“Design studios”, as defined by the JFF Connected Learning Communities Network, are opportunities for schools and teachers who are engaging in change to visit other schools who have a reputation for implementing some of the reforms they are interested in. They are carefully planned two-to-three day visits during which the visiting team not only observes and talks with the host faculty and staff, but has an opportunity to begin their strategic planning process on site. The host school, in turn, benefits from useful feedback and the opportunity to engage in “continuous improvement.”

The process begins several weeks before the actual visit, with the visiting and hosting schools exchanging materials about design principles, key features and practices of the hosting school that would be most useful as a focal point for the visit. (Jobs for the Future, the JFF National Faculty, and the U.S. Department of Education’s New American High School Initiative.)

The Connected Learning Communities Toolkit provides a complete guide to setting up and carrying out a design studio (pages 119-137), including preparatory steps for both the hosting and visiting school, costs, schedules for day one and two, and guides for observation, discussion, activities, reflection and action planning.

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