In Spring 2008, the SPT launched staff/community "working groups." These teams will research best practice around the world, in the areas we have identified as most important to Newton.  With the support of our consultants, Interaction Institute of Cambridge, the working groups will flesh out the big ideas and bring real-life experience to bear on the design of steps NPS must take to achieve our goals.

The three working group topics are:

1. Learning in the Global Age: How does NPS prepare students for success in a global environment? (e.g. What are the core competencies, what will the curriculum look like, how will we individualize learning and differentiate instruction?) This group, chaired by Brenda Keegan, has focused on the use of technology as a tool for learning, the power of interdisciplinary approaches, and the habits of mind students in the Class of 2020 will need.  The four threads of this group are: challenge for all students, languages and cultures, collaboration and communication, and creativity and inventiveness.
2. Workforce of Tomorrow: How will NPS establish itself as a leader in the education profession? (e.g. What innovative structures and practices will enable us to attract, retain and develop an exemplary and diverse workforce?) This subgroup, chaired by Paul Stein, is focused on exploring how NPS can establish itself as a leader in the education profession. Group members began their work by brainstorming descriptors of a progressive workforce.  Next, the committee categorized these descriptors, taking guidance from the McKinsey Report, “How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top:” (1) getting the right people to become teachers, (2) developing them into effective instructors, and, (3) ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child.  These three threads are the basis of subcommittee work.
3. NPS as a Permeable Campus: How can NPS challenge itself to think outside its current structures/realities/boundaries? (e.g. What sorts of partnerships, real-life opportunities, schedules/approaches will ensure future success?) Chaired by Susan Linn, this group is focusing on three major themes: (1) action-based learning, which includes the idea to engage all students in action-oriented learning that occurs within and beyond the classroom, such as community service learning, internships, externships, and civic engagement; (2) learning structures, which will examine small learning communities, multi-level classes, professional learning communities, learning without borders, and schools as community hubs; and (3) accessing learning, which will include study of the school day/year and the idea of the school day as permeable and flexible. 

In September, the subcommittees of each working group will merge once again, and the working groups will each select three to five strategic initiatives to recommend to the SPT.  In the meantime, the working groups, their subcommittees, and the SPT interact regularly via ongoing discussions among group leaders and through web-based discussions of all volunteers.