An Inspiring New Partner

by Mark Silver , Hillbrook Head of School

I am always looking for signals about the future of education.

What are the developing practices and trends that are going to stick?

Monday afternoon, we toured a team of educators from Hangzhou Yungu School around both our Los Gatos and San Jose campuses. They were interested in visiting us to learn more about our approach to education, including our Reach Beyond programming and our developing competency-based architecture that we are implementing in the Upper School.?

As we spent time with them, it became clear that they were extremely impressive in their own right. Indeed, they are one of the most innovative and intentional schools with which I have connected in many years. In particular, they are a school that, like Hillbrook, has rejected Advanced Placement, or APs, and instead have fully embraced an advanced studies track and a competency-based structure.

They use performance based assessments, instead of more traditional measures, and student advancement is based on mastery (not seat time). They are the only school in China to be part of the Mastery Transcript Consortium? (MTC) , a group Hillbrook joined in the last few years and includes many of the top independent schools in the country.

This is a school that is committed to reimagining what school can be. At Hillbrook, we have been making this case for years, and connecting with Hangzhou Yungu Chinese School only affirms that we are on the right track.

Click here to read the rest or listen to it as a podcast!