Haags Montessori Lyceum

Corona has caused a learning disadvantage among high school students nationwide. The National Education Program (NPO) offered schools financial support to address these disadvantages. The Haags Montessori Lyceum (HML) did not want to apply quick fixes. They were looking for a way to, in line with their vision, make an impact on the skills of the students at the three core levels: cognitive, executive, and socio-emotional. 

So not hiring as many additional personnel and coaches as quickly as possible, but rather pursuing a more sustainable, innovative solution with a lasting impact. Naturally, this should be done within the allocated resources and timeframe. To achieve this, HML needed an external fresh perspective. This came in the form of an Inhouse Expert from MakerLab, namely, experiment designer Jornt van Dijk. He delivered a measurable action plan, prioritized based on impact and likelihood of success. Additionally, he maximized the utilization of the organization's own knowledge and expertise.

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Agenda item one for Jornt was the assembly and guidance of a core team that embarked on a co-creation journey. This became the beating heart and the engine of the project. We believe in the power of thorough research: it validates a gut feeling and, in turn, creates support. Among parents and students, but also among the teachers themselves. To measure is to know. (see also the blog Jornt wrote on this subject).

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School results can be requested, but ... how do you measure whether students are comfortable in their own skin? Both are equally relevant. Surveys and the aforementioned school results provided measurable data. For the measurable results we use observations, qualitative research, interviews and evaluations among students and (external) experts. In order to do this in the best possible way, we are turning the school into a Living Lab, with test setups during mentor hours. This way you observe from up close, and you are in the middle of the daily environment of students and teachers.

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The result? A monstrously large Excel spreadsheet filled with data. How the three levels – cognitive, executive, and socio-emotional – relate to each other, for instance. But also, what ideas, resistance, and desires exist. By employing data-driven design, our team was able to cleverly utilize all this research data in making decisions in the innovation process. 

For the NPO's "school scan," there was a hard requirement to provide a personal action plan for each student. Instead, the HML itself wanted to structurally help as large a group of students and teachers as possible. As a result, one of the most impactful innovations was at the start of the project. We didn't look at what a student needed individually, but looked for the biggest pain points school-wide. 

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This resulted in twelve parent development areas, including group dynamics, reflection and acceptance, and exam preparation in the form of sprints. Success criteria and impact were assessed for each area: how many students do you reach with it? Then, the team selected from existing solutions, both within the school and through external resources, as well as new innovative school projects. By specifying the development areas for each student, an individual plan was created, meeting the requirements of NPO and the preferences of HML.

Innovation is often a slow, time-consuming and complicated process. By using an Inhouse Expert like Jornt van Dijk, the HML got straight to the point. The end result is a measurable and actionable plan. Students receive a custom education plan based on school-wide development areas. The side effect? HML is an innovative school. Thanks to the thorough approach and collaboration, all ideas that exist can be increasingly embraced and implemented within the school.

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Read about the biggest eye openers and learnings during this unique project in this double interview with Leonie van der Zanden-Veth, then head of operations at the Haags Montessori Lyceum (HML) and Jornt.

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This project was done in collaboration with Unplugged.