innOVative (OV ILC)

The Orchard View Innovative Learning Center (ILC) in Muskegon County, Michigan represents a fundamental reimagining of alternative education, moving away from punitive models toward a future-focused, project-based approach centered on love, belonging, and student agency. Under the leadership of Nick Cunan and Brandy, the school transformed from traditional adult education into a comprehensive alternative program serving students who struggled in conventional settings due to various challenges including expulsion, chronic illness, social anxiety, truancy, and academic failure. The school's three core values - innovative curriculum, culture of love and belonging, and perception-based data - create an environment where students who previously experienced academic failure find success and personal growth.

Orchard View Innovative Learning Center

July 25, 2024

Keynote

Resources

Summary

Highlights

"All of our Scholars, all of our students, everybody that comes through our school - they're future focused. So not necessarily focused on like I got to get an A or I want to get into Princeton or I want to get into Yale, but rather just their future... if they can focus on that every day when they're with us, I think we can help them find success."

"At any other school that I've ever been in, I just didn't want to speak, I felt scared to ask questions, I felt scared to ask for help... Here I feel like everybody you know can ask questions freely and teachers come around, you don't even really need to raise your hand to ask a question."

"I think that Project based learning... that is real life... when you get the opportunity to solve a problem, to figure out how you're going to solve a problem, to try something and fail, that's how, that's where learning really happens for people."

Discussion Questions

  • The ILC emphasizes future focus over grade achievement. How might prioritizing long-term vision change daily classroom experiences? What would it look like to center career/life preparation while maintaining academic rigor?
  • The ILC emphasizes trying, failing, and problem-solving as essential learning. How might schools create safe spaces for productive failure? What changes when failure becomes expected rather than avoided?
  • How do you practically implement "meeting students where they're at" with limited resources? What structures enable personalized attention within group settings?