’s transformation. Highlighting the MV Continuum and the School’s journey, Dr. Jacobsen encouraged the visiting schools to share their observations. Through an interactive exercise, Chief Learning and Innovation Officer Bo Adams invited the participants to view their tour as a learning walk, which is one of Mount Vernon’s key methods to assess student learning.
Of course one of the highlights of the visit was spending time with Mary Cantwell (Director of the Center for Design Thinking), Jim Tiffin (Director of Media & Maker Programs), and Meg Cureton (Director of Innovation Diploma) to learn about Mount Vernon’s design thinking program and all the ways in which we have infused the D.E.E.P. methodology throughout the School.
Toward the end, once the participants had interacted with faculty, staff, and students through their learning walks, they shared their feedback saying:
“Collaboration is clearly evident as teachers and students actively learn together.”
“Your students ask great questions, and there appears to be a strong willingness on the faculty’s part to connect and meet their needs.”
“I love the School’s mission statement.”
“There appears to be a culture of openness and togetherness among the students and faculty.”
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