Lessons in Innovation

In early February, I traveled to San Francisco for a visit to five Bay Area independent schools, each with its own unique approach to education. As part of the Tang Institute’s ongoing mission to explore and advance innovative educational practices, this trip focused on how peer institutions are designing and organizing their centers for teaching and learning. Specifically, I set out to answer two questions: 

• How are peer schools building on-ramps and support systems for students and faculty from diverse backgrounds? 

• What constitutes truly innovative academics in these learning communities? 

This journey offered a fascinating look at how schools are reimagining education — and what we might learn from them. The schools included: Lick-Wilmerding High School, The Head-Royce School, Castilleja School, Nueva School, and the Hillbrook School.

#1 Skills-Based Learning as a Pathway to Purpose 

At Lick-Wilmerding High School​’s (LWHS), students engage in hands-on technical arts courses as part of the school’s Head, Heart, and Hands model. In their first year, they explore disciplines such as wood and metal working, circuits and coding, jewelry making, and fabric arts — building foundational skills that blend creativity with technical expertise.

Similarly, Hillbrook School​’s Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship fosters student-led innovation aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Like the Tang Institute’s work with Andover’s Learning in the World program, the Scott Center empowers students with entrepreneurial skills to launch initiatives that address real-world challenges. Past projects range from reef-safe sunscreen and wildfire relief efforts to the construction of maker-space cabinets for public libraries and benches for community parks.

In both cases, students take ownership of their learning by applying technical skills to meaningful, multidisciplinary projects. Even beyond formal coursework, they continue integrating personal interests with real-world impact — starting businesses, collaborating with nonprofits, and leading service-learning trips. Whether designing solutions for underserved communities or fixing electrical systems in homeless shelters, these students demonstrate how hands-on, skills-based learning cultivates both mastery and purpose.

#2 Community-Based Learning 

Lick-Wilmerding High School’s Center for Civic Engagement offers hands-on opportunities in social justice, equity, service learning, and leadership. More than just fostering partnerships, the Center actively builds community-based nonprofits, secures paid apprenticeships for students, and maintains a citywide database of paid apprenticeship opportunities accessible to students across San Francisco.

The Center’s impact extends beyond programming — it cultivates a culture of student agency. According to Head of School Raj Mundra, students play a significant role in shaping their school. By empowering students to voice concerns, organize initiatives, and collaborate with school leadership, the Center for Civic Engagement ensures that learning is deeply tied to real-world impact.

#3 Support Systems 

Students at Castilleja School, LWHS, and Hillbrook School emphasized that community-based learning fosters a deeper sense of belonging. Whether by seeing themselves reflected in local leaders or gaining new perspectives through real-world experiences, connections make learning more meaningful. What sets these schools apart is how seamlessly community engagement is woven into their academic programs.

At Castilleja, older students mentor younger peers in school-wide deliberations on global issues. Hillbrook students collaborate with local leaders to refine their social innovations for real-world impact. At LWHS, I observed students attending nonprofit exhibitions — organized by their peers — over lunch. In each case, students actively apply their school-learned skills to partner with their communities.

#4 University Partnerships Elevate Student-Led Learning 

Castilleja School​’s Awareness, Compassion & Engagement (ACE) Center fosters student initiative, agility, and purpose by engaging students in real-world challenges. Since 2024, the ACE Center has partnered with Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab to host Global Week, a weeklong program that replaces traditional coursework with structured discussions on global issues.

During Global Week, students engage in deliberations, pose questions to expert panels, and reflect on how their perspectives evolved through surveys. The Deliberative Democracy Lab collects and analyzes this data, helping faculty, staff, and students continue these conversations year-round and shape future curriculum.

Beyond Castilleja, the Lab hires high school interns from the Bay Area, whose research actively informs government policy and NGO initiatives — demonstrating the real-world impact of student-led inquiry.

#5 Data-Driven Decision Making 

At the Head-Royce School, senior administrators use data feedback loops to ensure faculty alignment with the school’s mission. A key tool in this effort is a data dashboard that integrates descriptive data from various departments, allowing faculty to identify correlations in student performance.

This approach helps Head-Royce identify trends across academics, operations, and mission alignment. Building on this success, the school is now forming a data-sharing coalition with peer institutions. By collaborating, these schools aim to analyze and measure the effectiveness of educational interventions, strengthening data-driven decision-making across independent schools.

#6 A Unique Approach to Gifted and Talented Education 

The Nueva School admits students into kindergarten based on an IQ score of 130 or above, fostering a community of highly gifted learners. Its Upper School offers over 300 electives, and students have open access to the maker spaces, wood shops, and art rooms — staffed by dedicated ​“coaches” who support independent projects rather than traditional coursework.

During my visit, I saw museum-quality student portraiture and landscapes, alongside a student-built pinball machine and computer that wouldn’t be out of place in an electronics store. Nueva’s state-of-the-art technical arts facilities and extensive elective offerings highlight what adolescents can achieve when given agency and resources to pursue their passions.

#7 Innovation in the Academic Calendar

Across the five schools I visited, innovative programming is seamlessly integrated in the academic calendar. Global Week, the Shops curriculum, and dedicated project time exemplify this approach. At Hillbrook, the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship sets aside two hours every Wednesday for students to work on projects. At LWHS, the Center for Civic Engagement weaves community service into academic courses. Meanwhile, Castilleja’s ACE Center prepares faculty with professional development in advance of Global Week, training that extends into their broader teaching practices. These models ensure that innovation isn’t an add-on but a core part of the educational experience.

#8 Well-Staffed School Centers

The ACE center, Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and Center for Civic Engagement each have at least five full-time staff dedicated to innovation, student affairs, experiential learning, and community engagement. Their cross-departmental structure allows them to build meaningful community partnerships, support student-led initiatives, and integrate real-world learning into the academic program — making them dynamic hubs within their schools.

Final Thoughts 

My visit to these five schools made clear that the Bay Area educational culture sends a powerful message to students — ​“You are needed.”

Students don’t just learn skills; they apply their learning in ways that matter. They partner with nonprofits to build benches, repair lights in homeless shelters, and construct maker-space cabinets for local libraries. Some launch businesses, while others attend top universities. In his book 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People, developmental psychologist and author David Yeager points out that many schools create a ​“norm of self-interest.” The Bay Area schools I visited are instead telling students — and they believe it — ​“your skills, your energy, your talents, and your contributions matter.” The result is a student body with a deep sense of responsibility to use their skills not for self. The mindset is uniquely aligned to Andover’s core value, non sibi.

By connecting technical skills to social good, these five schools empower students to pursue work that is meaningful to them — by solving problems, addressing injustices, and shaping a lifelong commitment to learning and curiosity.

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Captions:

(top of page) Ryan Clinesmith Montalvo with Castilleja School’s ACE Center staff: Jessica Yonzon, Mame Diarra Dioum, and Becca Winslow

(3 photos)
(left) Clinesmith Montalvo with Raj Mundra, the head of school at Lick-Wilmerding High School and former Phillips Academy faculty

(middle) Clinesmith Montalvo with Nueva School’s assistant head of school Claire Yeo, and Upper School master scheduler & data coordinator Kevin Dineen

(right) Clinesmith Montalvo with Annie Makela, director of Hillbrook School’s Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship