Microsoft’s School of the Future

Several years ago, Microsoft and the City of Philadelphia teamed up to create a revolutionary new kind of school. Together they wanted to overhaul the current school system and curriculum, promote the use of technology in the classroom and better prepare minority students for post-secondary education. After several years of planning and the construction of a $63 million facility, the School of the Future was ready for its challenge.

The School of the Future, a high school, opened its doors in 2006 to its first group of incoming freshman. The students would be called learners, the environment would be a community and teachers would be more caring than demanding. The school’s mission was the practice and promotion of digital inclusion, integrating technology into every avenue of learning, generating innovative education practices and new models of learning, and creating a learning environment that was engaging for all community members. The school was therefore outfitted with digital white boards, streaming video in the classroom and every student was given a laptop for note taking and homework.

The "learners" were selected on a lottery system and the majority were from tough, low-income neighborhoods and had very limited resources and limited access to technology and higher education opportunities. By providing these minority students with access to a great education and technology, Microsoft and city officials felt that their chances of earning a post-secondary degree would greatly improve, and thus the outlook of their futures. And they did. In June 2010, the School of the Future graduated their first class of seniors. 100 percent of the 118 students had plans for higher education after graduation.

After the creation and success of the original School of the Future in Philadelphia, Microsoft created its Innovative School Program, which builds and creates technology based schools around the world. Today, the program has seen the creation of 12 schools across the globe that hope to better prepare students of all nationalities for higher education, the global community and the 21st century.

By focusing on an adaptive, continuous and technology based curriculum, the School of the Future was able to prepare underprivileged students for a brighter future. And with the creation of the innovative Schools Program, maybe Microsoft has created a flexible template for schools across the nation to use to prepare their own students for not just post secondary education, but life after college as well.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 8:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.