By Gunnison Pagnotta
The Colorado school with the largest enrollment — 5,315 students — has reached the pinnacle of innovative education for the third consecutive year. Amidst some obvious educational disruption, GOAL High School has accomplished the honorable and rare distinction of… Microsoft Showcase School. The blended online public charter school with headquarters in Pueblo, Colorado uses top of the line technology to power effective communication and cutting-edge curriculum platforms. The school led by, Constance Jones, PhD, has done so since its inception in 2007.
Showcase Schools are characterized by thoughtful leaders who empower educators and students to re-imagine and re-design leading, teaching, and learning in their schools. They work closely with Microsoft to learn about global trends in education, test new ideas locally, and adjust these ideas based on the specific needs of their communities and students.
According to Chief Information Officer for GOAL, Jamie Trujillo, “it is a validation from Microsoft, the world’s largest technology company, and it is reserved for schools who really show a creative way of engaging students using educational technology” to retain GOAL’s “laser focus on workforce readiness and developing productive members of society.”
A school has to “show very clearly both that they are on the cutting-edge of technology AND academics.” Trujillo elaborates that “there are only 39 Showcase schools in the country, only 300 on the globe, and GOAL High School is the only online alternative education campus (a.e.c.) to be recognized with this distinction.”
An a.e.c. is a school with a specialized mission based on the unique circumstances and challenges faced by the students enrolled. Trujillo continues, “We do everything we can as a school to set our students up not just for a productive life in their regular career, but also for a LIFE centered around technology.”
Another “huge win for GOAL High School,” is their Esports program… “geared toward bringing students back into academics, getting them back into our [academic] sites, causing them to work in a collaborative effort.”
Those “huge wins” included the 2019 Colorado State Championship as well as a runner-up finish in the nation.
Likewise, GOAL staff benefit from the Showcase status in a variety of ways, including the ability to become “Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts — a designation for academic staff who have achieved the highest level possible of blending their classroom work, their online work, and their technology work together to create new ways to engage their students.” Seven GOAL staff members have taken full advantage of the opportunity and now lead through “thought leadership, best practice sharing, and show the other staff members and the academic leadership staff how to engage students through a life of technology.”
According to Trujillo, “being a Showcase School allows us to think creatively, and more importantly, it allows us to take risks. It allows our school to fail quick and pivot even quicker. What does that mean for our staff and students?” Trujillo’s excitement notably increases… “It means we can roll out V.R. [virtual reality] … and A.R. [artificial and augmented reality] and beyond. Why not empower students to interact with curriculum in new, powerful, and creative ways.
Why not give them the opportunity to strap on a virtual reality headset and fix a car remotely? Why not give them the opportunity to certify in a technology that is important to them? Why not empower the next generation of students to be able to walk into any corporation and say, ‘I’m ready’?”
With unlimited imagination, highly qualified educators, and partners like Microsoft Corporation, it only brings to mind that one all-encompassing question…
Why not?
Gunnison Pagnotta is Communications Coordinator for GOAL High School.