Our students and families face immense challenges right now as a result of COVID-19. The ECPS team, led by Superintendent Dr. Valerie Bridges (pictured here), is working hard to meet urgent needs in our community. We are sending laptops home, opening Pre-K classrooms up to three year-olds, providing mental health supports for our students, and creating safe learning environments in every school. Yet we have another job. ECPS is called to address immediate concerns and continue to build the innovative programs that will ensure students can meet whatever the world throws their way. The future is coming, and our students and communities need us to be ready.

Are you ready to see how ECPS students, educators, and community members are collaborating to prepare our scholars to design their own futures, navigate change, and make the world a better place? If so, read on! And if this newsletter inspires feedback or questions - or a desire to join the ECPS team! - please don't hesitate to reach out to Erin Swanson, Assistant Superintendent for Innovation and Strategic Planning, at eswanson@ecps.us.

Project 212 is the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) initiative at Edgecombe Early College High School, started in 2019 by several dedicated teachers and scholars. As Sam Parker says, “At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train.” The Project 212 team is creating a comprehensive STEAM experience that is truly transformative for Edgecombe Early College High School (EECHS) - one that metaphorically moves the school from water to STEAM.

The big goal for Project 212 in 2021-22 is to provide scholars with STEAM-related experiences inside every classroom, and to take those classroom experiences out into the real world. Scholars and staff will collaborate to:

• Create "The STEM Cell" - EECHS's very own STEM learning and exploration space on campus. "The STEM Cell" will house STEM lab equipment, Science Olympiad, and Robotics, and serve as a versatile space for STEM activities.
• Start a Robotics team and compete in the national FIRST Robotics Competition.
• Continue growing the NC Science Olympiad team and compete in the regional competition this spring.

Project 212 will not just improve the school. It will move EECHS to the next level - a completely different state of being - that is immersive for all scholars and permeates all aspects of the school experience.

We are excited that in the years ahead, ECPS will likely welcome more Rocky Mount students to our school system! Donnell Cannon, the new ECPS Executive Director of Transition and Redesign, is beginning to lay the foundation for a potential Edgecombe/Nash county line merger. Our priorities right now are to build relationships with people most impacted by the transition, and to develop the historical and community context we need to chart our path forward. As always, we are committed to designing with students and families and not for them. Right now, we are gathering the student, family, and staff perspectives needed to build a plan that truly works for everyone in Edgecombe County.

If you are part of the Edgecombe community and have ideas or input related to the county line merger, we would love to hear from you! Please email Donnell Cannon at dcannon@ecps.us. We hope to safely bring the community together for interactive town hall meetings in the spring of 2022.

The North Phillips School of Innovation is entering its fourth year of operation! Through a strong community driven process and visionary leadership, the ECPS "Northside" community came together to reimagine school from top to bottom. In 2017, the team partnered with nationally-renowned Transcend, joining one of their first Collaboratives. They grounded their work in a human centered design approach with equity and community at the center. The result was a new school design, the North Phillips School of Innovation (NPSI), which has four signature learning experiences: 1) Personal passion exploration; 2) Membership in smaller communities called Banner and Advisory to foster belonging, sense of self, and habits of success; 3) Design for Change projects embedded in the curriculum that are focused on making real world change; and 4) Standards Labs in small groups for targeted instruction focused on high impact skills and content.

Visitors to NPSI are often particularly intrigued by Design For Change. Design for Change (DfC) is an inquiry-based, interdisciplinary learning experience, focused on real-world change-making. All 6th through 10th grade students get 150 minutes of Design for Change every day, and between both schools, there are 7 full-time Design for Change teaching positions with different specialties in ELA, Science, and Social Studies content areas.

In a Design for Change project, scholars move through all steps in the DfC framework (discover, investigate, plan, create, test out, share & reflect) with the ultimate goal of creating real, actionable change in their community and sharing their learning.

In the first week of school, scholars learned about the construction that’s happening on the Swift Creek bridge over Highway 97 between Phillips and NEHS, that is creating a year-long detour. Scholars read about the national infrastructure initiative and the state’s process for replacing bridges that are not up to code. They also learned about the theory of shapes in engineering. In groups, they built their own bridge prototypes - check out the photo below!

In the second week of school, scholars began their first full-scale Design for Change projects. High schoolers are studying the evolution of North Carolina ecosystems over time and creating an ecology guide to North Carolina to be used as part of the 4th grade curriculum in Edgecombe County elementary schools. 6th-8th graders are writing and producing a motivational video for students entitled, “Powerful Purpose,” in which they explain what they believe to be their unique purpose in life, drawing inspiration from powerful individuals throughout history who made a difference.

Check out this video to see the educators at North Phillips School of Innovation in action, and hear in their own words why their school is changing the world, one student at a time.