This document summarizes some of the most common points which come up when discussing and advocating for Powderhouse Studios. Feel free to use this summary as you draft letters of support, speak to School Committee members, and connect with others in Somerville who might be interested in Powderhouse Studios. Please direct any questions or concerns to [email protected]

What makes Powderhouse Studios' model good?

• At the core of Powderhouse's design combines several, proven models. Project-based schools like High Tech High, case-management and wraparound support organizations like the Harlem Children's Zone, flexible and competency based models like Boston Day and Evening Academy, and so on. The elements of Powderhouse's model have been successful in many other contexts. Much of Powderhouse's innovation involves bringing them together in an in-district context.
• A model like Powderhouse equips people for the future of learning and work. No one knows what the future holds for youth; many of the jobs youth will have don't exist yet. But we know a few things everyone's work will involve: learning to learn, dealing with ambiguity, managing yourself and others, collaborating, and so on. Powderhouse's model emphasizes those skills, giving youth lots of time and space to develop them, and does so using tools that are only getting more and more relevant to everyone's work and life: computation, storyelling, and design.
• Powderhouse isn't for everyone, but there are people for whom it's a good fit across socioeconomic, demographic, academic, and language lines. A model emphasizing small, tightly-knit groups working together to develop hands-on projects of their own design can benefit many people. It's not the right environment for everyone, but some people with nearly every background could benefit.
• An intimate, project-based environment could be an especially good fit for some special education needs. Especially at the secondary level, many youth with special education needs stand to benefit from a more flexible, individualized, and tightly-knit environment. This flexibility means youth don't have to be "ahead" or "behind" the way they might be in more traditional settings. It also means that special educators will have more time and flexibility to design and schedule service delivery in individualized ways.
• A student-driven, project-based environment offers exciting opportunities for culturally responsive approaches which could benefit English language learners. At Powderhouse, staff support youth to design and develop projects reflecting their identities and interests. This creates a kind of flexibility beneficial for many youth, but especially useful for developing and pursuing content which is underrepresented in traditional curricula.
• Many youth would benefit from a small, intimate setting. Whether to accommodate anxiety or to prioritize relationships or to make it less likely someone will fall through the cracks which come with the independence of a large, comprehensive high school experience, Powderhouse offers a smaller and more intimate setting. That setting comes with plenty of tradeoffs (e.g. no AP classes) but that tradeoff is worth it for some youth.
• Powderhouse is committed to (and designed to) serve a broad and diverse group of youth, representative of those youth in Somerville Public Schools.  Powderhouse's model is not about remediation. And it's not about enrichment. It's a model which can meet the needs of a wide variety of youth. Its weighted enrollment lottery ensures that even if the group of families who register are skewed (socioeconomically, demographically, or otherwise) that those who actually enroll are representative of youth in Somerville.
• Powderhouse offers a more vocational approach to traditionally academic subjects. Somerville High School has an incredible Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. Powderhouse Studios takes many of the strengths of CTE education—hand-on, interdisciplinary work grounded in technical skills—and brings them to more traditionally academic subjects.
• Powderhouse's model builds people's ability to manage themselves. One of Powderhouse's primary focuses is growing the scale and scope of project which they can tackle. That involves figuring out what they're interested in, designing a project to engage it, rustling up the resources they need to execute, and then actually doing, documenting, and critiquing it. That project cycle involves essential skills of self-management and advocacy which are core to success in college and career, developing essential social and emotional skills to collaborate and persist through failure.

Why Powderhouse? Why now? Why Somerville?

• If Somerville says no, we lose an incredible opportunity that isn't coming our way again. Even if there are open questions, they are worth working out, and they can be worked out under the guidance of Somerville's Superintendent.
• Somerville already innovates; if we can't do this, who can? Somerville is known nationwide for its innovation. Our Mayor and Superintendent are known for their innovative work and stance throughout the state. We're blessed with one of the highest performing states [educationally] in the country. We're surrounded by world-class educational and research institutions. We are small and agile but have the strengths (and challenges) of a much more urban environment. If we can't lead the way in in-district innovation, who can?
• Somerville has the opportunity to be a state-wide and nation-wide leader. Throughout Powderhouse's process, leaders in education and school design have both vetted and advocated for Powderhouse. Ranging from the state department of education to leading graduate schools of education to foundations to research institutes to cutting edge schools across the country. Powderhouse offers Somerville the chance to be a state and national leader in education.
• The development of Powderhouse Studios has involved input and vetting from a wide range of experts and community stakeholders over the course of seven years. Professors at schools of education, leaders at the state department of elementary and secondary education, union representatives, community organizations, Superintendents and School Committees.
• Right now, there isn't a plan for an alternative. From the district point of view, there isn't another proposal for an ambitious sandbox for innovation. From families' point of view, there isn't another proposal which would address the issues of youth and families for whom Powderhouse would be a great fit. And over the course of the seven years of Powderhouse's development, other alternatives haven't been put forward.
• The team behind Powderhouse is strong and trusted. The team behind Powderhouse started sprout nearly ten years ago. Running successful programs in Somerville and Greater Boston (including pilot programs at the Healey school), the team has chosen to stay in Somerville despite a grueling, seven year process.