Overview
As education, and how we educate, changes we seek out new models to learn from. There is a wide variety of change making schools now and Venture Academies is one of them.
Today I speak with founder Jon Bacal about how he and his team bring leadership skills, entrepreneurial skills and personalized learning to a school of over 300 disadvantaged middle and high school students.
Hint: It is all about relationships…
Bio
Jon Bacal is the founder, Executive Director and student leadership coach of Venture Academy, a Minneapolis public charter middle-high school with the mission of building entrepreneurs by developing independence, scholarship and leadership, and also co-leads the Minnesota Learner-Centered Network, a multi-school collaborative of 12 schools supporting youth voice and leadership for school transformation. Over the last 20 years as an education change-maker, Bacal has founded, co-founded or helped launch 30 charter schools in three states as founder and leader of SchoolStart, a nonprofit consulting firm, lead founder of Twin Cities Academy in St. Paul and Hiawatha Academies in Minneapolis, and the Minneapolis Public Schools’ Office of New Schools.